Builds 2006 Tundra DC 4x4 mild build (1 Viewer)

[theferg]

We need more 1G Tundra builds around here.... so figured I'd start a thread for my newly acquired 2006 Tundra DC 4x4.

I plan to only do a bit of desert exploring and family camping stuff in it, so it will be a mild build compared to a lot of builds around here and compared to a lot of my other builds from over the years.

Plus, this baby is an absolute creampuff. She's basically the dream used truck: bought it from legit original owner, clean title, 125k miles, garaged Arizona life (aka clean inside and out), with a folder stacked with maint records (dealer and independent shop, and oil changes (though surely not all the oil change records are in there across the last 14 years, but there's a LOT of them) --including 2 timing belt and water pump services at 55k and 117k ). I am stoked to have gotten this thing, and the owner was likewise super happy it was not going to a "landscaper" cause it was her "first baby". (She just recently had her literal first baby and they were selling cause they bought an SUV to fit the baby bags and strollers etc etc. )

There's a handful of small things that need addressed here and there, but overall, its in excellent shape.

And really, if the suspension wasn't 14 years old, I prob would just slap on some slightly meatier tires and just drive it. But I gotta def upgrade the suspension.

So I've got a Dobinsons IMS kit on the way for it plus an OME AAL for the rear that I already had sitting here. Hopefully get that all on in the next couple weeks and have it riding smooth.

Thinking I'll then throw on some 285s or so and a hidden winch setup and just rock and roll as-is for a while.

Flew down to Phoenix area this past weekend and picked it up and drove home to Utah. Had to snap a "first day" pic somewhere on the way home north from PHX. (A keen eye will notice the missing center cap. Sadly that disappeared somewhere on a test-drive after I had Discount Tires throw on some slightly better tires than the completely worn-to-nothing, ~10-year-old tires that were on it. The jerks musta not put the center cap on good'n'tight when they finished up and it was missing by the time I reached the house where i was staying in PHX. At least it wasn't the whole wheel that flew off though, I guess, right?!?!?! )

 

[ToyotaMatt]

We need more 1G Tundra builds around here.... so figured I'd start a thread for my newly acquired 2006 Tundra DC 4x4.

I plan to only do a bit of desert exploring and family camping stuff in it, so it will be a mild build compared to a lot of builds around here and compared to a lot of my other builds from over the years.

Plus, this baby is an absolute creampuff. She's basically the dream used truck: bought it from legit originally owner, clean title, 125k miles, garaged Arizona life (aka clean inside and out), with a folder stacked with maint records (dealer and independent shop, and oil changes (though surely not all the oil change records are in there across the last 14 years, but there's a LOT of them) --including 2 timing belt and water pump services at 55k and 117k ). I am stoked to have gotten this thing, and the owner was likewise super happy it was not going to a "landscaper" cause it was her "first baby". (She just recently had her literal first baby and they were selling cause they bought an SUV to fit the baby bags and strollers etc etc. )

There's a handful of small things that need addressed here and there, but overall, its in excellent shape.

And really, if the suspension wasn't 14 years old, I prob would just slap on some slightly meatier tires and just drive it. But I gotta def upgrade the suspension.

So I've got a Dobinsons IMS kit on the way for it plus an OME AAL for the rear that I already had sitting here. Hopefully get that all on in the next couple weeks and have it riding smooth.

Thinking I'll then throw on some 285s or so and a hidden winch setup and just rock and roll as-is for a while.

View attachment 3062847

Flew down to Phoenix area this past weekend and picked it up and drove home to Utah. Had to snap a "first day" pic somewhere on the way home north from PHX. (A keen eye will notice the missing center cap. Sadly that disappeared somewhere on a test-drive after I had Discount Tires throw on some slightly better tires than the completely worn-to-nothing, 10-year-old tires that were on it. The jerks musta not put it on good when they finished up and it was missing by the time I reached the house where i was staying in PHX. At least it wasn't the whole wheel that flew off though, I guess, right?!?!?! )

if you PM @woody , he is the chief here on MUD , and ask to have a GREY build thread ICON , attached to your thread visible from the outer open forum , he can make that happen ,,


see my SUPER HILUX build thread a few doors down


welcome and sweet tundra 06 UCK41L

 

[grave]

I love first gens. When I was on the hunt for a truck I wanted one so bad, but I used to drive one for work and it was not comfortable on long drives (SD to LA pretty often) for my tall self

 

[theferg]

I love first gens. When I was on the hunt for a truck I wanted one so bad, but I used to drive one for work and it was not comfortable on long drives (SD to LA pretty often) for my tall self

My guess is it had manual adjustable front seats...? That have very minimal adjustability... Cause I've found them less than comfortable also.

