Retarius's 08 DC Tundra Build

[Retarius]

Since I just joined and have decided to take my truck the Expo route ill start a build thread. I bought my 08 DC Tundra 4x4 Back in June of 08. I loved the power of the 5.7 which was ultimately why I ended up with a Tundra and not a Taco. First mods were a Banks exhaust, Bedliner, and painting the chrome Toyota emblem on the grill.

only pic stock


Banks exhaust


Huge Tip....

[Retarius]

I drove the truck like that while I assembled funds to keep going. At the time I lived in the San Francisco Bay are and made multiple trips to Oregon and Lake Tahoe. The Bedrug was great and makes an awesome sleeping pad. Having the full size bed on the Tundra vs the shorter 5' bed of a DC Taco also made camping easy. We could fit 3 easily.



Derek24


Cousin


And myself

[Retarius]

The truck worked great and did a few more camping trips but definitely need some bigger tires. At the time I thought the only way to fit 35's was with a 6in Lift. I went with the ProComp stage 1. If I were to do it over, I would go with a 3in and 35's.

First Day


Shake down

[Retarius]

I ended up getting a smoking deal on some used Total Chaos upper control arms They were pure beef. Before I pulled the trigger I called TC and asked if they should fit on the 6in and employee #1 said they had installed them on multiple 6in lifted Tundras. Sweet. I ordered them and they were pure beef



Lookin good



Once everything was on, the camber looked off. When a right angle was held up it was obvious. I limped the truck to the alignment shop where I was told there was no way it was fixable. So I limped home and made a phone call. This time I was told by employee #2 "Ya bro, there's no way thats gonna work" The UCA are designed for a 3in lift. The ProComp lift keeps stock geometry so off they came

Not lookin so hot

[Retarius]

The truck worked good but I was not happy with the GIANT spacer on top of the stock shocks. I knew it was only a matter of time until I broke something so it was time to upgrade. Icon had recently just released their 6-7in Coilover so they got the call. These were pure beef. With the coilovers installed, I removed the sway bar to allow them to really work. They soaked up everything I could dish at them and improved the handling of the truck even without the swaybar. It was a night and day difference.







Stuck on the shakedown run....


Derek24 to the rescue


We made a high speed mount for a video camera to see the shocks work over a field of rocks the size of baby heads that dropped down onto a dirt road

[Retarius]

Since the Fronts were so amazing I was on the phone with Icon placing an order for their new at the time rear reservoir 2.5 shocks. I ended getting the first production set and was not let down.

[Retarius]

The truck then made the cross country move from CA to GA. It drove great all the way there and I had no problems (minus cost of fuel. Damn 5.7 is thirsty) It made a few trips to FL and the surrounding area for the year I was there and then towed a trailer to Colorado Springs like a champ. That brings the truck up to this past weekend when I decided I had enough of the chrome bumper. It was time to bedline it. $60 and a weekend and now no more chrome

Everything required


It was pretty easy to do. You pop the plastic top off, then unbolt the bumper with a 12mm wrench. It makes life way easier to remove the tailgate first.




I sanded with 80 grit sand paper (I had read to use 80 grit online but I would recommend something coarser as I'm not sure how well this will stick) and primed with a self etching primer. Notice my helper hard at work


I laid 3 coats of bedliner on the bumper with the last layer being real thick. On the sides I used the included paint brush to apply 2 thick coats on thin part that wraps from the side of the bumper to the truck bed. I was pretty happy with the end product but we will see what happens over time.

[washington taco]

Nice ride! Do you have the ICONS and the front DB kit installed?

[Derek24]

Awesome! Glad you decided to keep the Tundra and not get the Tacoma. Taco's are cool, but for the long drive to Cabo in a couple years you'll be much more comfortable. Time to put on those headers!!!

[Retarius]

The front Procomp 6in kit is still installed (Im guessing DB is drop bracket). The only thing that came off were the Procomp spacers. All the bracketry and larger knuckles are still there. They are the specific 6-7in lift coilovers.