Newbie Needing Advice On Where To Begin

Hey guys I'm new to off-roading and am currently lost as far as the sea of mods and options available for these trucks. I have a 2014 regular cab 2.7 4x4 and am a college student who is paying his way through school so crazy expensive mods are outta the question. I want to get into light off-roading out west specifically Nevada and the desert southwest. Just mountain trails for recreation, hunting, and I am a trapper in the winter so driving snow covered mountain roads are must. What are some basic mods I need first? Items to carry in my truck? Where do I begin? I'm thinking about putting a Bilstein shock kit in the truck and am currently against lifting it due to cost and such. Are Bilsteins that much better than the stock shocks? I kinda just wanna beef it up. Just got a set of Flaken Wildpeaks AT3W tires out the door for 600 from my local tire shop which I'm pretty happy about. I've done all the basic maintenance and service and am wondering what I save for next? I am carrying everything from tools, jack, tire repair kit, shovel, axe, tow strap etc so I think I'm good there but was wondering if you guys have some specific recommendations. Thanks guys its just overwhelming to look at all the mods and such. Here's a picture of my truck as well! Pretty proud to have paid for it and get something so nice!

 

Welcome to TW! I would personally add led reverse lights and headlights first because they make a world of difference. You could also do Bilstein 5100s all around to upgrade suspension. I got everything from Amazon cause its cheaper than any other site but due to everything going on right now, shipping might take a while. Do you have a budget?

 

Thanks so much for the reply! I'm almost done with this semester and am going into fire season so I should have a little money to play around with soon. I want to upgrade my door speakers first ($70) and do the extended rear diff breather with a kit from yota shop.com ($25). Figured the extended diff breather might be important after me and my buddy forded a river in his 4runner and had milkshakes in the diffs lol. Kinda looking only to allocate maybe around 500 bucks. I'm kinda at that point where I have to get practical purpose driven stuff and not so much aesthetics. I know this questions may be a little open ended but I appreciate the replies. Any ideas on good ways to mount kc daylighters to a tacoma. I know the led bars are brighter and more economical but man there's something cool about the KC lights lol. I'm gonna look into the Bilstein 5100s. Also, is it ok that my rear leaf springs are near flat?? They are four leaf springs and the other day I hauled around 700 pounds a short distance and the springs were(had to pick up a bunch of stone and lumber) bent the opposite way. Are the springs worn out??

 

The leaf springs on the Tacoma aren't the best. I did a add a leaf to hold more load in my bed. Another option you could do is replace the whole leaf pack. I am not to familiar withe the KC lights. I know that roof mounted lightbars have a lot of reflection from the hood at night. One way people avoid this is with certain roof racks, it in a sense hides the bottom part of the light bar so that no light shines on the hood. I've also seen some people mount the light bar more back on the roof to do the same thing.

 

I didn't even think about reflection off the hood so thanks for that bit! I guess I'll have to look at a bumper mounted lighting system. All the add a leafs I've seen seem to add height to the truck. Know of any that just keep stock height or slightly more?? Thanks so much!

 

Hey congrats man, if you're gonna be offroading I would recommend a winch, either an electric one or a manual one. It will get you out of so many problems, specially if you're alone.

 

Remove your mudflaps and take a buddy. Maybe some off brand recovery boards. Sounds like you got everything else needed. Have fun and be safe is all the rest that you need.

 

Good news, the truck will tell you everything you need to know. Just head out. If your camping gear is light, you will get by with stock suspension for a while. I drove a bone-stock Hilux around Angola for two years. Mods would have helped. A spare tire would have helped, but they were the first to be stolen. A winch would have helped. Self recovery is great, but flagging down strangers to ask for a tow is a great way to meet people. Just make sure you have beer and turn around before everyone else does so others can come by and help.

Looks like you have decent tire. Don't drive off the map until you know what you really need and you'll be fine. Sure, go offroad, but stay on well travelled tracks at first.

If the ride is rough or you blow out the shocks, replace them with better ones. You'll need good tires, but they don't have to be big. I went with 235/85r16 K02s for their tough sidewalls on mountain trails. My loaded weight is 6000lb, so I needed better springs and shocks all around. I learned that driving it on stock suspension first. Carry basic recovery gear, but more importantly, know how to use it. What ever you do, don't make a rookie mistake and buy a high lift jack. They are useless without steel bumpers and sliders. Then, they are useful, but unless you grew up using them and somehow didn't crush a hand or your head, don't get one. You have to have several near misses with one before you gain enough respect to own one. I have a Safe Jack kit. Lighter than a high lift and more useful. (I grew up using high lift jacks on farms and at home. They are heavy and they suck. I don't want another one.)

I am on year 2 of my build. I have at least another year to go. By then, I'll know if I bought the right truck or not. (not like we have many options in the US)

 

Great thread with lots of good info so far...nice looking truck OP, sounds like you’re on the right track!

 

Wow man 2 years offroading I'm Angola sounds like a hell of an adventure! Thanks so much for the advice. I guess I won't get hung up in the weeds of off-road mods right off the bat and just start driving it like you say. Those safe Jack kits look like the way to go for sure. I grew up on a farm in the Midwest and have used a farm Jack enough to know how dangerous they are so definitely not getting one. You think my tires will be ok? They are only c range. My buddy said to get e range but I didn't want to kill my on road mpg of 20-21 mpg with heavier tires. Next time I will be looking at bfgs too just the difference in price was significant enough for me to go with the falkens

 

I was going to second someone who already said the stock suspension should be fine for what I think your intentions are. I only replaced my shocks/struts with Bilsteins because they needed to be replaced.

 

Hella is better value for money in the lights dept

 

I'm not trying to insult you with this question, but does your spare match the other 4? The factory spare isn't rated for 4WD. Also deflator and inflator for adjusting the footprint of your tires.

There's plenty of disbursed camping off of fire roads to be enjoyed, before even considering a 50+ mile off grid solo trip. The further out you go, the less margin for error.

 

No insult taken at all! I'm trying to learn here. I was actaully thinking about this the other day. The spare is just a full size steel rim with a dunflop at20 tire on it. Kinda crappy but it's never been used and I lowered it the other day to fill it with air. At some point I think I will swap it with a better tire for sure.

 

Yeah I'll have to think about that then. You think a standard cb is good? That's one thing I'm terrible at though is wiring hahaha so I'd have to read up.

 

To the OP, my advice is to just start using your truck for what you intend on doing with the truck and then upgrade to suit your needs. Sounds like you have your preventative maintenance done which is good. I’ve always been a stickler for having a reliable battery in good condition. Now get out there and do truck stuff!

 

Welcome! post in the Reno BS thread and say hi! you may be able to get some help with the wiring and whatever other mods you end up deciding on should you need it. that is of course, once we are able to go out n about again

 

If you don’t already have one I would carry a portable air compressor.

 

I think wheels are a big part of it to. I had some bart d trucker wheels which are great for offroad cause they can absorb significant impact. I paid about 200 shipped for brand new ones from summit racing. Also kuhmo tires are a really reliably brand. About 515 shipped for 4 from walmart.