stan23's 2022 TRD Sport 4x4 build

Long story short, I had a 3rd gen TRD Sport 4x2 back in 2016, and loved the truck! Sold it after a few years and had a 2nd gen to hold me over for truck duties. About 6 months ago, I told myself if a new 2022 TRD Sport in Lunar Rock with leather and moonroof ever became available, i'd pick one up!

Well I was on a list at my local MSRP only dealer, and they said it would be a long shot if they get one, so I had little hope. Low and behold one came up and the person who originally reserved it, couldn't buy it, so I went down there ASAP and swooped it up!

My truck use case is primarily as a family hauler between our houses (one in the Sierra Nevada mountains where it snows) and something to haul my mountain bikes and other family bicycles. There are some nice off road trials near Lake Tahoe, and a 4x4 truck is perfect vehicle to get to the trail head. As much as I hate to say it, 99% of the trucks life will be spent on-road, so good on road manners with good suspension is a must!

having owned and modified many vehicles, my priorities have always been; tires - brakes - suspension.

So here it goes!

August 16, 2022 - Picked up the truck in Sunnyvale, CA. Tacoma DCSB Sport 4x4 with Premium + Tech. No LED headlights unfortunately, but more on this later.. Dealer charged $1 under MSRP! The only port installed options were tail gate inserts, mud flaps, and all-season mats.

 

August 18th, 2022

First mods!

Being that this is a family hauler with 2 young kids, I was always impressed with the OEM cast aluminum running boards. I had these same running boards on my 2016 Truck as well and really liked them. I picked them up from my local dealer and put them on right away.



I also use trucks to haul my motorcycles, so having good tie down points is important. TBH the stock mounts on the bed kinda sucks for hauling motorcycles. You can't really use the cleats on the bed rails as they aren't strong enough. So back to the dealer to get a front rail (which is strangely deleted from the 3rd gen) and some tie down brackets from JP Metal Fab in Santa Clara, CA.

 

August 26th, 2022

Not a fan of the stock wheels, so I knew they had to go... Seeing some Lunar Rock trucks with bronze wheels, I knew that's the look I wanted! I ordered some 4R TRD Pro Sema wheels in Bronze and had Discount Tire mount a new set of BFG Trail Terrains. I had the same wheels before on my old truck with KO2s, but this time around, I wanted a more on-road focused tire.

I like the Trail Terrains because they were 3 peak snow rated (important to me), P-metric load, and somehow were lighter than the stock Toyo A30s that came off the truck!

 

September 1, 2022

All my other cars have ceramic tint, and it really does help with heat rejection. Told the tint shop to match the rears as best as they could and came out to 20% ceramic tint. Looks great to me!



As I mentioned earlier, I use the truck to take bikes to the trail head and rather than put the bikes on the bed, I actually prefer my 1up rack.



I like to use the bed as a big trunk, so I got a myself a hard tri-fold cover from Rough Country. I had the Extang Solid Fold 2.0 on the old truck, and I actually prefer that cover. I'm not a fan of the shiny look and the build quality is just better on the Solid Fold.

 

Looks great OP! Can’t wait for my LR!

 

September 2, 2022

Read here about replacing the volume knobs with RAV4 ones and yes - I hate the stock knobs. Super small and slippery. The RAV4 ones are awesome!



Had the TRD Pro shift knob on the old truck, might as well get one for the new truck!



Picked up the bed step from BAM wholesale parts. Don't use it often, but when I need it, it's really handy.

 

September 6, 2022

Remember what I said about my focus of : Tires, suspension, and brakes? Well 1/3 so far, so it was time to change the suspension. First off, I didn't want a lift. I wanted much better compression and rebound than what the stock Hitachi shocks offered. I didn't really like the ride quality of the stock stuff. I wanted a more supple and controlled ride. As usual, I did a ton of research and it was all down to digressive vs. progressive and seeing how Fox is local to me and all my bikes have Fox Factory suspension - it was a no brainer to go Fox. I went with the 2.0 kit. Front coil-overs set to stock height and rear shocks with external reservoirs. I ordered from Shock Surplus and they were great to deal with. However, if I were to do it again, i'd order from AccuTune as they offer re-valving to your needs prior to shipping.



I'm usually a DIY guy, but I went ahead and went to a local 4x4 shop to install my suspension. One being, they offer in-house alignment after install, and the price was reasonable. Having done suspension work in my driveway in the past, I was honestly not looking forward to changing out the parts during a 100 degree heatwave we were having. Turns out, not only did they do an outstanding job, but the alignment was SPOT on. My truck was off from the factory, and they corrected this and had the caster set to where the truck drove really well. I asked them to set the preload to stock height, but after all is said and done, the front has about a 1" lift. Because the truck drove so well after, I decided to leave it as such.

