What have you done to your 1st gen Tundra today?

The complication with these trim pieces is that they have a rubberized molded covering the incorporates the sweep on top of the chromed structural piece. Age and UV exposure cause it to harden and become brittle. I needed the sweep replaced as much as the peeling sections because it wasn't functioning well. The new trim rubber coating is supple and flexible.

 

Im not 100% sure if still available. I bought mine new about 1 year ago and cant remember vendor. If it were my $ I would recomend over weathertecks. Cant go wrong w either.

 

Eww rust! I lol'd at the "fast car". The 7m-gte was most decidedly not a "fast car".

 

Got the camper on the truck yesterday! Fits pretty good just gotta do some little fine tuning here and there. Excited at how it came out though!



Also time to start the fun of wiring lights, solar, battery, fan, and fridge. And build out the inside storage and sleeping area!

 

Any plans to beef up the springs in the rear? Are you using support bags, by any chance?

Wonder how much drag that thing will cause at-speed?

 

When I install my camper I'm going to have to put airbags most likely. Or go with a whole new leaf pack.

 

I got archive Medium duty springs sitting on the garage waiting to get installed. I measured from the top of the tire to the wheel well when the camper was off, and with it on it only sagged about 5/8 of an inch.

No idea about the drag, but for me, "its not miles per gallon, but smiles per gallon". I say that as gas prices are over $6 dollars in my area, haha. But the truck isnt my daily either.

 

What did that leaf pack run ya?!

Haha that's a good saying. Once I get the camper on next year I'll be driving my trusty ole Toyota Matrix more often I suppose

 

I think they are about 1,100 plus about $100 to ship. But i bought during the labor day sale and it knocked like $200 off the total price. I also bought the U bolt flip kit at the same time which gave me a discount on that as well because i bought both together.

 

Have you narrowed down which camper you are gonna get? For me it was mostly between the Topo Toppers and OVRLAND if i was to buy one.

Edit: Id love a little manual trans matrix as my daily!

Edit again: I also think Topo Toppers is in so cal too, you should look into those if you havent already

 

My ATS HD springs are supposed to arrive tomorrow. I can't wait to get them installed. The squeaking from my AAL rubbing on the overload is driving me nuts.

I'm curious if my OEM u-bolts will work with the ATS leafs, if they'll be long enough. I could literally feel the Icon AAL u-bolts stretching while torquing to spec. I don't trust using them again.

 

I want to to see inside

 

Ill get some pictures of the inside today, i barely got a chance to check it out after installing. Mom came over and we went out to dinner. Ill start building the inside this weekend probably!

 

I'd assume the new leaf packs come with new ubolts. Alcans do.
But then again they weren't cheap AF and came with u-bolt flip and bumpstops

 

Alcans aren't $200 a side either. I'm skeptical these will come with anything extra. ATS actually sells u-bolt kits individually on their site, I'm assuming I'll get zilch.

I'm OK with re-using factory u-bolts a few times, they seem to be a lot sturdier.

 

$400 total? I thought they were $600. Either way, insanely cheap.

@bmf4069 how much were your HD leaf packs?
I know they came with new ubolts.

 

$500 shipped for everything (2 leaf packs). Other members on here with 4WD DC and RC trucks have gotten 1.5"-2" out of these. I haven't found anyone with 2WD that's bought the 2WD HD packs listed in this pic (3rd row).

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Looks like it's got an extra leaf over stock too. That's nice.

HD leaf packs plus AAL minus OL will likely be pefect

 

Just curious why you didn't go with the heavy duty option from Archive? I thought that would be ideal for the camper.

 

Yeah, I'm stoked they come w/bushings pre-pressed in. One less thing to do. I wish I'd have gone this route before AAL, the install would've been easier.

Apparently ATS is who was making for other brands too, it appears they were making this exact same product for Dorman for a moment in history.

 

You planning on running as is, or with AAL?

 

New spring pack only. I'll probably sell the AAL for $75 - 100 or something. Because I installed with overload, the centering bolt is still plenty long, and I re-finished the centering post threads after lopping it, so I presume everything should come apart nicely for a new install. I'm going to re-pack my original springs with the old hardware (it's all in good shape) and throw 'em in the attic for a rainy day.

 

I hope people will finally listen and stop buying the ICON AAL.

It makes a lot more sense to just replace 20 year old leaf packs instead.

 

Archive says with 500 pounds back there ill get about 1.5 inch lift which is perfect for me. The camper is definitely under 400 pounds might be around 350lbs. I calculated the materials earlier on in the build and i was barely over 200lbs before i started adding inner walls and such. Im hoping my calculations are correct and the medium duty leafs work for me.

The heavy duty would be 2 inches of lift with 500 pounds and then id probably have more rake than i want. But we'll see! I also plan on trying to save on weight on the inside build compared to my last set up.

 

Forget camping, time to start selling some friggin' oscardogs out of that thing!

 

I mean, you've got an ally in me on this one now. Tag me any time someone is about to f-up.

I admit it, I'm hard-headed. But I also knew there was no way in hell I was going to be able to lift my truck via any other potentially-permanent means within 48 hours before booking my alignment, so ... that's the way I had to go. $100 loss for me.

I also second-guessed myself on my wheel choice, which will probably end up being a ~$400 loss for me.

I second-guessed everyone else on my tire choice, and that ended up saving me probably ~$400, b/c the ones I chose were cheaper and I didn't need to downsize later.

It's all a give-and-take.

 

Haha, i was thinking with the pop out windows, i could sell stuff out of it when im out camping! Hot coffee, or like you said, "oscardogs" LOL

 

You might be fine. I guess my thought was all the gear you'll be hauling in addition to the camper will add up. I'm sure they will be an improvement over the stock leaf packs.

I'm leaning towards the HD packs when I replace mine. Better my camper shell and gear I'm usually over 500lbs.

 

I hope it works out for me, sometimes you gotta just make a decision and hope for the best! But like you said, should be an improvement over stock either way. I look forward to hearing how your HD packs work out for you!

 

Second guessed...again?! Or you mean the gun-metal wheels were the 1st second guess?