Gear and Mod advice

[Sam M.]

I have a 2017 Tacoma TRD OR. This was my first new car and I bought it with the intention of overlanding. I took it to Anza-Borrego my first week of having it but that was the only real trip besides some short trail car camping. I am looking to get back into it. Since my truck is still stock I am looking for some experienced advice on where to start with it. I am going to have to budget everything out.

I'm not the biggest fan on the look of the Bestop Soft Cap I have on the back but it has been pretty practical so far when it comes to moving dogs on short commutes to and from work and keeping things dry in the rain.

I wanted to jump straight into it and get some light bars, bed racks, and accessories but I quickly realized I should start with more practical mods such as Sliders.

Any advice would be really appreciated or best places to get parts and have work done. I am in the Bay Area.

This is my truck now as it stands. I only keep the mud flaps on for day to day since this is also my daily driver.

Thanks everything!

 

[Cody_Gorsuch]

Build as you go and let your experiences on the trail tell you what you “need”. Most people will tell you it’s plenty capable as is !

 

[Sam M.]

Build as you go and let your experiences on the trail tell you what you “need”. Most people will tell you it’s plenty capable as is !

Thanks for the advice. It sounds like the best way to get started is to get out there and see what I need from there.

 

[Cody_Gorsuch]

Thanks for the advice. It sounds like the best way to get started is to get out there and see what I need from there.

That’s what I’m doing/do. Budget wise I feel like it’s the best choice. Would I love to have an awesome bumper with a wench and a huge rear bumper with swing out tire holder? Hell yeah. Can I afford it or do I need it? No haha

 

[Sam M.]

That’s what I’m doing/do. Budget wise I feel like it’s the best choice. Would I love to have an awesome bumper with a wench and a huge rear bumper with swing out tire holder? Hell yeah. Can I afford it or do I need it? No haha

Haha I hear that. I would love to drop a credit card and load up everything I went but I would probably end up with a bunch of stuff I don’t need and don’t want to spend forever paying off. I’m just gonna get some good sliders and get out there.

 

[Lindenwood]

Yup. Just go out and play, and let your experiences dictate what you buy next. One trip might see a close call with rockers that has you ordering sliders on the drive home, while experiences from the next trip might have you assembling a new cooking setup before anything else.

*edit*

That said, in my experience, the biggest bang for your buck mods to increase offroad capability are:

1) Disconnecting your anti-sway bars. (Free)

2) Deflating your tires (and having the necessary on-board air to reinflate them, $60-600).

3) A rear locking diff, or at least a Truetrac Helical LSD ($500-2000, depending on the model and if you do the install yourself).

 

[Cody_Gorsuch]

Yup. Just go out and play, and let your experiences dictate what you buy next. One trip might see a close call with rockers that has you ordering sliders on the drive home, while experiences from the next trip might have you assembling a new cooking setup before anything else.

*edit*

That said, in my experience, the biggest bang for your buck mods to increase offroad capability are:

1) Disconnecting your anti-sway bars. (Free)

2) Deflating your tires (and having the necessary on-board air to reinflate them, $60-600).

3) A rear locking diff, or at least a Truetrac Helical LSD ($500-2000, depending on the model and if you do the install yourself).

He should have a locking rear with that truck. I thought about disconnecting my sway bars too just haven’t got around to it.

 

[James Deaton]

Recovery gear: shovel, maxtrax or x-bulls, recovery strap, snatch strap, tree saver, more power puller (instead of a winch), 2 d-ring shackles. With that kit you should be able to get yourself out of most stuck situations.

Air compressor (smittybilt one from 4wheelparts is fine to start), tire deflator/gauge.

iPad with Gaia GPS and a gps device like a Bad Elf GPS PRO+ (Bad Elf is needed if your iPad doesn’t have cellular/gps chip).

That will get you started safely, while helping you plan routes, and air down for comfort. After that figure out your sleeping arrangements, which will point you in a direction for tents.

You have a very capable truck, I wouldn’t change it until you need to.

James

 

[TerryD]

It's tempting to go all in. If you are doing ANY amount of offroading, sliders are never a bad idea. I learned that lesson many years ago with a Jeep Cherokee. I wrecked the passenger side rocker on a very mild trail with some bad line choice.

The first real mod for my Xterra, when before a lift or bigger tires, was a set of White Knuckle Off-road sliders. And they get used! I had to tag my factory step tubes and bend them up a little to jog my memory though.

Like mentioned before, a good recovery setup is a must as well. As well as some basic repair tools. Spend some time on a vehicle specific forum and learn the weak spots or common failures related to your model and spend the time to do any upgrades to those pieces that are needed or locate spares for them to carry (within reason).

