Hayden87
Adventurer
Hey everyone,
I thought I'd share with EXPO my Limited - 2005 Double Cab Toyota Tundra. Theres not a enough of us 1st Gen guys out here right now so i figured another build thread couldn't hurt.
Heres what I'm working with so far...
05 Tundra
Old Mods
- Toytec 3" lift kit w/ Bilstiens all around
-Toytec add-a-leaf in the rear OEM Spring Pack
-Total Chaos Upper Control Arms
Current Mods Up Front
-Total Chaos Fabrication Long Travel Kit w/Boxed Lower Control arms
-2.5 inch Fox Shocks w/remote reservoirs and High and Low Speed Compression adjusters
-16" 700 pound coils (Soon to be 18")
-New Steering Rack Bushings
-New OEM Lower Ball Joints
-New OEM CV's for use with Total Chaos Extended Axels Shafts
Current Mods Out Back
-Archive Garage Shackle Flip Kit
-Archive Garage U-Bolt Flip Kit
-Deaver Expo Pack from Archive Garage
-2.0 Fox Shocks w/remote Reservoirs and low speed compression adjusters (11.8" stroke stem-top shock)
Heres the truck relatively stock with a set of Cooper Tires ST's and the Toytec Lift.
I drove around for years in this configuration.
This was fine for on road driving however, I had nothing but issues with these components. In the end... I replaced the front shocks twice on both sides and the add-a-leaf sagged after just a short period of time.
That shock's done!
Then I added a Canopy for the winter up here... Well as luck would have it, it turned out great. The truck looked sharp as ever.
Then the Add-a-Leaf started to sag...
So after a lot of trial and error, I decided that I would take in to careful consideration the modifications that I did next. I've been on Expedition Portal for years now just watching, and decided that my experiences with the 1st gen Tundra were worth sharing. Especially now that they are gaining some traction in the Overland Scene.
So over the last couple of years as aftermarket parts for the 1st gen became available, I started to put this thing together the way it should have been from the start.
Started Off with the Archive Garage Shackle flip kit. This is my favorite mod on the truck. Having a traditional style hanging shackle just make the truck ride and flex so much better. With the archive kit, I also purchased the Deaver springs that were built in conjunction with Archive Garage. With all the love for Archive Garage, I figured I might as well grab the U-Bolt flip kit while I was at it.
I decided that with this new leaf spring system, I wanted to use a decent shock this time. I've got nothing against Bilstien, it's just that I didn't have much luck with their product. This time I decided that I wanted something better. I decided on Fox Shocks for my build. I see everyone using Kings on the Gram and figured I'd go another route. I ended up landing on what I thought was a universal stem-top mounted Fox Shock with remote reservoirs with low speed compression dampening adjusters. After I got them in the mail and had opened them, I realized that according to the sticker on the box that they were for the front of a Dodge Ram. Nowhere on the website I purchased from said that they were for Dodge trucks. I started thinking to myself about the weight of a Dodge Truck and figured that with all of that weight, that these shocks had to be valved pretty stiff and that they would be great for stabilizing heavy loads. In the end, I installed them with little modification. The first problem I ran into was that the bottom eyelets of the shock were larger than the Tundra's lower shock tabs. I ended up widening these tabs to accommodate the larger eyelet size. Next, I had to figure out a way to mount the remote reservoirs. After looking at my truck frame for an entire evening, I noticed that the rear cross member in the truck tied into the driver-side shock tower, thus adding reinforcement. I decided to cut a hole in the side of the shock tower to feed my reservoir through. In the end, I mounted my reservoirs on the underside of my bed on the ribs that ride on the frame. So Far So Good.
This is a photo looking straight up from the ground to the underside of the driver-side shock mount. If you look closely, you'll see that on the right side of the photo that there is another "backer" piece of steel that is over-layed and riveted to the top of the shock tower. This is the cross-brace that the OEM spare tire hangs from. Normally, I would never cut a hole in a high stress part like a shock tower, but with this added reinforcement it won't be an issue.
I've seen folks on EXPO do some different fab work on top of the shock tower to accept eyelet top mounted shocks however, I didn't have a welder at my disposal and I already had a stem-top shock ready to go.
