In keeping with the design philosphy of reliable, economical, and capable mods, I've selected the following equipment. I wanted to keep the weight to a minimum both for wear and tear and mileage issues.
I picked up a set of steel Tacoma rims on Craigslist in early Spring of 2007. As it turned out the backspacing is wrong. They are 5.5 so it sits too close to the UCA. The plan was to get some MT type tires and put them on this set of rim. I spent a lot of time on the Craigslist looking for deals. Specifically I was looking for slightly used set of tires. I didn't feel I need brand new tires for experimenting. They were going to be a off road only set of tires so I was flexible. Early on I wanted 16s. It's has more sidewall, cheaper, and lighter. I got the set of rims, lugs, and centercap for $100 locally. Since the offset is wrong, I tried to resell these but I couldn't find any takers. They sat in my storage for a long time while I start to look into a set of beadlocks. So I drove around on stockers for a long time... It wasn't until January 2008 did Genie get new shoes. Looked like a buff body builder who's never worked out the legs!
The theme of my build up seem to be "
Cheap"
I bought a lot of stuff used and I also was the beneficiary of the generosity of the forum members (
Tony's (FJamming) get well soon thread and
Tony's (FJamming) get well soon thread2). It was truly touching what you guys have done.
I've listed the mods below and indicated how they were obtained. As you can see, I really didn't buy too many things
new. Now that I've done it and listed what I spent...uh saved.
I did save quite a bit of money used but it took some careful examining of the products. The Hi-lift and Pull-Pal were great. They were practically brand new.
- AP (Walker Evans) 2.5" diameter fronts and adjustable rear reservoir shocks.
- Pro Links. (see post 1)
- All Pro 1.25" UCA.
- AP front bumper. (see post 1)
- AP rear bumper. (see post 1)
- Demello skid. ($75 Todd’s used skid)
- T-Max EW-9000 competition winch with Superwinch Rock Crawling winch hawse fairlead. ($375 at 4wheelparts)
- Viking Trail Line with safety thimble (120ft. Craiglist $100 with local pickup. Could have picked up the delrine rollers for $50, but was thinking Hawse).
- Goodyear MT/R 305/70/16 on Wheeler Off Road wheels. (straight up trade for my stock tires and wheels)
- Super Swamper LTB 34s. ($135 each at 4wheel parts)
- Tacoma rims. ($100 for the 4 Tacoma rims).
- Trail Gear Sliders. ($299 plus $100 for powdercoating).
- Aeroflow. (Gift from Wrigman)
- Lightforce Blitz 240 (Gift from forum)
- Powertank 10lb (Gift from forum)
- FJoel Battery Clamp (Gift from FJoel)
- All Pro swing out.
- Radio Shack Mag mount CB (gift from bro-in law)
- Hi-Lift (Protector bag, bumper lift, Jack Mate, chains, Hi-Lift Base, 4XRAC). Craiglist $100
- Pull-Pal R.W. 11,000 lb. limit. (Craiglist $110)
- Rear tray (DIY)
- Cobra 75 (Speaker not working-gift from SocalOCFJ)
- Wilson Little Wil ($40)
- Costco puck lights ($15)
- Tools
- Recovery gears (Tree saver, tow strap, chains, 8T D-shackle, 2 4.5T D-shackle, ) These came with the Mile Marker winch or the Hi-Lift jack.
- First aid
- Spare parts
- Taskforce Cree LED flashlight (150 Lumens. $30 @ Lowes)
- Flag mount ($9)
- Ollie Collars (thank you Ollie!)
