Building a prerunner for expo

debating on building my 2015 Tacoma prerunner sr5 (i do not have a trd it has a LSD) as an expo rig love to explore, I've had people tell me that prerunner Tacomas are not good at all as an expo rig, but I'm wondering what I could do to make it more capable and if it's even worth it I love my truck and I just wanna know what everyone's opinions are on trails and what not. It won't see any rock crawling just basic trails or overlanding just exploring America. Expo plan would be to do small lift with pizza cutter tires for mpgs and traction and add lighter weight parts on it maybe a rtt someday? All opinions would be greatly appreciated! I know people are gonna say should have got a 4x4 but that was not an option the dealers around me had no 4x4 Tacomas that weren't stock they wanted 10k+ over what I paid for my prerunner.

 

Id say deffinitley get an air locker if yours isnt a trd offroad.

 

I've been looking at lockers and I've seen to air down on trails and where needed also. I'm just wondering if it's worth it to put money into it if it's just gonna be a waste but I love it and i would like to be able to get off the road and explore as much as I could.

 

Subbed. Interested to see the replies. I haven't pushed my Prerunner much at all, but I think it's capable of handling quite a bit. If you know your limits.

 

Yeah I come from a couple Jeeps and I have done a lot of trails and rock crawling with those so I know how to pick lines and do all that but I also was taught leave it in 4wd when off road (not sure if that was the right thing to do some of the times) but I do know how to drive. Lol

 

I mean if you wanna explore as much as you can id deffinitley say get a 4x4. But id say a good insurance is always have a buddy with you haha

 

That goes with 4x4 also! Haha it's always better to have someone with you just in case.

 

I'd say if your expeditions are on flat pavement only then go for it. Even with 4X4 and a rear locker it is soo easy to get stuck or slide into something i can't imagine having less traction available.
I think you will always regret not getting a 4X4 as you dump thousands into the truck to try to make it do what you could have stock. I can't see it making sense to do a 4X4 swap on a brand new truck.

Either look at trading it in or use it to tow a side by side or similar to a place where you can have fun. Or come up with a different plan all together.

Probably not what you want to hear and may just inspire you more...

Just my opinion...

 

Yeah I appreciate all opinions I don't get butt hurt about people telling me their opinion and I have looked for a 4x4 that's not brand new but they are either 150k+ miles or they are trashed. So I may just have to find a different route to go. maybe just do a mid travel or something along those lines and make it a very comfortable DD. I'm also debating on making it a actual prerunner like fiberglass it and maybe just do mid travel with LT rear and just make it look good and perform good on road and good on minor off roading I love the prerunner truck style maybe it would be more practical to do that for me. I appreciate everyone's help on this forum I've been reading quite a bit and I've learned a lot. I'm just trying to find the direction I want to go for my truck and I want it to be practical but maybe alittle overkill haha it's always better to have too much than not enough imo.

 

Two wheel drive can be very capable for basic exploring. Having said that, if you get serious about an "expo rig", you'll regret not having a 4X4.

 

Yeah I have a 98 jeep xj that's 4x4 so I may have the best of both worlds and do an expo rig with that and do prerunner with my Tacoma so that I have a bad A DD and a expo rig for when I wanna get off the roads and too much for my prerunner.

 

^^^ This.

 

Anyone telling you to trade it in is an idiot imo. I have a prerunner (still just an open diff) and spent 3 days this weekend outperforming multiple 4wds (who got stuck) off-road running trails and up and down muddy hills. I got stuck once because I bottomed out on the front portion of my frame right where the LCA bolts on, and I had one rear tire and one front tire suspended in the air. With a locker, I probably could have gotten myself out. I plan on adding a winch and a mechanical locker with 4.56 gears sometime this year and will see how well I do with that. The biggest part about keeping from getting stuck is to know how to drive.

 

Sounds like the guys in the 4x4s didn't know how to drive then. Everything else being equal a 4x4 is always going to be more capable off road. Sure, you can do a lot with 2wd but a 4x4 will do it better and will do more. A rear locker along with 4x4 is just icing on the cake. My point is that it is a little foolish to call people idiots for recommending something that is obviously going to be better for what the OP wants.

 

But the question at hand is "would a prerunner be a capable expo rig" as long as he isn't trying to climb 2ft tall walls or anything absolutely ridiculous then the answer is yes. Sure a 4wd would be better at some stuff, but as long as he knows how to drive then he'd be fine. The money he would lose trading it in for a 4wd isn't worth it. The only difference between my truck and the 4wd's that we're getting stuck is an inch of height because of my 35's as to compared to their 33's. @TRON_ was a perfect example with his old prerunner, he took that thing many places and did many things that people wouldn't think a 2wd would go. Good suspension, a locker, and driver mod do wonders. He would do fine for the time being with a 2wd and maybe if he got more into off-roading and wanted to do ridiculous stuff he could convert it way down the road.

 

Ya do what you can do, with what ya got. When that doesn't work anymore, get something different.