There's this recurring dream I have. Off and on. All my life. As long a I can remember.
It involves that perfect smooth stretch of dirt road. Not one that was graded flat by a metal blade. Altering the surface temporarily. A road that was naturally smooth. Minimal rocks, no washboard. In the dream we roll from rough road all chaos and interruptions onto the smooth road and the hum of the engine, and the wind and the tires and the dust flying up and particles of sand hitting the undercarriage.
If we pick up speed the undulations in the surface will sway the truck and the rattles and squeaks will come back. If we slow the resonance will set in and we'll be jostled and polished by the scratchy seatcovers. Only here, in the magic speed, on this magic road in this magic ship transiting the land can we feel this flow: joy and contentedness with the present peace set against the horizon of its fleeting nature.
It's being in the right place, at the right time, with only what you need to exist there.
Cause there's always a rough patch of road ahead somewhere.
Hi, I'm mike, I'm an adventurer and a dad and today i'm here to tell you don't need a "rig" with a "build thread" and it's own "instagram profile" to drive out to the middle of nowhere, cook some hot dogs, and watch the sunset.
To illustrate this point, I want to show you our 2017 Toyota Tacoma TRD Off-Road and why I think a vehicle like this it a great minimalist vehicle for overlanding, off-road exploring and camping with your family.
Exterior
On the outside, the Toyota Tacoma is a good looking vehicle. The TRD Off-Road adds a few good styling elements like this grill which started it's life with a chrome look and has been updated with Rustoleum truck bed spray, and these black plastic fender flares. This vehicle has the paint matched rear bumper which indicates that it is equipped with the blind spot monitoring sensors. The vinyl TRD Off-Road vinyl decal rounds out the exterior trim level cues.
The topper is a SnugTop GB Sport with the sportsmen package which includes the roof rails and rack as well as a 500# dynamic load rating. While the paint matched shell matches the design of the truck perfectly and looks great, the low profile and limited rear opening isn't ideal. But it came with the truck.
This vehicle is also equipped with a towing package which includes a hitch rated for 6400 pounds and a 6 pin and 4 pin connector.
Interior
The interior of the 3rd gen Tacoma hasn't to my knowledge won any design or functionality awards. It does however look great and function adequately. It has all the things. The head unit is good, not great, but it pairs with a phone via bluetooth or wired connection and a phone is a far better infotainment source anyway. Apple Car Play would be nice, but isn't a deal breaker. It has the capability to change some of the functions of the vehicle as well as track maintenance.
The climate controls control the climate (only inside the truck) so count the bucket for Toyota on that one.
Comfort and Safety
For the last 20 years at least, all vehicles have had power windows and door locks. And for the most part, they have settled the reliability issues of the 1980's when grandpa use to yell at us for cycling the locks and windows constantly on the way home from church. This truck has more nice features than any vehicle I've owned. Heated Seats, sun roof, back up camera, Parking sensors and Blind Spot Monitoring.
I've added the Anytime Backup Camera with front facing camera. Being able to turn the back up camera, when in drive is helpful when hitching up to the trailer, and the front facing camera can somewhat make up for the poor visibility around the hood.
None of these things are particularly necessary for overlanding. Just small things that are sometimes nice to have. Ok most of the time. Ok all the time.
Suspension
The biggest complaints I have with the 3rd Gen Tacoma come with the suspension. While the TRD-Off Road has a slight upgrade in the suspension over the SR and Sport models, it isn't much.
This truck comes with Bilstein 4600 shocks that are pitifully small. While the ride is OK, it suffers on long sections of washboard and rocky bumps which is the bread and butter of overlanding. The front springs are perfectly fine, but the rear leaf springs, while they do have a robust looking overload leaf, are woefully inadequate for any kind of load. Still, many Tacoma owners don't find this to be a problem and you see a lot of leveling kits to make up for the modest stink-big rake of a stock Tacoma. So it clearly suits the majority of Tacoma buyers needs.
With the load of my topper and gear I found we were riding the bump stops quite frequently. I upgraded the stock bump stops to Timbren Active Off-Road Bump stops and added Icon Add-A-Leafs. This mostly solved the problem and while I still ride the bump stops when fully loaded with the trailer, the Timbrens have more travel and a softer overall feel when loaded.
Drive Train
Like steak a french fries, the drive train is the meat and potatoes of any overland build. The difference you get with real 4 Wheel Drive over the all wheel drive you see in many crossovers and SUVs is important, even if it isn't ALWAYS important.
As such, this truck has true 4 wheel drive with a 2 speed transfer case. That means you have a way to send power to all 4 wheels. Yeah, I know that isn't strictly true, but it's kinda true. This vehicle also has some really great traction control features including Auto LSD, Stability control, Crawl Control and Multi terrain select. I admit to not fully understanding how these really work, however the basic traction control works really well. In a situation like a rut where a standard open differential would slip and slide backwards, the Tacoma Traction control powers you right through in 2 wheel drive.
What I do understand quite well is the electronic on-demand electric locking rear differential. This locks the rear axle when in 4-low and makes low traction situations much less challenging. I have a full video on how locking differentials work here.
Power Train
Everyone has an opinion about the powertrain of the 3rd Gen Tacoma. And they're almost all unqualified. The 3.5 v6 on this vehicle has plenty of power and needs no mods.
Sure, it has that power and torque at places in the RPM range that you might not be familiar with coming from your dad's '83 bronco with that big straight 6 and NP435, but really, really, just between the two of us, was that really all that great?
The transmission also has no mods and is another thing that your average forum OG who has more money unvested in woofers and ceramic coatings than camping gear thinks is the worst thing Toyota has ever done.
