My girlfriend and I are planning to live out of it for a while, 6 months at least, maybe a couple of years, starting in about 3 months.
I'm looking at mostly highway miles, initial use at least will be traveling the U.S. The last time I did this (for ~9 months) I found that I liked to boondock *way* back. I frequently found myself doing things a cross-over can't do, and doing it solo. I also stealth-ed every so often when I went to visit civilization so not looking like I'm on an expedition is a plus.
Given all that I'm targeting good gas mileage (light), good highway handling, but fairly capable and robust offroad... That's why I ended up with a Tacoma. I've capped my budget at whatever I can sell my lightly built 2015 JK for.
DSC01070 by smalladventures photos, on Flickr
(Sorry for the driveway photo... it's my DD, but I've only done a couple trips since I got it, and forgot my camera on those)
Base truck: 2000, Extended cab, Manual, V6, SR5, TRD. I got it with 75K miles, frame is flawless, everything else is very solid. Engine purrs like a kitten, though takes a few cranks to spin up... getting better though as I drive it.
Mods so far:
- Undercoated the body with fluidfilm as soon as I got it home including the insides of the rails. I used 5.5 cans of fluid-film total.
- I've swapped all the fluids out: oil, brake, clutch, and coolant (someone used green stuff, had to flush that out). New wipers.
- Mounted a fire extinguisher behind the driver's seat (amusingly, I was able to reuse holes from the last owner
)
- Disabled the door ding
- Removed the dealer-installed security system... I hate the autolocking doors
- Removed the door lights so I don't kill my battery
- Got a Brand new Leer 122 cap with windoors and roof-rack installed
- Painted and mounted a Trailgear rear tube bumper, ziptied the license plate and license-plate light in place
- Installed a cheapo trailer wiring harness
- Home-built Platform sitting on the edges of the bed (couple 2x4's and some 1/4" ply) ... similar tohttp://www.blog.smalladventures.net/2013/01/truck-platform-take-3.html.
- Reflectix lined the cap
Plans:
- Highlift mount to the side of the bed, over the wheel-well
- All-pro 3" lift bilstein 5100 suspension front and rear. This'll be ~1.5-2" lift at full weight... the goal here is to avoid having to armor by having a bit of extra clearance.
- Tailgate seal
- Debadge the whole truck (I've gotten some, but there's more to do)
Then it depends on budget. Possibilities:
- I loved having a winch on my Jeep, so I'm considering trail-gear bumpers all around and a superwinch 9600 lb with syinthetic line. Not the best for stealthing of course. On the other hand, I can always tie to the axle and use a highlift as a winch... slow and more dangerous, but it works.... usually.
- I've also been toying with doing something on the roof. We're going to be a bit short on space once we throw in 2 guitars, backpacking, snowshoeshoing, archery, and rockclimbing gear, plus food etc. for 2 weeks of dispersed camping. Roof-boxes are awesome, but I'm afraid I'll take it out on an overhanging branch. I've been looking in to roof baskets, particularly to go over the cab, but it's all pretty daunting.
- I want a rain awning of some sort. Right now I'm thinking we dirtbag it and use a tarp and some hacked up poles we tie to the roof-rack... but I'm still poking around. I was also toying with making something myself
The truck came with 31/10.5-15R Cooper ATR tires. It looks like 33/10.5-15R tires would be ideal for me (I ran 265/75 on my old 4-banger, I don't think I'd mind a little higher gears), a bit smaller than 255/85/R16 and narrow than 33/12.5-R15 or 285/75R16, and subsequently seem to have fewer problems... Sadly nothing skinnier than 10.5 seems to be out there anymore for 15" rims. I adore the duratraks on my jeep, but they aren't available in that size. So, my thought is to wear out the cooper's I've got, and someday I'd move to a set of 33/10.5R15 BFG KO2s.
I'm looking at mostly highway miles, initial use at least will be traveling the U.S. The last time I did this (for ~9 months) I found that I liked to boondock *way* back. I frequently found myself doing things a cross-over can't do, and doing it solo. I also stealth-ed every so often when I went to visit civilization so not looking like I'm on an expedition is a plus.
Given all that I'm targeting good gas mileage (light), good highway handling, but fairly capable and robust offroad... That's why I ended up with a Tacoma. I've capped my budget at whatever I can sell my lightly built 2015 JK for.
![](https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1450/24984920685_6e5dcbdf07_z.jpg)
(Sorry for the driveway photo... it's my DD, but I've only done a couple trips since I got it, and forgot my camera on those)
Base truck: 2000, Extended cab, Manual, V6, SR5, TRD. I got it with 75K miles, frame is flawless, everything else is very solid. Engine purrs like a kitten, though takes a few cranks to spin up... getting better though as I drive it.
Mods so far:
- Undercoated the body with fluidfilm as soon as I got it home including the insides of the rails. I used 5.5 cans of fluid-film total.
- I've swapped all the fluids out: oil, brake, clutch, and coolant (someone used green stuff, had to flush that out). New wipers.
- Mounted a fire extinguisher behind the driver's seat (amusingly, I was able to reuse holes from the last owner
- Disabled the door ding
- Removed the dealer-installed security system... I hate the autolocking doors
- Removed the door lights so I don't kill my battery
- Got a Brand new Leer 122 cap with windoors and roof-rack installed
- Painted and mounted a Trailgear rear tube bumper, ziptied the license plate and license-plate light in place
- Installed a cheapo trailer wiring harness
- Home-built Platform sitting on the edges of the bed (couple 2x4's and some 1/4" ply) ... similar tohttp://www.blog.smalladventures.net/2013/01/truck-platform-take-3.html.
- Reflectix lined the cap
Plans:
- Highlift mount to the side of the bed, over the wheel-well
- All-pro 3" lift bilstein 5100 suspension front and rear. This'll be ~1.5-2" lift at full weight... the goal here is to avoid having to armor by having a bit of extra clearance.
- Tailgate seal
- Debadge the whole truck (I've gotten some, but there's more to do)
Then it depends on budget. Possibilities:
- I loved having a winch on my Jeep, so I'm considering trail-gear bumpers all around and a superwinch 9600 lb with syinthetic line. Not the best for stealthing of course. On the other hand, I can always tie to the axle and use a highlift as a winch... slow and more dangerous, but it works.... usually.
- I've also been toying with doing something on the roof. We're going to be a bit short on space once we throw in 2 guitars, backpacking, snowshoeshoing, archery, and rockclimbing gear, plus food etc. for 2 weeks of dispersed camping. Roof-boxes are awesome, but I'm afraid I'll take it out on an overhanging branch. I've been looking in to roof baskets, particularly to go over the cab, but it's all pretty daunting.
- I want a rain awning of some sort. Right now I'm thinking we dirtbag it and use a tarp and some hacked up poles we tie to the roof-rack... but I'm still poking around. I was also toying with making something myself
The truck came with 31/10.5-15R Cooper ATR tires. It looks like 33/10.5-15R tires would be ideal for me (I ran 265/75 on my old 4-banger, I don't think I'd mind a little higher gears), a bit smaller than 255/85/R16 and narrow than 33/12.5-R15 or 285/75R16, and subsequently seem to have fewer problems... Sadly nothing skinnier than 10.5 seems to be out there anymore for 15" rims. I adore the duratraks on my jeep, but they aren't available in that size. So, my thought is to wear out the cooper's I've got, and someday I'd move to a set of 33/10.5R15 BFG KO2s.
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