3rd Gen overlanding/daily driver

Hey guys!

New 2018 Tacoma Off-Road owner here. My goal is to build a very capable overlanding vehicle that I can use as a daily driver. I'm not looking to put a 6 inch lift and 37's on my truck, but I have been looking at either strut spacers to fit a size bigger tire with more aggressive tread. I've also been looking at fox and king lift kits, but I didn't know how good/bad those would be for a daily driver. No long arm suspension or anything, but a little more ground clearance would be awesome. Any tips? Thanks in advance!!

 

Hey Nick, Congrats and welcome to TW!

-First thing to plan is what your intentions are with your new rig.

Exploring and camping can be done now in your stock truck, they are very capable............Get out there and see what works and what you need before wasting a lot of money and time.

 

I have the same uses. Billstein 5100s all around. Stock springs up front and single add a leaf in back. 1” lift all around (keeping factory rake) and 1 size up in tires. Truck is now a perfect FSR cruiser that can also handle some more gnarly stuff.

Relatively affordable, and totally great.

 

Thanks for the reply!

I plan on using the rig for exploring and camping like you said, but I worry about the terrain here in WV. I'll be covering a lot of rocky terrain as well as mud and steep hillsides. I would also love to be able to mount a RTT to boot, so I plan on adding bed stiffeners. My main concern is bottoming out on rocks, so I believe my first mod will be a skid plate and more rugged tires. After that, I plan on getting out and seeing what I can do in that thing!

 

This is my daily. 110 miles per day for work.

I have old man emu 887s on nitro chargers and dakars hds, with 255 85 16s.

I didnt see that big of a loss of mpgs with the tires and lift, but the rtt slaughtered my mpg.
I get around 18-19 if I keep it under 65mph.
Sliders go on in a few days, so I'm planning on a re gear in the future. Just my advice, plan on the mpg loss, and buy what you want first and save money

 

6112/5160 with Dakar springs and 265/75/16 ko2 . It will gladly go places offroad that you won't want to.

 

welcome.

6 inches is pretty high for loading up stuff. You'll find a lot of info though.

 

I have Fox 2.5 w/ resis front and rear. My truck is my daily, I wheel around 3-4 times a month. The ride is smooth on and off road compared to my stock sport hitachi shocks.

 

Glad to see this thread. I have the same plans/intents for mine. I work public health and disaster response, so I need to be able to get in and out of places, and I don't want two vehicles.
I'm in a 2018 SR5 4x4 and I plan on putting Falken Wildpeak 265/75/R16s on it if they will fit (seeing reports that they will with no rubbing), and eventually Billy 5100s all around and an AAL on the rear.

 

I'm not the best to give advice as mine is purely a daily so far. But If I were to start serious off roading, better tires and sliders would be my first two mods. I'd then see what my truck can do and add things from there as I run into problems.

 

Welcome nyoung! You sound like you're in the same situation as I was a year ago, and relatively in the same area so I thought I'd chime in with some of my experiences. I have a '16 Tacoma and an pursuing the same thing - truck camping/trail riding. I'm not an expert by any means and I won't assume to know your level of experience in going off pavement with your truck, but I found just going out to experience the trails really put into perspective what my priorities are.

I ended up reaching out in forums and local clubs and got involved with people with similar interests. 2-years later, I still don't have a lift yet and still riding my stock tires. I have been able to do fine on trails around this area with this set up. I started off with...

1) An air system - to air up and down my tires
2) Recovery gear (especially rated recovery points - front and back so people can get me out of sketchy situations).
3) Communications - CB radio

I went on trails in this state for a bit and just getting to know the community. Then I found out that the areas that I've been to has quite a bit of jagged rocks on the trail with mud and dirt. I've been beating up the factory skids that came with the TRD OR, but they've held up with me hammering them out and spray painting them after each run.

4) I Invested in sliders - went with Mobtown offroad (a local shop). Our trucks have a longer wheelbase than the typical off-road SUVs that I go trail riding with, so having these have been a game changer for me. They've already paid for themselves.

