2003 PreRunner Build

Hello everyone! My name is Art, and I drive a 2003 PreRunner Double Cab, TRD package that I've had for now going on 3 years, and I wanted to share the progress and some of the changes I've made. It's been a slow process, but so far I'm pleased with the results (even though, like everyone else around here, I feel like it's a never-ending journey lol).

The truck was bought with the thought of it being our "run around" vehicle, trying to keep the miles on our other vehicles low. We also have lots of deer in this area, so we also figured a truck like this could take a collision with one a little better than our other vehicles.

For the first couple of years of ownership, the truck really did not need much, other than routine maintenance. It had right under 150k miles when we bought it, and it was in really good shape. Clean history report, Texas-owned it's whole life, so no rust issues. In general, a very clean truck (which was mainly the reason why we decided to buy it).

This is what it looked like when we first got it:



Other than the wheels and tires, brush guard and running boards, the truck was mainly stock. It also had a 3 inch lift kit (blocks and spacers), which I'll tell you more about when we get to the suspension changes. I kept the truck the way you see it there for a good year or so.

Inside, the previous owner had an aftermarket sound system installed. I was pleased to see that it was done right, at least to my liking. Good, quality components. JL Audio component speakers front and rear, JL amps (installed under both driver and passenger seats), Pioneer shallow mount sub, Kenwood head unit, and the whole cab was soundproofed with Dynamat. In general, it looked like a clean, professional install.

I'll get to the first change on my next post.

Thanks for reading!

 

Welcome to TW Art

 

Looking forward to your build

 

First item that needed to go was the wheel/tire combo. Never really cared for those old chrome wheels that had seen better days, and the BFGs were already showing some wear. It looked like they were old enough and rode pretty rough. So I got me a set of OEM Toyota wheels with Michelins off of a 2017 Limited. I kept that combo for a good 30k miles, and they did fantastic. The tires' only weakness (and main reason that got me to start making changes to the truck) was their poor performance in light mud conditions. We live out in the country, and anytime it rained, it made it near impossible to get to our place. In comparison, my Chevy Colorado with Wrangler A/T Adventure tires could drive through that easily. Other than that, they were great tires. Quiet, good mileage, and outstanding tread life.

This is what it looked like:



I kept it looking that way for a few months before the next change came. And it was a pretty lucky one too...

 

Found one more pic before the next change:

 

So I get this phone call one day. It's the father of the gentleman I bought the truck from (keep in mind, this was probably a year after we got it). He asks me if I still own the truck that used to be his son's. At that point I'm thinking trouble lol. Turns out, he had a matching camper shell for that truck, that I guess his son had put on there at some point and then taken it off. He said it had been sitting on his backyard for years now, and he needed it gone. He asked me if I was interested. I asked him how much he wanted for it, he said he would give it to me for free. And sure enough, a couple hours later, he rolled up with the shell on a cargo trailer and dropped it off at my place. I thought that was a pretty good score. Granted, it was not perfect. Some of the paint needed to be touched up, and it was missing the rear glass. But other than that, it was in decent shape (at least for being free).



Around the same time, I also added a set of LED off road lights. Nothing fancy, but they worked pretty well.



As you can tell from these pictures, there are a few other items that needed attention. Broken passenger side door handle, missing trim piece between passenger side headlight and bumper, faded black trim all over, faded headlights, etc. We will eventually get to those.




It stayed that way for a while, before I started getting a little more serious about it.

 

Moving on. At this point (this was probably about six months ago) one of my friends, who happens to be a vehicle enthusiast as well as a highly skilled mechanic, started talking me into doing all these things to the truck. He's more of a Jeep guy himself, but we've had a great time working on both our projects together.

Replacing headlights.

Before:




During:




After:






I also updated every light bulb, inside and out, to LED.

 

Nice job! Congratulations.

 

I was perfectly content with my truck the way it was (except for the tires as I mentioned earlier), and had no plans to make any changes that were not strictly necessary anytime soon. The truck drove just fine (I thought). The only complaint I had was, the ride was a little harsh, bumpy, which I thought was normal for the type of vehicle. My friend then noticed that my leaf springs were pretty much done, which led us to believe the front ones probably needed replacing too. I knew I needed shocks as well, so I started looking into just replacing the whole suspension.

This is where I realized the truck actually had a 3 inch lift kit (blocks and spacers), but my factory springs had sagged to the point where there was no lift to it. I was back at factory ride height (ish).

Before:



Decided to go with a full Old Man Emu setup.





After:



No real noticeable change, at least visually. But it made such a night and day difference on the driving experience. It rode so much better, and the handling was amazing compared to what it was.

