New to off-roading/overlanding - looking for advice

I'm quite new to both off-road driving and truck ownership, but since I bought my Tacoma (new, 2017 TRD Sport), I've found myself doing more and more overland/camping/adventure trips with it. I bought the sport model as I wanted the long bed for storage, but now finding myself wanting to make it more off-road capable.

Nothing crazy, as it's still my daily driver, and I'm not going to be racing the Dakar, but looking for tips or suggestions on what would be beneficial, practical mods for things like suspension, navigation, self-rescue, etc. Only difference from stock at the moment is the KO2 tires, HID headlights, and 32" light bar behind the grill. I think likely the suspension would be the first area to look at upgrading.

I live in the mountains of British Columbia, so I get a lot of off-road use in both summer and winter.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated!

 

Lets meet in the Rockies for a coffee (I'm from AB)
I'm new to overloading in a tacoma too, used to drive a land rover.
Just decide what's practical for you, and what suits your style
The truck has been capable enough the way you've got it no?
Are you planning on doing some intense terrain? Or going way off grid?

 

My personal opinion is sliders should be your first mod.

 

A small lift and better shocks helps a lot on logging roads.

Add-a-leaf in the rear, stock coils up front, and Billstein 5100s all around is a great upgrade, and reasonably inexpensive. I found this made a world of difference on potholed gravel roads. I gained 1.5” lift all around.

 

1. Drop the cliche term overlanding, its the in thing to do now, most of us just call it camping and are not all hyped up over the fade, which use to be ADV bikes for the older ucke
2. get decent AT tyres to start
3. Get sliders, recommend Cruisin offroad out of Chilliwack
4. Recovery gear, probably needs to be done at step 2
5. Some protection and not the rubber kind, although depending on whom you go camping with it may be necessary
4. LAst get lights.


There are a lot of other thing,s but that should start ya off.

 

Brother is making sense.

 

2nd for Cruisin Off-road, sliders are great.

 

Thanks I try.

 

Appreciate all the feedback so far, some great tips.

Just for some extra clarity, @aaen, I mentioned in my post that I do have BF Goodrich KO2 tires - are those not good AT tires? Is there something else you'd recommend? Didn't mean to offend by saying 'overlanding'; again, I'm new to this and wanted to make sure folks didn't think I was just looking to car camp. Generally, I'd just say I want to drive into nowhere, camp, and drink beer by the fire.

I hadn't considered sliders, that's a great suggestion.

 

Haha yes. Overland , expo, and any mentioning of drones makes me cringe. I have to remind myself to give people second chances haha

 

KO2’s are good, great on sharp rocks, but somewhat slippery on snow covered ice though.

Before getting sliders, I’d put at least one armor skid plate under the engine. The pie tins Toyota added are for aerodynamics mostly and crush very easily. I offroaded in the desert a lot with my 1st gen OR and never needed sliders, but a good skid plate will save your butt.

Now that Ive had it a year, I have added full skid plates, including the differential, and more recently, some sliders.

 

Sorry didn’t see the BFG ko2’s, your overlanding term put me into a fit of rage. Kidding, call it what ya want, overlanding is just a fade term made popular by the old rich guys so they had a club to belong to. They did the same thing with Harley’s, then dual sports (called it ADV bikes), now they have shifted onto offroading/camping and call it overlanding and do up there rigs with everything and they rarely go off a FSR road. Sorry rant over.

BFG ko2’s are a great tyre, they will serve you well in the Rockies. Duratracs are as well, you get fanboys/girls of both that say one way or the other this brand sucks. I prefer KO2’s as i have ever had a flat with them, and they have always gotten me through everything I threw at them. Duratracs we use for work and they are a good tyre as well. Both have pros/cons. I am on my 4 or 5h set of Ko2’s in the last 4 years. Think my next set will be the KM3’s but i am not sure if I want to go back to a mud tyre after the cooper STTpro’s, horrible road manners, but they Hooked up well in the dirt/mud, just not in the snow/ice.

Where are you in BC? I was just in Kami, at Baja North getting my shocks switched out to Kings from BP-51’s so much nicer of a driver.

 

I use the crap out of my duratracs. They're tough to balance, but kill it on wet surfaces. Especially the C load at 18-20psi.

Here's a good read through . Don't forget there's already been a lot of leg work done on most questions you may have OP. Peek around the site and you might be able to find some real solid resources already compiled on common questions.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/off-road-tips-and-gear-list.15254/

 

Hmm, I don;t find them that bad on snow/ice and I spend 7 months of the year on them, I’ve yet to find an AT tyre that performs better, to me they are all pretty much comparable in the snow/ice. What i find it that most people typically run them at too high of a pressure in the winter time, resulting in a small contact patch, they also still drive the same way they do in the summer time and give it gas instead of throttle modulation.

 

Tailor your build to what you need.

KO2s are good multi-purpose tires. Sliders are great if you are truly off road to where body damage is a possibility, they are unnecessary for forest service road type camping. Aux lights really are not needed unless you are wheeling after dark, most people should have their camp sites established by then. A small lift can be benificial if you find yourself crawling over obstacles you are unsure your truck will clear. If you are doing that, upgraded skids should likely be on your list too. Traction aids are always an excellent idea, the Detroit TrueTrac is a personal favorite as best LSD on the market by far making both your rear tires always turn forward vs just one with an open diff, but a selectable locker can also be an excellent as a bail out option to get you unstuck by locking the rear wheels together to turn at the same rate to better force traction to the wheel with the most traction. Roof top tents are a fun luxury but completely unneeded. Unless bears. F-bears. It all depends on how you use your truck and what is best for you.

 

All good - will retire the term

I've really liked the KO2s so far, but have been considering studded winters (like Haka9s) for Dec-Feb. I'm in Revelstoke, so lots of highway and off-road driving to be had.

I don't know very much about truck suspension, so I just figured that the stock equipment on the TRD Sport could be improved on for FSR driving and (don't use the word) driving through the bush... see photo below for type of use reference:

 

Yup so many ways one can set up their trucks. I have been through them all, sadly. Each time I think I am done then I find something else and go that route. Sigh.

 

Well if your looking upgrade your suspension, I have a set of BP-51’s going up for sale here in a few weeks time whenI get back from my trip down south. The fronts need to be replaced which will be done through warranty as they are leaking oil, after that I will have 4 brand spanking new BP-51s (front and rear) and two sets of used Rear shocks for sale. I’d let them go as a package for a good price as well to help someone start off on this addiction of modding, hehe.

 

Same here - used KO’s and KO2’s on every Toyota I’ve owned, and have them currently on my 2017 OR. I lived in the Sierra Nevada where we recieved 8-10 feet of snow every winter, and more recently worked on a mountain road project over 3 winters where I would drive the unplowed highway behind the locked gates to get to my job site after it froze up. All in all, KO2’s are great and I even have a newer set on my 3rd gen for offroading in the desert, its just that I found them to have less traction on snow covered ice than tires like Duratrak’s.

 

Yeah duratracs do hook up pretty good. Never been a fan of the durability though or noise from em.