Chriswhaaaat’s Tame Trailhunter Build (Version 2)

Version 2 because I bought a 3rd gen in Nov 2023, started a build, and then traded that bad boy in for this trailhunter last weekend. It’s what i really wanted in the first place before this summer hit, but I start my work season in may and needed to be sure I would have a truck by then. I had hoped for bronze oxide but there were only 2 trailhunters I could find in Alberta and both were white. I looked at the one at my original dealer when I was getting my 3rd gen service done, I drove a gas-job 24, and loved it, and decided I shouldn’t wait any longer. Driving comfort was significantly better from the 23 to the 24, and i drive quite a bit and sit in the truck a lot for work. 32k km in the last 5 months, roughly. I found one for MSRP (86k Canadian) with no bullshit dealer markups, no add on’s (but was prepared to pay for one with them anyways).

The truck has a lot of features you might want or would add to a 3rd gen, for example, and everything seems well thought out. I am very impressed with what Toyota did.

I do not like to go ‘off-roading’ or ‘wheeling’ just for the sake of tearing shit up or testing my vehicle, I generally know where it will or wont go, where I should or should not take it, and where I need or dont need to go, but I do like to go to places where access might be limited, and for work am regularly in places with off-pavement access and steep ditches. I need a truck I can take off the road, but I dont need to be continuously articulating the suspension. I want moderate to good clearance so there is little chance of catching on things or getting stuck, but I dont want to test how regularly I can drag it. I have always put a modest lift on previous vehicles, slightly larger tires, and sometimes some underbody protection, and the trailhunter fits that MO from factory.

I intend to keep the truck for a longer period of time than I have with other vehicles. Since I haul and use my truck as a truck often enough, or drive off maintained roads, I’ve always wound up with scratches around the vehicle with time, or rock chips from gravel driving, etc. I intend to protect the paint here with PPF over most of the truck’s body, helping prevent rust and protect from scratches and chips. I’m going to wrap about 80% of the truck this time, I think, and see how that goes. I dont feel that the cost is significant over the life time of a vehicle (~4K, including interior ceramic tint).

I’m happy to answer any questions about the TH as needed, but I’ll try to focus on the ‘build’ elements here below. Photos attached of new truck below. Also some goodbye photos of the old unit (returned it to mostly stock before trading in, lol)

 

On to the “Tame” build:

Let me start with…
I friggen love lights. Lights everywhere. I really like being able to see around me, what’s going on, what I’m doing when outside of the truck. I like knowing who else is out there (eg: wildlife, people walking around). I want to see what I’m doing when working around the truck at night, or at work, or driving long remote drives at night. The more you can see, the more information you have, the less likely something is to go wrong. One of the more continuous themes here will be the addition of various lighting. First, I’ll detail what’s on the truck now (that I quite like)
- 18”? Factory light bar. This light bar is wired to work with high beams only and activated with a dash switch. It’s pretty good for factory, I understand only about 10k lumen. It seems to be set up with reflectors so the light beam ‘starts’ at the road edges and fans out to each side. It has reasonable coverage for a small, low light bar, but I am missing the brightness at the road shoulders 150-300m out that I might see on a normal light bar.
- Dual colour 6” factory RIGID fog lights. These are decent but not remarkable. A lot of light shines off the road surface. Haven’t had a chance to try them in fog/snow/rain yet. A typical Toyota fog light switch placement (wheel on the signal arm) activates fog lights, and a lower left dash mounted switch (beside the light bar switch) has a colour-indicating light on it (greenish/yellow or amber) to indicate the fog light colour (if its not dark enough yet to see the colour).
- Factory low beams are good, and can be aimed with an adjustment wheel on the left dash. I think they have a sharper cutoff than 3rd gen, but not as bright?
- Factory high beams are not that impressive. Thankfully it has a light bar.
- an awesome new feature are the lights mounted in the edges of the top of the box, facing the lower rear ground. These are really useful for illuminating the area beside the back of the truck, and they seem to be wired in conjunction with the interior box and cargo lights.
- Auto high beams are a bit moody (as I have found in any vehicle). They turn off prematurely sometimes, and seem to turn off late other times, or wont turn on when there is literally nothing out there. This isn’t unique to Toyota, and I’ve had this experience in other makes and models.