But with the power seats in these trucks, they can be adjusted into being comfortable for me. It's always the rear portion of the lower seat cushion for me. On the power seats, that rear portion can be angled/leveled up and down separately so it's not sunken in the rear. Makes a huge difference for me.

And of course, this new truck is an SR5 package... with manual damn seats. One of the two options that weren't ideal (but nowhere near deal-breakers) for me. (The other being the 16" wheels. I much prefer the 17" split spoke star wheels. --more on this later.)

But--short of finding excellent condition power cloth seats in gray--I've found a decent solution is to put an aluminum 3/4" - 1" spacer under the rear of the seats. It really helps.

And is one of the first mods I've just done on this truck.

There's places that sell kits for it, which I've used them on my old Tacoma, which required a bit more technical design on the rear. But on the Tundra, all I did was pop in some aluminum skid plate spacers I had sitting around and some longer bolts. Loving it so far. I've got 1" on the rear of the driver's, and 3/4" on the rear of the passenger.

 

[Gazziza]

Good lucking truck. I'll have to post up a build thread on my 1GT here as well. Also a creampuff with only 87k miles on it.

 

[Drugolf]

Keep it coming. Want to see that lift and new wheels/tires on that.

 

[theferg]

Been working on the suspension a good bit. Got the add-a-leafs in the back and all done and just waiting on the IMS shocks from Doninsons as they're back-ordered and every week they say "should be here next week".. so, maybe one day they'll arrive...

I did get them to ship out everything else though so I got the fronts going in. Had a local shop assemble the fronts for me earlier this week and ive been working the front today.

So today has been new OEM LBJs, new JBA UCAs, and Dobs IMS coil-overs.

Man, pressing those UBJs out of the top of the knuckle is such a PITA and then pressing in the new JBA slugs was an even bigger PITA. And I have the big daddy ball joint press set and the total chaos custom/specific Tacoma/Tundra UBJ press kit. Still a damn PITA. But it works I guess. It finally got there.

Still gotta do the diff drop, the steer rack bushes, and sway bar bushes. Kinda wish I got outer tie rod ends too though now cause I found one with a torn boot. So I'll prob order those up too.

 

[theferg]

So nice how clean it is underneath though. I was in awe looking around underneath the rear... Super clean everywhere. Even the spare tire with the sticker still on it... and even the spare tire winch spring looked nice and clean. Love it!

 

[theferg]

Got some more time with the Tundra today. I ended up ordering some Sankei 555 outer TREs last week and received them today. Cleaned and painted them up and threw them in. Got the passenger side all put together now too.

Actually would be done with the suspension now but messed up and didn't order new LBJ castle nuts (actually thought they would come with the LBJs but they did not) and I buggered one of mine up hammering the old LBJs off. So I ordered a couple from my local Toyota dealer and they should have them tomorrow.

Still gotta throw in the diff drop and I also have noticed the CVs had been slinging some sludge a bit, but don't seem to have any tears, so I want to re-clamp them with some McMaster Carr clamps to get by for a bit until I can rebuild these ones or throw in some new ones.

 

[theferg]

Then got busy working on a couple other items.

Wanted to get some beefy recovery points up front so went searching and there isn't much out there that will fit these trucks. Measured the bolt spacing as ~35mm and seemed same as 1G Tacomas and 3G 4Runners, but still there's not much. Ended up finding some nissan patrol ones that seemed to be pretty close so I took a chance. Got them in and they are a couple mm too close for the bolt spacing. No prob, just got to enlarge one of the holes a bit more.

