Got my winch installed last night... But now because of the control box location I can't put my grille back on... I have three choices...
1) cut the grille to fit
2) make new brackets to relocate the control box
3) pull the guts out, silicone them, drill a hole in the bumper and mount it flush effectively elimenating the giant ugly control box...

 

number 1 seems reasonable. the other 2 seem excessive. its a winch, not rocket science... heh. I would honestly just find a new way to mount the box, pop the cover off the control box, undo the nuts to release the wires, and see how far the wires can reach. mount it where necessary.

ARBs are a lot different than TJMs, yeah mine was a pain in the ass to install, but i have a factory oval/box shaped hole so the wires can feed through.

 

got a couple supplies today... slight makeover in the works... gonna need your opinions...

 

i think relocation brackets would work just fine. just some angle pieces and a few holes drilled.

 

Cut the grill!!
That's what I did

 

Wow, looks good on there! You'll find a way, Troy... watchin

 

my dad has his 60x40 shop going up right now so i think im gonna steal some of his scrap metal to see what i can fab up... might not look professional, but hopefully with some black paint it wont look too bad...

 

havent been able to do much with the taco lately... been work, work, work and saving as much as i can... got about 2/3rds of a down payment for a house... just need a coule grand more...

i did, however, go out to prairie city the other day and played support for my buddy who was out there rallycrossing his subaru impreza outback sport... he ended up ripping off the bumper and cracking the radiator...

only got one video from that but it wont upload for some reason...

anyways, i used 4WD to pull the flatbed trailer out of the muddy field where our shop is being build... that thing is heavy...

 

It's a trip how that bumper makes it have such a LONGER look. YES, I KNOW,.... it's actually longer with it, lol.. But you know what I mean.

Love that lil Taco of yer's, man

Again, best wishes on EVERYTHING, especially the health of the lady and the 'LIL'!

 

Looks great troy

When did you want to flip your winch so it doesn't rub your bumper?

Next time im at pick n pull did you want a fuel door? if its white of course didnt think about that when the 2wd 96 taco was there

 

Man that looks FUN! Nice build man, keep up the sweet work

 

thanks buddy, kind words are appreciated!

right now, i need some help deciding on things...

i have 3 options (2 from ETHER and one from A.Wilson) for paint/bedliner that im going with...
what im wondering is which one do you guys like?give me your thoughts and opinions! Help me choose!

Option 1 (all white paint)


Option 2 (all white with bedliner over fenders and rockers)


Option 3 (all white with bedliner on rockers and tool box)



now, keep in mind that while you think the rims will be silver, i can assure you that they will not be... they will also not be black or purple...

 

Thanks brother! the baby is doin good! just got the mediCAL to go thru, so we should be having a few more appointments soon...

stay tuned for more pics of that...

winch can wait... im not going to be using it any time soon... as for the fuel door, i actually have the original still... also have a full set of locks to replace the broken gas door, the broken drivers lock, and the bum ignition... just gotta get around to working on it...

 

So far, I like the last and first option on the paint schemes.... Really hard to decide between the two... But I think the latter, as it looks good and will protect against pitting, etc., from rocks and mud. But I really like the built/yet clean look of the all white with the ARB, etc., too.... Not crazy about the freckled middle one. Just my personal opinion, s'all.

Great to hear on the BB's health, etc.!

 

I vote number three.

Glad the baby is doing well, Troy.

 

Number three for me! Does this mean the wheels are changing color no matter what?

 

i picked up some rims and tires on craigslist the other day... they are the Toyota TRD twisted star rims... my ABSOLUTE favorite toyota rim... anyways, they had decent tread on the tires so i figured id get em for mud bunni's runner and let her wear down the tires then swap them onto the tacoma so i can do the Tundra brake upgrade down the road... only paid $160

After i got them, i wasnt too thrilled when i realised that under the brake dust was some oxidation... so, they got scrubbed down and painted... hopefully they will look alright on the runner... i think they look a million times better!

Decent tread on firestone "All Terrain" tires... they will make great curbslayers...

Yup...

Before

After

Painting



All Finished

Close up



now, they arent perfect, but neither is the rest of the paint on the runner, so ithink they will be a good temoporary match for each other... when they go onto the taco, IF they are flaking or im still unhappy with them ill sand blast them... oh, yea, i bought a sand blaster for $10 at a garage sale...

and an older model hi-lift for mudbunni...


also, gave the truck her yearly bath the other day... yes, YEARLY... last time i washed her was for squaw ridge...




aaaaaaand, while doing the rims the other day, i got bored and had a scraper... :-/
Before

After


my dad spent about 2 hours scraping off stickers and cackling happily that he doesnt have to look at them anymore... SMH... threw a bit o white spray paint on there to keep the exposed metal from rusting...

eventually, ill take off all the stripes and prep the truck for painting the whole thing and doing the rockers in bedliner... get rid of the craptastic trim and replace with TRD flares... and the list goes on...

 

Looking sick! Keep up the good/HARD work on that prep, man... Gonna be worth it

 

Metallic Tinking/clicking coming from the driveshaft parts... methinks my u-joints are finally trying to exit stage left...SMH... just another little thing that is crapping out...

had an issue last week with misfire and stumbling at low RPMs... thought it was a vacuum leak, but nope... thought it might be fuel, but pressure was good a 68lbs... thought maybe it was spark, so at the advice of vitaly i hooked up a timing light to all the plug wires and they were all getting power... couldnt figure out what it was so i took it to a shop here in Elk Grove that was highly recommended for work on Toyotas... 4 hours later, $230ish bucks and a new coil and she runs like a champ...

kinda bummed that i couldnt figure it out on my own because it was such a SIMPLE fix...

anyways, gonna get the u-joints replaced and then shes gonna go back to daily driver status until finances get to a point where i can start modding again... got a few cheap things i can do, but other than that im dead in the water...

 

lemme know about the u-joint thingy because I'm gonna be doing that on my truck soon too. do I need a bench vise? Hayne's says I do. those things be a bit pricey, but I am checking every yard sale I can find.

PS:
I read this with you having the voice of Spongebob......definitely not the same as Darth Vader.