2014 Tacoma TRD Off-Road spinning my wheels build

[AreWeThereYet]

Adventure Offroad Park Oct 11-13:
A couple of weekends back I went to AOP for the first time and had a blast. The park is only a couple hours from me so I'm sure I'll be back, and hopefully soon. Here's some of the pictures we got.

 

[AreWeThereYet]

Decided to hit up the Tennessee Dirt Devil during the peak of the leaves changing, and it was gorgeous. We drove down Natchez Trace, covered over 100 miles of the Dirt Devil, and did about half a dozen water crossings. Here's a few of the photos we took this trip.

 

[36degreesNorth]

Great looking truck. As a fellow Blue Ribbon pearl TRD OR tacoma owner you have given me some ideas for mine

 

[AreWeThereYet]

Great looking truck. As a fellow Blue Ribbon pearl TRD OR tacoma owner you have given me some ideas for mine

Thanks, means a lot from someone who clearly knows what good looking trucks we have!

 

[JCWages]

Looks like a fun trip!

 

[AreWeThereYet]

Not too much going on. The hitch for my rear bumper arrived last week so I'll have to paint and throw that on soon.

Other than that nothing new and exciting just yet, here's a random wintry picture of the truck.

I also got bored over the holidays and started a new project. I found a 10 gallon aquarium for $5.00 and started building an aquaponic system. At this point things are already getting out of hand, but in a couple weeks I should have some plants growing.

Where it started:

My most recent update:

 

[AreWeThereYet]

Got our first snow of the year, and the wife took some pictures, including this one.

For anyone that may be following, there's been a couple updates with my aquaponic system. This has been one of my more enjoyed projects, and I already have plans for upgrades after this thing gets going a little stronger.

 

[AreWeThereYet]

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I picked up a set of skid plates off one of my off-roading buddies. Shout out to Mobtown Offroad for how well these aluminium skids have held up, they were not used lightly before I got them. When I was bolting the skids up, it took longer than I was hoping and the wife ended up getting home and helping me get them mounted so I could go play at Windrock this weekend, pics will come soon.
I also dropped the truck off for an alignment before the Windrock trip, they spent 3 hours trying to get 3* caster with the adjustable upper control arms and got it to 2.9.
As I was backing out I heard that familiar rubbing sound, after going back and telling them it wasn’t going to work I looked closely and realized that I never took off the mudflaps in front of the wheels. After removing four bolts I no longer have any rubbing, and drive straight as an arrow.

Gretchen Approves

 

[AreWeThereYet]

We had a blast at Windrock Offroad Park this last weekend. It may have been rainy and sloppy but it felt good out and our trucks loved the mud. The biggest trails we did were 22 and 49, but there were a bunch of other smaller ones in between and a lot of ground covered in general.
I'm looking forward to going back to this huge park to explore some more.

Photo credit for these last few pics goes to @Breezy.Images follow him in Instagram for great outdoor shots.



Couple videos of us finishing out trail 49.

 

[AreWeThereYet]

Land Between the Lakes: 3/7 - 3/10​

Had a blast at the annual LBL Tacomaworld meet. There were record amounts of rain leading up to the trip, then it rained some more during the trip, but in the end the sun came out and we all still had a good time. Wife and I can't wait to see what next year will bring, here's some pics and videos from the trip.

Group Photos:
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Our home away from home.

Water was the highest I've ever seen it.

Dead end...

Some videos of us making our way across a creek.

Dave getting a little rub and tug from Knox.

After watching Dave I decided to take the easy route.

Zackh just made this look like it wasn’t a thing.

Eric finding a good line to climb up after everyone else had been through including the habitat.

And of course using the smallest truck we had with us to help Joe up the bank.

 

[Marman]

Great pics throughout the posts, looking forward to more.

 

[AreWeThereYet]

Holy dead thread batman! Back in July I had a ladder fly off someones trailer and into my truck while driving down the highway. After some deliberation I decided to go ahead and have the damage repaired.




It felt like a lot longer than 11 days in that cheap rental, but I finally have my truck back.
They somehow forgot to repair the front grill of the truck, so I got them to order one with the color matched grill surround. That should arrive next week.
I'm still not sure if I'll miss the chrome or not, but I'll probably see if they'll let me keep the original part in case I want to swap back for some reason.

 

[AreWeThereYet]

I got to pick up my new grille Friday evening and took some time today to install it, and clean my radiator.

I’ll have to get some better photos in the sun later, but I’m already smitten with it.

 

[AreWeThereYet]

How do you take care of new paint? By dragging it through the woods and giving it a mud bath of course. Went out to Land Between the Lakes with a couple friends for a day trip this weekend, drove some of our favorite roads, and found some new ones that were fun to explore. This was by far the driest I've ever seen the park.

March 2019:



September 2019:

 

[Casper66]

Good to see another Tacoma in here. It appeas a TW member also. Nice build

 

[AreWeThereYet]

Good to see another Tacoma in here. It appeas a TW member also. Nice build

Thanks, I know I've checked out your truck a time or two, and always admire it. I am one of those TW people trying to blend in with the Overlanders, I really just want to explore and get out as much as I can.

 

[Casper66]

Thanks, I know I've checked out your truck a time or two, and always admire it. I am one of those TW people trying to blend in with the Overlanders, I really just want to explore and get out as much as I can.

Yeah idk we fit into any category we just like to get out and camp when we can

 

[AreWeThereYet]

Black Mountain Off-Road Adventure Area: Oct 20-22​

It may have taken a couple years, but I was really glad to make it back out to this park. Such a gorgeous area, and a great time of year to be there. Had a blast hanging out with friends and running some new trails. I didn't take too many pictures but here's what I got until next time.

 

[Casper66]

Black Mountain Off-Road Adventure Area: Oct 20-22​

It may have taken a couple years, but I was really glad to make it back out to this park. Such a gorgeous area, and a great time of year to be there. Had a blast hanging out with friends and running some new trails. I didn't take too many pictures but here's what I got until next time.

like a Tacoma World event. Was Bill there?

 

[AreWeThereYet]

like a Tacoma World event. Was Bill there?

This was just a group of us mostly from Nashville, with a few guys traveling from a little further out so Bluegrass wasn't there. Bill's meet up is traditionally the weekend after this one, but I don't know that they had one this year. There's a group of us from the Middle TN area that have at least a day trip just about every month, we're only 2 hours to AOP, 2 hours to LBL (Turkey Bay), and 2 1/2 hours to Windrock.