The evolution of "Alpine" Tundra

RoundOut's build thread - the evolution of "Alpine" Tundra

Missing the 2007 Expedition Trophy was a tough bite to chew. To help myself focus on the positive, I figured I would shed a little light on the expeditionifying of my 2003 Toyota Tundra SR5 4.7L V8 4WD Access Cab.

I'll do this in several posts. Obviously now, it is much more expedition ready than ever before, as I had hoped to join the festivities in AZ this fall. I have owned it for four years now, LOVE THE TRUCK AS MUCH AS ONE CAN AN INANIMATE OBJECT, and it has become a focal point on a mission to be able to spend more quailty time with my family outdoors.

Here we go with Part 1, mostly on performance mods...

When I purchased it from Fred Haas Toyota in late July 2003, I had a few aftermarket goodies put on, in anticipation of increasing fuel economy. The sticker EPA ratings were 17/13. Here is how I took delivery of it…

Factory & Port installed options:
·Fog Lights
·LSD
·Power Windows & Locks
·AM/FM/CD/Cassette
·Heated mirrors
·Towing package (includes 130 amp alternator, transmission fluid cooler)
·Rear hitch receiver

Goodies I purchased and included in the original deal:
·K&N FIPK cold air intake (at this time, they only made one for up to 2002 – see additional information on this sore subject below)
·Challenger Deflectashield aluminum over-the-rails pickup tool box
·Line-X spray in bedliner
·Aftermarket leather seats & door panel upgrade

Goodies I bought in the parts department before leaving:
·Bug deflector
·OEM rugged Husky-type floor mats

Not satisfied with the nameplate fuel economy, plus the K&N, I was looking for better horsepower and therefore, performance. The first mods I decided I wanted were a Bassani exhaust system and JBA headers. I had the make-ready shop install my Bassani a week after I took delivery.

Figuring to get the big horsepower improvements advertised by K&N and Bassani, I knew I would get better fuel economy, but that was surely elusive. After lamenting about it on TundraSolutions.com, I learned from others there, that the mass air flow sensor could not accurately measure the great volume of air flowing in on my cold air intake. The experts there suggested that restricting the air flow into the filter could actually improve economy. They were right. I purchased a pre-filter cover (I cannot remember what they call this, but it is essentially a nylon sleeve that fits over the filter with elastic on both ends) and it helped markedly. My city mileage was approaching 14.5 regularly.

My next mod was a rear bumper from Tough Country that I purchased locally at Master Hitch. I immediately started saving for the front bumper. I really liked their product and it was locally (El Campo, TX) made.

Getting it home, I was excited to show it to a buddy that wheeled alot in his lifted T-100. I learned about TundraSolutions.com from a him, and that started me down the trail to reach "off-road-ready nirvana".

Before purchasing headers, I had about 5000 miles on my new Tundra. I ordered the headers from JBA through TundraSolutions.com and began looking for a shop that would do the suggested 4-6 hour work at a reasonable rate. The hose-head service Tech at Fred Haas wanted 10 hours @ $70/hr for an R&R of exhaust manifolds. Screw that! I finally found a performance shop that would do it for $350.

After a couple tanks, I began to notice surge of fuel economy. I would consistently hit 16+ in the city.

The guy that installed my headers told me I should consider a Y-Pipe to squeeze out even more, so I bought one, also from JBA, and had the local muffler shop install it. That was about all for the performance mods.

My first highway trip to Tulsa to visit mom after finishing the performance mods, yielded a whopping 19.5 on the way up, and even more loaded on the way back, I hit 21 mpg. What a beautiful thing!!!

Good post. Funny thing is while reading your mods I read JBA, funny its 1/2 mile from my house. Do you know what JBA stands for and who JBA is? Just some good trivia, sorry not to jack your thread.

ahhhhm, pics ????

Yes, lets see some photos of your rig.

Part II - The Tough Country Apache

My buddy with the T-100 had a pretty cool Smittybilt tube bumper for his truck. I also had friends that worked in the oil patch and had big Fords with Ranch Hand bumpers. I liked the Tough Country Apache, and besides ARB, it was just about the only off-the-shelf solution for the 2003 Tundra.

I was able to get mine built and installed for about $1,000, including the KC slimlights. The options I selected were:

• Fog light sleeves
• Tow loops
• Hitch receiver
• Euro-bar
• Expanded metal

I placed my order, being careful to explain to the guy in El Campo that the 2002 that they previously produced would have to be modified for the 2003 round fog light sleeves. A couple weeks later, it was ready and I drove off to El Campo, TX.

