Ikarus' Lightweight 6MT DCSB Utah Truck

I sold my '13 Tacoma a while ago and moved over to ih8mud for a long time while I built my 100 series (LX470)







It was an awesome vehicle and got me sold on the cult of the Land Cruiser. I did just about everything I could short of a SAS... 4.88s, front and rear ARB air lockers, beadlocks, 35s, sliders, bumpers, winch.

But the market was right and the time came to sell it and buy a newer vehicle. I reserved a 2020 TRD OR with a manual back in July of 2020 and it got built and delivered in October. My 100 sold shortly after.



I learned some important lessons with the cruiser, mainly concerning the weight of mods. Curb weight of a stock 100 is about 5400 lbs so with all my modifications I was probably pushing 7K lbs - not to mention the rotational mass of 40lb beadlocks + 80 lb tires. I could feel it. And I didn't even have a RTT, fridge, awning, all the overland stuff you can't go car camping without.

Anyway, that's where lightweight comes in for the Tacoma - I want to keep it as minimal and OEM as possible, but we'll see how it plays out.

 

I was stoked that I could get the truck in a manual. I didn't love the automatic I drove but the manual drives well, and the lower gearing is a bonus.



I kept it stock for a while. The only things I did immediately were fluid film underneath and some snow tires - Blizzaks in 265/70r17 on TRD SEMA wheels - to get ready for winter.

 

I don't drive too much, but I did get tired of seeing my M/Ts wearing down from highway driving on my cruiser. We'll see if I get tired of it swapping them out, but I'm going to run a few sets of wheels/tires. For my offroad set, I picked up some Toyo M/Ts in 255/85r16 (E) and threw them on the stock OR wheels:





Visually I could use a little more offset but I'm gonna try to keep this build more function over form and try to avoid the traps I've fallen into with past builds, sacrificing function to make things look good. Overall I like the look though.

 

The dudes at Discount probably think I'm a weirdo, haha. But now that I've got these all mounted up I shouldn't have to take any more trips to the tire shop for a long time. These Toyo ATIII in 265/75r16 (SL) on new pro wheels will be my summer/daily setup. Compared to the M/Ts and even the snow tires these are super light. Tire changes are 1000x easier than with my cruiser

 

I found a local deal on CBI sliders and saved on shipping:


I spent a day removing the mud flaps, swapping over the MTs, and installing the sliders to get ready for a trip to southern Utah.





The installation wasn't too bad using a couple floor jacks to get the sliders in position. The slider on the passenger side does touch the cab slightly so I need to loosen the bolts and see if it can be moved a little.



Also messing around with the bed, trying to figure out the best way to carry gear without bumpers, shells or racks. I had a couple old Hardigg cases that just happened to fit perfectly across the bed. I've got an idea that I think will be perfect...

 

I settled on a quick and easy solution for cargo on this first shakedown offroad trip. I realized immediately that there aren't enough tie downs in the bed, so what do ya do. The full size spare didn't quite fit underneath but I didn't feel like taking a hammer to the mounting area, so I threw it in the bed.

Big duffle: camping stuff, small duffle: food, case: recovery gear, tools, jack, then some maxtrax and spare. I really just wanted to get the Tacoma into the dirt and see how it does.



I headed to some trails just a couple hours away and had a great time. I'm really impressed with the truck. Even with a manual, just go with 4Lo, throw it in first, and crawl. I only stalled once while climbing a rutted/steep/rocky hill when I lost traction. I could have aired down more and/or used the locker but when I'm alone I try to be careful and avoid getting in over my head - that was my signal to turn around.

 

Overall, man I love this truck. Just a good, simple and reliable vehicle so far. It climbed up everything I wanted to and while I'll probably upgrade the suspension soon, the ride really wasn't bad at all with stock OR shocks and 30 psi in the tires. After hitting a few dips and whoops pretty hard I think bumpstops might get moved up on the to-do list though.





I assumed from the beginning that I'd buy a TRD Pro grille but I gotta say the OR grille has really grown on me and I might just keep it.

Also it's killer having Gaia on carplay - love it!

 

265/75/16 fit well on stock set up with no rub?

 

Yeah it's a great easy size to go slightly larger than stock. That's with stock wheel offset though, I can't say if anything rubs outside of +13 to +25

 

Added a few things today: Total Chaos bed stiffeners, an ARB recovery point, and a TRD Pro skidplate.

The installation was simple and easy for the bed stiffeners, and I was glad to get them on early while the bed is still straight. Very solid piece of gear.





Pulled off the stock skid plate, tow hook and frame caps:



The ARB recovery point is hefty - probably 15 lbs. Super solid.



