Newby from the San Juans of CO

Hello all. It has been a treat reading the great information that you are sharing with the community.

I live in the Southwest part of CO. I currently drive a Ram 3500 crew cab (only use it's capability 2% of the time). I got it as I'll move back in to travel trailering in 2-4 years-ish and didn't want to have any towing issues. However, we live in the jeep capital of the US and I really miss being able to take a daily driver onto the trails. So, I'm considering to change to an Off Road Tacoma so as to still have a daily driver, have a vehicle that can hit the trails, and still consider a small conservative travel trailer. The ram has been awesome and it is really capable. But, for 95% of the time, it is jarring as heck and can be too big for many of the off road areas.

We will be purchasing a vehicle for my wife very soon. While at the dealer to consider 4runners for her, I'll be checking out a Tacoma then too.

I look forward to continuing to learn from all of the great words folks have to share.

 

Welcome to TacomaWorld!

 

Welcome to The Forum!

 

Welcome!

 

Hi, i live in FL , I have a 2003 tacoma and i get outside smoke inside the cabin .How can i fix this please,

 

Welcome to TW!!

 

Welcome to TW

 

Thank you, everyone! Everybody has been awesome!!

 

Welcome!

 

Welcome to the forums.

Throughout 19 yrs. I've been on every trail in the San Juans. My wife and I were married right outside of Durango and we travel to Colorado once to twice a year. We'll be moving to the Springs in a couple years. I sold my Tacoma a couple years ago and I'm most likely going to end up with a Jeep Rubicon. There is a reason that they rent Jeeps for the trails in the San Juans. Sure... You can build a Tacoma to tackle most of the trails out there with enough money. But I'd personally rather buy a purpose built vehicle rather than having to mod the hell out of it to do what a Jeep Rubicon can do with little to no modification. That said... I'll modify the shit out of it.

This is exactly the one I want with the exception of a soft top. I even want this color.





That said... I did take my Tacoma on a lot of the trails with no issue. But this was after around $12,000 worth of mods to it

 

Good evening. Thank you, definitely, for the words and recommendations. Yes....getting a jeep is definitely an option. We'll actually test drive one of those too around Labor Day when we also venture to the Toyota dealer for my wife to check out a 4runner. Ironically, back in 92 or 93, I was plotting to buy one of the jeep companies in Ouray; or that is also when the commercial lots were being originally sold in Ridgway east of the traffic light on hwy 550. But, my cash flow was not to the level to do that.

Great looking Rubicon!! Yes...they are definitely awesome (at least for exploring this area) pretty much right out of the box. Maybe some bigger tires and a very conservative lift and you could go anywhere around here with a Rubi.

Awesome looking Tacoma too! I most likely (yes...I know...never say never) would not come close to equipping one like yours; at least none of the rackage. But, would, over time, do as I would with a jeep......slightly bigger tires and a conservative lift.

I enjoyed your youtube clips too. Ironically, I'll be run/walking up to Upper Camp Bird tomorrow with my buddy. He is getting ready for some long range mountain runs.

Thank you for your service too!

Have a good one!

 

Welcome

 

We'll be moving to the Springs in a couple years. I was lucky and retired at 47. The main reason we are moving to Colorado Springs is it is in the dead center of the state. We originally thought about moving to Durango. We visit Durango every time we go to Colorado but the problem with Durango now is when we first started going there, it was this little gem of the Rockies that people knew about but it wasn't overly crowded. Now it seems that everyone knows about it and the last time we were there is was so damned crowded that it just want's fun. It just didn't hold that special charm that it used to. We spend a lot of time in Ouray, Silverton, Telluride, Gunnison, Lake City, Creed, etc... IIRC there are over 350 miles of trails in the San Juans and I've been on everyone of them throughout the years. Fun fact... Rocky Mountain NP was originally thought about being located there but due to the remoteness of the area and the infrastructure that it would have taken to build the park, it was relocated to where it is today. Which is a good thing. The San Juans is one of the last pristine ranges in the US with little to no footprint other than the old mountain trails that either lead to the mines or were built as passes.

We will be moving to the Northern part of the Springs close to the Air Force Academy. It's a 45 min drive to Denver (assuming there isn't road construction going on) so that will give us access to Red Rocks (Best place to see a concert ever). Catching a Rockies game and we have already put in for season tickets to the Broncos. Breckinridge, Copper Mountain, Keystone aren't far away along with a few others. The nice thing about the Springs is if you want to go anywhere in the state, it is just a day's drive (depending on conditions and time of year). I've always said... I can happily live in the shadow of Pikes Peak for the rest of my life.

I had thought about getting another Tacoma and building it up like the last one that I had. But I'm not impressed with the new body style nor the engine. If I were going to get one it would be the TRD Pro but then you are getting up there in Rubicon pricing. Add to that, I'd still have to do some major mods just to get it to go where I want it to go and the price will add up. Plus I don't need a truck. I have also considered a TRD 4Runner but the 4Runner is getting really long in the tooth. Don't get me wrong... I still love them. But by the time we move they will have a new body style and engine. So who knows what that will end up being. I think the biggest selling point for me with the new JL Rubicon is it comes out of the box ready to tackle most anything. It will accept larger tires without having to do any suspension modifications to it. So the only thing that I would really want is tires, true bead lock wheels, a new front and rear bumper, and a winch. I'm sure there are other things that I will put on it but those would be the first. The other nice thing about the Rubicon is it comes standard with 4 AUX switches so you can wire the winch in without running wires everywhere, lights, an air compressor, etc... I never thought I'd be considering a Jeep but the new JL ticks all the boxes for me. It just has to be a soft top so I can fold it back on sunny days and take the doors off. And it has to be the color of the one I posted earlier.

 

Speaking of Red Rocks. Went there on June 8th this year and saw Colin Hay (he was fucking awesome btw), Toad the Wet Sprocket, and Big Head Todd and the Monsters.

 

Welcome to TW!

 

Thank you much! And thank you for your service!

 

Revisiting my original post.....

Day before yesterday, we did go test drive a 4runner for the wife. We also tested a Jeep Wrangler Unlimited, albeit it was only a 2011. Surprisingly, the wife had a pause as she really enjoyed both, i.e. the Jeep was smoother than she thought it would be.

While there, I also did a Tacoma test drive.

At the end of the day, we left with 4runner and a Tacoma and are now Ram-less. Both are fabulous vehicles and will allow us to really enjoy our local area. The Tacoma is a Cement '19 Off Road double cab, long bed. It had the premium, tech, floor mat and sill protection, and black out kits.

@RearViewMirror sent me some pic posting instructions, so I have to decipher those. Pics to follow (learn how to post pics, as well as come up with a great pic staging area).

What a great vehicle!! It will do 99% of what I need a truck to do. We won't be towing a travel trailer for 3-4 years. So figured I'd get substantially more use with this truck vice the Ram; especially in the off road arena.

It is the first Toyota that we've owned. However, have used many many Hiluxs' overseas with various fire breathing implements mounted and really enjoyed them.

 

Congrats on both vehicles. Can't wait to see them