As soon as they pulled the paper off the bumper, I was disappointed to see the rectangular fog light sleeves of the 99-02 Tundras. They went ahead and installed it and sent me back to Houston, keeping my OE bumper and fog lights to help them design the new model year's foglights. They promised to rush the right one to Houston with my OE bumper and lights, which they did in about a week.

Before leaving El Campo, they took some pictures of my truck, and it has become a featured truck on their website and in their catalog. I just wish I had it lifted already, because it sure looks better post-lift.

I went to Commercial Van Interiors in Northwest Houston to have the '03 model installed, rather than commuting another hundred or so miles back to El Campo. They fixed me right up.

The bumper, weighing in at about 180 pounds, sagged my front end almost an inch. Already raked, this made my Tundra look whimpy, IMO. I was in no hurry to trade in tires with decent rubber, being determined to get max value out of the cheesy Bridgestone Dueler HTs that came stock. On the other hand, I was anxious to get a lift kit and new meats, but they would have to wait!

Performance wise, I didn't notice any degridation in fuel economy, but I did notice a significant improvement in the ride. Although the Tundra's ride was already superior to just about any other truck on the market, the heavier front bumper acted like a damper, causing less bump to be felt in the cab. That was a positive, for sure.

While in El Campo, I was fiddling around in Tough Country Off Road's store while they fit my bumper. I learned a bunch about Hi-lift jacks, some about Mile Marker winches and some about Warns.

After getting stuck in an aroyo in Big Bend before even getting my license plates (another story that I am not proud of, but is funny now) I really wanted to have some excellent recovery equipment, so my wish list continued to grow with all the eye-candy at Tough Country.

Surely this hobby has never caused that to happen to any of you. :shakin:

Desertoutpost said:

Do you know what JBA stands for and who JBA is?

Click to expand...

Let's have it....:chowtime:

erod said:

ahhhhm, pics ????

Click to expand...

Unfortunately, I don't have any "Before" shots until after my Tough Country Apache was on. Here is a driveway pic, though. These are the pics that TC took after my Apache went on. That is their "economy" rear bumper, by the way.

new mods = new pics

roundout...any pics? i spoke a but too soon, or late, apparently. looks sweet!

Part III - Recovery equipment

Before my inaugural off-road screwup at Big Bend, I had purchased a come-along, a yank-strap (that I didn't know how to use properly) and a shovel, just in case.

That was a $400 lesson ($100 fine, and $300 towing out of the black gumbo). Darn, that was half a Warn winch.

After lusting for a winch but not affording one yet, I figured I could get some functionality from a Hi-lift, some accessories, and some straps. And, my hand-brake wouldn't be the wiser, LOL.

Another thing I learned in Big Bend that summer, was that bouncing off-road is well beyond the "working load limit" of the little hook/screw thingys that secured my tool box to my bed rails. Before mounting another 60 pounds of Hi-lift, I figured some reinforcement was in order.

A buddy came over and we yanked the tool box, drilled holes in the cap in one place and used the stake pocket's bottom as another mounting point. Together with the hook, that made a 6 point mount for the box, more in line with my intended use.

We then put some plate steel backing on the inside of the tool box to mate up with the Hi-Lift Jeep mounts that I purchased. We installed the Jeep mounts and the Hi-Lift has been there almost ever since. I've used it and the come-along to bail my own truck out once, and to lift the vehicle to rotate tires, but that is about it. It's a good and relatively cheap insurance policy.

Here are pics of the mounts without, and with the Hi-Lift on.

Part IV - Mirrors, 2.5" of pride, less chrome, & some new meats

My wife had her new Sequoia, the same color as my Tundra just a couple weeks after I got my Tundra. That Sequoia, is by far, the finest vehicle I have ever owned. I wish I could expeditionify it! I really envied her signal mirrors, so I got some!

Her Sequoia also had painted mirror covers, but she wouldn't trade me. I found some painted ones at Carson Toyota in Cali for $25. DEAL! I hate chrome.

First, I ordered the Muth signal mirrors from Performance, and since Performance didn't list the Tundra heated mirrors, I ordered the Sequoia ones. After all, everything on them is the same, right? WRONG. I called Muth and they said they couldn't figure out why Performance wouldn't stock the heated ones for the Tundra, but they would switch them out no charge. They even cross-shipped. Great company, Muth is!

I did everything except splice the tail light wires. I called my buddy at the make-ready shop and got him to do it for $25. I was too scared to splice to the wrong wire. LOL Roll forward a couple years, I have no fear any more...