I started to save up for my suspension. I have roughly 5000 miles left on the stock tires, so I'll be upgrading them very soon to a more aggressive set for the terrain I'm normally in. The suspension system that you get should compliment the type of trails you ride and the weight that you carry on your rig. I plan on traveling further out and exploring different parts of the country as I advance in this hobby. With that being said, getting a system that allows me to control my compression/rebound is probably the direction that I am going to go, so I can adjust them with the different terrains that I encounter. If you plan on staying in the mid-atlantic area, you can probably find something that compliments this area's terrain. Check out the threads on the site, there are a ton of info here! Welcome again!

 

Congrats and welcome to TW!

 

In the same spot with everyone... looking at shocks, wheels & tires, that's like $4300 then $1000 for good sliders. After listening, maybe go for the better wheel set up wait on the shocks and just go out and give it a try on a few trips

 

Since you are also into camping, here are some pictures of how I carry some of my gear when I on my trips!

 

First, welcome to TW!!

You might have just opened a huge can of worms. People on TW really like to give advice.... Including me, so hear we go. If you are wanting a capable off road rig then stay away from spacers and go full lift kit. Basically the "buy once and cry once". If it was just going to be a pavement runner they spacers would be fine, but long term off road they fall short.

You could go with Bilstein 5100's for a with add a leaf in the rear for a cheaper lift. That being said, I went with add a leafs' and have regretted it and will probably be looking at Dakars or Deavers in the near-ish future.

For middle of the road kit Bilstein has the 6112 or Old Man Emu has their nitrocharger kit. Don't know much about the 6112, but I know a few guys running the Old Man Emu and have really liked it.

As for King's or Fox. I really don't think you could go wrong with either, both company's make a good product. I'm running King's 2.5 and have loved them, but (theirs always a but) due to my job I spend most days on gravel roads that are washboarded and full of potholes. This past week it was a little over 200 miles. If your mostly on pavement and only see off road once or twice a month I personal would go with one of the Bilstein or the Old Man Emu. In my humble opinion the Kings are little to expensive for the occasional off road. If you decide to go with King's give Filthy Motorsports a call. For the most part King is all they deal with for shocks. I went through them and they had great costumer service. Ben will spend about 30 minutes on the phone with you to figure out how you use the truck and what you need in a shock. For anything else call Headstrong Offroad. Marie really knows what she is talking about and can point you in the right direction and I've had nothing but great costumer service from them also. Also don't forget new upper control arms to get the most out of your new setup and to help with alignment.

 

It depends on the wheeling you do. If they are just dirt roads in the woods you probably don’t need much. If you experience shock fade you might need remote reservoirs or bigger shock bodies. If you are running high speed and jumps maybe you want bypass shocks for tuning.

 

Couldn’t agree more. I want to play with my truck and possibly do a cross country vacation with off roading mixed in. Just ordered my 5100s and single add a leaf. Possibly go up one or two sizes in tire. I would love a set of kings but 90 percent of my driving is for work so no need for a big expensive lift. Had this same set up on my last taco and loved it. Just my 2 cents

 

Definitely heavy duty leafs. Camping gear adds up quickly

 

Heavier loads will reveal the weakness of the stock suspension. Hell, just putting a 150 cap on it is enough. Armor will also weigh things down. Planning and sequence is important here.

Bigger tires with C,D, or E ratings will begin robbing you of power and mileage. It is a trade-off for capability off road. Bigger tires also provide the best kind of additional clearance for diffs specifically, and overall. Higher load/sidewlls ratings will be more duarble in the Rocky terrain you mention.

Regarding clearance, modifying the low hanging exhaust cross pipe is also a basic sensible mod to correct the really stupid and vulnerable design.

 

Don't discount your truck stock. Ive had my 2017 OR for a year and have been out offroading a dozen or so times (parks in Texas and Oklahoma). Been places with stock tires and no lift that Jeeps and side by sides were asking how I got there without a winch and mud tires. I usually run with a 4inch lifted 35" mud tire F150 and have pulled him out multiple times after I made it out with no help.

I will say I just upgraded my tires to 255/85R16 Toyo MTs. But, only because my stock Goodyears only lasted about 20k miles. Should be able to go even further with the better tire but it really wasnt needed. As someone said before, probably more useful than the lift and tires upfront would be a 1)compressor to air up and down 2)appropriate recovery gear will get you really far and is a must for any offroading and 3)learning your truck and picking your lines properly.