Shipping my Taco from HI to Nor Cal

So hear me out....

I'm active Army and I'll have to pay to ship my vehicle back to the mainland. I have done zero modifications to the truck yet minus cosmetic stuff (MESO modifications etc).

My master plan is I fly the wife and daughter back to Ohio and my 2 boys and I meet the truck in Nor Cal. Then we drive/overland our way back to Ohio and basically have a trip of a lifetime.

I plan on purchasing all my modifications and then driving it to a shop(based off all your recommendations) and get everything installed at once. Basically I need a one stop shop that can install suspension lift, bumpers, rack, wheels/tires, RTT, and possibly gears 4.88s or 5.29s more than likely 5.29s.

Obviously I'm looking at dropping around $10-15k at once so I'd like to have all the stuff ordered ready to go so I don't overstay my time at a friends house while I wait. What would be a realistic timeframe to get all this installed? Is there anywhere in Nor Cal that I can one stop shop this type of build?

Thanks everyone!

 

Sounds like an awesome schedule of events ahead of you! Depends on where you're looking, but the two shops that come to mind are Shaffer's Offroad in Oakland and Milogen Fabrications in the South Bay (Milogen Fabrications)

Edit: Shaffer's is in Alameda, but samesame

 

If youre going with new bumpers, those can take at least a few months and hoping it doesnt get delayed at all. as long as you order way ahead of time that part is probably do-able since suspension, rack, wheels/tires and rtt are relatively available.

May want to hold off on doing gears unless you have enough time to break them in. I haven't done them myself but from what I've heard others say is you have to baby it the first few hundred miles so might be a pain in the ass if youre trying to get going back east.

+ 1 for Milogen.

sounds like a sick plan though man. if you do decide to get it all done, post up in the norcal wheeling thread and do a couple of trail runs on your way out of of the area
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/2020-norcal-camping-wheeling-shenanigans.643564/

 

Don't have a shop recommendation for you but you may need to consider lead times for some of the items you mention. My personal experience with the metal fabrication shops that produce bumpers, racks, sliders, skids, etc. is that the lead times can be quite long and in some instances up to 4-5 months.

Sounds like a cool plan and trip. Best of luck to you.

 

I plan on ordering the bumpers about 6 months out of PCS, and with the gears I was reading over the 5.29 thread about cryo treating and some other treatments that negate the break in period. But most definitely would need to consider that if I did gears.

 

these two are my recommendations also. since you want your diffs fucked with i would start with shaffers personally, but milo does that list all the time

 

Sounds like that should be plenty of lead time, especially if you communicate your situation to the fab shops. I also have no input on gear break-in, though

 

Curious who are you using to ship your truck? I’m in the business and most likely will end up in Matson Port in Long Beach. We usually pick up units from there and take them all over the US.

 

Oh bro I have no idea I'm just under 2 years away from that haha. If this is the case then I'll have to get the mods to move it to the SoCal section so I can get recommendations there haha

 

Matson goes into Oakland.

 

TBH, you probably don't need bumpers if you get 285/75R16 tires since your spare will still fit in the stock location unless you're going w/ 1 is none doctrine.

You might need a winch mount for the front, and recovery, just stick w/ the stock hitch w/ a shackle receiver. If you're going w/ a rack, you can put the jerry cans in the back or go w/ a couple of rotopax on the side along w/ shovel and maxtracks on the other side.

If you're putting your truck into the shop. I'd really recommend the following upgrades:

• welded hrew sliders (DOM is stronger and more expensive, but your frame may yield before the sliders do)
• Get Kings. We've all tried everything else.
• cab mount chop or relocation
• rear shock mount relocation from bamf (optional, but allows you to run 12" travel smoothies
• rear frame boxing + frame bracing (@rob1208 style)
• Heavy Duty Deaver Leaf Pack
• IFS Skid plate (steel only)
• Air Compressor
• Small fridge
• Winch

For a longer trip to stay reliable, staying light is the biggest thing. Also get your brakes checked to make sure the pads are g2g. People end up running to the end of their brakes because they don't downshift enough going downhill through trails. Along w/ your standard recovery kit (snatch block, kinetic strap, tow strap), tool kit (sockets, pliers, box end wrenches, screwdrivers, flare nut tool, loctite, etc), Jack Stands (UniJack), Pro Eagle Floor Jack, or bottle jack for lifted vehicles, C-Clamps for brakes, Lithium Jumpstarter pack (

$150 noco GB50 : 1500A ultrasafe jump starter – 12V lithium battery booster pack, portable jump box, power bank & jumper cables - for 7.0L gas and 4.5L diesel engines

noco GB50/70). Spare Nuts + Bolts (large enough to cap off brake lines, suspension bolts, Zip Ties, and mini hose clamps for when you rip out your brake lines from your caliper or drum. Spare CV and/or boots.

 

A Ford 9 or Dana 60 would resolve *most* issues w/ the diff shitting itself over the trail.

 

Honestly you covered just about everything I was looking to do in the long run. For this trip it will be mostly highway honestly, I will do some map reconnaissance before I head back and figure out some smaller trails I can take the boys on to have some fun, but mostly will be just getting the truck back to the east coast. I've spent so much time away from them the last 11 years, this is my chance to kinda get to hang out with them for a month or so.

I really just planned on doing the modifications I listed above since I'll have the expendable cash on hand. I'll only be putting maybe 2,000 miles on the truck since it's pretty hard to put miles on a vehicle in Oahu haha, so everything should be relatively easy to swap out and take off. Now it seems I need to figure out where to ship it and how to ship it so I can pinpoint my shop.

 

This is definitely true as my cousin used them to ship his car back home to HI.

 

Yeah, I feel you. When it's between trips through Ala Moana for Shirokiya, the occasional drive on the H3, your favorite poke spot, and fighting the lines at Costco. It's super hard to rack up miles unless friends and family visit. But hey, short commutes are awesome.

Regarding regearing, I don't even know if you really need to do that yet. Most of us who regear are at 6,000 lbs. Full plate bumpers are like 300+. My camper shell is 380. Just running 600lbs less would take a lot less stress on your drivetrain. But who knows, maybe the 2GR-FKS motors could need a little more help.

 

can I come? Will bring beer and fetch firewood

 

+1. my truck is over 6k and I can tell I need to regear soon but not enough to make me rush out and do it now. You could probably wait and save up for a little while longer. I'd spend that money on bigger brake calipers or at least better pads and SS brake lines.

 

DUDE. Do the mods while you’re in HI! No way would I risk any shop (no matter how well reputed) to eat away at such precious family time. Especially if you only have a month. You have no idea how quickly delays add up and judging by your list there’s a TON of potential for delays.
TBH, most likely a stock truck will go 99.9% of the places you’ll go. This county is pretty much all graded and paved over. Really have to try and get stuck off-road.

 

Hate to rain on your parade but no way I would ship a truck to the Bay Area , immediately have a bunch of mods done and take off on a long one way trip trip to Ohio. If there’s something wrong with either mods, parts or workmanship and you have a major problem in Dead Horse Wyoming or some other nowhere place you are screwed. You gotta nice truck, why not just enjoy the trip with your boys , make it a real adventure and do the mods when you get to Ohio?