Educate me please!!!

[BigDave]

I am joining this thread to learn all I can about Tacomas. The plan is to purchase a used SR5 and build it into an overland rig for my son. Due to the altitude, I am leaning toward a supercharger. His school is above 7,200ft and he hunts above 9,000ft. I am leaning toward gearing 5.29 for 35s. -20 and lower are common temperatures in Gunnison. So I have concerns about non-OEM gear holding up in the extreme cold and high altitude. I do not want to run wheel spacers but would like to get as much articulation as possible out of stock width front and rear axle. Frankly, I need expert advice and opinions. I really need some guidance on what I need to run 35's in terms of suspension and I would hope with mid-level articulation.

 

[NLV Taco]

I know a chop mount chop and UCA’s will be need to fit 35”. Check out Last Line of Defense on YouTube. Good info on his Tacoma, he’s in your neck of the woods.

 

[Biohazard]

33's will make his rig quite capable, and if overlanding (rather than off road crawling) is your goal, will be easier to service (tires more readily available), and you'll need less radical mods. Almost any company's 2-3 inch lift will get you to 33's (icon, OME, accutune, etc.). Will leave more cash for accessories (bed rack, stiffeners, rooftop tent over the bed, winch/bumper, etc.).


XOverland has some great builds of Tacomas on their YouTube channel, and their website lists the details of the builds, from suspension right down to electrical routing and recovery and cooking gear. I'd digest their channel in its entirety before dumping a bunch of money on your project.

 

[Biohazard]

Oh yeah, xoverland also is based out of Montana, and they have lots of experience with high altitudes (including a supercharged manual transmission Tacoma in one of their earlier builds).

 

[New Holland Overland]

For 35's your gonna wanna seriously consider the body mount relocation kits. In terms of gearing I dont think youll have an issue with the cold weather and going aftermarket. When you do go 35's, please consider your bump travel as your tires will definitely hit the bodywork (you will need to trim your fender).

 

[mgmyota]

Look into archive garage for all your rear suspension goodies. Shock relocation mounts, shackle hangars etc. Their products will help with getting all the travel you can out of the rear. For the front there’s a bunch of different upper control arm options. Spc allows for a lot of adjustments. If you want to spend more though there’s camburg billet series arms and icon has arms just like camburg as well that offer a lot of adjustment. Running 35’s will require a lot of modifications to the front end mainly. A lot of trimming and making room for those tires at full articulation. 33’s or 34’s might be a better more practice option if cutting up the front end isn’t something you really want to do. Unless you just like the look of 35’s then I don’t blame you lol. With the extreme cold I would suggest upgrading to an AGM battery. I personally just recently upgraded to an odyssey extreme group 34r myself. The stock batteries aren’t great and mine was starting to leak less than 2 years after buying it new. The agm will do much better in the cold though and will handle electrical mods and accessories much better. A supercharger would definitely be cool. I would look into some less expensive mods first like 5.29 gears, and ovtune/vftuner. That tuning alone has helped a lot of people with the drivability of their trucks after upgrading to larger tires and adding weight. Hope this helps a bit. There’s more that can be done as well but this is a good start I would say