Dirt N S'mores Adventure Truck and occasional daily driver

Trying to find the balance between making a good off-road worthy truck and a daily driver is always a battle. I've kept my 2004 Toyota Matrix around for when gas prices get high (and since it's not worth a lot if I sell it), so I have the luxury of just using my truck around town and on trips.

Here's my 2006 Toyota Tacoma TRD Sport Prerunner Double Cab Long Bed.

Since it's a DCLB it's not the greatest to drive around town in southern California, but my wife has no problem taking it grocery shopping or to the hockey rink. The kids love the truck and so do I.

We go exploring in the local mountains, yellow post camping, find spots in Anza Borrego and the Pacific coast. I run a site to document our adventures and camping thoughts, gear reviews, etc. over at https://dirtnsmores.com if you'd like to check it out. I'll occasionally drop an article in here too if it's related to the truck and camping. Instagram @dirtnsmores

I've been active on this site forever but never started a build thread. Here we go!

Our big beast is 2wd, so we have to pick our lines and adventures carefully. I know how to get us out of sticky situations and yes - I've longed for a 4wd truck for awhile but this fits our needs for now. It's paid off and the Tacoma 4x4 prices are insane at the moment. Maybe a ARB locker is in order (ended up with Truetrac)? We shall see. Southern California is dry, so my biggest obstacles are sand and deep ruts.

With that said... Here's the mods:

Detroit Truetrac and 4.10 gears

Lifted with OME 885/Bilstein 5100 out front. Rear has OME Dakar medium duty leaf pack and 5100 shocks. SPC LR upper control arms.

Tires are Cooper AT3 4S 265/70/17 mounted on Level 8 MK wheels.

I run a softopper that's been mounted since 2016. These things are awesome.

On-board water pressure for camping, rinsing off the kids, boogie boardz, etc. created by our very own @ProForce .

Flat Tailgate panel is one of my favorite mods.

BajaRack Flat Rack up on the roof for traction boards, fuel, camp chairs, etc.

Weathertech floor mats.

Wet Okele seat covers.

Kenwood stereo with Android Auto.

As it stands right now:






More Photos soon to come!

 

Beautiful drive and quick One-nighter to the mountains yesterday. California has amazing land



These Cooper AT3 4S standard load tires did well. A few jagged rocks and loose dirt. With that said, I'm getting hooked up with a new set of tires from a friend and I'll be trying out a larger tire size. Going with the 255/80/17 Toyo Open Country AT3. I'll be adding some weight since they are E load, but the added confidence going offroad alone in the mountains will be a big plus. Plus we tow a camper trailer once a month, and sometimes my dad's boat. If I'm not happy with this set I'll probably go back to the Coopers in a few years.

 

hey man its me... dude with the 1st gen truetrac prerunner. check'n out your build thread.
1st lemme say, nice rig! my BF had the same model in 4X4... end up give'n it to his dad and bought a 13 TSS Tundra.
2nd thing is the truetrax will really benefit more with the extra weight youre haul'n... and being a DC too will help.
my truck gets spinny if bed is empty... but not stuck. hell before i installed the truetrac i would get stuck on wet grass with the open diff... no lie
good luck man and keep me updated.

 

thanks for all the info. TruTrac limited slip is probably the route I'm going to take. It's cheaper than the ARB air locker.

 

Anyone else have an antenna with a burned top because in a pinch you used it to cook marshmallows over a fire?

 

hah! i've never thought of that option but i'll keep that in mind... good thinking! whenever i'm at big 5 or a general store in the mountains i make sure to grab an extendable roasting fork.

 

Finally moved up to 255/80/17 from 265s. I've had a 2.5-3-in lift for a while now, but I hadn't got around to putting 33s on. So far so good.

Thanks to @Bannerman and a few others for motivating my to go with this size and Toyo AT3

 

Looks great with the 33s. I like that roof rack a lot too. Making me rethink my choice to go with the Prinsu.

 

you made a good choice with the prinsu. i got this bajarack for like $300 used so i couldnt pass it up. it's not as versatile at mounting cool offroad gear, but it's super good at strapping random stuff down.

 

Wrote up an article about recovery gear and tools that can help you not get stuck and get unstuck. It's super important for us 2wd folks! Check it out:

Offroad Recovery Gear every 4x4/ and 2wd driver should carry (dirtnsmores.com)

 

Got my 33s to fit in the spare location. hammered back the 2 metal guides a bit and had to air it down to 10psi. being 255 skinnies i think helped a bit. i still want to add heat shield tape to that part of the muffler, but i'm completely cleared. I always keep my viair compressor behind the seats in the truck so if i ever need this spare i can air it up myself. don't anticipate that with these eloads. My review of the air compressor if anyone is interested: VIAIR 88P Air Compressor Review: best air compressor for offroading (dirtnsmores.com)

 

Great looking truck! How are you liking the Toyo AT3s? How’s the road noise? I did that mod for my 255/85 16 spare but drilled holes further back to relocate the tire back to keep the tire from hitting the differential. I also did the ‘TRD turn tailpipe’ mod, so no need for heat shield tape.

