New Offroader Seeks Advice (rnd 2)

After accidentally posting this is the 2nd gen section, lets try again! ^_^

Well, now. Just what the title says! I have myself an '03 Taco 4x4 and it needs to get offroad ASAP (reasons being finances and excitement)!

SO, this is my first vehicle I'm prepping for the great off-roads and I could definitely use some pointers on what parts to choose, which to do first and which can wait to upgrade, and definitely how much these suckers cost.

A brief synopses of what I require of my beloved Taco:

* Highway driving daily
* Light-medium offroading daily; mainly in the mountains where the main hazards are dust, rockslides, potholes, mud, and snow (more or less in that order)
* Camping
* Family fun/passenger space (at least 2 adults and 1 small child)
* Decent mileage/handling (for a truck anyway)
* An open truck bed (the job requires lots of loose misc. tools)


I've decided firmly on BFG KO A/T tires which will be going on shortly. With that very small improvement it will begin to see my daily schedule of highway/offroading with many upgrades to come.


A note on what is already on the truck by the previous owner:

* Snugfit camper top
* Tow package
* Bed liner
* V6 stock engine

That is about it! The last owner babied it and may have taken it off road a few times but apparently nothing major. No skid plates, lifts, filters, muffler, etc etc to speak of.


Any help getting me started is much appreciated . Once I have all this locked in I'll start one of those infamous 'build' threads everybody seems to love.


Cheers!

 

I see you've deleted the prior tire size
We convince you to get larger tires?

Get some skids!
I still gotta get some, too - I bought mine without any

 

is the bedliner plastic? if so pull that shit out and toss it. its destroying your bed. if u need a bedliner, get it linexed/rhinolined or whatever else that suits you and throw in a rubber bed mat

 

These trucks are surprisingly capable offroad from the factory. Most mods are for the guys who are going out of their way to have fun on more serious trails.

I think that all you need is an air-compressor (or Powertank) to enable you to air back up (after airing down), and maybe a bellypan and side bars to protect your un-lifted rig.

 

Im in the same boat as you op, i think the first thing ill be splurging on would be new wheels/tires/lift, hopefully without going broke...

 

you're be broke but not broke enough to add more mods onto. haha.

 

Maybe...

Rather, my fellow bios have all told me how they're at least a Plus 1 on their tire sizing. Since I know for a fact none have had a flat out there it's heavily compelling. Thanks for getting me to ask around, haha.

The skids... I'm not certain. I forgot that there is a set of running boards/side steps on already (not a lot of quality time together yet, but that'll change soon). Think these can be beat on like skids or should I rip them out and replace'em?

@wrmathis Yep the bedliner is plastic. I was toying with the idea of getting it lined because dirt gets in the damndest places anyway.

@tan4x4 I agree that they're quite capable and durable, that's why I'm not waiting for everything to be on the truck before it hits the dirt. I have a cheapo air compressor that needs an upgrade, but at least it's something.

 

So: tires will come first as they will get me started, what next?

Here's my list insofar:

• Lift kit - Skyjacker or OME 3" lifts are what I've been recommended.
• Skid plates - front and rear
• Brakes - the ones on are half gone but haven't done much research yet, plus I'm debating whether to replace the drums on the back with rotors.
• High flow air filter - AFE?

The rest of my list has more to do with my comfort/safety rather than modding. Stuff like better floor mats, alarm system (always nice to have), tow rope, hi-lift jack, winch, extinguisher, steering wheel wrap, and a locking gas cap.


One thing I am quite interested of opinions on is are the stock 15" wheels durable enough for regular light offroading?


After that, which mod shall I go for first? This will be a progressive rather than an all-at-once thing since I need to use it instead of sticking it in a shop for a week or 4 at a time.



Thanks all! I'm liking the friendly atmosphere here.

 

Skids and sliders should be first imo. Sliders would have saved me from denting up the whole passenger side of my truck.

The stock wheels will be fine. You may need wheelspacers like spidertraxx if you intend to run them with anything over 32" to keep from possibly rubbing upper control arms and the frame when turning.

 

If you're doing light offroading a 3" is kind of overkill IMO.

I've been running some pretty decent trails on a stock suspension with 167,000 miles on it and 31x10.5r15 BFG ATs

You could better spend the $1200 you'd spend on a proper lift (add installation $$$ if you're not going to do it yourself).

Tires
Sliders
Skid plates

That'd be my recommendation.

And yes, the stock 15" wheels (pretty sure yours are 16") can easily handle light off roading.

 

Tires - check
Skid plates - definitely
Sliders - i get the feeling I better rip off the running board/steps and stick in the sliders!

Thanks all, I have a starting point now which is what I really needed. Feel free to keep up the input though

 

Had to have someone send me a pic of my tires, but yes, they are 16". Those tires I was looking at would've been pretty hard to fit on there!