Come on guys. If you put 1200# of junk on your truck and run 35s on stock gears literally every vehicle is going to suck.
I've definitely had to adjust my expectations with respect to how the engine and transmission work together to respond to torque requests, but in the end, the truck does everything I ask it to do without complaint.
NECESSARY UPGRADES
The most common question you see from people are what are the necessary mods I need to do overlanding in my truck, and my standard answer is: "beer and dirt." But that's not completely true, so here are my recommendations.
Tires
The tires that come stock on these vehicles are clearly designed for the dudes who get leveling kits and only haul around detailing products and wikid rad amplifiers. They are designed for efficiency and comfort. For extended dirt road adventures, you need at least a C load range tire with the equivalent of a 6 ply sidewall, but I run E range tires with a 10 ply equivalent.
These tires are rated to cary well more than the GVWR of the Tacoma, and since most overlanders are doing just that, it's a good idea to have the right tire, even if you are using the wrong truck. The E rated tires will also be a lot more resistant to punctures than the stock tires, which should be the main concern anyway.
For now, I'm running BF Goodrich, All-Terrain KO2s in the stock size. I have had one puncture on these, but that's sometimes unavoidable. BFG, Nitto, Cooper, Falken, General, Goodyear, and Toyo all have great all-terrain tires suitable for overland travel.
Suspension
If you're loading your Tacoma for camping and overlanding you might find that it's sagging a lot. If so, an Add-A-Leaf system like this from Icon will help level you out and ride better off road.
I also opted to get these Active Off Road Bump Stops from Timbren. They help with harsh bottom outs over the stick bump stops. I have a whole video on those that you can check out for more info.
The Timbren kit came with a u-bolt flip bracket. This points the u-bolts up instead of down for improved rock clearance. This is not strictly necessary, and I probably wouldn't just fo this one mod alone, but if you're replacing the springs you might as well.
Performance
As I said, this power train is really quite good as it is and doesn't need any power mods, but if you are going to tow, you absolutely need to get a trailer brake controller. The extra braking will help in every situation.
While I said the stock transmission is good if you have one of the early years of the 3rd gen Tacoma you need to make sure you have the most recent update to the transmission programming. It takes care of a lot of the problems these early models had.
And while you're in there with the transmission, you might as well add a decent shifter handle. The GettaGrip shift handle adaptor lets you run any standard bike grip as your transmission grip. But honestly, I'm not sure why anyone would use anything other than an Oury.
Skid Plates
The first thing I did when I got this truck was add a good ceramic coating and install a subwoofer. Kidding.
The morning after I got this I took it on a super rough road with Harry so shoot this video for Driving line. Along the way I smashed the crap out of the skid plate, which is made out of metal in name only.
With the proceeds of that shoot I ordered a full Engine, transmission and Transfer case skid set from RCI. I opted for Aluminum to save weight , and bare metal to save money. I would definitely recommend something like this, though with a little care spotting, you can obviously get by.
Organization
While not a mod per se, good organization is key for camping and overlanding. Honestly, if you work out of a vehicle that you also camp out of that you also run soccer mom out of, this kind of organization is key.
I built this drawer system and you can check out the full run down in this video.
The Bungie storage up top is super handy as is this Gear Spear I got from Action Quest. That lets me snag items from the back of the bed without crawling in.
Tools and Preparedness
Just because you haven't modded your rig with a lift, big tires and a bunch of other stuff it was never designed to handle, doesn't mean you aren't going to break stuff. I cary a basic set of tools here at the back of this drawer and when we're going big "O" Overlanding. I'll also throw in a recovery strap,, shackle and spare receiver pin.
For long stretches of dirt road, it's a good idea to lower the pressure in the tires to increase comfort and lower the chance of a puncture. So I cary this deflater kit from Boulder Tools and a PowerTank for inflating. A power tank is quiet, fast and doesn't use electricity. It lasts a good number of fills, and can easily survive a season of use before needing a 25 dollar refill.
I also cary a gallon of water in this steel container as well as a first aid kit that I haven't checked or restocked in 6 years. Should probably do that one of these days.
Cons
Since Toyota failed to hire me, a guy with a creative writing degree, as an engineering consultant on this project, they made a few mistakes, and I'll go over them now.
First, the hood is huge. It's a beautiful, full figured, ample and shapely and I really like it, but let's be honest, it's impractical and hard to see around.
Second, the side mirrors are small and inadequate. Coupled with the beautiful and vision obstruction design of the 4 door cab, it's impossible to see anything out of the rear view mirror, especially with the topper on.
The forward facing camera, and backup camera mitigate these issues to a certain extent, and the anytime backup camera helps more as well. With these visibility issues, the parking assist and blind spot monitoring aren't just nice things, they're kind of necessary.
Lastly, the vehicle is geared for the fuel efficient city and highway driving that 90% of all Tacoma drivers use it for, and it lacks the punch for really hard off-roading. But it's not really hat bad, and the crawl control is designed to mitigate that anyway.
Conclusion
So, to get right to the point, you don't need a bunch of mods and fixtures on your 4x4 or SUV to go out and explore. All the major car manufacturers have vehicles similar to this Tacoma that will get you 99% of the wild places that 99% of the people never go.
And all the major car manufacturers make something like this turn-key overlander. There's the Chevy Colorado zr1 or Bison, the Ram Rebel, Nisan Frontier Pro 4x or the Ford Ranger FX4.
With a vehicle like the Toyota Tacoma TRD Off-Road You really don't need new suspension, high tech wheels or tirws. And a lot of heavy recovery gear. You dont need a build thread on then forums. It can go to the end of the trail as it is.
-M