SierraHsky's Build

My goal with this Tacoma was originally just to safely haul my dogs in and out of the back country, but in 2010 my girlfriend and I got bit by the overland/expedition bug. We are now building this truck up so we can do a 6 month overland trip from Nevada, up the west coast to Alaska, then go across Canada, and back through Montana - Wyoming - Utah - Arizona - and home.

I like to keep things as functional as possible. KISS theory. My girlfriend and I travel the western united states in this vehicle, we sleep in it, eat in it, and the huskies ride in it! So We are building it to be reliable, comfortable, and to get the job done!




The Truck
2009 Toyota Tacoma TRD
Trim Access Cab 4x4
Transmission 6 Speed Manual

Wheels & Tires
16" MT Sidebitter Wheels with 285/75/16 Duratracs

Suspension
1. 885 OME Coils
2. 1/4" Top Plate Spacer
3. Bilstein 5100's Rear
4. Light Racing Upper Control Arms
5. OME Dakar HD Leaf Springs
6. OME Dakar AAL April 11 - not installing until bumper is done
7. OME 9000 Fronts
8. Trim Packer

Exterior Modifications & Accessories
1. Shorty Antena
2. Partially Removed Emblems
3. Color Matched Grille, Grill Craft MX, Modified Toyota Logo
4. Bed Mat + Bed Mat Mod
5. Diff Breather Mod
6. ARB On board Air Compressor
7. Safari Snorkel *slick guppie hose connections
8. Bestop Supertop
8. Bestop Additional Clamps
9. Steel Braided Extended Rear Break Lines
10. Superwinch Talon 9.5SR + Relocate Kit
11. PIAA 520's and 510's

Trail Armor
1. Relentless Hybrid Sliders
2. Bud Built Mixed sized Skids
3. Relentless Front Bumper

Interior Modifications
1. Ipod Adapter (isimple)
2. Custom Switches
3. Mag light Mod
4. GPS Mod - Re done with Ram Mount
5. Removed Aux Input and relocated to dual aux input's
6. Weather-tech Digital Liners
7. 12 Fuse Block
8. ATO Hi-Lift Mount
9. Custom Rear Cab bench

Accessories
1. Ipod 60gig
2. Garmin GPSMAP 62ST
3. LED Mini Mag Lite
4. Window Breaker
7. Hi-Lift EXTREME (48")
8. ARB Fridge Freezer
9. Additional power source for fridge + others
10. Inverter

Coming Soon
(Custom Switch Panel * In build process)
Trail Armor * Build in process (Final order Nov 2011)
IBS Dual Battery System * (Nov 2011 unless needed)
Seat Covers ( Feb 2012 )
Subwoofer + Deck + amp ( Not until 2012)

Pictures

As she sits currently


Just before the new upgrades.




Toyota TRD Cold AIr Intake



ATO Hi-Lift Jack Mount ( No Drilling ) (No Vibrating ) LOVE IT



New ARB Compressor with Mini Tank for Front & Rear Lockers (Future Mod) and Airing Up Tires.

 

Looks good!

Nice lookings dogs

 

Cool truck, sick dogs!

 

Thank you.

 

Thanks, they are spoiled since the truck is pretty much cause of them. But cant say its horrible after all toyota rocks!

 

Got a question for some of you real offroad enthusiasts....

I am looking to upgrade my wimpy skid plates to budbuilt plates. While on the site I read about Tie rod upgrades and Traction Bars. My goal is to make my truck as long lasting, safe, and durable as possible without sacrificing the over all performance and ability of the vehicle. I am still roughly around 1K pounds from hitting the gvwl of the truck so I was hoping to find out the purpose and function of the traction bar and if upgraded tie rods would help with the over all ability of the truck.

 

The point of a traction bar is to help stop and prevent axel wrap, which can usually be fixed with an AAL

 

I have the Toyota TSB for the leaf springs, so I already have teh additional leaf, but after reading about axel wrap I also have the truxx lift n level so I have the blocks in back and in front but my question is without the blocks I would be 1.15 short in the rear. IF I got the traction bar would this solve the axel wrap issue? Should I worry about axel wrap if I dont 4x crazy?

