2002 Tacoma Build

jgallo1

Adventurer
I found this Gem, a 2 owner 118k double cab with the factory locker in great shape.
Honestly I thought it would take months to find a clean one for a decent price. The guy was moving and needed to sell fast.

With all the big truck craze (which I fell victim too), It feels nice to be back in a rig of this size. The best thing, I can reach into my bed with ease. ha ha.

Shout out to @cruiseroutfitters for all the help.

The build will be clean and simple.
Suspension: OME Nitrocharger sport, 882 coil , full dakar rear leafs, SPC UCA
Bumper: Classic ARB
WInch : 8000 warn
Tires: Skinny

I am about 2-3 weeks out for the parts. Will post up some photos once I get to the parts and the work .

As The truck sits now:
Screen Shot 2019-08-16 at 3.11.41 PM.png
 

roving1

Well-known member
Awesome. 2002 Taco represent! Lol. I have that exact parts list (except I think 881 springs) for my 02 sitting in the bed of my truck but got sent to Mexico for work before I could install it.

My work involves testing new vehicles for OEMs and I am surrounded by gigantic trucks with features I do not want and often loathe. So nice to have a simple small truck that just does what I tell it.

I flew sight unseen to buy my clean find. Then immediately went on a western road trip. Then shortly after drove it to Mexico. Already have visited more sights with no issues in this than every 4WD I have ever owned in my life of 45 years just in the last couple years. Clean and older is the way to go!

Enjoy and look forward to more posts of the build.


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tennesseewj

Observer
Love it! I looked for one of those unicorns for a while as well.

What made you sell the first gen Tundra?

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk
 

jgallo1

Adventurer
Love it! I looked for one of those unicorns for a while as well.

What made you sell the first gen Tundra?

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

It was a hard sell, I might regret it.
The aftermarket support is alittle more spendy and time consuming. For instance custom fab'ing a LC100 bumper.
When I came across this little truck, I knew of a friends friend who wanted to buy my truck. I just went for it.
 

jgallo1

Adventurer
Alittle update, It will be a few weeks before all the fun stuff gets here.

I added a kenwood headunit.

I took of all the plastic rain guards and ugly steps.

Then went on alittle weekend trip
 

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roving1

Well-known member
What radio did you get and how do you like it? I have a Kenwood in my Nissan that is older and the LCD is not visible in even moderate sun no matter how bright or what color you select. My Taco has no BT and my phone no 1/8" jack. So I need two radios but am wary of Kenwood because of my other radio.
 

Ngneer

Observer
2 nice lookin trucks right off the git go. Will follow, I have a 2002 x-cab so yes I will follow. About to get new tires in about a month. Would like to wire some charging spots and for a purchase of a fridge in near future I hope. Retirement comes in Dec.19 or Jan 20, YES!!! So hopes for many off grid travels to be had.Thanks guy said will be watching.
 

jgallo1

Adventurer
What radio did you get and how do you like it? I have a Kenwood in my Nissan that is older and the LCD is not visible in even moderate sun no matter how bright or what color you select. My Taco has no BT and my phone no 1/8" jack. So I need two radios but am wary of Kenwood because of my other radio.

I went with t JVC b/c that is what the shop had. I was supposed to have gone with a sony, but when I showed for my install. They told me the sony was not in yet. In a similar price range they had a JVC or I could wait another week.
I went JVC the sound is pretty good, but it is also impossibile to see with any light. In my last truck I had a kenwood it was a great unit. The Kenwood that I had was one of the kenwood excelon. It was light years better IMO.

I am going to eventually change out my speakers b/c they are pretty grainy and install sound deading in the doors. When I do that, I might switch the head unit.
 

tennesseewj

Observer
What radio did you get and how do you like it? I have a Kenwood in my Nissan that is older and the LCD is not visible in even moderate sun no matter how bright or what color you select. My Taco has no BT and my phone no 1/8" jack. So I need two radios but am wary of Kenwood because of my other radio.
FWIW I put a Kenwood Excelon DMX905S in my Tundra and haven't noticed any issues with visibility. It's the first head unit I've had to upgrade in forever so I can really compare it to older units, though...

