Well, that’s what I experienced too! I ended up getting the ‘19 and found it has Bilstein 5100s in the front, but on the lower setting, so I popped them out and put them in the 2.5” position, and put a 1.5” lift and Timbrens in the rear. It’s currently on 35-12.50s on factory Sequoia wheels with 1.25” spacers, but I found a deal on a set of Fuel wheels in the correct offset for my 35s. Thanks for all the input. I’m really liking the truck! I did find a 2014 as well, with only 25,000 on it, but it was too old for the lease I need. Mine just turned 60,000.
Wow beautiful truck! Looks really clean with the colormatched bumper too. I love those wheels. With the tires and spacers the stance is perfect. Would love to see how it looks with the Fuels mounted too.
So I finally got around to setting a day aside to install the winch. This started with relocating the power steering cooler. Unfortunately the relocation suggested by Coastal Offroad that I did using their included brackets in my bumper build was still not enough to clear a winch. This meant running an aftermarket cooler. So iI started pulling apart the front end. Between the annoying TRD skid plate and the weight of this bumper, its my least favorite thing to do on this truck. Had my supervisor with me who decided to lay in the grass and watch me struggle instead.
So I started with this
Hayden 679 trans cooler. Good quality unit that was a large enough size to replicate and improve upon the stock cooler.
You can see the stock cooler hanging below the mounting points in this shot. I had already taken the Coastal steel relocation brackets off. This would directly interfere with the winch.
To mount the cooler I used JohnLakeman's extremely helpful transmission cooler guide on the Tundra Forums that can be found
here. His brackets were perfect for mounting this cooler securely. I plan on adding a transmission cooler eventually as well on the other side. Started with forming the main bracket out of 1" flat stock that I measured, bent, and painted.
Deviated from his instructions a bit of using steel sheet and just used the extra flat stock to make the brackets that would then hold the other side of the cooler to the hood latch support.
Then came drilling the holes into the truck to mount the brackets. The holes were drilled and i subsequently painted the exposed edges to avoid rust. This is where I made an idiotic mistake. I used my level against the flat stock bar to mark where to drill the upper hole in the truck. However i forgot that the truck itself was not level where I parked it. As a result, it came out slightly crooked. Does not actually matter and its hidden by my grill but it still made me feel like an absolute idiot. I then routed some 3/8" hose and added some hose clamps and it was done. Topped off the reservoir with some Valvoline ATF, bled the system, and everything was solid. Very happy with how it came out otherwise.
Now with that relocated I could move on to the winch install. I bought this winch almost 6 months ago for a steal, an Engo 10000lb synthetic line winch. I was not originally looking at Engos but they have a good reputation as a small company and back up their products well so I trusted them. Winch looks to be good quality with good weatherproofing but we'll see how it actually does.
Obviously needed to relocate the control box. This was a bit of a dilemma. It would be easy to put it behind the grill but then it wouldn't be easily accessible to plug in the remote. Under the hood would be a pain between needed to buy all new wire and open the hood every single time I needed to run the winch. So I placed it next to the winch where it was accessible from the front and at an angle so that the cord when plugged in would not be under any pressure or stress that would cause premature wear. I drilled some holes and then mounted the control box. I'm still not totally sold on the location, some feedback would be great.
I used dielectric grease over every contact and edges of the cable sleeves for added protection. I'm wondering if I should seal the control box with silicone as well despite the actual solenoids being weatherproof inside.
Otherwise I got the bumper mounted and also mounted my custom fairlead.
I had this made by a guy on Etsy who CNC'd the TRD logo for me. Trying to add an "OEM+" look. Also added a Factor 55 Prolink. Happy with the look and the winch functions great. The winch remote plugs in easily and is easily accessible. The winch clutch is also easily accessible through the opposite access hole in the bumper as well. While i'm happy with it, i'm contemplating a Factor 55 Flatlink instead now. I like the Prolink but it does stick out a bit more than i'd like. Otherwise I plan on painting the "TRD" letters red too.
My next plans are to tackle the absolute mess of wiring under the hood. This includes wiring in a winch power disconnect switch and adding a fuse block to better manage all of my accessories. I purchased a bunch of Blue Sea Systems parts that i'm piecing together for this and will also be fabricating some brackets.