What I want to add:
- overhead light bar (in roof rack) for distance visibility at night in remote areas (which I frequent regularly, particularly road where you have long straight highways with no oncoming traffic). I’ll likely use my current 44” extreme LED X6S (Amber/white) while I look into pod lights (Like Morimoto banger bar or baja designs LP4s, perhaps). I like the low profile mounting option for light bars, but would be excited at the amount of light from the pods. One issue I had on the Sherpa Grand Teton rack on my 3rd gen was that the location of the front mounting feet was so close to the front half fairing that it was hard to get a light bar to sit back and low to ‘cut off’ the light from reflecting on the hood. With the “Rainier” rack for 4th gen, the light should fit more easily back there. Reflection off the hood (and moisture in the air above the windshield) is a pain with overhead light bars. I think with the brighter, more expensive pods, so much light going forward might negate the reflection (at least that was my experience with prior more expensive 50” light bars).
- Additional amber fog lights facing forward (separate from overhead light bar). I was looking at a front lower bumper with space for baja designs little pods.
- Additional behind-grille spot light (bar?) for front facing light, to fill in the gap left by the factory bar. Something like a 20” rough-country or higher end light bar, perhaps.
- Ditch lights on hood-mounted brackets. I like having some low-speed turning visibility when in low light roads, even some parking lots to have a Quick Look, basically starting from the edge of the headlight beam and shining outward/sidways from there. I have some old pro-comp pods and brackets that were on my old truck. I need to investigate new bracket options.. dont know about the old light pods yet.
- area lighting off a roof rack (to the sides), work lights of sorts. I have a set of rough-country rock lights I might use for this to complement the lights on the sides of the box. Build some angled brackets to fit the side of the roof rack.
- Rear work lights off roof rack or a headache rack (flood lights facing back/slightly outward). I have some NAPA brand of small 2” pods but may update this.
- Rear-facing (straight back) light for rearward visibility if, for example, backing down a road or trail at night. (I will likely use my extreme LED 18” light bar, which has a white 6” spot centered between 2 6” amber bars. I dont need a mountain of light but more than the backup lights. This is also handy to alert a following driver that their high beams are on.
- Surround flashing amber lights (I am occasionally on a roadway for work with construction crew). Smoked amber clearance lights likely for the sides of the roof rack, and probably make some of the front/rear amber pods also wired to flash. I also have some hideaway LED strobe units I might try to find a spot for.

That’s it for the lighting end for now.

 

Other Mods:

Aesthetic (mostly):

• PPF around most of the truck. Rock chips on previous vehicles from the excess of gravel I drive have been found in a lot of places (coming from my own truck or other vehicles). I’m looking at doing about 80% of the truck. Also with things in and out of the box, or cab, get very minor contacts but over time you get small marks. The white truck should help with this, but the PPF should help significantly with reducing this. Also, a lot of bug buildup on the truck from the driving, bug guts seem to cause staining or take a lot of effort to get off, so again this should help. Some minor protection of the windshield from pitting or from small chips, and even preventing larger chipping, sometimes, and wiper scratches with time. I feel that it’s worth it for a windshield that is likely in excess of 2k ($550 for the PPF). It’s probably easier to list what I wont get wrapped - Top of the doors, upper rear 2/3rds of the hood, and any of the matte plastic surfaces (grille center, fender flares).
• Window tint (partially for aesthetics, mainly for comfort - Nano-ceramic tint to keep out heat and UV, on all windows, including windshield eventually, with ~80-90% only on the windshield, because that’s about the minimum for getting a ceramic windshield tint to cut UV and heat. Man does it make a difference. Had it on my last truck. I also get an eyebrow added to close the gaps missed by the sun visors. My intention is to keep the forward-looking parts of the windshield as clear as possible while cutting heat and UV, since I drive at night as well, and the eye brow helps with low sunlight angle and catching between the sun visors, mirror, A-pillars etc. Rear windows for privacy and heat rejection. Driver and passenger windows mostly for heat and brightness reduction (I am on a lap top in sunny open prairie often).
• Matte Black Door side mouldings. I saw them on the other TH I looked at with another dealer and liked the look. May minimize door dents from small cars in parking lots so for the $150 why not.
• Upgraded Mud Flaps - Likely rally armour or rokbloks type. I had rally armor on the last truck and they were good. I see a small gap beneath the fender flare, above the factory plastic rigid flaps. Rigid flaps are risky IMO. I’d like to get better coverage cause these tires come right out to the edge of the fender flares.
• Rain shield for side windows. Keeps the rain (or windshield wash) out of a cracked window when parked or driving.. helps cut the sun sometimes depending on the angle

Convenience:

• Switch panel in cab for additional lighting/accessory control (TH comes with 3 aux switches and pig tails which is great, but I will need more than 3 based on above lighting).
• DECKED in-bed toolbox. I previously had one in a ram truck. When I switched to the 3rd gen, i felt the box was too shallow to accommodate a 12” “deep” toolbox in the bed (wouldn’t leave enough box sides). Since the 4th gen box is deeper, vertically, this should be a better fit. The quality of their products is superb.
• Updated front recovery points (the rear steel ARB bumper has nice ones, the front has standard crappy tow loops hidden up under the bumper, which may cause some mangling of the bumper if towing from a bad angle). I may update the lower front bumper eventually so that might fix this gap.
• Small transfer tank (fuel) either mounted within the frame rails or within the box (since this darn fuel tank is even smaller than the last). Amazing really. I’ll likely plumb it in to the filler neck for the main fuel tank. I havent’ planned the execution of this much yet. Happy to hear any input.
• I already took the back seats out of the truck and made a carpeted platform to fit over the hybrid battery. I need to stiffen it a bit and add a bracket for bolting in to the seat mounts or seatbelt brackets (I ran out of time before my work shift). I have a dog crate in the back now but will likely build a better fitted type crate; the current crate prevents me from tilting my seat all the way back. I also expect to add some storage compartments behind the driver seat in the back, sort of a carpeted cabinet. I have no need to carry passengers other than my dog and wife.