 

Also it was time to do something with that faded black plastic trim. Masked everything, and sprayed it with truck bedliner. I couldn't find any after pictures, but you can see the difference on the next set of pics. Sprayed all 4 flares, as well as the mirrors and brush guard.

 

Next....



My original plan was to just get new tires, something not too aggressive, and keep the same Toyota wheels. I found a few pics of all terrain tires on those wheels on some 3rd gen trucks on here, and I actually liked the way they looked. But after much debating, I decided to replace wheels and tires. I couldn't find a style that I thought would match my truck, or what I wanted it to look like. Until I came across these:





After:





Got some rubbing in the front, both sides. We had to do some hammering and trimming. It went away for the most part, but sometimes it still would rub. I was not completely satisfied with that, and I knew something had to be done in the future to address that. At the time I just did not know what.

On that last pic you can also see I've taken care of the missing trim piece on the passenger side. Also, the door handle was replaced, and the window tint re done (the existing tint was starting to fade and turn purple). The brush guard was re installed shortly after.

I liked the way it looked, but now I was starting to get that never ending itch of "it just needs a little more". More to come.

 

This next one was strictly for looks. I doubt i'll ever put it to use lol.

 

Fast forward through all the painful pics, here's the end result:

 

Wasn't completely satisfied with the all-gold look, I felt like it needed a little contrast. So...





I also installed the Rago Fabrication ditch light brackets with some generic LED pods. I had not re installed the LED lights up front because I decided I wanted to go with round ones. We will eventually get to those as well.

 

One thing I had noticed, and then found a good amount of information about on here, was how the factory cooling fan did not allow for proper A/C cooling when at idle in really hot situations. I read a lot about electric fan conversions, but was not sold on the idea. It felt like one of those "if it ain't broken...", plus I figured the OEM Toyota components should be a little more reliable than anything else out there, especially when we were talking about the engine cooling here.

I figured the best of both worlds would be to add an electric fan to the factory set up. That way I could ensure a good amount of airflow even when engine RPMs were low or the truck was not moving. Problem was, space was limited. But I was able to figure out a way to squeeze in a 10 inch electric pusher fan in front of the A/C condenser.

Before:



The center bracket had to be removed in order to fit the fan, and the horn had to be relocated. Other than that, it fit pretty well in there.





It actually made a noticeable difference when at idle. I did not want it to be directly controlled by the A/C, so later on I ended up wiring it to a separate switch.

 

Ended up swapping the pods for a 2 mode (amber marker/flood light) set. Wired the amber markers to the blinkers, and the flood lights to a separate switch.



When flashing:

 

After much debating, I decided the truck needed to be a little taller, both to solve the rubbing issue, and just for looks in general. In my opinion, the gap between tire and fender was just too small. We thought about body lift, more serious trimming, maybe even replacing the bumper with an off road one (which I may still do in the future, but not for now). I ended up going for a 2 inch suspension lift.

This is the end result:









I think that was the cherry on top. I like the way it looks so much better, and it really did not change any of the handling characteristics. At least not that I can notice. Ball joint angles don't look too bad at all. I may still look into doing the UCAs in the future just to be safe.

 

This is the switch I used for the accessories:



The "Fan" button doesn't need much explanation. The "Bumper" one is wired to the factory high beam to control the round bumper lights that I have not installed yet. If the switch is on, the lights will come on when I switch to high beam. If the switch is off, the high beam will work normally. The "Rounds" controls the ditch lights. I have not decided what I'm going to do with the 3 buttons I have left. I was thinking maybe some rear lights, and whatever else I come up with in the future. The relay/fuse box is in the engine bay, on the driver's side. I'll take a picture later.

A couple other upgrades that I couldn't find pictures of are:

-AEM drop-in air filter. No noticeable change in performance, fuel economy, or engine noise.
-Magnaflow "Performance" muffler and exhaust tip. I am very pleased with the change in engine noise. It's not too loud, and it just added a little more character to the truck. No drone at any RPM/speed.

 

It’s come a long way! Nice work

 

Man you honestly helped me a lot. I just received my fans I bought for my ‘02 and was trying to decide how to mount them. Instead of going with one 10” fan though I bought two 6” fans to apply to each side. Should keep me from having to relocate or remove stuff and hopefully do double the cooling since it’s two fans spread across the condenser. Truck looks great. Lol I’m jelly of the camper shell. Been hunting one like that for mine for a while now. Mines a single cab though and it’s hard to find a flush cab height one. Most have that dip and get taller towards the back. Great build though enjoyed reading the different upgrades you did and seeing the progress.