 

That's pretty cool I might have to do those mods so it fits a little bit better. So far I like these tires. They're only 50 lb. Not much road noise compared to my Cooper AT3 4S that I had before. I think my roof rack drowns out the noise that any tires would make

 

Hey, just wanted to say enjoyed your write up and subscribed to your blog.
Really get story telling, explanations and recommendations. Looking forward to more. Thanks!

 

Hey thanks for the kind words and subscribing. I have a huge list of articles I wanna write, but not much time LOL. More coming up. Let me know if you have any questions or ideas

 

Cross-posted from my webpage:

A lesson in patience from a 2wd off-road driver


Looking back on my recent trip to the desert and how we got stuck in the sand, I’m reluctant to blame the truck and the fact that it’s a 2wd. We could have also gotten stuck in the deep sand with a 4×4.

Just to recap…

We were at the end of our 3-hour drive and eager to find camp. There were no “campsite” signs off the main highway indicating we reached camp, but Google Maps said “turn left here” and I obliged. After a few hundred feet on this dirt road I didn’t recognize from photos, I realized the ground had quickly turned to deep sand and we were stuck. I attempted to take a loop back towards the hard-packed dirt but it was too late. My brother was following behind in his 2wd truck and also got stuck. The sand was a few feet deep with thick, loose grains and felt like quicksand when you stepped into it.

I know how to drive in sand, and airing down the tires beforehand would have probably kept us floating above it. I was also pulling my camper so that didn’t help the situation.

Luckily I got us out of this connundrum by airing down the tires, shoveling away the sand, and using our traction boards. We got right out on the 1st attempt and I can’t say enough about how good those Maxsa boards worked. Like I mentioned before, although unlikely, a 4×4 with open diffs and street pressure tires could have got stuck as well. They might have gotten out easier, but that’s besides the point.

The lesson...

Had I gotten out and scouted ahead on foot at my first thought that this wasn’t the right road we would not have ended up in the sand. The campsite I chose was a developed primitive campsite that wasn’t known to have a deep sand pit at the start of it. I always read reviews and check road conditions before trips to know what I’m getting into, and this wasn’t it.

If I’d known about the deep sand we would have aired down to 15-20psi and cruised right through. But I was beat from driving and everyone just wanted to get to camp so I figured maybe the pictures I saw online were old and plodded ahead anyway, hoping this was the right road until the sand was just too much to overcome.

Considering we were out of this predicament relatively quickly, I look back on it as an adventure and a learning lesson. I’ll remember to scout ahead. I know how to get us out of trouble with traction boards and a shovel, and I’m glad to see that my collection of off-road recovery gear saved our asses. It could have been much worse without some of this preparation.

As it turns out, the turnoff was actually about 30 yards from the wrong dirt road we went down and reached camp at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park shortly after our debacle! It was beer-o-clock.

What’s the old saying in overlanding? Outfit and Explore. It makes for a good story, just be sure to go prepared. It’s especially important for us 2wd overland adventurers who don’t have 4×4 to mask our impatience and mistakes!

Get out there and have fun. Happy camping!

https://dirtnsmores.com/2wd-offroad-lesson-learned-patience/

 

Quick update! My 33s have been rolling good. Don't think I'll need a regear right now. Still haven't towed with these taller tires yet. We just got the wife a new family vehicle... and I still have my old trusty toyota matrix for daily beater driving. That means my truck is now driven occasionally. I really want a 4x4 to beat up... do I convert this bad boy or trade it in for a 1st gen Tundra? or just install a locker or LSD and be happy with it?

I ordered some steel extended rear brake lines from headstrong! Here is the product 24" SS Extended Length Rear Brake Lines (PAIR) - 05+ Tacoma (headstrongoffroad.com)

Now I might be able to get those extended rear shocks I have sitting around installed.

Recent photo on our trip up to Bass Lake, CA

 

Hey @dirtnsmores how you liking the suspension setup on/off road? I've been researching and think I'll be doing the same

 

On road it's great. Offroad it can be better... But it's good enough for me since I mostly just hit trails to find a nice campsite. Been solid though. No issues after four years and 60k miles. The 6112s might be what I go with next.

 

Finally bit the bullet on the Detroit TrueTrac and 4.10 gears! I gave up looking for a clean used Tundra 4x4 and decided to "run what i got" and give this diff a shot.

Here's the specs of what I ordered from ECGS. They are assembling all of this for me and I just swap it out directly with my original 3rd.

Tacoma 8.4 Non ELD/ T100/ Tundra 3rd
DIFF-BUILD-T100
ADD SOLID SPACER: ADD SOLID SPACER
Select Gear Ratio: 4.10
Shipping Options: Send Return Label
Select Core Charge: Core Charge
Select Flange Style: Used Flange
ADD LOCKER: ADD Detroit TrueTrac (T100-DET-TT)

I chose 4.10 since I don't plan on going bigger than 33in tires and still want to retain good performance over 60mph on the highway.


It cost $1,950 out the door, but I get $600 back when I return core (my old diff). So about $1350. I'm going to swap it out myself it seems pretty straightforward.

Thanks to everyone who answered my true trac questions over the past year, especially @Appalachia Man and @ellocodetroit !