2017 White TRD Off Road Tacoma Glamping Build

Great build! Looking forward to seeing whats next.

 

And those drone shots are amazing!

 

The day I got my truck back...again...I sold my CVT tent and the next weekend drove down to Portland to pick up an Alu-Cab RTT and Shadow Awning. Along the way I stopped off at Adventure Ready and picked up an SPOD system for the upcoming lights.

I had some condensation leading to mold issues with my CVT and wanting something easier to setup/take down and with less fabric the Alu-Cab was a no brainer if not an expensive no brainer.

I had an ARB awning mounted previously but I never ended up using it due to the hassle/time it takes to set up. The Alu Cab Shadow Awning I can have set up in 5 seconds have it down in 15, so I have found myself using it quite a bit.

Tent took about two hours to install in the freezing rain, so once it's on there it's on there for awhile.




I then proceeded to work on installing a camp light set up. I didn't want anything too crazy; I wanted simple lights on the side that would illuminate the side of the truck and surrounding area while also not requiring any additional set up or take down time.

I bought cheap ditch lights off of Amazon (

$25 Auxbeam LED Light Bar 4" 18W LED Pods 1800lm Flood Beam Driving light Off Road Lights for SUV ATV UTV Trucks Pickup Jeep Lamp (Pack of 2)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00T62RK1U/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1) and attached them directly to the t-slots on the Alu Cab load bars. They fit neat and nice under the tent, and I routed the cables down into the inside of the canopy and from there they ran under the truck to the SPOD installed in the engine bay.

I'm a firm believer in using quality lights where it matters, and just installed some Rigid lights on hood brackets, but for just general camp usage I had no problem buying something cheap as I wasn't depending on it.

 

I had somewhat of a road map of upgrades I wanted to do, and suspension was on it, but it wasn't very high. But then Icon had a 20% off sale during black friday, and I decided to pick up an Icon Stage 4 kit.

The stock suspension had so far done a pretty admirable job with the added weight in the back, but it was definitely a little bit saggy.

Shortly after Christmas I went over to @STacoS place and we (really, him) installed the front and rears but weren't able to make it to the leaf springs which left me with a comical "pre-runner lean" with a front end 2 inches higher than the rear.




As silly as it looked, it was probably for the best as I decided to pick up a set of OME Dakar heavy weight leaf springs (096R) and @velillen helped me (read: he did it) install them that weekend.




The next logical step was new tires, and I managed to pick up a pretty cheap set of BF Goodrich 265/75/16 KOs off Craigslist. I thought they were KO2s until I picked up my KO2 spare and realized they were different - ooops.

I would have loved to go up to 33's but I am already getting 16MPG with all of the weight and shit on top so can't really afford another mileage hit.

 

Glad everything was able to get worked out and looking good!

 

I have the same truck but an LB, and want to do many of the same things you've done to yours. I've been trying to figure out if I want to go canopy or not, and if so, alum or fiber ... Your review is very helpful.

Sorry for some of your bad luck ... The truck looks awesome, love the approach to the overall build. Thanks for sharing all the details!

 

This somewhat frantic and quick prep was all done to prepare for a month long trip in Southern California and Nevada. I had 2x work events to work, and then SHOT Show and the rest of the time was mine to kill exploring and camping.

On the morning of January 2nd I packed the truck up and hit the road, driving south to Portland to pick up a Prinsu rack (Front Runner I had on previously wouldn't fit with the Alucab RTT) then through Bend to pick up a ladder for the Alu-Cab (the Alu-Cab ones are pretty bad).





First night was spent in a hotel in Klamath Falls, while the second night I camped just outside of Yosemite at a beautiful camp sight in Stanislaus NF with plans to check out Yosemite the next day. I love the National Forests and dispersed camping inside them - the NP are too restrictive in my opinion and you are always around other people. What's the fun in that?

I picked out my camp site using Google Maps, but ended up driving in at night and the spur road I chose was closed. I ended up just continuing on the road I was on and followed it until it too led to a clearing and a road closed sign. I camped at the clearing, and snapped a few photos before the clouds moved in and it started to rain.

The next morning I packed up in the rain and drove to Yosemite - I'll be honest and say I wasn't super impressed. It was surprisingly crowded for the middle of the week on the off season - I don't even want to imagine what a weekend in July would be like.



