TRD Off Road Prerunner Capabilities

So now the question becomes what should I do with my blank canvas?

 

start a new thread. with a poll

 

Drive it for a bit and have fun in it.

The internet is a great resource for ideas, but it's also a great way to get suckered into spending money on all sorts of sh*t you don't really need.

 

congrats, I'm sure you're going to thoroughly enjoy having 4x4 when the occasion rises

 

OP, check out the Az section. we have meets and trail runs all the time. Come out and test that 4x4 switch with us!

 

This.

I encourage folks not to do an off roading mod until they've been on a trail where it would have been useful.

Instead, now is the time to start building your recovery gear kit, possibly including a compressor so you can air down your tires for increased traction when offroading.

 

sage advice - the "as is" Tacoma is a very capable off road vehicle, putting together a recovery kit first gives you the peace of mind of being able to get out of sticky situations and gives you some seat time to figure out what and where (if any) places you want to improve performance

 

I already have a pretty decent compressor unit and tool kit in the truck. Thinking about adding a farm jack and/or a come along with some decent straps for recovery next.

I also just found the bilsteins and tires/rims off a new TRD Off road that someone lifted on craigslist - I was thinking of adding them for a little of $500 and getting most of the TRD bonus for a small investment. Any thoughts on that idea? Seems like the cheapest way to make a small improvement and get back to the TRD ride.

Also I wanted to post what I found taking the 4x4 wheeling as compared to the 4x2. I drove both trucks into an old canal bed near my place of work - so 4x2 TRD Off Road, and then the 4x4 in 2 wheel, 4 high, and 4 low. The canal is overgrown with steep dirt slopes on both sides, underbrush throughout, and loose sand at the bottom. The Prerunner and the 4x4 in 2 wheel performed almost identically (although the Sr5 tires seemed to have a little less grip climbing) with some spinning in the sand and then quite a bit on the way up and out of the canal. With the traction control coming on, however, both trucks made it through this sandy ascent without any real issue. Part of my reason for switching to the 4x4 though was that with a few more obstacles I could imagine this climb being pretty tricky without the front wheels pulling. Switching the dial to 4 high and 4 low yielded a tremendous improvement. The truck pulled through without any tire slip and the traction control (disabled for 4 low) did not trigger at any point. I felt much more confident in the truck pulling through the sand (as is expected) but it was great to objectively compare the wheel slip between 4x4 and 4x2 on the exact same terrain. All in all the truck seems highly capable in two wheel, but I can easily imagine the wheel slip becoming an issue - including with the truck moving sideways on a steep slope due to wheel slip. Next time I am out at the canal I will take some pictures to demonstrate.

Thanks for all the advice, I am very happy with the 4x4. Is it just me though or do the TRD suspension components not make a substantial difference? I would have thought the bilsteins were mostly just a cheap way for toyota to advertise and increase profit, but the Sr5 suspension seems much less stiff and prone to bottoming out off road. All in all I think the TRD package is a pretty useful one (even though it has a lot of profit for Toyota).

 

I figured you'd have no regrets w/ the 4x4

what be very useful information, that is unavailable afaik, is have someone compare the shocks (Bilstein v "regular") measuring both travel and damping via a dynograph

typically Bilstein dampers usually do a pretty good job of dialing the damping in for a specific application; comparing travel between the two should be pretty easy- I'd hope that Bilsteins provide as much (and preferably more) travel the the "regular" shocks

couple of other thoughts- look underneath and count the rear leaf springs- if you have three you might benefit from the additional leaf provided by the spring TSB- 2012's appear to be a mixed bag as far as 3 vs 4 leaf's so hard telling how many you'll have

also search for the "yellow wire mod"- it's recently been to shown it works for the 2012 (as well as 09-11's), by simply clipping one wire it fools the ecu into thinking that the vehicle is in 4H and allowing TRAC to work in 4L- pretty impressive videos and testimonies on the increase in performance on this simple mod

also I'd mention tires, the tires provided from the factory (including the TRD Off Road tires) leave plenty of room for improvement- upgrading tires can make a large difference in off road improvement- you can also bump up to a slightly taller tire providing a little more overall clearance- a 265/75/16 or 265/70/17 both work w/ the stock suspension w/ no need for a lift and are ~ 1" taller than the tires that come w/ the TRD packages