 

September 8, 2022

I actually really like the stock grill that came on the 2020+ trucks, but being that i'm on some sort of Lunar Rock + Bronze theme, I went ahead and ordered the Trail grill from my local Toyota dealer. Ordering this grill was great as no TRD Pro VIN needed and the price was good ~ 180 bucks.

Being this is my first truck with TSS, I did a ton of reading on the garnish, TSS errors, etc.. This is all new to me.

I went with an aftermarket Amazon special garnish and I installed with no washers and its been working fine. At some point, I would like an OEM garnish as I think the aftermarket one colors are a bit off...



Decided to get the black out overlay on all the chrome emblems. Wish this was around back in 2016! Again, Amazon special, but quality seems good..



Lunar Rock changes color depending on the light. I love it best at dusk!



Getting it dirty.



Always park next to other Tacos!



4x4 emblem installed. Got the measurements on location here! Thanks TW!

 

September 15, 2022

I love TW and all the info and resources it offers, but it can also make you very paranoid. Hearing about all cats getting stolen is very unsettling.. Decided to get a cat shield. It just so happens Millercat was my first choice and being that they are a local company, made it even better (remember, always support local companies!) I installed it, and so far, it's been a great rattle free experience. I opted for the aluminum version, but to be honest, I should have gone to the stainless version. It looks much stronger/thicker. Learn from my mistake and order the stainless version.

 

September 30, 2022

Tires, Suspension, and Brakes. 3/3 installed now!

I made a separate thread on my brake setup here : https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...h-hawk-performance-pads.779789/#post-27882460

I then decided to do a build thread instead

I was never happy with the stock braking performance. I felt the power was good, but brake lacked feel and good modulation. I don't tow, and big brake kits were a little too much $ for me.

I did a crap ton of research as usually and went with Power stop rotors + Hawk Performance ceramic pads. Having a relatively new truck, I could have gotten away with just the hawk pads, but I rather have new rotors to mate with them. Total cost was around $250 and an hour of my time.

After bedding in the brakes, the feel was fantastic! No noise, not too aggressive initial bite, and more braking power!



Truck as it sits today..

 

September 30, 2022

Remember my disappointment of buying a truck off the lot and having all options except for the LED headlights? Well, I decided to bite the bullet and order the OEM LED headlights. I ordered from Sparks Toyota there is a package delay due to Hurricane Ian. Really puts into perspective what the rest of the country is going through

While I wait, whats the best business to support other than local ones? TW members of course! So far, i've ordered the LED headlight harness from @daveeasa , tail gate lock from @christian06 , and door cup PPF from @FtApache - All high quality items!

 

Thx again my friend

 

OEM LED Headlight 1/2 delivered from Sparks!

 

As mentioned earlier since I bought my truck off the lot, it had every option with the exception of LED headlights! Having had a 2016 and suffering through the stock halogen lights, I knew I had to do the OEM LED headlights!

I ordered through Sparks Toyota using the Chloekuo coupon code and the delivery was quick. Install was relatively easy, but always nerve ranking popping fender clips. On one side of my bumper where it meets the fender there is a little gap which I thought I could fix, but alas I don't think it is possible.

The harness I used was perfectly labeled and overall the install was smooth. I also took this time to install some Amazon special no name branded SAE LED foglights. This is just a placeholder until I figure out what food I'll ultimately go with.

First night drive was fantastic! It's like putting on prescription glasses for the first time! So clear and bright!

 

October 11, 2022

Unlike most, I actually have no problems with the way my truck drives. I have very little complaint. I've read about pedal commanders for years and never gave it a second thought. One popped up recently on FB marketplace for a good price and I thought WTH, I'll give it a shot.

Upon install, I ran into the small issue of removing the OEM plug that goes into the accelerator and both the inner spacer and rubber boot came off. I read the issue here, so I half expected it. No big deal.

I put the PC in "city mode" and the PC does exactly what I thought it would do, which is just shorten the accelerator 'throw.' Very much like a quick turn throttle on a motorcycle.

I'm meh on it, and no way would I think it's worth 300 bucks. I'll give it a few months to see how I like it.

 

Very nice. 265/70/17?

 

Thanks! Yes, 265/70/17

 

10/12/2022

Seeing as I have some form of dash cam on my other cars, I decided to get one for the Taco. Using the Donger harness which grabs power from the rearview cam made it super easy to add a USB port to accept whatever dash cam you want. With this setup, it only powers on when the car is running, and no recording is done when the car is parked. I'm OK with that. The way I have it setup, it's completely blocked by the rearview mirror so it is completely out of sight. For the cam, I saw here many folks were running the Garmin Dash Cam Mini 2. Since I use Garmins for my MTB rides, it was a no brainer to me to go with them. The price was decent ~ $120.

A simple install, and test fit and the footage looks great!

 

10/15/2022

With my new LED headlights looking good, and my goal of trimming as much chrome as possible, I decided to get some LED sequential turn signals in the mirrors. They installed easily and clearly brighter and more noticeable than the stock signals.