Ram to Taco

Last week I picked up a new 2022 Tacoma TRD Off Road Double Cab Long Bed. This truck replaces a 2013 Ram 1500 4x4 Big Horn Crew Cab Short Bed. The old truck and the new one are second vehicles for me, used primarily for home improvement, utility and recreational activities.

I live in Napa, CA, but most of my recreational activities take place in high elevation, low population portions of the Desert Southwest (generally the Four Corners Region). I'd characterize my use of the old truck and planned use of this new one as "moderate overlanding", meaning following a 7 to 16 hour interstate drive, a week or so of approximately a hundred miles of unmaintained dirt roads and well-traveled two-tracks.

What draws me to these kinds of places is my primary hobby, archaeo-astronomy. I founded an astronomy club in the Sonoma-Napa area about 15 years ago and over the years our astronomy travel has morphed into trips to places that contain Native American (most often Ancestral Pueblo) masonry structures and ruins, and evaluation of the site using astronomy and computer equipment to determine whether there are any obvious/common astronomical alignments evident in the placement or construction.

Things we look for based on modeling the sky seasonally for the site as of its construction and occupation period, include cardinal alignment to the compass points, feature alignment with astronomical events important to subsistence agrarians like the sunrise and sunset positions relative to the structure on the solstices and equinoxes, and also the position of moonrise and set throughout the 13-year lunar cycle.

The Ram was adequate for these purposes, but was heavily damaged while parked by a drunk driver last St. Patrick's Day. When I decided to replace it, I looked for alternatives that are a bit narrower (I'd like to reduce scrapes and desert pinstriping) with a longer 6'+ bed for those times I decide to camp in the bed rather than in a tent. While the Tacoma addresses these items, there are compromises. The main disadvantage is that the Tacoma has a lot less interior room in the cab for either cargo or passengers. I tend to take a lot of stuff (telescopes, batteries, solar arrays, camping gear, multiple coolers, lots of water, an extra full sized spare, etc.) due to the remoteness and lack of services and water at the places the club visits.

I plan on getting rid of the Wrangler Territory ATs as they are awfully light and thin, but have a hunch that the E rated B.F. Goodrich KO2s will be excessively heavy and impact fuel economy, meaning "range per tank" in this context. Options in the OE size are surprisingly limited. The only other LT option is a D-rated Hankook Dynapro AT Extreme, and I have no experience with Hankook tires. I'm tempted to stick with P-metric AT options, but if so, I'd want something with more rubber, so am considering the Falken Wild Peak AT which comes in at 42# per tire (vs 37# for the stock Territory ATs, but about 10# less than the KO2s).

I generally flat every other trip, and have only once had two flats on any single trip, for context. And I don't like getting beat up on 13+ hour straight shot drives if there's a reasonable alternative. Let me know what you think about tires for my intended use. I would like to stick with the OE size for now.

The second great debate is whether to add a shell (Snugtop Cab-hi) or a soft top (Soft Topper) for gear protection (from the elements, not from miscreants) and truck bed camping. I have a Leer on the Ram and like it, but it is heavy, does compress the rear springs a bit, and reduces the fuel economy (range per tank) significantly (figure -50 miles per tank). The Soft Topper weighs just 37# and is easy to remove and store, not to mention much less expensive. My concerns with a soft shell center on durability/longevity, weather-proofness, and suitability for sustained 75mph interstate road trips. Your thoughts on camper shell vs. Soft Topper are appreciated.

More to come.

- Jim

 

Very cool introduction! Welcome and thanks for sharing all this. Good luck making your truck the adventure rig you need.

 

Welcome to TW!

 

Welcome to TacomaWorld
Cap

 

Welcome and great intro + hobby. I am almost certain you can increase tire size to 265-75-16 without requiring any modifications. This should provide more "tough" tire options without having to resort to a heavy load "E" tire.

 

Thanks Garret and everyone else for the warm welcome.

As for what I've done to the truck so far, I've added an OEM bed mat as without it, I could feel the composite bed bottom ribs through my self-inflating sleeping pad.

On the truck the Taco replaces, I had an Extang Trifecta tri-fold soft tonneau cover for a few years before biting the bullet and moving over to a Leer camper shell. The Trifecta was a great, sturdy, easy to install and remove, mostly weathertight cover for the bed. Since then, the price of the Extang Trifecta, now version 2.0, has gone up a bit, and given that eventually I know I'll end up with either a hard shell or a folding camper shell (Soft Topper, Bestop, etc.) - leaning hard shell this morning but i'll go back and forth for another few months knowing me - I decided to add an inexpensive soft folding tonneau cover. I went with a Gator SFX.

Gator vs. Extang impressions: The Extang was far more rigid, stiff, and the metal framing was beefier to boot. The vinyl material was also thicker. The material on the Gator is very flexible, the framing bows are thinner, and the vinyl ripples in the wind at highway speed, but makes no sound detectable in the cab. No rain at this point to assess weather-tightness, but this is also a different bed than on the Ram and has a couple more daylight gaps at the cab end that the Ram bed lacks. That said, at just over half the price of the Extang, for an interim solution, the Gator does the job (of keeping stuff in the bed when underway), and offer fair value. Were a folding soft tonneau my end game for bed coverage, I think the Extang would be the route I'd take as it's just mechanically and texturally nicer to interact with on a daily basis.

Thanks for the tip on the tire size bump-up options. I'll check it out.

 

Welcome to tacoma world

 

Welcome!