Lastly, go use it and see what you need! Keep a little list on your phone of things you think would be handy to pick up as budget allows.

 

[Sam M.]

Recovery gear: shovel, maxtrax or x-bulls, recovery strap, snatch strap, tree saver, more power puller (instead of a winch), 2 d-ring shackles. With that kit you should be able to get yourself out of most stuck situations.

Air compressor (smittybilt one from 4wheelparts is fine to start), tire deflator/gauge.

iPad with Gaia GPS and a gps device like a Bad Elf GPS PRO+ (Bad Elf is needed if your iPad doesn’t have cellular/gps chip).

That will get you started safely, while helping you plan routes, and air down for comfort. After that figure out your sleeping arrangements, which will point you in a direction for tents.

You have a very capable truck, I wouldn’t change it until you need to.

James

Thanks James

Some basic recovery gear sounds pretty good. I’ve been meaning to pick up a good cable puller, I will check out the more power puller. I use a lot of puller and compressors at work so I am hoping I can get deals on some of those items through our commercial accounts.

I was thinking about a the taco garage DMM to mount my ipad and possible my gps as a backup. I’ll look into Gaia

I’m putting together a wish list of the basics so a good recovery gear kits sounds like a must.

I currently have a softopper coming for the truck as I don’t really need security in the bed and more of a way to keep things dry but I often need to use my truck as a truck as well. I also occasionally have the dogs ride in there so I am thinking of a dissent bed rack since they are designed to go over the softopper and wild add a little extra protection as well as storage options. I am currently using a basic tent but will most likely switch to a rooftop at some point so the rack would be nice for that as well.

 

[Sam M.]

It's tempting to go all in. If you are doing ANY amount of offroading, sliders are never a bad idea. I learned that lesson many years ago with a Jeep Cherokee. I wrecked the passenger side rocker on a very mild trail with some bad line choice.

The first real mod for my Xterra, when before a lift or bigger tires, was a set of White Knuckle Off-road sliders. And they get used! I had to tag my factory step tubes and bend them up a little to jog my memory though.

Like mentioned before, a good recovery setup is a must as well. As well as some basic repair tools. Spend some time on a vehicle specific forum and learn the weak spots or common failures related to your model and spend the time to do any upgrades to those pieces that are needed or locate spares for them to carry (within reason).

Lastly, go use it and see what you need! Keep a little list on your phone of things you think would be handy to pick up as budget allows.

Thanks for the advice. Definitely have a list already going and sliders are pretty high on that list. So far my truck has been pretty capable of handling anything I’ve thrown at it. I think it’ll still need those slider pretty quick here.

 

[Welding Goats]

Build as you go and let your experiences on the trail tell you what you “need”. Most people will tell you it’s plenty capable as is !

Pretty good advice here... Take it out, see what it can do that you want it to ,and perhaps what it can't, then start your list.

Don't miss out on an adventure just because you "felt" you had to get the rig "all setup" before you headed out.

Enjoy!

 

[Sam M.]

Yup. Just go out and play, and let your experiences dictate what you buy next. One trip might see a close call with rockers that has you ordering sliders on the drive home, while experiences from the next trip might have you assembling a new cooking setup before anything else.

*edit*

That said, in my experience, the biggest bang for your buck mods to increase offroad capability are:

1) Disconnecting your anti-sway bars. (Free)

2) Deflating your tires (and having the necessary on-board air to reinflate them, $60-600).

3) A rear locking diff, or at least a Truetrac Helical LSD ($500-2000, depending on the model and if you do the install yourself).

My truck came with a locking rear and limited slip front.

I am looking at possibly borrowing a small compressor from my shop for my trips until I can get one for my truck. I am currently running the Goodyear A/T adventurer Kevlar tires which while not the best have worked so far. I believe I currently run 32 psi on all four wheels. How low should I deflate them when off road?

I have looked a little into disconnecting my anti-sway bars but I also use my truck as a Dailey driver which includes quite a bit of freeway driving.

 

[James Deaton]

Probably about 25 to maintain the safety of the tire’s sidewall, unless you are in sand on the beach, then can go lower.

James

 

[ru108]

I believe I currently run 32 psi on all four wheels. How low should I deflate them when off road?

I've got a 2011 4Runner Trail, which is essentially the same platform as your Taco, as well as the EXACT same tires. With that being said, are you running P rated or E rated tires? Asking because it does matter when airing down. Apologies if you know the following already, but it's a good refresher none the less.