 

I honestly dont think you have to worry about axel wrap..

Also as an alternative to a block places like ToyTec, make an AAL that works with the TSB

 

Thanks for that info. After looking more in to it I think that I am going to do the aal route. Not horribly expensive and while I am at it I will prob do 5100 billies

 

So I just finished my GPS mod. I had installed a temporary one while I waited for RAM to design and build a cradle for the new GPS MAP 62 ST. Since I am installing a Dual Battery system in december I chose not to run power to the gps until that is complete. THe install will include the dual bat syst, batteries, and a 12 aux fuse block. I am doing the fuse block ( i know over kill ) because I am adding an arb fridge, leds in the bed, power for gps, in cab inverter, a truck cap with lighting and power, and it sounds stupid but I am also upgrading (how I ran the wires) the lights and will look to do a winch in the future.

Also the biggest change coming up in a few weeks will be sliders and bud built skids. Still up in the air on who I want to do sliders with, but right now its between CBI, Relentless, Stubbs, and Avid. Some guy around here said he can get trail gear sliders shipped to my house for 168? WTF!! lol

 

Well its been a little while so I thought I would update this page. My Girlfriend, huskies, and I are getting ready for a 6 month - 1 year (depending on $) road trip / overland expedition that will send us from Nevada up to Alaska, across canada, across the united states, and back. We are building the truck up now so it can handle everything we throw at it. The first upgrade was the Truck Cap (camper shell).

I did a ton of research and my requirements were as follows.
1. Safety
2. Weight
3. Features
4. Re-Sale Value
5. Quality
6. Durability.

All though they are not in this order those were the things I was considering when making my purchase. I was comparing snugtop, leer, a.r.e, besttop supertops, and lastly century truck caps. I found a dealer in fallon that had the snugtop and leer models i was interested in. After comparing them side by side I removed snugtop from my choice. I did not like the feel or look of the fiberglass and for the price they were not that much cheaper then leer. Then I found a local guy who sells century, leer, and A.R.E. I really liked the A.R.E features and the price was right, but the quality for my personal style was not there. I finally settled on the century. Then I found out leer makes century! lol. All said and done I got the Century ultra model. The reason I did not get the upgrade with the royal model was the framed door on the ultra, the 1/3 window sliders, and the cost. For the ultra you get a sturdy, durable, clean, and feature rich model at a cost effective price. The features in the royal are more for someone who will have the cap year round and I just wont. I dont like the way they look and they ruin gas mileage. Plus if you flex a ton in your truck without a solid framed window your going ot break it or your going to pop it. In the end we are super happy with our purchase.

 

Sweet man!

Truck looks good!


and edit: im a dumbass.

 

Ya lol

THanks dude.

Did you get my email on the guys site?
Are you going to make it up for the snow run on the 18th? and some snowboarding afterwards?

 

Never came through.. you said you were sending in 30? thats all i got.

Im going to try to get my 4WD fixed by then. If it is then yea im down!

 

I think my email server is trippin today!

What happened to your 4x4?

 

Actuator or transfer case.... it wont engage. Ill figure it out soon.

 

That sucks!

Hope this helps. My neighbor and I were just talking about this. He had this issue happen on his 2008 tundra and he found this on tundra solutions. He said it only took like 5 times and it worked just fine.

"I had the same problem with my 03 Tundra. The dealer wanted $2600 to fix it. The problem was the electric actuator froze on me due to lack of use. The simple solution is to take a hammer and gently hit your actuator with it while having someone cycle the 4x4 button. This will free up the brushes in the electric motor and then you'll be good to go. This solution was offered to me by another member on this site and I still can't thank him enough. It was a simple fix and saved me a ton of money. My 4 wheel drive works perfect now and has been for 6 months now.

By the way, the actuator is connected to your transfer case under the truck. It's a black plastic looking thing on the back side of the truck. Don't hit it too hard because it is plastic though.

Hope this helps... Good luck!"

 

Josh,

thanks... ive tried all of that. Actually while we were on the trail jacked the truck up and started knocking around. Still no luck but i should figure it out soon!

side note... still no email?

 

Ok I am going to re-send as soon as I get home. On my iphone now. Should be back by 5pm tonight.