Tacomas in Minnesota?

I'd be down! I'm guessing somewhere in the Twin Cities since that seems to be where most of us on here are from?

 

Depending on the time, I wouldn't mind stopping by for a meet up.

Slightly off topic, but anyone local has the Orange Virus tune on their 3rd Gen?

 

Depending on the day I would be game for that. Working in retail gives me some odd hours. I'm located in the south metro.

 

I

Ive got midtravel pm me

 

Almost have it! Are you wondering what it's really like too?

 

Subed to this. Somewhat interested .

 

Yes!
If you don’t mind, I’d like to get a ride in it sometime.

 

Sure thing. Hopefully I can flash it this weekend.

 

It's not king or fox but I've got midtravel on my 3rd gen. Icon stage 4 RR.

 

Awesome thanks!
I'm in the SW metro area. You?

 

Do any of you gentlemen belong to any MN OHV clubs?

BTW - the border to border trail maps were published this week:
https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/input/mgmtplans/ohv/plans/border_to_border_trail.html

 

Founding member at large of Midwest Overland Society (MOS) the border to border is their project.

 

Hi All, new member here.

I'm brand new to trucks, let alone offroading. Always been a sports car guy, and somewhat active with the local BMW and Audi groups, so this is a whole new exciting world. I recently bought a '96 Tacoma from a buddy that needed some love — so on the bright side, most of the parts are ready for upgrade!

Its only been a couple weeks, but am already obsessing over an OME lift kit, new wheel/tire setup and bumpers, so any recommendations for 1st gen 4wd send em my way.

I live in central MN (Crosslake) north of Brainerd. The Spider Lake trails are ~30 minutes away. Anyone else up this way? Good shops?

Thanks and I look forward to learning a lot from y'all.

 

Welcome to Tacoma World!

Is your truck an Xtra Cab or Regular Cab? I paired OME 881s with Bilstein shocks for my 2002 Regular Cab. For the rear, I used a Wheeler's Offroad 1.5" AAL. For wheel and tire setups, every backspacing is different which may cause the same size tires to rub with one wheel and clear perfectly with another. With 3.5" backspacing wheels and 265/75/R16 tires, I have minimal rubbing on the front mudflaps at full lock. If adding a front bumper, you may want to go with 882s or 883s, I just emailed customer service at Wheeler's Offroad and they were able to help me out with the technical stuff.

Check out my build for the details, this was kind of just a quick rundown of what I decided to do on my truck.

Disclaimer: I was on a high-school budget when I purchased everything, which is why I chose the Bilsteins over the OME shocks. Honestly, from what I remember there wasn't much of a price difference between the two. If saving a few bucks isn't a concern, I would probably choose to go with OME shocks and springs since they are engineered to work together.

 

I'm asking because I was considering an individual membership at MN4WDA. But then I figured I should look into some clubs and possibly go that route instead.

I follow a few groups on Facebook - Midwest Overland Society, Minnesota Overlanders, and Midwest Overlanders. Kind of confusing who's who. I'm assuming you guys are the first one? Midwest Overland Society? Any association with the others?

 

Midwest Overland Society was founded in MN but has members all over god's green. That said, most reside in the Dakotas, WI, IA, IL, MI and of corse MN. Monthly meetings are held the second Tuesday of the month at various locations... mostly Tuttle's in Minnetonka if things haven't changed. They do a few member lead trips per year, mostly during the non frozen months, though a couple snow/cold runs are known to happen. Once or twice a year a large trip is planned, black hills, Utah, Colorado, Montana, Canada, etc.

The group is split into to sects. The first is the web forum folks. Second is the "society" proper which requires concurrent membership in the MN4WD association. They work with local, county, and state agencies to get more Overland type trails opened for the public. It's a direction MN4WD has been wanting to explore, so it was perfect. We had already mapped and explored much of the north country (we mostly being my good friend Tony, though my GPS tracks are still being used) and now MOS has the support of MN4WD for the common good.

If you like the overlanding thing, and want to join MN4WD, reach out to MOS, good bunch of folks, and are really working hard to open more lands to 4x4 vehicles.




Midwest overlanders is a more regional Facebook group that seems to be mostly in the Ohio/Mi region. I don't know much about them.

 

Awesome, thank you for the info. I've primarily been a backpacker, but since buying the Tacoma I've had a growing interest in overlanding. Any info or insight on the Minnesota Overlanders Facebook group?

 

Minnesota overload is the subset club side of MOS, anyone can join, no membership in MN4WD required.

Minnesota overlanderS is a group that was founded fairly recently in Mankato... I know nothing of them other than they have no affiliation with MOS.

 

Thanks for the info, @silverbullet02. I have the xtra cab with a topper. Are those 265/75/16's in your photo gallery? And I agree with going to a higher spring rate (plus I am pretty okay with a stiffer ride).

Cheers

 

Yes they are 265/75/16s



The originals were 225/70/15 if I remember correctly, but it should be easy to tell the difference between the two!Also, if you plan on keeping the topper you may want to go with a slightly stronger spring than recommended for unloaded in the rear to compensate for the weight of the topper too.