1st Gen Build Help

Hi,
Had a few questions. So was reading, and What I'm looking at currently (Don't have a Taco yet, but am planning on it in the future, about a year or two) a 1st gen Extended Cab, V6, Automatic, 4x4, and will be used as a Daily, along with weekend wheeling/camping trips. List of mods I've come up with so far, and questions about them;

Looking for a lift, 2-3" Front and Rear, Have heard that the Bilstein 5100's are good, looking at those for the front, and 5150's for the rear, along with OME Dakar Leafs. I will be Daily Driving it, using for off road wheeling trips and road trips (MOAB!!!), Will be semi-regularly towing 1500-ish Lb Off-Road Camper, Which I will be living in full time, just for a little while. Towing, along with carrying 3-400#'s of gear/misc stuff in the bed, not usually both at the same time, except for a rack and tools in the bed. Would the 5150's be good for this, paired with the Dakar springs? Would I need bigger shackles? Eventually will be Long Travel, with more mods.

List of mods I have so far though, not in any particular order; 3" or so Lift, 33" tires, Upgraded rims, Custom Rear plate bumper, Bed rack, similar to a RTT Rack for gear storage, And more, Can't remember the rest at the moment. I'm probably forgetting something, but this should be good for now. Opinions?

Thx

 

The shocks have nothing to do with the load carrying capacity. It's the springs that support the weight. 300-400# in the bed isn't all that much, and you probably wouldn't need heavy duty springs for that. But it depends...

You've clearly done quite a bit of reading and research, but have you actually done any sort of truck camping/overlanding/4x4 driving before? Have you ever lived full time in a truck/trailer before? Just by the types of questions you're asking I'm betting no, or at least not much. If that's the case, just drive whatever truck you get as is. No mods whatsoever. You don't "need" ANY mods except maybe a trailer hitch and maybe some decent all terrain tires to go offroading.

People see all these crazy/awesome builds on instagram or whatever and want to copy those. Just. Don't. I'm betting half of them won't really be useful for you and your tastes (or your budget, lol).

Start by getting your truck. 4x4 obviously is preferred, however a pre-runner is NOT the end of the world since they can actually be converted to a 4x4 relatively easily. Rust free tacomas, especially 4x4s are becoming more and more rare, so sometimes you gotta go for a pre-runner which are more prevalent, and convert it (conversion can be done for $1-2k).

Once you get your truck, pack up some basic camping gear (tent, sleeping bag, cooking stuff, etc...) and find a nearby trail and go have fun. If you already have your trailer, hitch that up and go. The more short/medium duration trips you go on, the more you'll get an idea exactly what you think you need for the long haul. Make notes as you go, like "gee I wish I had a good spot to put my water jugs" then do a search here to see if someone has already encountered that problem, or present it to the forum, and we can help figure out a solution together.

We could all start tossing mods at you that we have all done to our trucks, but that honestly isn't very helpful since we all do it differently. We we CAN help you with, is if you present a problem you have (like "I want an easy to use camp shower") we can help you out. But not everyone needs (or wants) a camp shower. Sometimes a dip in the river will suffice just fine.

Everyone wants to jump on the 3" and 33" tire bandwagon. I bet you 3/4 of people who have them don't "need" them (we ALL want them, though, lol). My open diff IFS 1st gen 4Runner with 32's did the Rubicon, which is more than likely much harder than most trails you'd be living on, or taking a trailer on.

 

Bro-dozer could save a ton of money on armorall by going to lower profile tires.

 

Here's an opinion I don't think I see often enough... don't wheel a DD that you depend on to get to work.

Wheeling breaks sh*t that needs to get fixed. Then you can't get to work. Then you lose your job and can't afford to fix the broke sh*t. Now you got no job, no money AND can't go wheeling. Yes, I'm old.

 

Sorry OP. We're not judgemental for real, we just like to act like it

 

Now that is interesting but then no definition is given as to what wheeling means like Sex it means different things to everyone.

To some it is the far reaches of the Mall parking lot

So as long as one never (wheels) nothing ever fails or needs fixed . Interesting concept

 

I can agree with this to some extent. My truck is my daily, but I will wheel it. Only to where I am comfortable though. Before going off-road, I have to keep in mind "This is my main mode of transportation. I have to be able to drive this back home. I don't have a lot of money."

Yeah...I'm old too. Sucks having to be responsible sometimes.

 

@jbrandt Great advice. Camping and mods are things we have to live and learn as time goes on. Experience is the best way to know what you need and don't need.

Many times have I tried things for camping thinking it was a must or it would make camping better. Then ditching it later because of setup, space/storage, or it just didn't workout. Some things were bought, and somethings were made. I was just glad that they happened at different times, and I didn't dump a bunch of money all at once. Plus...I like things simple and minimal. The more we camp, the less we take.

 

To an extent, yeah, I'd agree.

But really, all this did for me was limit the types of trails I was willing to go on, or the mods I could do.

I had quite a lot of fun on various difficulty trails while my truck also needed to get me to work on Monday.

I certainly couldn't afford much, if any downtime for mods. So I couldn't exactly hack the suspension apart and let it sit while I built new stuff or whatever. Certainly would have been hard to build my bumper if I would had to get it to a "safe" drivable condition every day.

That said, not that many people can afford 2 (or more cars), and so if you want to go wheelin', you don't have much of a choice. Maybe you build it a little differently, maybe build it stronger than otherwise, to better ensure you get home in one piece.

 

Most times I have 4 Vehicles Street Legal .

So that does give me wiggle room when things break

 

That's where I'm at. Something's always running allowing others to be waiting on parts and/or time.

 

I wheeled and DD a Tacoma on 33s and a crawl box, and only broke 2 parts in 7yrs of doing that. Keeping it a DD actually prevented me from trying some really stupid stuff, but still ran with guys with 35"+ tires usually.

As for the OP, I do agree with others that to keep it stock for a bit to see what you need. If you do plan on wheeling it at all, get sliders, some beefier f/r bumpers, skids, a high lift and a winch in that order. After you have all that, start thinking about suspension, lockers and tires. That is unless your stock parts are totally shot then you need to make some decisions.

 

Lockers before light bar & slider before bumper