After Yosemite I drove to Fresno, where I stayed the weekend for a work event (where I camped outside but wasn't anything worth writing about).

 

Sunday night (January 7) I left Fresno headed to a camp site I had chosen in Sierra National Forest, however the road in got kind of sketchy and had quite a bit of "Private Property" (despite my map showing it as USFS) signs so I decided to turn back and chose another campsite at Pine Flat Lake which had a beautiful view...if it wasn't for the rain that decided to come in.



The next couple nights were spent in hotel rooms escaping the weather, but on Wednesday I made my way south into Anza Borrego where I camped for another night. Anza Borrega was absolutely beautiful, and reminded me of Star Wars - I thought a Jawa was going to come out and take my truck for parts.

After that drove up through Joshua Tree to Victorville for a work thing that weekend.

 

I had to head to Vegas for SHOT Show, but last time I was there I got in a wreck so we took a different route.

Ran the Mojave Road the other direction (West-East) from Saturday-Monday. Had a RAV4 and an old Chevy pickup with me.



Started Saturday afternoon, skipping Afton Canyon and the water crossing because of the RAV4 ground (or water in this case) clearance and camping a few miles short of Soda Lake in BLM land. Winter camping in CA is great - there's no one else out there, and you can have fires which we took advantage of to cook our meal.
A couple weeks earlier I had picked up a Front Runner spare tire grill which is a truly awesome product - fits over your spare tire when not in use, and when you want to use it just pull it out and set it out over a fire. In this case we used it to cook some pork adobado for tacos.
While it wasn't cold, it was super windy and the amount of large metal zippers in the Alu-Cab rattled constantly - something that I will have to fix in the future.




The next morning, after making a quick breakfast we headed out first entering Mojave National Preserve and then the edge of Soda Lake.








We stopped for lunch around noon, pulling off to the side of the road and making sandwiches under the Alu-Cab awning. I really can't emphasize how much I love this thing - I had an ARB one before that I never used because of the time involved in setting up. The Alu-Cab takes about 10 seconds to set up, so gets constant usage. You can also see the modified ARB fridge bag with the cutting board pouch and the GoWesty Rotopax spout covered in mud from Soda Lake - pro tip: while driving turn it right side up so you're not having to use a q-tip to fish mud out of the spout.




The rest of that days drive was pretty uneventful. We passed by some ruins, the mailbox, and lots of dirt. I'm used to the wet dense forests of the PNW, not the endless expanse of desert so it was kind of overwhelming at first.



Camped shortly before Watson's Wash and as the sun came down the temperatures started to drop. As we unloaded all of the wood from our vehicles we realized that once we ran out of wood, it was going to be time to head to bed. Like the night before I busted out my grill grate and used it took some pork chops.

 

Morning of Day 3 on the Mojave was cooooooold. The temperature gauge on my truck isn't super reliable but it was definitely in the 20s. Packed up as quickly as we could, and after a quick breakfast headed out.



While the previous two days were done at a more leisurely pace, today we kept the stops to a minimum as we knew we needed to be in Vegas that night. We did stop a couple times, first at the school bus, and then a road crossing.




Going over the Piute Range was pretty cool - VERY rocky coming down and I was surprised no one (the RAV4 on passenger tires especially) got a flat.





By this time the RAV4 plastic "skid plate" was starting to come off, and was dragging along the ground. Stopping to check the undercarriage became more common.





But, we did make it to the Colorado around 2PM - where we split up and I drove to Vegas.

 

After spending a few days in Vegas for SHOT Show, it was time to drive home.

I had wanted to check out Death Valley on this trip and unfortunately ran out of time but was able to squeeze a detour in on the way home and drove through Stovepipe Wells before emerging on the other side.





From there I drove North through Lone Pine, an area I definitely want to check out again.



Also stopped at Manzanar National Historic Site along the way - as a kid I had done a bunch of reading on the internment of the Japanese so it was cool to see evidence of it.



Stopped at a gas station to refill on wiper fluid, and found a pretty convenient parking spot ¯\_(ツ)_/¯



Spent the night in Klamath Falls, OR and made it home the next day.

 

Now that I am home again, there were a ton of lessons learned over the past month and thus changes I want to make to the truck and my camping setup.

First change is improving my RTT.

