2017 TRD Offroad questions

This post is asking for those that know about the capabilities of the 2017 Tacoma. I own a 1998 Pathfinder SASed . After nearly 20 years of offroading the Pathy is getting old and the unibody is showing signs of wear. The kind of offroading I do has changed from somewhat aggressive to completely overland. The last trip we did was about 600 miles of dirt road on the north rim of the Grand Canyon of which another person had a stock, except for tires, 2008 Tacoma and he had zero issues. So, I am thinking about a 2017 TRD offroad MT 4x4 that I have no plans of doing any extreme warranty voiding mods to ie. no lift tires and armor only.

Now for my questions.

How does the front diff hold up in stock form? Should I be concerned about CVs breaking doing gravel roads at a reasonable speed?

How do these trucks do on the highway? I would like to be able to maintain the speed limit and fully loaded the truck will have a roof top tent, 20 gallons of water and the gear required to support myself and maybe one other for a week in the bush.

How do these trucks tow? I have a new 3/4 ton for serious towing, but if I want to pull my 3500lb boat to the lake can I safely do that with a decent amount of margin? Can I maintain highway speeds (65-70)?

Will this truck last? I keep my vehicles for a LONG time and because of this don't mind the payments if the vehicle will hold up.

Thanks in advance.

 

I can't speak for the 17 yet, but I love my 09, 4x4. It loves the dirt roads at speed, maybe more than I do driving them. the 09 is only a 4 cyl, so towing anything sucked, but I figure the v6 will be much better.

I bought Toyota because as a kid I remember many Toyotas driving around for years, rusted out piece of crap junk boxes, but they always started and sounded fine driving away. I remember one guy who had ropes and straps all over his truck keeping it together, he talked about 300 thousand mies and not being able to kill the thing. Is this the same Toyota now as then? Time will tell

 

Test drive yet?? That should answer a lot of your questions.

 

I'm fairly certain most responses you will get here will be completely anecdotal. If you get the TRD OR with Tow Package, the max weight should be right around 6,800lbs. Watch some Youtube videos for actual towing tests and see for yourself.

That being said.... GET THE TACOMA.

 

Plenty of reading material here to help you form your own opinion.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/forums/3rd-gen-tacomas-2016.186/

 

Ordered my 2017 TRD Off Road with 6spd manual today. The Dealer says it will take 6 months to get here but they will try to expedite it.

 

Sounds like for what you do, you'd at least want to put some gears in it.

 

Our last 650 mile adventure through the North Rim was easily accomplished by a 2008 Taco. In fact I only had to power the front wheels once for a 50 foot section of mud that I chose the wrong line on. This is the kind of wheeling we currently do.

I plan on running stock tires, bolt on skids, and bolt on sliders...nothing fancy nothing to void the warranty. I want a reliable vehicle that I can also use to haul my mountain bike and model airplanes. No more cutting the front end of my truck off to SAS it.

From what I understand the manuals come with 4.3s instead of 3.9s and the shorter OD in the manual will be more matched to the engine on the highway. The auto I test drove was geared far too tall in 6th at 70 and constantly shifted to 5th and sometimes 4th. That being said, if I decide to run larger tires gears will be mandatory, but then I get into reduced efficiency and I am starting back down the road towards a vehicle that is too modified for my requirements.

 

Interesting

 

Sounds fun

 

I tow this guy with my 17 TRD ORDC. No issues.