Capability:

• Sherpa Rainier roof rack. The Toyota roof rack has limited cross bars, it’s narrower, and not perfectly flat. Also less options for mounting lights and for using tie-downs. I have the Sherpa grand Teton product on my 3rd gen (had sorry) and am very pleased with it. The mounting feet are positioned further back and should accommodate a lower position for a light bar. The Toyota factory rack has nice lines, aesthetically, I feel, but one fatal flaw. It vibrates like a son of a gun with wind speeds over ~120km/h, roughly. The front fairing is not connected to the support bar immediately behind it, and the support bar actually vibrates, contacting the fairing and possibly the roof if it gets wild. It’s an awful noise and you just simply can’t go over 130kph because of it and it rattles the whole cab roof. (Photo of the bar behind it attached below). Since its a truck, i included a good roof rack as part of a capability item list.
• Slightly larger tires. While the clearance is good (since it comes with a factory lift), slightly bigger tires will get the diffs up a bit. I dont need to go wheeling, but I want to go in and out of places with little risk of dragging, or popping a rock if I dont see it. I hear the 4th gens may fit 35’s without modification. Once I assess the fuel mileage a bit more (and maybe burn off these wrangler territory RTs) I will update. I ordered some studded winter tires in the same size as factory (33”) already (they were for my last truck) so I’ll give those a go first.
• A very mild lift, potentially? Will see how the TH performs. While people hate spacer lifts, I might honestly do an inch or so that way, or look at preloaded or other shock system. I dont plan to wheel a bunch and dont need a mountain of downward travel. An inch will not significantly impact my ride experience. I’m welcome to suggestions on mild lift options. I’m sure I will get people saying “NONONO” about spacers etc, and I get it. Again, keep in mind that while I am off road/off trail sometimes, my goal is not to drive up and over 18” rocks for fun, nor at speed. I am mostly on the highway getting to the next place I need to get in to.
• A steel lower front/stump bumper (Maybe C4 Fab lo-pro winch bumper) or something similar. The factory lower portion of the grille and the front skid plate dont match up that well, the leading edge of the plate has sort of a gap in front of it, below the front shield/grille. And that thing is plastic. This bumper will help keep rocks and shit out of the top side of the skid plate and likely solve the improvement of front tow points.
• Proooobably the high-clearance wings for a stump bumper.
• Potentially lower control arm skid plates? Mostly to keep sticks/logs and stuff from popping up in to there and getting jammed/catching stuff.
• I may upgrade some of the factory skid plates eventually, but it already has quite a few for now. They are pretty thin though

Regarding the ‘sport bar’, ‘chase rack’ or whatever else you want to call it, I do actually like the look of this one, the execution isn’t amazing but its decent for aesthetic. I took it off briefly and didn’t like it off. I actually want the space to mount stuff inside the box eventually. I also like the cross-bar position for mounting lights to, and additionally for supporting long loads if needed (You cannot safely or properly use the roof rack for that). I have always had a ‘headache rack’ on half ton or larger trucks, and use them all the time with long items (lumber, steel) mounted across the headache rack and tailgate, and they also offer protection of the cab from stuff in the box (like an ATV) and an additional vertical mounting point. One with sides is more sturdy than just a vertical rack. Currently, the cross-bar on the factory one is curved (flat oval-shaped cross section) and curved upward above the rear brake light. I modified this already with a thinner bar to accommodate my quad in the box. It also had box stiffeners at cab/box front to prevent twisting. The plate was flat and wide and was hitting my ATV tires, so I cut the plate out and welded in a smaller diameter square tube instead to gain more clearance. I will likely install some vertical protection for the rear truck window and maybe some additional inserts and over top/cross support to turn this in to a more useable headache rack. (Or i will panic and return it to stock, lol). Or I might play with my own similar design with different execution. Things I envision mounting to it might be a small fire extinguisher, first aid kit, and cabinet for straps on the inside of the pillars?

 

Rear sport bar, cross brace changed to allow my quad to fit. There is more clearance than it appears in this photo.



Front of roof rack fairing.



Brace behind the faring doesn’t actually do it anything and vibrates badly

 

Inserting this post as a current mod tracker:

Aesthetics:
- PPF currently - front ~14” of the hood and upper corners of the front fenders. Front windshield. Headlights, light bar, fog lights, mirrors. (More to come when I get back from work shift)

Comfort:
- Front driver/passenger 20% Nano-ceramic tint. (More to come)

Convenience:
- Back seats removed. Carpeted platform installed over the hybrid battery. (Better dog crate and storage to come when returned from work).

Capability:
- Modified cross-bar on bed sport bar for smaller profile to accommodate ATV. The bar has funny shaped feet that fit between some of the other pieces so there was more fabrication on that part than there was for the cross beam. I will rebuild this later when I am not carrying an ATV in the box all summer any more (have to change to a UTV with trailer).