:gunt:

Anyhow, back to the story. Almost 18 months after owning her, it was time for some new shoes. I had considered all the tires out there and liked the aggressive look and ratings that the BFG ATs were sporting. I decided that I would lift it 2.5" and get the 285x75R16s, a 33" tire that was about 2" larger in diameter than my original Dueler HT pavement specials.

I decided that I would go with the Wheeler's Coil Springs, new Bilstiens for the front end, Camburg UCAs, get an Add-A-Leaf for the back, and be done with it. Not so simple. Wheelers, at the time, was out of their coils for the Tundra and it would be months before a new design was going to be ready. I decided to get the spacer lift, using a RevTek 2.5" kit that comes with the differential drop spacers. Realizing that the Tundra's suspension geometry limits one to lifting only 2.5", I rationalized that since I had sagged an inch with the heavy front end, I could go 3.5". So, I added an extra Daystar 1" spacer and told the installer to get longer bolts.

In order to protect the CVs at the higher angle, I bought the Porsche 930 boots from Kartek. They would do the trick, I thought. (They sent the wrong ones, so we put back on the OEs).

I ordered, along with the lift, Wheelers' Black Alloy 16x8 rims for the new tires. Boy, this would really make it look good, I thought! I was right (biased, here, but I love black rims!)

Pics:

1. Here's a "before" front suspension
2. Here's an "almost done" "After" - still needs to mount the spindle
3. Here's a MUCH more PROUD look.

Part IV.5 more lift and my first drive in the rain

I was getting some rubbing and that really chapped me, since all the reading I did, said that 2.5" of lift would clear the 285 BFG ATs. Then I noticed that the shop left a 1/4" spacer from the RevTek kit out of the stack of installed spacers. Back to the shop and they added the last spacer. I have NO IDEA why they did that, but oh, well.

It almost cured the rubbing. On compression, I was still hitting the inner rear fender on the driver's side when turning left. I had yet to learn of the BFH mod, so I lived with it for a while.

After getting the last 1/4" plate on the truck, I had about a half-inch pre-runner look. Too high in the front. I ordered a 1" block and longer U-bolts from Wheelers and went back to the shop. Now we're talking! Minimal rubbing and the good lift.

BFH mod, still to come.

Well, the first time driving in the rain was eye-opening (or closing, depending on where you were standing). My new tires extended enough beyond the cheesy original fender trim (with that pesky chrome trim), that they wet-sandblasted my whole side panels. I needed some flares, and still had too much chrome.

I called a buddy at Tejas Toyota and they ordered me a new set of OE flares that fit on some type of Tundra and were a direct bolt-on to my truck's body, too. That cured most of the wet-sanding and got rid of a 3/8" strip of chrome around each wheelwell.

I also had him order me a new grille. They had a dark (Thunder - I think) grey one with no chrome except the Toyota emblem. I pulled the V8 emblem out when I switched the grilles and never put it in the new one. I then used fishing line to get rid of most of the other emblems, leaving the SR5s on the sides and the V8 4WD on the tailgate. Those would eventually come down, too.

Here's an embarrassing pic that shows the fender flares pretty plainly. LOL

Nice job RoundOut. Looks really good. I always loved the looks of the Tundras. Are you going to get a shell for it?

**Hijack alert**

Desert, up until two months ago, I too lived close to JBA. I lived in La Mirage off Mission Gorge. Too bad I moved, we could have met at Rubios before heading out to Borrego!

** Hijack off**

Part V - Skids, Mother Nature's mods, The BFH, & my accidental mods

The timeline is a little fuzzy, but not long after I lifted it, I got a Skid Row front skid plate for her off a buddy on TS. I picked up the middle and rear Skid Row plates from another buddy on TS. She was getting pretty trail-ready, but we still lacked those sliders.

Back in (about) April or May of 2005, our neighborhood saw a wicked hailstorm. It we had tennis ball sized hail at my office, and fortunately, my wife was able to get under some cover that shielded her Sequioa. My truck was totally exposed and took it bad. There were major dimples, not the kind the sun pops out, nor the kind that the PDR guys can fix.

Not many mods happened between then and a few months ago.

After 52,000 miles, (now the odometer read 85K or so), my BFGs were getting pretty worn. It was time to replace them.

WOW do new tires make for a splendid ride! I saved the best of the old ones as a spare, for when I could afford a fifth Wheeler's rim. A few months later, that day came, and I ditched the original spare that had never seen service, but had a couple inch hot-spot where it got too close to the Bassani exhaust on the drivers side. I guess that will reduce the aftermarket value a bit. LOL

The bad thing about the new shoes, was the rubbing was real bad. I had learned about taking a Big Freaking Hammer to one's pinch-welds, and that was a surgery whose time had come. I pulled off the front left tire, found my 4 pound hand sledge and started making noise. A bit of rattlecan to cure future rust, and wallah, no more rubbing!

