Box Rocket '03 DC Tacoma Build

[wingysataday]

beautiful job!

[Box Rocket]

Originally Posted by wingysataday

beautiful job!

thanks

[bdog]

Is that amount of lift (3.5 inches) with the AP lift shackles? Just wanna get a better idea this time before I purchase. Thanks.

Brandon

[Box Rocket]

Originally Posted by bdog

Is that amount of lift (3.5 inches) with the AP lift shackles? Just wanna get a better idea this time before I purchase. Thanks.

Brandon

Yes. Dakars w/ AAL will give you probably between 2.5-3" of lift. I'm sitting closer to 3.5" with Dakars w/AAL and the Allpro shackles.

[Box Rocket]

Got the spare rim painted. Next up is fabbing some skid plates. Priced out materials yesterday and I think I can do the t-case skid for ~$60 Still working on a design for the IFS skid.

[Box Rocket]

Not really a build update, but a few shots of a little excursion to the San Rafael Swell for a few days. Truck worked great. Mix of mostly high speed dirt roads, with a little crawling and giving the trailer a good test.

[DudeMan]

I'm curious as to what you guys do for a living cause I wanna a job!

Just messin. But BoxRocket, your rigs seem pretty tight and in tip top shape. Always enjoy checking your photos. Excellent photography too.

Keep on keepin on!

[Box Rocket]

Originally Posted by DudeMan

I'm curious as to what you guys do for a living cause I wanna a job!

Just messin. But BoxRocket, your rigs seem pretty tight and in tip top shape. Always enjoy checking your photos. Excellent photography too.

Keep on keepin on!

I make video games. Do a little photography on the side but its mainly a hobby.

[DudeMan]

Originally Posted by Box Rocket

I make video games. Do a little photography on the side but its mainly a hobby.

Video games huh? It all makes sense now.

Hobby or not, photos are very nice. I'm building a bed rack this weekend and yours is my inspiration. However, I've never welded before.

Gotta start sometime i guess. We'll see how she looks.

[Box Rocket]

Originally Posted by DudeMan

Video games huh? It all makes sense now.

.

How so? Good luck with the bedrack. Post up pics when you're done.

[DudeMan]

Originally Posted by Box Rocket

How so? Good luck with the bedrack. Post up pics when you're done.

How so you ask? Financial freedom. I guess I'm just jealous At any rate, we'll see how the bed rack goes. I got some tie down tracks cause that's what I liked most about your rack.

I'm sure I'll post pics..bad welds and everything...but I'll post pics.

[wingysataday]

awesome rig! Great work. IT is always easier to do things right the first time. I have changed my suspension about 3 times so far.

[TaWComA26]

This thing is great. Nice build sir.

[Box Rocket]

Front skid is done

[csagen]

Hey Boxrocket, I am looking at picking up the OME suspension setup, I just wanted to know how yours is holding up? Any problem with salt and snow/rust? Sagging?

This truck is true inspiration, keep up the good work!

[Box Rocket]

Originally Posted by csagen

Hey Boxrocket, I am looking at picking up the OME suspension setup, I just wanted to know how yours is holding up? Any problem with salt and snow/rust? Sagging?

This truck is true inspiration, keep up the good work!

OME suspension has been holding up great. It's been on the truck for two years now. It's seen a lot of dirt miles so there are some rock chips on the front struts, but otherwise it's holding up great with the winter salt/snow. No sagging to speak of. I just added some new skidplates so the front has dropped about 1/4" but no sagging.

[Box Rocket]

full skids are completed.

[TacoDell]

t-case plate looks good...

mine used to look that purdy

[Box Rocket]

Originally Posted by TacoDell

t-case plate looks good...

mine used to look that purdy

Well it doesn't look "purdy" anymore. I dragged it all over the place in Moab last weekend. Most definitely a worthwhile project considering how much I abused it on the first outing.



Wife at the wheel on Golden Spike.

[TacoDell]

Originally Posted by Box Rocket

Most definitely a worthwhile project considering how much I abused it on the first outing.

It's always nice to find out... your effort... provides a worthiness

set 'er down easy...
and that skid will see many more years of trail use and abuse.

wish you the best of luck... in that mission

[Box Rocket]

yeah, been using them a little.









sliders got a good workout too








and I may or may not have touched the bed on a rock or two.

