What to do next? Cage, Rear, etc....

I am about to get my BTF long travel for the front of my truck soon! I probably need to look into removing the Pelfreybilt front bumper/winch since it is so heavy and go with more of a prerunner setup as well as ditch the rack/RTT. I am torn on what to do next. I am between a cage or putting long travel in the rear. If I go long travel first I will be doing an accutune stage 2A kit most likely or some close variant of that. Cant really do much of a bed cage due to my tool box but I could remount it somewhere else if need be. Here is my struggle I want to be safe and have a cage but I feel like there are ton of legal issues, especially in California regarding this. Most likely all the airbags will be disabled to tie the cage in, if there is a cage I am going to put seats and harnesses in. From what I can tell then the harnesses have to be DOT approved and there are not many of those and heard its not good to run seats with OEM seatbelts. Also without a helmet on the cage needs to be padded like crazy anywhere you could possibly hit it especially with your head. On top of all of these other issues would be finding insurance to cover anything, I don't care about the truck but would like to cover other vehicles that may be involved etc. Any thoughts or people with personal experience with any of this especially in CA? Maybe thoughts on other things to do?

 

Do the rear, make the truck work first. Go enjoy it.

 

Thats what i was thinking just dont want to get over confident or anything go too fast and wreck it without a cage but i have been leaning towards rear first

 

You need the rear to be able to keep up with the front. Otherwise it's like doing only upper body work out and skipping leg days.

 

Very true i feel a call to Accutune is coming soon.

 

Good number of guys have cage setups that they use off road and on the street. Go through as many build walkarounds as you can, such as the "Built to Destroy" series from Terra Crew on YouTube, build pages on this section of the forum and on DezertRangers. Cages are custom so you can have it be built to suit your needs / projected use. I agree on doing the rear and don't get over confident.

Here's a few builds to look at on here:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/toyotally-awesome-08-tacoma.328604/

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/joels-4wd-lt-build.248722/

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/jordans-long-travel-build.257747/

 

Rear LT

 

Left accutuned a voicemail once i get a few things figured out i will make the order. Hell i am still waiting on the front although that should be here soon hopefully.

 

You sound like a young guy just getting into this game and willing to go balls deep. That was me ten years ago... what I'm about to tell you, I'm telling you from lessons learned the hard way.

An LT kit is going to add a few inches of suspension up front on your otherwise "stock" daily driver Tacoma (if you're not cutting/welding on the frame, it's stock for the purposes of this conversation) - it does not become a racetruck overnight. Rear LT is good progress - but also a far cry from a race truck. Race trucks have solid mounted motors, frames/chassis built to handle the abuse, 2k pounds less crap bolted to them than your stock Tacoma, gusssets, braces, and plating all over, etc.

If you want to live a happy life, avoid blondes named Stacie and don't cage your daily driver.