Hardcastle's 2002 Tacoma DC - "blanco"

I immediately starting having some back road fun in it. Mostly camping trips with only occasionally needing 4wd


I decided Brandon’s (tacoman99) wheels looked way better than mine so I copied him and bought some 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] gen 4runner wheels and painted them satin black. Also picked up some 235/85R16 BFG AT’s

Being left out of the trail conversations started to suck so I added a CB. Cobra 75 wxst

I eventually ended up driving some roads and trails that had me dangerously close to smashing my rocker panels so I decided I needed sliders. I scored some trail-gear pre welded sliders locally that had already been powder coated for dirt cheap. They had never even been installed on a truck. My only complaint is i would prefer they hug the body a little tighter and have a steeper angle. These will protect my body just fine. It's just an aesthetic preference.

I got tired of dragging my rear bumper around on rocks so I bought an all-pro. I bought this while they were on sale right before a trip so i didn't have time to weld in my receiver hitch. I still need to get to that. I want to haul around my dirt bike without taking the shell off.



I swung a deal for an Engel fridge, too. I’ve wanted one of these forever! I ended up going with the MT 45. I welded a simple slide out of 2x2 angle iron and 1x1 iron for the fridge tray. I used a 300 lb slide and so far it’s worked great. I’ve only used it for 1 trip but it was a long nasty road and it held up well. I did had to clean and re-lube the slide as it was full of sand. That’s something I didn’t think about. I since bought a tail-gate seal kit that will hopefully keep most of the dust out of the shell.

Other than normal maintenance i haven't done much else and don't have any huge plans. I changed the trans and diff fluid when i bought it. I replaced the ball joints and tie rods as well. They hadn't failed yet but they did have 10 years of use on them when i bought the truck. The timing belt was been swapped out as well.

I did the "grey wire" mod so the e-locker can be engaged in 2wd and 4high.
The tune situation was lacking majorly so I upgraded the deck and speakers. MUCH better.
Added Husky floor mats. Kind of pricey but worth it in IMO. keeps things clean with mud, salt, boy scouts, dogs, etc.

Future plans:

Tundra 231 mm brake swap as soon as mine wear out. Even with the 235/85's i find these brakes a little lacking.
Maybe a hot water heater. Cold camp showers are ok but heat sounds better.
Maybe a suspension upgrade. Still unsure of what I want or if I want it...

I love this truck.

sixstringsteve said:

I love this truck.

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Thanks Steve. it looks like your trucks little brother. or maybe little sister is more appropriate

Reminds me of when I first got my old D cab. Nice truck.

How do you like the 235s I've always liked the look of that size tire is there any clearance issues?

Rock Taco said:

Reminds me of when I first got my old D cab. Nice truck.

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Thanks Troy

1adam12 said:

How do you like the 235s I've always liked the look of that size tire is there any clearance issues?

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The 235/85R16's have been great. If you're interested in them i'm sure you're aware they're an E rated tire. I worried they'd be too stiff but i have no complaints.
I had zero rubbing stock and after the Bilstein 5100's. I did recently add 1.25" Spidertrax hub centric spacers and was getting a small amount of rubbing at full bump while half turned. My guess is most people wouldn't notice or care but it bothered me. I had to trim a small amount of my plastic fender liner and now I have zero rubbing at full bump.

The small piece of plastic i trimmed.


stance with the 235's and 1.25" spacers

Looks good how much lift are you running with the 5100s? What did the 235s do for your mpg?

Adam, do you have a taco now? If so, I'd love to see a thread in the member's rides area.

I just picked up a 96 4runner. I guess I should start thread.

I look forward to seeing it.

1adam12 said:

Looks good how much lift are you running with the 5100s? What did the 235s do for your mpg?

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I set the 5100's at one level above stock. ~1" height increase. With the helper spring in the rear it raised me ~1.5". I was totally level with the saggy rear stock springs and camper shell and now un-loaded i'm a little stink bugged. I know there are far higher performing options available but for anyone wondering these shocks made a huge improvement for me while driving rough/washboard roads. My goal wasn't to lift it much, just improve the ride.

No noticeable MPG change. These only raise you from the stock height about 1" and they're skinny.

235/85R16 ~ 31.7x9.25

Stock 265/70R16 ~ 30.6x10.4

Thanks man it looks good

Small update to my Tacoma. A month or so ago my front brakes needed replacing so I opted to go with the Tundra 231 mm swap. This swap is well documented on several forums but I could add a little info from my experience. I had to cut ~1/2” off my stock banjo bolt and drill out the center a bit larger so it would seat into the Tundra caliper properly. I had read this might be necessary but I would have preferred to just buy a proper fitting banjo bolt. My friend swapped his 2004 tacoma front brakes to the Tundra and after my experience opted to buy the brake lines and bolts from Wheelers Offroad not expecting to have to do any modification to the new bolts. Turned out the bolts wheelers sold were too long so he ended up cutting down his stock bolts, too. Maybe it was just the particular calipers we bought? We used the Power Stop calipers from Rockauto. Part # S2712.

Regardless the swap was easy and the stopping power is significantly improved. The pedal feel is definitely different but not necessarily in a bad way. Overall I’m happy with the small upgrade. Other than that I’ve just been driving and enjoying my truck.

My wife and I have wanted a way to more comfortably camp while not majorly limiting the areas we like to go. Over the past few years we've looked at RTT's, old Toyota 4x4 chinooks, camper vans, tear drop trailers, flippac's, and four wheel campers. After much debate and saving of pennies we finally decided on an FWC. Its the Finch model. We found this used in SLC and snatched it up. Haven't had it very long but we already love it. It's a good balance for us between having a normal DD and a nice weekend warrior. It's the "shell" model with a furnace, a fan, and my engel fridge added to it.

Very cool addition, looks great.