I love the Alu-Cab RTT, but there's a couple things on it that frankly suck.
1. The stock ladder - it's a fixed length aluminum ladder. Nothing wrong with the construction, it's just really long and unwieldy
2. The lights inside the tent are not good - they are too focused and their position on the floor and the angle of the walls means they aren't super useful.
3. Condensation build up over night potentially leading to mold (I haven't had a mold problem but it is a concern). This a big problem especially in the PNW as there is rarely enough non-rainy days to properly dry your tent out.

For starters, I picked up a collapsible ladder from Freespirit Recreation in Bend, OR that I had been using the past month, however they gave me some brackets to attach to the tent to hold the ladder in place that I hadn't installed. Got those installed. Next step is to get a bag for the ladder to go in so I don't have to throw the ladder in my bed if it's nasty.




For lights - I bought a pack of LED strip lights off of Amazon along with a USB on/off switch and a cigarette plug branch/y cable. These strip lights are small and cheap, and provide a nice even/soft light throughout the tent now that they are set up. You can see the Alu-Cab light on the gooseneck in the photo...not good.




The best thing to do to combat condensation would be to pick up a fantastic fan and install it, however I wasn't quite prepared for that so instead I got a couple large dessicant bags at SHOT Show from a company called Safe n Dry that I installed in my tent. A fan would be the best option, but I plan on eventually picking up an @Iggy / @Overlanerd camper shell when they come to market so didn't want to cut into my Alu-Cab.
Anyways - I through a dessicant packet at the front of the tent on the floor, and another one near the foot of the tent.

For bedding in my RTT I have been using a Kifaru doobie and if it's really cold a pendleton blanket on top of that. I have taken it down to the low 20's and it's okay, but I wished I had had my sleeping bag then.

 

Did a short camping trip near Ellensburg, WA with @JimSnell and @TexMeg89 from 2/9-2/10. Unfortunately, we got a late start and ran into some road closures so didn't get to do as much exploring as we had hoped but the road in was great - had a little bit of everything; a couple minor stream crossings, some uphill, some downhill, some mud, some rocks, etc. Nothing too technical but enough to be fun and not boring.







The forecast was for clear skies...and then it snowed. I need to buy a thermostat for my tent, but it was definitely in the low 20's at night.

 

My ARB 50qt fridge hasn't been working very well for some time - it's running constantly but struggles to bring food down to temperature. I contacted ARB and after dropping it off at their HQ they fixed it up - turns out the fan had broken.

My current drawer setup works, but it's heavy and not awesome. So I decided it's time to revamp my current setup starting with the fridge/stove slide. My current one uses a Front Runner slide and DIY wooden shelf for the stove. It works - but whenever I move the fridge items fall into the fridge tracks and I need to move them to put the fridge back. Super annoying.

I've been lusting after a Goose Gear fridge/stove slide for some time but $1700 is absolutely nuts.

Plans started to fall into place when MULE had a GG fridge slide on deep discount - so of course I picked it up and decided to make my own stove slide out of 80/20 (like GG).

Picked up 80/20 extrusion in 72' lengths from Grainger and took it to a local metal fab shop to cut.



Starting to piece it together. Goose Gear uses these little $18 blocks that also require you to 1/4-20 tap holes on the end - I opted to instead use 80/20 inside angle braces. Not as nice looking but cheaper.




And...done!



Knocked out the old slides, and ready for install!



Installed.

 

Wow, that looks awesome!!! What are the sides of the 80/20 fabricated unit made out of? Wood that you've painted?

 

Thanks! Definitely some upsides to my setup, but there's downsides as well. I basically no longer have a truck bed, so if you need your truck for truck things then that probably won't work for you. I travel and camp quite a bit so it works out well for me.

Far away shots were all with a drone - something I did for fun, then did for work, and trying to make it fun again.

 

Thanks! So the top portion of it with the fridge is made by Goose Gear - but it's just 1/4 inch wood that's been painted. Only one side of what I made (the stove slide) has a side.

 

Great shots of your trips @danneskjold thanks for sharing. Nicce to see you really getting the most out of the Taco. I'm working my way up to that build in time .

How do you do the most of your route planning?

 

Oh I see. If you don't mind me asking, how did you mount the stove slides onto the 80/20? Is it some type of t-track type of mount?