Dewey’s ‘18 DCLB Weekend Camper Build

Hey everyone,

Glad to be here.

I own a 2018 TRD Sport DCLB that I purchased new and have since put just over 30k miles on.

I live in Colorado with my lovely wife and two dogs. We love to spend time in our home mountains doing all sorts of activities.

I'm also an avid motorcycle rider and currently explore on a Honda Africa Twin.

My Truck
My Tacoma is currently all stock, with the exception of a tonneau cover, tinted windows, Tyger armor, and Clazzio leather seat covers

Our goal is to evolve the truck into a functional overlander for our weekend explorations.

My plans for the immediate future are:
- Toytec Boss 2.0 Aluma Lift
- Nitto Ridge Grapplers
- (Maybe) Icon Alloys "Thrust" wheel - Still undecided here.
- TRD Pro grill

Potential thoughts for down the road:
- Camper shell / platform bed build
- Shell mounted rack of some kind to support an awning, maybe RTT, and other gear
- Add better lighting for woods and snow-storm travel
- who knows what else!


Anyway - I've been lurking around here for a bit, learning a ton from all of you guys, so I figured I would finally join the community to document my simple build and contribute where I am able.

Here's my rig as it currently sits:

 

Welcome to TW!

 

Welcome to the forum Dewey

Love the long bed

 

Welcome to TacomaWorld

 

Hi Dewey - we’re also from CO and new to Toyota, Tacoma’s and this forum

 

Well a mutual welcome to you as well. I hope that you're enjoying your truck so far. Ours, even stock, has been an awesome explorer.

 

Welcome from Nevada!

 

Welcome to TW!

 

Welcome to TW

 

Got some goodies in the garage this week:



I’ll be doing the CMC next week before installing the lift and wheels.
I also bought a new grill, but feeling too lazy to take it out of the box and snap a picture

I live in Colorado so I got to pick up my stuff directly at Toytec and see their digs.. pretty cool operation down there in Denver.

Anyway, I will update here once it’s all on. I’m looking ahead to how to build out the bed… might start with some bed reinforcement as a simple first step?

 

Here’s the result of a Saturday in the garage:


Lift details:
Toytec Boss 2.0 Aluma series full lift
TC UCA’s
Deaver rear MD leaf packs
Carrier bearing drop brackets

Wheels/Tires:
Icon Six Speed - Satin black
Nitto Ridge Grappler - 285/70/17

I did the CMC as well, but I think I still need to knock down the punch welds - I’m rubbing a bit on the cab side. I’ll wait until after my alignment early this week to start planning what cutting/shaping needs to happen.

Also installed the TRD pro grill. I purchased amber LED inserts as well, but haven’t installed those yet.

Next up is either going to be the needle bearing replacement (didn’t have the new bushing while doing this install), or I’ll leave that for the time being and start planning how we want to build the bed of the truck for weekend camping. Thinking extended height topper with a platform and cool drawer system. But maybe not since I still take the dirt bike up to the trails a few times a month. Still playing with ideas

 

Is there a mod that can move this thread to the builds section? I'm realizing that it no longer fits as a "new member" thread..

 

Welcome!

 

Got the alignment done and then trimmed up the fender liner, knocked down the pinch weld, and sprayed with undercoating. I used gorilla tape to seal up the seam between the remaining liner and the flattened weld. Seems to have eliminated the rubbing altogether so far.