Mod suggestions

Recently traded my 2014 Texas edition SR5 for this 2020 SR. Looking for some budget friendly ideas to get it looking less like a work-truck and more like an overlander/off-road truck. It'll mostly be used for long weekend road trips and camping at state parks/public campgrounds for now. The wife & I plan to take a trip from FL to CO next spring so any advice on making that trip as safe and comfortable as possible as well as any recommendations on shorter trips to prepare would be appreciated (we're in NW FL btw). TIA

 

Welcome! Ditching the front lower air dam is an easy mod that will do wonders for the look of the truck. The hit to your mileage is minimal. Beyond that the sky is the limit. An All-Terrain tire will help with the looks and give your better performance off-road.

 

Some sort of functional auxiliary lighting would probably be helpful for practical purposes and check the box of a look you are going for... Ditch lights, fog, light bar, whatever works for your wallet and needs.

 

Go on Amazon and buy German-sourced (not China-sourced) Phillips H9 bulbs to replace low-beam H11s (remove the green insert ... easy). My H9s come from NAPA (BP 1265 H9-N). Get a TRD Pro skid plate or RCI (20% off currently) for engine protection. @christian06 or SaBellCo sell a lock to keep people from stealing your tailgate.

Or splurge while they are 25% off for BF and get OEM LED headlights ... $1100. Better than most any other aftermarket brand. PuppyPunter makes adapter harnesses for SR to use OEM LED headlights.

Beyond that, wait until you need something before you buy or you will go broke rapidly and potentially regret some of the upgrades.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzoNYgzBbGk

 

Nice truck. My advice is dont go mod crazy. I went too crazy with mine. And if that is a 2.7 engine, keep extra added mod weight down to a minimum. It will hurt the performance quickly on the 2.7; mods such as added skidplates, sliders, big tires, etc are all extra weight.

 

I seem to be repeating this on a few threads; Use your truck and allow the mods to be driven according to what you find is needed... do not mod by looking at a catalog.

This will focus your mods to your uses. (- purposeful trucks look good). This will ensure you do not waste money on 'dumb things' or things you may regret later. And it will also spread out the expenditures over time.

 

My 2 cents- Write down a list of things you think you want or you think will look good on your truck. Then take a camping trip once there look at your list and circle the things that would actually be beneficial. This will save you a lot of money in the long run.

 

Welcome to TW. Lots of things to choose from, check out these 3 threads, mod ideas, mods you don’t regret and mods you do regret-

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/third-gen-mod-ideas.847097/

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/upgrades-you-dont-regret.842592/

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/upgrades-you-regret.842523/

 

One of the most useful mods that I made to my truck, right off the bat, was the Anytime Backup Camera. (Not a front-facing camera, but the wiring and the switch to turn on the rear camera when the truck was not in reverse.)

 

Some cool mod ideas in this thread so far.

I, too have an access cab 2.7 3rd gen, some the mods I've done so far are:
-OEM bed mat! (seriously, get one)
-OEM cargo net
-Husky X-act contour floor liners (blows Weathertech out of the water)
-Bakflip Hard tonneau cover
-ARB front recovery point
-TRD engine skid plate
-Eaton E-locker rear diff
-Total Chaos cam tabs reinforcements
-ARB diff breather relocation kit for front & rear diffs
-Toyo Open Country ATIII tires
-Bilstein 5100s front & back (no lift!)
-ECGS needle bearing delete since stock needle bearing went bad after 75k miles
-Chrome delete bumper caps + black badges
-Chinesium TRD faux grille
-RokBlokz mud flaps (the super flexible kind)
-Trailer hitch receiver + external auto trans fluid cooler + trailer light wiring harness
-Various top super secret anti-theft measures

I'll echo what others have said about keeping the added weight down with the 2.7L powered Tacos

 

I second this, just make a list and slowly chip away at it!

 

When the time comes some Wildpeaks mounted on some better looking wheels will do wonders.

Other than that the truck looks good - go low and slow on the mods over a period of time.
What you want to do now might not matter in 6 months.

I was hell bent on replacing the chrome badges with black-outs on my Super White but never got around to it.
The more I thought about it, or rather the less I thought about it the less important it became to me.

I ended up with practical stuff like bed lights, weather tech floor mats, a good looking functional step, a bed-step and bed mat.

I think the appeal of these trucks is the ability to make it your own.

ps: the A/Cab rules

 

Definitely watch your weight, especially with the 4 cylinder and wanting to take long trips!
As most suggested, go for function over fashion.

 

I'd recommend taller more aggressive tires, but not if your doing a lot of Highway driving. You'd take a pretty big hit on mpg.

If your into music, the plug & play Tweeter upgrade is night and day with the soundstage. Then throw in a 10" underseat powered Sub and you got a nice sounding system for pretty cheap.

Black Friday & Cyber Monday deals are your friend....