Then, about 2 months ago or so, I bumped someone from behind in traffic at a slow speed. Nobody was hurt, but I did just enough front end damage to warrant a new hood and get some repairs to my Tough Country front bumper. It flexed into the hood, just tweaking the frame end caps and slightly bending one of the bumper brackets. Thank God for good insurance, so as much as it sucked, this was time for a new hood, and a chromeless grille, BLACK even! The eye-sore hail dimples are finally gone (I still have a couple on the roof, but the rest are history.

Then, the body shop guy suggested that they Rhino Line my front bumper instead of re-powdercoating it. They threw in the bed and tool box, and I said, "Gitterdun!"

Wow, she looks even better now. I decided it was time to completely debadge the chrome, since I didn't even have a chrome emblem on the front. The body shop sanded the chrome off and painted it black along with all the rest of the grille. It looks so sweet!

Part VI-A. - Most recent mods - Custom Rock Sliders

DevinSixtySeven gave me the plans for his. We made one change, using 1.5" DOM and 1.5" square tubing on the ladder section instead of 1.6" OD pipe. This makes it slightly lighter and just as strong. I have not learned to weld, nor do I own any welding equipment, so I sought expertise in this by talking to many friends.

Ironically, right behind Woodlands Performance & Suspension (where I had my lift put on before I had the balls and tools to do work like that myself), there's a racing & lowrider shop called Innovative Designs. Joey is the owner and in his 20's, he's the bomb welder! In addition to seeing some amazing custom fabrication work, he was able to source the steel cheaper than I was. I had him fabricate all the parts and weld up the ladder section, which would be the most visible portion of the sliders.

He was slammed with work that evening (10/5/07), so I got to help with most of the cutting. He had the tubing bender, tubing notcher, and metal cutting band saws to do it right. While we were there on the (marathon - 6p.m. to 3a.m.) build, I met some cool guys that were working on some drag strip race cars and some dirt oval cars. I learned a ton about using metal fabrication tools, and now I am really excited to fab up my new rear bumper. I think I may have Joey do some of that work, too.

I picked up the ladder sections of the sliders, along with the supports and mounting plates the next morning. Sunday after Church, I headed up to a friend's Meineke shop where one of his employees was going to do some after hours work to help me finish them. Another buddy joined us for the fun. I took my drill press up there to drill the mounting plate holes, too. What a mess of shredded metal that was! The final assembly took much longer than I thought it would, too. We finished up just before midnight.

I rattle canned them before heading home, to keep any rust from getting out of control.

Monday morning, I drove up to Meineke to put them on. WOW, are they strong, functional, and very cool looking.

There are just three more steps until I call the slider project done.

1. There is one more support brace and mounting plate to be fabbed, which will be mounted just in front of the rear wheel, and at a significantly different angle than the other supports. I think I'll head back to Innovative Designs and solicit Joey's help and well-equipped shop to finish it up more quickly. Now, if I could just find the time.
2. Per D67's advice, I am going to put backing plates to strengthen the mounting points on the frame. The sandwich design will spread the stress over much more than a small fender washer and makes a whole lot of sense.
3. After getting the last mounting bracket and plate fabbed, I am going to have them bead-blasted and then coat them with POR-15 all over. When that is complete, I'll head over to have them Rhino-lined on the top to provide traction for those not blessed with long enough legs to get into the cab without using them as steps.

Pics:
1. The band saw cutting the 1.5" square DOM tubing, like butter.
2. The tubing notcher making a perfect 1.5" curve on the end.
3. The ladder sections after welding the "rungs" to the 1.5" O.D. DOM tubing.

I'll put some more up when they're done.

Part VI-B. - Most recent mods - CB Radio & Dual Batteries

In another quest to get ready for the ExPo Trophy, I bought a CB Radio from Northern Tool. The install was pretty clean by removing the ash tray at the lower left of the center dash, just above the console, taking out the cigarrette lighter, and using it's power feed to power the CB. How convenient! So far, I have not had any extra noticeable noise as a result of not having a pair of wires run direct from the battery, but if I do, I'll re-wire it. In fact, I'll rewire the whole thing eventually, when I put in my switches to control other things, such as a winch relay, fridge, relays for side lights, roof lights, etc.

This mod is mentioned in my Dual Battery thread, because I installed it when I had the seats and console out to wire up the dual battery system. I really enjoyed that part of the install, as I love learning about electric circuits and such.

Here's a picture of the installed CB.