womacje

I'm putting on an OME 2.5" lift onto an '03 Toyota Tacoma Dbl Cab. Adding an ARB Bullbar, Blacking out the wheels, Tundra Wheels, 285/75R16 BFG ATs on for a customer this week! She's excited, I may be just as excited to see this come together!

Here's todays progress, arrived from picking up the truck in Pittsburgh at noon 45 minutes later, we had a 285/75R16 on to test the fit.


Removed the front mudflaps and may need to reshape some plastic inner fender for now or at full stuff.

Next we picked up the wheels and tires, 16" Tundra wheels and BFG AT's. The wheels look almost the same, except with a Sombrero delete and the good ol' fashioned Toyota text.
Installed them.


Next was the chrome side steps delete!


Next: Black out wheels
Sandblast undercarriage, lousy Pennsylvania winters
Undercoat
OME lift and ARB arrives from Cruiser Outfitters friday, I hope
Install and send her on her way to Uhaul so she can move from MPLS to Little Rock, AR

Stay tuned and feel free to offer tips or suggestions. Sadly no time for an Expedition Ops Taco Bumper

I have more images and another write up at Expedition Ops and at the facebook page.

womacje

Thanks to Toyota of America, the Tacoma got a fresh undercoating on the frame... Which meant I was covered head to tow in black tar... Other than that, the build went well, check it out!


The OME/Dakar suspension went in well. The old leafs didn't come out without a fight! Fortunately, A Toyota dealer in town had the parts I was cutting out. Lots of rust repair in this job, and while the paint was out, we killed almost everything shiny on this truck. I'm pretty happy with it!

Its late, this has been a long weekend and I'm going to bed, more pics at facebook and a write up on my blog. Enjoy! Thanks for all the help, search function!

Jeremy

womacje

More info now that I'm awake.
A little too much rust on the underside to be cherry, but otherwise a great truck.

OME 881's plus 5mm packer
Dakar's in the rear
Nitrochargers all around
Greasable shackles

Kurt from Cruiser Outfitters talked over the build with me to ensure that the right suspension went onto the truck.

An ARB bullbar was ordered as well, thats why we used the 5mm spring packers

Toyota recalled the frame for rust issues, so this was treated with a rust preventative and undercoated the frame... which sucks to work on freshly after!!!

285/75R16 BFG AT's, they rub at full lock to the left barely to the right. Wheels spacers would help, but its not too much of an issue IMHO.

Here is the end product.

Let me know if you have any questions on the build, I'd be happy to share what I know.

Tips for the OME install:
for rust prone trucks
-Buy new Toyota hangar bolts
-Get the OME U-bolts
-Spray everything with penetrant prior to work earlier the better
-If you want to have the coilovers pre-assembled you will need the upper spring retainer from Toyota. I made the mistake of not having new ones available, so I had to pull the fronts then wait for them to be assembled($25/coilover), then return to install them... not a big deal, but the front end can go together in about 2hrs if they are pre-assembled
-Remove the trick Nitrocharger stickers from the bag of goodies before taking it to have the coilovers assembled, they will probably throw them away...
-Impacts are a god send, get an impact swivel too
-Angle grinder and cut off wheel to remove the rusty leaf spring hanger bolts and the u-bolts ***CAUTION*** THE U-BOLTS ARE UNDER PRESSURE!!!!
-Coilover install. I didn't disassemble anything on on the UCA's or LCA's, just a friend pushing down on the rotors, a pry bar, brass drift to align lower coilover eye, brass hammer to get bolt thru(gently)
-Taller leaf spring on the drivers side.
-Lithium Moly fortified grease... it says so on the shackle plates... I found it after I bought the wrong grease, back to the parts store for me, http://images.ibsrv.net/ibsrv/res/sr...ilies/roll.gif

ARB install:
-Run a tap through the the holes on the vertical hangers to clean paint out, saves lots of headache.
-I had to trim the backside of the bumper several mm's to get the holes to line up. So make sure you have some semi-gloss/satin black spray paint around
-Mark your holes to drill for the M12x4+" bolts on the frame horn extensions and dissassemble, then use a drill press or at least drill off the truck, way easier then how I did it underneath http://images.ibsrv.net/ibsrv/res/sr...ilies/mad2.gif
-Do the end cap mod that can be found on NWToys forum.


Overall:
-have an extra set of hands near by
-Lift will install in a long day
-ARB goes pretty quick, several hours

I posted this to share info and show off a great looking truck. I just happened to be lucky enough to install quality bits and help with the de-chroming.