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk
 

roving1

Well-known member
I love seeing another 1st Gen build progress. It's super funny how similar our builds are. I just put an OME lift and Arb Bumper on and I am planning to drive down to Mexico for work in November.

Did you have issues with your cv boots hitting things? Mine were hitting the A arm rivets and the sway bar link at full droop and full lock I had to clearance them.

I also got the Dakars with the extra leaf that says it's for if you constantly carry 220 lbs. I have easy 3-400 with the rack, tent, and off road bumper which live on the truck and the leaf pack is a bit ridiculous. It's more like a 4 inch lift in the rear and rides a bit harsh. I put 1000 lbs in it just to see and it took the weight like a champ but that is more then I intend to run with so I may have to redo the leaf pack.

I also have a bad lean to the driver side now despite supposedly having a trim packer on the driver side strut and putting the 0 spring in the driver side and the - spring in the passenger. My left front hub center to fender flare is 22.5 and my right is 23.5 I am thinking they mislabeled my assembled struts and the packer is in the wrong side. Curious if you measured yours?

I don't want to clog your post with more pics so in this link you can see some of the boot clearance issues I was having. I swapped to manual hubs so maybe the CVS for 96-00 just have bigger boots.

 
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jgallo1

Adventurer
I love seeing another 1st Gen build progress. It's super funny how similar our builds are. I just put an OME lift and Arb Bumper on and I am planning to drive down to Mexico for work in November.

Did you have issues with your cv boots hitting things? Mine were hitting the A arm rivets and the sway bar link at full droop and full lock I had to clearance them.

I also got the Dakars with the extra leaf that says it's for if you constantly carry 220 lbs. I have easy 3-400 with the rack, tent, and off road bumper which live on the truck and the leaf pack is a bit ridiculous. It's more like a 4 inch lift in the rear and rides a bit harsh. I put 1000 lbs in it just to see and it took the weight like a champ but that is more then I intend to run with so I may have to redo the leaf pack.

I also have a bad lean to the driver side now despite supposedly having a trim packer on the driver side strut and putting the 0 spring in the driver side and the - spring in the passenger. My left front hub center to fender flare is 22.5 and my right is 23.5 I am thinking they mislabeled my assembled struts and the packer is in the wrong side. Curious if you measured yours?

I don't want to clog your post with more pics so in this link you can see some of the boot clearance issues I was having. I swapped to manual hubs so maybe the CVS for 96-00 just have bigger boots.


Great looking truck, I love the classic single cab.

What I did not post, was about the nightmare I discovered once I started to get into the suspension. The short version is, I ended up having to bring the truck to a mechanic and have them do all the work. My back bearing sheared, which caused a ton of issues, I had to redo the back rotor and caliper. I figured let's do the breaks, they were coming up any way Then, it made sense to just redo the front at the same time as well. I had a small tear in my cv, so redo them as well. A few thousand later and I was back on the road.

The shop who did my work specializes in toyota's. They really dialed in the suspension, alignment , etc.. This way I would not have issues with then " taco lean" so far, no issues. This is also why I am fan of doing it the bumper and suspension at once.

I am not sure what coils you went with, I called ARB, they said definitely do not use the 883. They were pretty adamant about using the 881 but also said alot of people do go to the 882. I chose the 882.
I am also only running 265/75/16. I am running the new ******** cepek trail country exp. My last truck came with these tires and I loved them . They are a very strange size if you read the actual dimensions of the tire. They run basically 32, by 10.1. They are like 32" pizza cutter. I thought is perfect for the truck. Not sure what setup you are running.

The mechanics were telling me alot of guys use to tall of a spring + tire. This causes alot of issues with the control arms, cv's, and joints. This is why I went with the spc's control arms as well. I felt the package was most true to the stock calibrations.

I have not needed the add a leaf yet. Once I add the tent etc.. I might have too. I wanted to test it all out first.
 

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