West Coast Fire Road Rig

This is the truck I dreamed about when I was in high school. I saw it in the parking lot at the Venice Pier, plowing through snow in Big Bear, and on the sandy trails in Joshua Tree on camping trips while I was smoking weed in my dad's 1997 Ford Explorer.

I bought this Cement Grey 2018 TRD Off Road in December of 2023. The previous owner clearly put a lot of time and effort into this thing - it has the premium interior with JBL sound, leather seats and sunroof, and it came with a Softopper, was lifted and leveled, raptor lights, and 285/75r16 General Grabber tires with 1.25" spacers on the wheels.

My idea for this truck is to keep it as efficient as possible as a daily driver around LA, but fully capable for long road trips or weekends camping. I plan on adding a tent camper shell, and with a mountain bike on the back I plan on taking this rig all over California and the west coast for some slow spins on some dirt trails. I work freelance so I'm able to take a handful of weekdays off at a time to go find pretty empty trails.

Here are some images from the Red Canyon Jeep Trail south of Joshua Tree in late 2023.









I'll be documenting the build and the accompanying adventures on Instagram and YouTube. Thanks in advance for all the advice in the forums!

 

Brand new wheels and tires on the 2018 Off Road. 255/80r17 Toyo Open Country ATIII on Nomad 503 Sahara in Satin Black - 17x8.5 with 0 offset. I have a 3" lift and level kit on the truck that the previous owner installed. Everything fits with plenty of space and I totally love this new setup. I came from 285/75r16 General Grabbers with 1.5" spacers and I can already feel better highway performance and the stance is exactly how I hoped it would come out. Had it done at America's Tire (Discount Tire for those of us in California) and they were awesome.

 

Truck looks incredible with the 503s. Absolutely great shots of the truck!

 

It's been a while since I went out with my camera and snapped any images of the truck in its' natural habitat, but here are a few from the latest camping trip in the Eastern Sierras.