[Willman]

Love the skids, and front hitch in the bumper.

Your rig is sweet!

[Box Rocket]

Originally Posted by Willman

Love the skids, and front hitch in the bumper.

Your rig is sweet!

Thanks Nic! Looking forward to see that new bed setup of yours.

[Taco Sos]

I just went through your whole build. Very nice looking well thought out rig!!! Enjoy

[Box Rocket]

Thanks. Few more things on the list but it's getting closer to where I want it.

[Stealth 4x4]

Nice build... looks like mine in a lot of ways. I love my D-cab, and always enjoy seeing others getting built up too. Great pics. Moab is always a ton of fun. Cheers!

[Trowbocop]

Very inspirational rig- it seems to have everything that one would need. It looks incredible, and unstoppable. Wondering- have you thought about doing custom fab work on the side? I love the rear bumper setup, as well as your skids and bed rack. Maybe if you get free time (i know..it's probably very rare) but maybe you could make something for me? If not- no worries, I always enjoy looking through your photos and builds. Keep up the strong work

EDIT: I obviously don't mean make something for free- I would pay whatever you value the work and materials at.

[Box Rocket]

Originally Posted by Trowbocop

Very inspirational rig- it seems to have everything that one would need. It looks incredible, and unstoppable. Wondering- have you thought about doing custom fab work on the side? I love the rear bumper setup, as well as your skids and bed rack. Maybe if you get free time (i know..it's probably very rare) but maybe you could make something for me? If not- no worries, I always enjoy looking through your photos and builds. Keep up the strong work

EDIT: I obviously don't mean make something for free- I would pay whatever you value the work and materials at.

Yeah some side work has been on my list for a while. I've had a lot of requests for bedracks. With you being local it might be easier for me to pull something together for you. Like you said, time is my biggest issue, but I'd like to be ablet o do a few more things on the side.

[csagen]

Box, I love looking at this build over and over! It's very inspiring. I have an 04 double cab and the plan is to have a bed rack similar to yours to mount the RTT on. I want to keep the tent below the roof line for aerodymics. Two questions:

1) What kind of tent is that in the first few photos? and what is the height of the tent closed?

2) What is the height from the bed rail to the top of the rack?

It looks like you have enough room on top of the rack for anywhere between 12" and 15" of a closed tent? Anyways, I am looking to do a soft topper that can close over the RTT even when the tent is mounted on the rack. Thanks in advance!

[Box Rocket]

Originally Posted by csagen

Box, I love looking at this build over and over! It's very inspiring. I have an 04 double cab and the plan is to have a bed rack similar to yours to mount the RTT on. I want to keep the tent below the roof line for aerodymics. Two questions:

1) What kind of tent is that in the first few photos? and what is the height of the tent closed?

2) What is the height from the bed rail to the top of the rack?

It looks like you have enough room on top of the rack for anywhere between 12" and 15" of a closed tent? Anyways, I am looking to do a soft topper that can close over the RTT even when the tent is mounted on the rack. Thanks in advance!

1: The tent is a 1st gen Mombasa. It is a little lower profile than most of the newer tents when closed. A lot of that is because the ladder is a lot more flimsy. A lot of people with this tent will upgrade the ladder to something a bit more substantial. Without really measuring my best guess is that it's about 10-12" tall when closed.

2: My bedrack is roughly 6" (maybe a little more) above the bed rail. With the tent mounted on the bedrack the closed tent is still 5-6" below the roof of the cab. I will be rebuilding the legs on my bedrack to raise it up slightly because i have room to do it without putting the closed tent above the roofline. The other reason for making the rack slightly taller is because my ARB fridge barely fits underneath the rack. It's tight enough that i don't even have to tie it down if the fridge is in the bed. Raising the rack a few inches will let me use a fridge slide and have a little more room for the fridge.

If you don't have a fridge or other items to deal with that need to fit under the rack then you could keep the rack lower since most tents will be a little higher profile.

One other note, the old style mombasa tent like I have in the pictures wouldn't be a good choice if you want to run a softtop over it. The old mombasa has a 4x6' closed footprint so if you're using it on a double cab it's going to hang over the tailgate by 1', making it so you couldn't close a softtop completely.

This isn't the best pic to show it but you can see that it hangs over the tailgate slightly and also get an idea of the hight of the bedrack and the available height to the roof of the cab.