A few months back, we featured a sketch of an '08 Toyota Tundra CrewMax that was in the works. Since then, Rocky Fox of Chaotic Rods & Customs has slaved away during many long nights to make progress on the truck. The plan is to create the first finished and body-dropped version of Toyota's new truck. As you can see, Rocky is well on his way to making it happen.
A few weeks after purchasing this truck brand-new, Rocky had it on the lift at Chaotic for a new suspension. The goal was to get the body of the truck level with the pavement when the air is let out of a set of Slam Specialties airbags. In the beginning, he looked at various suspension configurations, including a way to modify the frame so that it had the clearance he needed. While examining the complicated structure of the framerails and the number of crossmembers in the way, he decided to make a new frame out of 2x4x1/4-inch steel tubing.
From there, he needed to get a set of wheels and tires before he could get the suspension done right. Rocky knew he needed to go big and picked out a set of 26-inch BZO Elite wheels. Taking care of the wet and dry traction between the wheels and the road is a set of 305/30R26 Toyo Proxes ST II tires. With the tires on, Rocky could measure for 33.2-inches of space on each corner to tuck all four of the wheels with rubber. Then, he was able to make custom control arms up front with raised factory spindles. Next, Texas Auto Gear narrowed the rearend, while Rocky made a two-link with a track bar.
At the time these photos were taken, Rocky had just finished the suspension. He had also started on the body mods by adding billet grilles from Carriage Works and shaving the tailgate. Elsewhere in this issue, you can check out a tech article to see how he and the Chaotic crew shaved the tailgate while making a button to open it. Rocky will continue to clean the body by removing the door handles and factory emblems. Afterward, the exterior sheetmetal will be bodyworked and painted in a two-tone metallic brown and champagne combination.
The last part to get worked on will be the interior, which will contain some of the exterior colors. Rocky is undecided on which pieces of the interior to paint. But, he is very certain about getting color on the dash and the custom fiberglass center console he is going to make. So, until then, we'll all have to hold tight and wait to see how it all pans out.