Also want to use the third bolt hole as I don't like just the two front ones only, and especially being so close together. So had a look at the Tundra frame and the nice nut-on-a-stick for inside the frame that came with the recovery points to figure out how to get'r'done. There is no quick way that fits to get the nut in the Tundra frame, unfortunately.

But, I did find that I could slide the nut up from bottom of the front frame horn and get it inside. Just cant feed it down into the frame much at all. But, i found that i could cut one of the front holes open to the bottom and then can get the stick mostly straight in and feed the nut back. Should work. Made the cut, drilled the third hole, and now waiting for paint to dry.

 

[theferg]

And ya, it's a lot of work to pull the front bumper all off to get to the front frame horn for those recovery points, but it goes well with the hidden winch mount and winch I'm throwing on.

Got the hidden winch mount from Amp'd Up (1st gen Tundra hidden winch mount | AMP'd up LLC). It's got some good reviews and looked like a decent setup. The only thing I've thought, though, is I kinda wish it had another mount plane that bolted to the side or front of the frame for strength, instead of just the two lower recovery point bolts (see second pic below). But looking at other hidden winch type mounts, it seems to be enough. I'll look more at it once I get putting it together on the truck.

Pic from Amp'd Up site. Yellow arrows showing the frame mount position for the winch plate. It is sandwiched between the frame and the OEM tie-down brackets.

 

[ToyotaMatt]

your TUNDRA is indeed VERY super clear and rust free too ,. your very lucky there , im gonna try the spacers on my front bucket seats too , interesting mod i have never heard of before ?

the factory cloth or leather seats simply S#CK period !


i installed the TRD OEM seat covers on SUPER HILUX and they add a world of support and difference , there a plug and mod free play install on CLOTH ONLY buckets

they will NOT fit on the leather front buckets option seats , odd there shaped so differently ? but they are indeed


are you simply re-installing the oem front bumper cover or installing another option ?

if i missed that , sorry

but i did not see you mention your end game with the winch install ?


good to see more 1st gen tundra builds for going on for sure !




matt

 

[theferg]

Winch end-game is a hidden winch with factory bumper back on.

Will look like this:

 

[graham5david]

Awesome build

 

[theferg]

Wrapped up the hidden winch mount. Trying out this cheap ass ebay winch cause sh*t is expensive right now. Hopefully it lasts a couple years or so. Heh

Gotta still run it out and spool it up under load.

(And ignore the coat-hanger lookin wire hanging down... that was for the nut I inserted into the frame for the 3rd bolt on the recovery point. I trimmed those off after the pics.)

 

[theferg]

Also finished up the front suspension and bits. Ended up lower than I wanted so I'm gonna have to mess with it and get it up a slight bit more.

And *STILL* waiting for the rear IMS shocks from Dobinsons to arrive. Ordered over a month ago and keep hearing "expected next week".

 

[ToyotaMatt]

very very TITE !

indeed

nice work and tech write up too


matt

 

[joseywales]

the factory cloth or leather seats simply S#CK period !

I’m going to guess you are a larger human? The factory cloth power seats in my 240,000 mile ‘03 SR5 are FAR more comfortable than the seats in my ‘19 Platinum. The ‘19 seats are so wide and flat they’re like a leather park bench.

 

[joseywales]

Cough cough… Tires Cough…

I have an “Amazon Special” winch for my car trailer and duck boat and it is great. Zero complaints. Hopefully yours is similar.

Nice truck!

 

[theferg]

Cough cough… Tires Cough…

I feel the same way. The puny tires on there are embarrassing. LOL

It's been next on my list after the suspension was done.

And I had been having seconds thoughts on going to the 17s or just sticking with the 16s. (Or going to something after market... Or finding some take-offs that already have tires...) I much prefer the 17s look and they're an extra .5" wider. And while I've been looking for tires, it seems like tire availability and cost is a little better for the 16". In the end, I've made up my mind and am moving to the 17s.

Had them sandblasted and now I just gotta get them painted.... (though I'm currently dragging my feet on that while I try to justify paying to have them powder coated instead... lol )