360joules' Off Road Build

Yeah suspension is on my long list of to do's, its really spendy though to do it the right way. Yeah extra work over the next year is a must haha these expenses aren't cheap!

 

This forum and the people who are on it are pretty phenomenal. I truly appreciate those who so freely share their time to talk trucks and educate novices, such as myself.

I recently contacted @Steelhead Taco, whose truck I greatly admire, with some questions about his build.

His response was “Well I’m in northern Washington right now, soon to head south. Rather than typing it all out... maybe you’d like to see it on the way down??”

Hell yes, I do!



We spent several hours talking shop and he showed me solutions to numerous problems I haven’t even encountered yet. I firmly believe that if you want to learn how to put together a system that works, you need to talk to the people who use theirs every day.

Thanks, Fred. It was great meeting and talking with you. Safe travels.

A couple more glamour shots...





And the puppers...

 

My wife and I are on the road.



Smith Rock State Park near Terrebonne, OR had some pretty amazing terrain. The rock climbers were having a field day on these cliffs.











That night, we set up camp at a horse camp in the Crooked River National Grassland. The coyotes were very active under the light of the full moon. During the night, one even howled from within our camp. It was pretty amazing.





And this one remains one of my favorite pictures of this truck:

 

Through this trip so far, and very inspired by the “Taco pics with scenery” thread, I felt I was being a bit annoying to my wife with my frequent stops to take pictures of the truck. This was only day two! Then all of a sudden my wife yells “Stop! Pull in over there!” She then got out and took these pictures...





We were planning this road trip for months and had to make a last minute change to follow a southern route because of all the fire smoke up north. The haze in those last couple of pics is still fire smoke. It must have been miserable up north.

For those last pictures, it was all worth it. My wife has a great eye for truck porn.

 

The main section of the Bonneville Salt Flats was closed for AMA record breaking attempts. This was as close as we could get. It was close enough to tell that this place is like a being on a completely different planet.





Even more impressive was Volcano Peak in the same area.







And then there was this guy...

 

My pleasure Troy!
It was great meeting you too! Has you mentioned there are some great people on TW! It just feels right to give back too, pretty special group.
Have a great time on the road! Looks awesome allready, plus kodo’s to the wife for a good eye for the camera!!

 

Vedauwoo

 

In an unplanned move (as 90% of this trip has been) we decided to cross into Nebraska.

Corn fields driving toward Scottsbluff.



Up on Scottsbluff.





And one of my favorite fast food places from growing up...





I haven’t eaten at Runza in over a decade. It was delicious.



Then came our only failure with camping in a RTT.

At camp that night, we were at an RV park in Gering, NE. In the evening, winds picked up to around 30 mph gusting to around 50. After the wind tried to fold the tent up, I turned the truck around to a better position. But the high winds continued to batter us and I had to start closing the window awnings.

The temps stayed above 80F and closing the windows meant that it was even warmer inside. We got to sleep, but the heavy gusts kept coming and battered the sides of the tent. I was worried about the wind ripping the toggles that hold the awnings closed. Ultimately, we admitted defeat and packed it in. We closed the tent up and drove back to Wyoming to find a less exposed area to camp.

It seems that Nebraska has never forgiven us for moving away.

 

Somewhere in central Wyoming. I absolutely loved the wide openness of it.



We stayed in Dubois. All I have to say is wow. Every time my wife and I found “our favorite place ever”, it seemed that we'd then find a spot even more stunning.







Dinner for two



The next day, we found the Tetons. I definitely want to explore this area more when we have more time. Unfortunately, on this day we were motivated to put some serious miles behind us.





Truck posing while heading into Idaho

 

Great pics man! Wanted to ask about your battery install as I’m going to be doing a swap here soon as well to go to 31.. did you need to extend your battery cables at all? It looks stock/OEM in the pics but I’m trying to get everything in order before my battery cage arrives

 

Thank you!

I used the stock cables, but it’s pretty tight. Eventually I want to replace those with longer ones and upgrade the connectors.

Good luck with your build!

 

Good to hear, my OEM battery is (25k miles and just over 2 years) definitely on its last legs. Sucks but great excuse to upgrade! CBI tray coming Wednesday and picking up the new battery tomorrow so I'll be using stock for now too until I get time to lengthen and clean up everything. Thank you!

 

Lots of updates to do, so I'll just get to it. lol.

In late September, I was able to get assistance from forum member @T-WRX with replacing the needle bearing with the ECGS one. The shop I had contacted to install my lift wouldn't touch it. Getting this done was a big deal to me. Thanks again, man!

A couple days later, I got the main components of my suspension installed. With previous vehicles, I performed the install myself, but this time, living in an apartment building, I just couldn't do it. I also had the shop install extended braided steel brake lines x4. While I didn't set my lift very high right now, I wanted the freedom to do it later without worry.

For my lift, I went with the Performance kit from Toytec. 2.5" shocks x4 without the reservoir. Aftermarket wheels are required with the reservoirs and honestly, I probably don't need that much of a performance shock anyway. These shocks are beefy enough and are completely rebuildable. I also went with Total Chaos ball joint UCA's. The ball joints will take more maintenance to keep clean and squeak free, but I like the amount of travel they provide and with the TC stickers removed, the clean appearance of the setup.





I bought the "heavy duty" version Dakar leaf pack and removed the third leaf for the time being. I plan to add this leaf later when I buy my camper. I kept the Firestone airbags to maintain flexibility for hauling and to make small stance adjustments.



Here's a picture at the shop with everything installed, but before adjusting the coilovers.



A quick note about a few more things that I've done in recent weeks.

• I removed the TRD stickers from the bedsides and plan to debadge the rest soon.
• I installed OVTune. Initially, I flashed to 1.04r 87, but after a couple tanks with a higher octane, I upgraded my tune to 1.04r 91. I cannot recommend this tune enough. I'm looking forward to trying out 1.05 when it comes out.
• I installed an Attic made by Blue Ridge Overland Gear. After the long road trip, my wife and I decided a little more organization was in order.

 

My wife and I went out to the woods...



Set up camp...



Built one of these...



And stared up at this from the hammock.



It was a fantastic, impromptu weekend trip at the perfect time of the fall season. This, to me, is the purpose for this build.

 

I was able to pick up an exhaust from a TRD Pro off CL. A member here on TW said that he noted a performance improvement when he installed his. I may not be able to compare performance purely due to the exhaust, because I also made a change to my OVTune at the same time. Regardless, I'll take anything I can get (within reason) that makes this Tacoma perform stronger.

I admit, I like the growl this setup gives.





A comparison shot showing the stock Off Road exhaust and the TRD Pro one.



It's starting to look, feel and sound like a truck.

 

Since I installed my lift a bit over a month ago, my suspension has settled a bit - particularly in the front. I made some adjustments to the coilovers and took it in for another alignment.

Here, a pigeon performs the pre-inspection. (I may need to rethink my choice of shop...lol).



Wheels and tires coming up...and it may need to get washed soon.

 

A 4 am install of a new-to-me TRD pro intake.

 

New Baja fog lights.





Comparing with stock:

 

Great build so far, nice work!

And local as well, hope our paths cross in the future so I can see it in person

 

Thank you for the compliment. That would be excellent. I always enjoy Tacoma meetups.