Camper on 2004 4 Cylinder Tacoma

Hey Guys,

I am a proud owner of a 2004 Tacoma, 4x4, the catch being it's a 4 cylinder. It's got 160,000 miles on it and seems to be in great shape. I am wondering if there's any way I can put a camper shell on my truck? I was thinking of getting the 4 wheel camper base shell, which should be pretty light. Are there any modifications I could easily make to my truck to boost its power or help make it capable of carrying some extra weight without being the slowest car on the road?

 

I have the slowest, povert spec, first gen on this site

Mine is a 4 door, DLX, 2.7L 4cyl Taliban edition with a gimpomatic

3 cylinder Geo metro and first gen prius laugh at me as they dust me at lights

That said, I have a camper to make it even slower and I am perfectly happy with it waving at VW bugs waving by at me uphill as they pass me and 18 wheelers snickering at me

My slow tacoma, like aarp sex in Florida nursing homes is slow and steady, without need for additional enhancements, SC or blue pills

Without camper, my taco would easily spin rear tires. With camper, not so much

 

It will be minimal difference with the camper.

For power upgrades, try the search feature or even google. Welcome to the site.

 

Mine is Ex cab 4 cyl 4x4 with 5speed. It came with the camper and carpet package (even more weight). I have never taken it off so I don't know the difference but still I can do 85mph empty or load about 800 lb stuff on the bad without overloading the suspension. I'd say go for it. I love my camper.

 

Would modifying the suspension or exhaust help at all?

 

Help with what?

Suspension could help handle the minimal weight gain if you notice a loss of capacity or desirable height.

Modifying the exhaust would affect the sound if that is what you are after. no real performance gain.

 

The Four wheel Camper base Fleet model is 925 pounds.

My 3.4L is slow as shit with my snugtop camper shell, sleeping platform, fridge, aux fuel tank, drawer and all the crap that's in it, sliders, 3/16" skid plates, ARB bumper. I also have OME Dakars with the AAL...they sag when I have the fridge full of beer and all my camping stuff in there. All that stuff is about 700 pounds. I also have 33" mud terrain tires that slow it down.



It'll carry it but it's going to slow it down a bunch. It'll need some mods for the suspension for sure. If you're not off roading it look into airbags or helper springs. Personally I don't like to mod my engine for performance. I leave it as stock as I can. Well...I'll mod it to make it more reliable but never just for performance. Especially if performance eats into reliability.

 

Welcome to TW -, Regular Camper shell. No problem! Just drive it!

 

I have an ARE shell on it now, it probably weighs 400 lbs I'm guessing. The Camper I want to get is the 4 Wheel Camper base shell, which weights about 850lbs..

 

Can you find 450 more pounds of something to toss in the back and drive it for a bit? See how it does and go from ehre.

 

FYI- from A.R.E. website- Camper Shells LESS than 200 Lbs.

 

Make that 600 pounds of stuff to put in the back.

 

FYI 1st Generation long bed camper shells (as verses short dbl cab shells) are different for standard cab verses extended cab.
While the bed size is identical the ext. cab has more curvature than the std cab.
This causes the ext. cab shell to have to extend out over the tailgate an inch or so.
Keep this in mind should you be choosing one for your truck, whichever model you have.