Mall Crawling Across the USA

Been lurking and getting inspiration from here forever and I'm laid up with a bum knee right now, so I figured this was as good a time as any to finally make a build thread.

Meet my 2017 TRD Sport. His name is "Al", because Al Pastor is unarguably the best kind of taco there is.

Here is Al as he currently sits:


Armor
-RCI Rock Sliders
-RCI Aluminum IFS, tranny, and transfer case skids
-4WP High Clearance front bumper

Tires and Suspension
-265/70/17 Falken Wildpeak AT3's
-Stock TRD Sport wheels
-Bilstein 6112 front and Bilstein 5160 rear suspension
-ICON Add-A-Leaf

Cargo
-CaliRaised Roof Rack
-Max Modular Aluminium 10" Bed Rack
-Max Modular Cargo Max
-Quickfists for shovel and axe

Recovery
-Smittybilt X20 Winch
-Viair 300P hardmounted in bedside cubby with Expedition Essentials Mount
-XBull traction boards

Camping
-Tepui Kukenam 3 RTT
-Dometic CFX35 Fridge
-Smittybilt Gen2 6.5ft awning

I bought my truck back in August 2019. I was starting a new job that had a long ass commute, wanted something more comfortable to drive than my 2002 TJ without working A/C, and had always wanted a truck...so I went to the Toyota dealer and pretty much impulse bought Al. At the time, I didn't really know what overlanding was or what I wanted to do with the truck long term, so I picked a Sport over an OR simply because the one used OR that the dealer had in stock had been in a previous accident and I didn't want to deal with that potential headache. In retrospect, that rear locker sure would be nice to have, but whatever, YOLO, when in doubt throttle out. Here's Al when I got back from the dealer with 24k on the odometer.


I spent the next couple of months freaking out about the car payments on a $36k truck and didn't have much money for upgrades. Knowing that I didn't wanna have to shovel snow out of the bed all winter, I bought a Rough Country tri-fold tonneau cover...which did the job but was overall meh. Also finally took Al down a dirt road for the first time in the Ozarks.


I then spent entirely too much time browsing TW at work, decided that I really needed a knock off Pro grille to look cool, learned what overlanding was and figured a RTT would be pretty cool, decided that the stock Toyo HT tires were trash, and spent way too much money. So here's the next major iteration: Pro grille, air dam and mud flaps removed, 265 Falken AT3 tires, KB Vodoo bed bars, and Tepui Kukenam RTT. Finally got it all set up and got to camping in it for the first time right as the world shut down in March 2020. After night 1 in the RTT I was hooked, so much better than sleeping on the ground. To date, I've spent 40+ nights sleeping in the tent.


Got stuck AF in the mud a few months after that, and decided I needed a winch. So I added a Smittybilt X20 on a SDHQ hidden winch mount. Since then, I've only ever used it once...mostly cause I decided I hate getting stuck and I'm a lot more risk averse and avoid driving through sketchy spots. I also plasti dipped my wheels black and plasti dipped all the badges on the truck. The truck stayed in this configuration for quite a while including a ~1 month overlanding trip.


In winter 2020, I decided I wanted to improve my storage options for some upcoming 2021 trips. I added a Caliraised roof rack, and experimented with putting my (shitty) traction boards and a rifle case on the roof rack. The traction boards whistled annoyingly loud at highway speeds up there, so that didn't last long.


Lots of stuff happened in Spring 2021 in preparation for an upcoming Utah trip. I got hella $$$ after being in a slight fender bender which let me buy some RCI rock sliders. I also added a full set of RCI aluminium sliders, beefed up the suspension to Bilstein 6112/5160's, got a Max Modular 10" rack and ditched the tonneau cover, added a second rifle case to the rack for storage, and hard mounted my air compressor in the bedside cubby. Last but not least added a Caliraised lightbar and ditch lights...cause if you don't have a lightbar, do you even overland bro? The lightbar is fine, the ditch lights are trash and are gonna get replaced at some point.


Loved the extra storage of the rifle cases on the roof, but hated the hit on gas mileage, and was ambivalent about the looks at best, so I took them back down. And that's where were at now. Coming up next are probably some of those max modular bed rack storage cubbies, maybe a decked system if I can find a way to mentally justify the hit on payload, and some bumpers.

 

sweet build dude! al pastor is for sure a great inspiration for your chile-colored taco

 

Its always awesome to see fellow individuals who just seem to get hooked into this lifestyle. I bought my Taco, and had no plan on doing more than a lift, and then before i know it i was looking at a pile of reciepts from online parts dealerships, lol. If you're still waffling on the decked just make sure to beef up your leaf springs before hand or you're going to get some droop in the back and, besides that its definitely worth it for the added storage and cleanliness of the install/look.

 

Thanks!

Hahaha, I got hooked line and sinker for sure and it does turn into a never ending money pit for sure . I'd love the organization of the decked system but man it'd be sooooo much more money and work to make it happen.

 

I too bought the Sport model, with limited intent of taking it offroad.
I too misjudged my thoughts.
I am doing my upgrades slowly. I added a tonneau cover, I created a behind the back seat MOLLE attachment system that carries a ton of stuff. My plans are bigger tires over the winter, and possibly a soft top for the rear. I wallow between a soft top and a bed rack. Practically, the soft top makes more sense for me. But, when the time comes, it will be a total impulse buy, as they cost about the same. It will entirely depend on my mood that day

 

Haven't posted in a while, but fear not, shit's been happening.


Things I've done since the last update:

-Max Modular Cargo Max: Got this for some extra storage of infrequently used items. I like the extra space and the way it integrates into the rack, but the latch doesn't work and the locks are kind of fiddly PITA's. Changing the locks out for something better has been on my list for a while now, but I just haven't gotten motivated enough to do it. I contemplated getting another one of these for the other side to store more camping related stuff, but decided it against it due to the cost and the fiddly locks. Honestly, mostly I'm excited about being able to put stickers on there.

-4WP Front Bumper with high clearance wings: Pretty happy with this thing. I've been wanting to upgrade my bumper for a long time, mostly to give some extra protection against animal strikes in remote areas, but I couldn't justify the cost or incredibly long lead times of some of the common fab companies. At just over $1k including free shipping and only about a 6 week lead time, this thing is a steal and I'm happy with the purchase. Install was kind of a pain though, and I about lost my mind several times trying to get my winch installed in there.

-Smittybilt Gen2 6.5ft awning: kind of impulse bought this, not sure how much I'm really going to use it but I kind of just wanted to try having an awning for shits and gigs. Only used it a couple of times so far, and I like it just fine.

What's next:

- Mayyyybe some Bilstein 650lb coils? I lost like 1/2 inch of lift in the front and definitely have some increased body roll in the front on high speed turns. I can totally live with it though, so I'm not sure it's worth the money/effort.

- Rooftop tent sorely needs a mattress upgrade.

- Better lighting solutions. I've decided that my ditch lights are pretty much useless pieces of shit, and I'm going to get rid of them. The bumper has a a couple of cutouts for 6 inch light bars that would be angled off to the side like ditch lights, so I think that's what I'm gonna end up doing for a cleaner, low profile solution. I think I'm going to move the existing ditch lights to the back of the rack and see how they work as some additional backup lights. I'd also like a better lightbar at some point...

- Especially if I mess with more lights, I need to clean up my underhood wiring for all that crap. I'd like to put in a nice and neat fuse block of some sort.

- Some kind of LED light strip for the awning

- Front camera mod? It'd be real swell to be able to see what's in front of me when I crest hills.

- I have absolutely no need for it, but damn do I want a rear bumper with a swingout and all that jazz so I can look cool at the mall.

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