2001 Prerunner Build - The MFing Tundra

I've been meaning to post a build thread on my truck and figured now is a good time since I will be making some upgrades over the next few weeks. I bought the truck in 2016 with ~125k miles. It already had the TC kit up front, the fiberglass fenders, and some sort of springs in the rear with a haggard bed cage. I had a fab shop, Mullen Fabworks (hence MFing Tundra), throughout college and have built nearly everything on the truck.

Current stats - January 2025:

• Front End: Total Chaos LT, spindle gussets, ARP wheel studs, Fox 2.5" coil overs professionally valved by Dialed Shock Prep, Fox 2.0" bumps off the lowers
• Rear End: Deaver C27 SUA, MF shackles, ADS 3.0" x 16" 4-tube bypasses, MF bedcage, Detroit Locker with 4.56 gears, BORA 2" wheel spacers, Inland Driveline slip yoke, Bruno Fab billet carrier bearing.
• Cab: Cage is 2" x 0.120" DOM mains with 1.75" x 0.120" DOM lacing, 8 attachments to the frame, welded 360*, front seats are PRP Comp Pro in +2" wide and +4" tall, rear seats is PRP Comp Pro in normal size, PRP 3" 5-point harnesses throughout, Rugged Race radio, MOMO steering wheel with Sweet Mfg. quick release.
• Lighting: Baja Designs
• Wheels and Tires: Method Double Standards with 35"x12.50"-17" Toyo M/T
• Misc: frame is boxed front-to-rear, Wilwood proportioning valve with return line delete, MF front bumper.

When I brought the truck home:

Before ever taking the truck to the dirt, the bedcage had to go. I picked up some Deaver C27 and ADS 3.0 x 16" 4-tube bypasses (both thanks to my buddy Matthew at MCM Fab). I built a new bedcage, shackles, and spare mount over the course of a few weeks. I am still running this same rear setup today.




First trip in the truck with the new setup. I drove it to Lucerne Valley, beat on it, and drove it home.




Another trip, this time took my bike out too. I built the bedcage specifically to hold my bike.



I was sick of the front bumper and built a new one after a few months. For the record - I currently hate this one now and may build a new one with my current round of updates.




More in the next post...

 

I had the truck painted by Maaco in Corona, CA in 2018 and couldn't be happier. It was $750 out the door and is painted hyper blue metallic(a), compliments of GM.





After the paint cured, I had the bed Line-X done.





My favorite feature of the truck. Nothing worse than standing around talking to your buddies when someone spills their beer on your truck.



At some point I broke the side gears in the rear end and ended up going to a Detroit locker. It sucks ass on the street, but easily added 100hp in the dirt.



Just a cool picture of my trucks.

 

I caged the truck in 2022 over the course of a few months in my garage. This round included a full prep on the rear, I rebuilt the shocks, boxed the entire frame, and did a Wilwood proportioning valve with return line delete. Scope creep was real.

 

The first trip out with the truck after the cage was great. The truck was so much more planted and solid. No more door rattle, though the carrier bearing and clicking bypasses through the tube work was / is terrible.




Here are some random photos from trips or post-trips, which will bring us up-to-speed.








I always liked this photo next to a stock Tundra at my old job.

 

Now that we're fully up-to-speed, here is the plan for January (sure to creep into February, possibly March):

• New light package from Baja Designs for the front and interior
• Dual AGM batteries on a Bluesea switch
• Convert the truck to a four-seater - ditch the large passenger seat, move the standard sized one to the rear, and run dual PRP GT3 Minis for the kids. PRP just finished the new seats yesterday, so I'm going to pick them up this week. This stage will require changing some of the tube work, mainly deleting some of the triangulation between the B- and C-pillars, possibly removal of the B-pillar altogether.
• Possibly delete the windshield tubes and get a new dash
• Double-din radio with backup camera
• Delete the Bruno Fab carrier bearing as it's loud as hell. I have an Inland Driveline unit for a Ranger that works for the Tundra driveshaft but will require a custom mount.
• Likely do a Total Choas uniball conversion for the LBJ with heimed steering to replace the current Moog LBJ
• Front end prep
• Maintenace and repair - new steering rack, power steering pump, lines, power steering cooler, timing belt kit, radiator hoses, oil change, and anything else maintenance wise needed
• Try my best not to piss off the wife during throughout the process

My goal is to get everything done so that I can get at least one desert trip in before summer. We'll see how it goes. I've been building trucks for a long time and know that meeting timeframe goals is the hardest part of the process.

Stay tuned...

 

Man I am just impressed all around! Most of us on here are the Ralph Wiggum version of you, so I always love to see dudes who have a vision and just making it happen!