Installation really wasn't too hard. First you trim the splash guard a little, then bore out an existing hole to 18mm (3/4") with a step bit. Paint to avoid rust.



Then you install a bolt and hang the recovery point on it, swinging it up to install the rest of the bolts.





3 bolts go up through the stock tow hook area. I could have used the frame cap with its captive nut, but I decided to leave the cap off since I like the look better. ARB provided an extra nut for this specifically.

When you open up that front frame rail, you can see why the ARB recovery point is so much better than stock or something bolted on with a couple bolts in the same position - that metal is thin. Wouldn't want to trust that for a recovery in my opinion.



I will say the installation was easy enough, but not perfect. For one, you have to deal with this nut on a stick to place the nut inside the frame rails - I'm not sure why they didn't just provide a longer bolt to go all the way through the frame.



My only other complaint is that it seems like Toyota may have changed their swaybar location at some point - the ARB instructions show the swaybar fitting perfectly in that circular cutout on the recovery point, but mine is further back. It doesn't look like it'll make contact, but it also interfered with the lower clip on that splash guard. Had to remove the clip, and I decided to sandwich the splash guard underneath the recovery point. We'll see if it stays.



Then I threw on the TRD Pro skidplate I got from BAM. It showed up in a ripped box - luckily my UPS guy is super cool and looked around his truck to find the bolts that had fallen out. It was a good price but I'd buy from a local dealer if I did it again.

I really like how these look and I don't need anything heavy duty for now. I'm going to see how this skidplate does and I'll invest in a full 3 piece system in the future if needed.



The ARB point fits great with the skidplate.

 

Might have to get those bed stiffeners. The truck is looking good!

 

Thanks man!

 

I don't know how many people still use CBs but here's an easy removable solution I came up with:

I have a couple friends that still use CB, but I don't want to make a permanent installation as I know I'll be inevitably moving to HAM/GMRS one of these days.

I installed a 4' Firestik Firefly antenna on a FireRing stud with a heavy duty spring on the bed stiffener. I'm just using materials I found around the house - so I ran the cable through the bed rail and secured it with the Toyota bed cleats.



From there, it fit perfectly through the gap in the front of the bed rails:



And then into the rear sliding window.



To seal the window and avoid pinching the cable, I cut up some adhesive window weather stripping (Home Depot, Lowes etc) - came out to about 11" tall - then stuck the two pieces together.



From there I taped the weather stripping in place, then closed the sliding window on it, sandwiching it and holding it in place.







The fit wasn't perfect, but it was close for a prototype and the cable wasn't pinched.

Then I ran the cable under the rear seat, and between the front passenger seat and center console to the front where I have a Midland radio that runs off the power socket:



Took it out to tune the SWR and it was perfect, with no need to change anything. Pretty clean and easy setup.

 

The next day I met up with some friends and headed to southern Utah for a few days of camping -









The next upgrade will definitely be suspension - nothing too gnarly on this trip but the OR suspension is too bouncy to hit some of these trails as fast as I'd like to. Other than that the truck did great and had no problem climbing anything, and didn't scrape even in some situations where I thought I wouldn't be tall enough.









Still working on organization. this was a pretty good setup with the Maxtrax strapped to the spare, tools/jack in the small box and camping gear in the big box. I love these Hardigg cases - they're not too hard to find locally, and cheap at about $20 each (used). New they're $3-400 but that's military gear for ya. They're super strong and sealed from the elements. I've had them completely covered in dust/mud and everything inside is in perfect shape.



I'm going to change it up again though - just got a bunch of boxes from SDHQ Offroad and C4 Fab that I need to unpack and install. Also I got it back into daily driver mode, and installed the new summer wheels and tires:



And I gotta report that my DIY CB antenna worked great - audio was as clear as CB can get, and no (noticeable) dust got into the cab through the rear window. I call it a success.

 

@SDHQ OFFROAD chase rack and C4 Fab jerry can carrier showed up.

The packaging was well-done, and the powder coating was in good shape.




It bolts together easily - maybe an hour to put it together, taking my time:



Still working out the best way to mount the jerry can carrier. Needs to be powder coated too.





Here it is mocked up before I put it in the truck:

 

It's not too heavy, I could pick it up by myself. Slides right into the truck and bolts in using the 4 front bed bolts (T55 torx)







Overall very happy with it. Quality piece of gear, and solid construction. Now I get to look forward to reorganizing all my camping cases and tool boxes to fit it all in the bed.







Pretty minimal when in daily mode too. Doesn't take up too much room in the bed.

 

still got the Tacoma and 200 series?