Hybrid Overland Expedition Tacoma!!!!

Hello, TacomaWorld members! I'm a new member from SoCal (i.e. San Gabriel Valley) going by the alias of SkunkyTaco. However, TacomaWorld is not new to me since I've accessed the forum many times over the last years, especially since 2010. I was holding out on my purchase of a Tacoma, until Toyota produced a totally redesigned 3rd Gen Tacoma. I got tired of waiting for Toyota to follow through, and almost bought the 2013 4Runner Trail edition instead of waiting for the 3rd Gen Tacoma. I ended up having an epiphany and decided to buy a 1st Gen Tacoma instead.

The primary reason why I decided to buy a 1st Gen Taco was so that I could accessorize it with all the "mula" I saved by not buying a new 4WD Toyota. The wife was not happy because of some of the unexpected surprises that sometimes come from buying used. So far all looks good and no hidden surprises have bit me on the money shaker. However, not everything was meticulously thought out as I might have lead you to believe.

After purchasing a used 2003 DLX XtraCab V6 Tacoma I started combing through old off road magazines, TacomaWorld, and the Internet for body armor that would fit my Taco. I was disappointed to find out that there was very few vendors still selling after market parts for 1st Genners like myself. I even visited Demello Offroad in person on my RDO only to be told by Jason Demello that he could make me a discontinued plated bumper, as a custom bumper for twice what it sold for (e.g almost $1,400 bones w/o tax)__YIKES! I quickly found refuge on the TacomaWorld forums and found Elite bumpers, but there were no active group buys. I found other vendors that still catered to the 1st Gen Tacos such as Badland Bumpers, CBI Offroad, Shrock Works, 4x Innovations, Trail-Gear, and ALL-PRO Off Road to name a few.

So far All-Pro (AP) Off road seems to be working out the best for me since it's a one stop shop (e.g. body armor, suspension, and expedition racks) for 1st Genners. I drove over to AP Off Road in Hemet, last week, to pickup some rock sliders where I met AP sales rep, Kurtis Taylor. I was explaining to Kurtis the difficulty of finding a plated bumper for my Tacoma when he broke the news to me. All-Pro Off Road just came out with a plated bumper for the 95.5-2004 Tacos. The bumper was so new that it has not made it on their website yet. Kurtis invited me out back to take a look at the bumper. After seeing it, I had to have it on my truck. I was the first to buy the new APex Bumper with three hoops and have it mounted. I'll post pictures soon.

Rumor is that a fully plated rear bumper with a rear quarter panel protection may soon be on its way. Wait, the rumors get even better! AP may also put out the same fully plated rear bumper with a swing out spare tire holder.

Please help me prove to the other Tacoma vendors that we first Genners still have some blood to give. Kudos to All-Pro Off Roads R&D for putting out new products for older Tacomas while other vendors are discontinuing their 1st Gen product line. The news about All-Pro gets better. Since fabrication is now taking place in Montana, the Hemet facility in Cali can now focus on installing their products on our trucks.

Tacoma Goal: To build a Taco with DNA from a rock crawler, baja prerunner, and the morphology of a expedition overlander.

Rich M.

 

Welcome to TW!!

Wow sounds like you are going to have a great built! Post pics as soon as you get your bumper mounted.

Quick question, where in MT are they building their products?

 

Welcome to TW.

Frank

 

Rich hope you like the bumper and sliders it def fits the truck. Thanks for comin down and glad we had what you were lookin for. I will be in contact tomorrow about the rest.

Thanks,
Kurtis

 

Subd for pics...doesn't tiregate hold the patents on a "swing out" tire holder? I may be mistaken.

 

I'm definitely looking forward to hearing from you or Sarah tomorrow. On a different note I wanted to answer IluvTEA's question on whereabouts in Montana is All-Pro starting to fabricate. Could you reply to IluvTEA or myself when you get a chance.

 

Welcome to TW

 

Some pictures of All-Pro new front fully plated bumper after hoops were welded on:






I had trouble up loading all the pics. I'm not sure if it was user error, JPEGs too large, or because I'm using an iPAD which could be in compatible forums Java Scripts.

 

I'll attempt to add at least one more pic.



Picture of bumper before a quick coat of paint to protect it from the elements. I plan on getting the front bumper sprayed with a protective coating of Line-X.

http://www.linex.com/pages/2010/bedliners/index.php

 

I'm not sure if you were just being facetious? Either way, I'm not aware of any of the details regarding tiregate and their patents on a 'swing out'. As a consumer I really don't get into the weeds regarding patents. Hopefully, as consumers we are not negatively affected by any existing patents.

However, what I do know is that there are at least two manufactures that make a fully plated rear bumper(s) with a swing away tire mounted gate; for 1st generation Tacos. These companies are: Badland Bumpers and CBI Offroad. So far I'm leaning toward CBI's rear bumpers.

I've heard from Jon Bundrant's employees that Jon (owner of All-Pro) built two prototype rear tube bumpers with a swing away spare tire mount. See picture:



Hopefully AP builds both the tube and fully plated rear bumpers with a swing away tire mounted gate (for the first Gen__I almost forgot to mention).

http://www.******************/index_041.htm

http://www.cbioffroadfab.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=27_28&products_id=75