 

Badass!

 

This has got to be one of the sickest 1st gens on the planet. You sir, are a master of your craft. Really like the flush mount spare in the bed. Cup holder in the bed rail - also genius.

 

Love the recessed spare. Might have to steal that idea

 

Love the blue

 

Awesome! Is this 2WD?

 

I'm... blown... away...! Hey @khooiii , check this out!

 

Very cool truck! The spare setup is awesome, never seen that and really like it. Also like how it's caged, so many people throw LT on their truck and want to go fast and ignore the safety aspect. And my last compliment, paint looks awesome, for $750 definitely cannot complain!

 

I think I saw this on the bad lines forum. I love it 10x more with the ADS setup.

 

Thanks for the compliments fellas!

Thanks! Yes sir it is.

Thanks man. These days it’s worse than ever too. Everyone has these $100k trucks on social media with no cage, always makes me shake my head. I’ve always said just because it’s not a race truck, doesn’t mean you won’t roll it all the same.

You sure did. I’m a legacy Dezert Rangers dude too. I’ll update my post on BL once I get some work done on the truck.

 

I'm this is a whole area I know nothing about, but I assume there is some software tool you can use to plan out that tubing? And then maybe have someone bend the individual pieces? Or did you just measure/eyeball/measure? And is there any calculation involved or is it just experience/guestimating/that oughta do'er? I ask because I just learned to sort of weld on a weld-it-yourself bumper kit, and even cutting, shaping and welding some pre-bent 3/16" tubing together for the full bars was not easy, so when I say impressed I really mean it.

 

And for those of y'all who didn't know what "DOM" or "drawn over mandrel" tubing is, here's a good description:

DOM Steel Tubing Manufacturing Process
The manufacturing process for DOM round steel tubing begins with coils of steel, which are slit to the proper width for the desired tube size. The strip is cold formed and passed through an electric resistance welder which joins the edges together, under pressure, to complete the tubular shape. After testing the weld’s integrity, the tubing is cut to length for further processing. The cold-drawing process creates a uniform, precision product with substantially improved tolerances, surface finish and tensile strength, increased hardness, and good machinability. In this process, the tube is cleaned and annealed, and one end of each length is squeezed to a point so it can be gripped by the drawing mechanism. The tube is then drawn through one or more dies and over mandrels. This reduces the diameter of the tube and thins its walls to the required dimensions in a controlled fashion to provide the qualities desired in the finished product. Metallurgically, drawing improves the tube’s concentricity, tensile strength, hardness, and machinability. Close dimensional accuracy is achieved through tight control of both outside and inside diameters.​

And:

Cold-drawing gives DOM tubing high yield and tensile strength. Made with high-quality steel, DOM tubing can withstand heavy loads, bending, and torsional forces without deforming or breaking.​

 

You can use SolidWorks or other CAD programs, but it would be best to have the cab 3D scanned then design from there. I designed my tube layout based on experience, as I had an off-road fab shop for about 10 years. I’m a mechanical engineer, so that helps me with design, material selection, etc. I cut, bent, notched, and welded every tune on my truck in my garage. I have a JD2 tubing bender, notcher, and notch tube with a chop saw when needed. I also have a Millermatic 212 MIG.

When designing a cage, the key is to think of where the load will transfer during an impact. You don’t want any loads to terminate at an unsupported tube, i.e. a dead tube. Do your best to have big tube junctions and send the loads down to your frame supports. Also look at trophy trucks for inspiration.

Feel free to ask as many questions as you want, I’m happy to help!

 

I replaced the timing belt, water pump, bearings, and tensioner today. Overall I’d rate this 4 beers on the difficulty scale. I had about 7 hours total, including trying to clean as much of the under hood area I cared to - 8 years and a ton of desert miles isn’t kind. Had I not cleaned everything, this would have easily been a 5 hour job, granite my truck is a So Cal only truck, so every nut and bolt came was removed with ease. Rusty bolts would have turned this into a major pain, likely a 6 beer job. I used a full Aisin kit for the timing belt components.

The filth and cluster fuck I started with:

As a reminder, I’m going with dual AGM batteries mounted in the bed and all of this wiring is being redone properly this time.

Progress and final photos for today. The old belt was in fine shape, but my truck has 140k miles and I wasn’t sure if it had ever been done.






While it still looks dirty, it’s so much cleaner than before. Notice that the power steering pump is still off as it’s next on my list - new power steering pump, rack, lines, adding a cooler, possibly a larger reservoir. I also may go with electric fans and possibly an aluminum radiator, so I’m leaving those for later. I should make some more progress next week. Stay tuned.