I thought I'd share with EXPO my Limited - 2005 Double Cab Toyota Tundra. Theres not a enough of us 1st Gen guys out here right now so i figured another build thread couldn't hurt.
Heres what I'm working with so far...
05 Tundra
Old Mods
- Toytec 3" lift kit w/ Bilstiens all around
-Toytec add-a-leaf in the rear OEM Spring Pack
-Total Chaos Upper Control Arms
Current Mods Up Front
-Total Chaos Fabrication Long Travel Kit w/Boxed Lower Control arms
-2.5 inch Fox Shocks w/remote reservoirs and High and Low Speed Compression adjusters
-16" 700 pound coils (Soon to be 18")
-New Steering Rack Bushings
-New OEM Lower Ball Joints
-New OEM CV's for use with Total Chaos Extended Axels Shafts
Current Mods Out Back
-Archive Garage Shackle Flip Kit
-Archive Garage U-Bolt Flip Kit
-Deaver Expo Pack from Archive Garage
-2.0 Fox Shocks w/remote Reservoirs and low speed compression adjusters (11.8" stroke stem-top shock)
Heres the truck relatively stock with a set of Cooper Tires ST's and the Toytec Lift.
I drove around for years in this configuration.
This was fine for on road driving however, I had nothing but issues with these components. In the end... I replaced the front shocks twice on both sides and the add-a-leaf sagged after just a short period of time.
That shock's done!
Then I added a Canopy for the winter up here... Well as luck would have it, it turned out great. The truck looked sharp as ever.
Then the Add-a-Leaf started to sag...
So after a lot of trial and error, I decided that I would take in to careful consideration the modifications that I did next. I've been on Expedition Portal for years now just watching, and decided that my experiences with the 1st gen Tundra were worth sharing. Especially now that they are gaining some traction in the Overland Scene.
So over the last couple of years as aftermarket parts for the 1st gen became available, I started to put this thing together the way it should have been from the start.
Started Off with the Archive Garage Shackle flip kit. This is my favorite mod on the truck. Having a traditional style hanging shackle just make the truck ride and flex so much better. With the archive kit, I also purchased the Deaver springs that were built in conjunction with Archive Garage. With all the love for Archive Garage, I figured I might as well grab the U-Bolt flip kit while I was at it.
I decided that with this new leaf spring system, I wanted to use a decent shock this time. I've got nothing against Bilstien, it's just that I didn't have much luck with their product. This time I decided that I wanted something better. I decided on Fox Shocks for my build. I see everyone using Kings on the Gram and figured I'd go another route. I ended up landing on what I thought was a universal stem-top mounted Fox Shock with remote reservoirs with low speed compression dampening adjusters. After I got them in the mail and had opened them, I realized that according to the sticker on the box that they were for the front of a Dodge Ram. Nowhere on the website I purchased from said that they were for Dodge trucks. I started thinking to myself about the weight of a Dodge Truck and figured that with all of that weight, that these shocks had to be valved pretty stiff and that they would be great for stabilizing heavy loads. In the end, I installed them with little modification. The first problem I ran into was that the bottom eyelets of the shock were larger than the Tundra's lower shock tabs. I ended up widening these tabs to accommodate the larger eyelet size. Next, I had to figure out a way to mount the remote reservoirs. After looking at my truck frame for an entire evening, I noticed that the rear cross member in the truck tied into the driver-side shock tower, thus adding reinforcement. I decided to cut a hole in the side of the shock tower to feed my reservoir through. In the end, I mounted my reservoirs on the underside of my bed on the ribs that ride on the frame. So Far So Good.
This is a photo looking straight up from the ground to the underside of the driver-side shock mount. If you look closely, you'll see that on the right side of the photo that there is another "backer" piece of steel that is over-layed and riveted to the top of the shock tower. This is the cross-brace that the OEM spare tire hangs from. Normally, I would never cut a hole in a high stress part like a shock tower, but with this added reinforcement it won't be an issue.
I've seen folks on EXPO do some different fab work on top of the shock tower to accept eyelet top mounted shocks however, I didn't have a welder at my disposal and I already had a stem-top shock ready to go.