Since E rated tires tend to have thicker sidewalls, they do better at lower pressures and can tolerate more flex under a load. A P rated tire, with a thinner sidewall, will flex as well, but it could ultimately be too much under a load which makes getting holed easier due to less rubber. I've got E's and run day-to-day at around 40 psi to keep my fuel mileage within reason then generally go down anywhere between 25 psi and as low as 20 psi (don't want to pop a bead if I can help it) when off road depending on the overall terrain in order to give a softer ride, better traction and more control due to the bigger footprint. Lower pressure will also help reduce, but not totally eliminate the chance of a punctures within the tire's footprint, although it can increase the chances of a sidewall being holed if you are unlucky enough to tag a really sharp rock or other debris if you're going too fast (which you shouldn't be anyway).

Basically, its a trade off between people comfort, control and not beating your suspension to death or taking the risk of blowing one or more tires (or worse) by hitting a hole, bump, rock, etc. too hard with street pressures because the tires are acting like basketballs.

Probably too much info, but I hope that will help answer the tire question a bit.

 

[Lindenwood]

My truck came with a locking rear and limited slip front.

I am looking at possibly borrowing a small compressor from my shop for my trips until I can get one for my truck. I am currently running the Goodyear A/T adventurer Kevlar tires which while not the best have worked so far. I believe I currently run 32 psi on all four wheels. How low should I deflate them when off road?

I have looked a little into disconnecting my anti-sway bars but I also use my truck as a Dailey driver which includes quite a bit of freeway driving.

In my experience, it takes a pretty dramatic reduction in pressure (i.e. 50% or more) to notice much difference in pure forward traction. However, vehicle stability (i.e. hopping around over small bumps) and ride smoothness (i.e. not beating up you or your rig on washboard) can be notably improved with even a 20% reduction. Thus, for you, that might be 25 PSI, though if you know you can air back up I'd probably just settle all the way down to 20 PSI.

You have to be working really hard to slip a bead at more than 10 PSI, assuming you have an offroad-biased tire-to-wheel width ratio. That is, tire width of at least, perhaps, 3" wider than rim width.

 

[Sam M.]

I've got a 2011 4Runner Trail, which is essentially the same platform as your Taco, as well as the EXACT same tires. With that being said, are you running P rated or E rated tires? Asking because it does matter when airing down. Apologies if you know the following already, but it's a good refresher none the less.

Since E rated tires tend to have thicker sidewalls, they do better at lower pressures and can tolerate more flex under a load. A P rated tire, with a thinner sidewall, will flex as well, but it could ultimately be too much under a load which makes getting holed easier due to less rubber. I've got E's and run day-to-day at around 40 psi to keep my fuel mileage within reason then generally go down anywhere between 25 psi and as low as 20 psi (don't want to pop a bead if I can help it) when off road depending on the overall terrain in order to give a softer ride, better traction and more control due to the bigger footprint. Lower pressure will also help reduce, but not totally eliminate the chance of a punctures within the tire's footprint, although it can increase the chances of a sidewall being holed if you are unlucky enough to tag a really sharp rock or other debris if you're going too fast (which you shouldn't be anyway).

Basically, its a trade off between people comfort, control and not beating your suspension to death or taking the risk of blowing one or more tires (or worse) by hitting a hole, bump, rock, etc. too hard with street pressures because the tires are acting like basketballs.

Probably too much info, but I hope that will help answer the tire question a bit.

Thanks for the tire lesson. If we have the exact same time I would assume mine are E as well not P. I looked them up and they say they are rated LT which, correct me if I’m wrong, is E.

Do you find that you get better fuel economy on day to day running 40 psi instead of 32?

 

[Cody_Gorsuch]

Thanks for the tire lesson. If we have the exact same time I would assume mine are E as well not P. I looked them up and they say they are rated LT which, correct me if I’m wrong, is E.

Do you find that you get better fuel economy on day to day running 40 psi instead of 32?

Fuel economy should always be better at a higher PSI. Although ride comfort will suffer

 

[ru108]

If the size on the sidewall begins with LT, then they're load range E. As far as fuel mileage goes (and YMMV - pun intended ) with my experience has been roughly 1-2 mpg, although the tires are heavier than stock I still average about 18 overall unloaded and/or no trailer or gear on my roof. It also wallows like a beached whale at 32-33 when cornering.

 

[ru108]

Also what Cody said as well as lower pressures on E rated tires with a relatively light vehicle like a Taco or 4R will also increase tire wear long term. I've got a reference chart somewhere that covers my size tire (265/70/17) that I found online forever ago that I'll post a link for if I can find it. I think your wheels are 16, but the same general rules should apply. You can always tweak it later when you find what works best for you.

ETA: Here's the link. They're referring to BFG, but translates the same and has worked great for me so far.

http://www.lifestyleoverland.com/deflating-overland-travel/