2020 Tacoma TRD OR Build – “Hetaera”

[Iridium]

This is our first off-road adventure vehicle and the chronicles of its progression.

In December 2019, after we had 10inches of snow dumped on us we decided to get rid of my beloved Subaru Impreza and get something to get me to work nearly all conditions. We eventually decided on a Toyota Tacoma TRD OR.

Here she is in all her stock and pristine (not pinstriped) glory.

It wasn’t too long after that I decided the rims needed something a bit more and decided to plasti-dip them bronze: 1 can brass monkey per tire with 2-3 coats of copper metallizer. (Jan 2019)


As the weather improved I decided it was time to get out and start exploring which is when I joined Overland Bound in March 2020! Finally got out with the Overland Bound community around Denver in May 2020 and made the decision I need to start protecting my rig. But not before getting multiple punctures in the stock tires, time for some KO2s 265/75/r16 (May 2020)



With the help of my wonderful wife we installed my RCI rock sliders, (not once, not twice but 3 times because I found RCI’s instructions quite lacking. (June 2020)


Next we found out that I really need better skids after running Tincup Pass with the Colorado OB community at JuneJam 2020 so I ordered Aluminum Skids Front to back from RCI as well as a steel Differential Skid from RCI. (July 2020)


The skids served me well protecting the rear differential when I slid off a rock on the Cloverdale Mine trail and had to be re-adjusted on trail to keep it from rubbing on the driveshaft. Hard to find a better “workshop” (July 2020)


Unfortunately our overlanding season was unfortunately cut short by the Cameron Peak, Troublesome and other fires that plagued Colorado. Then in January we decided to add the most important mod to the truck: my camping companion when my wife isn’t up for an overland trip. Axel (January 2021)


This brought about the decision that we needed more storage in the bed when transporting our dogs or camping with Axel so I got the green light to purchase a Smart Cap and with the aid of local OB members we got it assembled and on the truck (Feb 2021).


Unfortunately, this also meant I was now nearly fully compressing the suspension and constantly bouncing off the bump-stops, sitting about 2 inches below stock. So it was time to order the suspension upgrade. I placed the order for my new suspension and began the arduous, but mandatory, Covid-invoked wait for it to arrive. Finally, 2.5 months after placing the order the suspension arrived: Deaver U402 stage 2 leaf springs, Archive Garage Stealth HD UBolt FlipKit with bumpstops, SPC adjustable Upper Control Arms, Archive Garage wheel sensor skids, Fox Factory Race Series 2.5 Remote reservoir shocks and coilovers with DSC. With the help of OB members from along the front range and NOCO got everything installed. (May 2021)






In preparation for June Jam 2021 and the upcoming season it was decided I needed a roof rack but I couldn’t bring my self to pay 1k for a roof rack. So I decided to make my own load bars with 15 series 80-20 aluminum extrusion ended up only costing about 200usd. (June 2021)


Now just need to figure out how I want to mount our IceCo VL45 fridge. Here is the current state of the Build (June 2021)

 

[Iridium]

As Dani got more comfortable and excited about camping and overlanding she decided it was time to get a RTT. We ended up deciding on a 23zero walkabout tent. Ended up mounting to my home made rack after doing some calculations to make sure it wouldnt deform or break on me during more challenging obstacles or repeated use.



Since the Truck is my daily, I decided to build a motorized hoist system. That would be capable of lifting the topper off the back of my truck when its needed to do truck things. (video)



Then after the standard COVID waiting period of forever (4.5 months), the new bumper from Bay Area Metal Fab finally arrived.


I decided to forgo powder coating and instead paint the bumper with Steel-it for easier touchups and better weldability.



With the help of a handful of OB Members we cut the oem bumper and fit up the new bumper with new fog lights (lots of cutting and some grinding was involved since the stock plastic bumper didnt offer much protection)



now just waiting on the front roof rack to be finished and we should be finished with prep for the upcoming season

 

[Tjaycock]

Are those factory offroad wheels painted? If so what was your process?

 

[Iridium]

Are those factory offroad wheels painted? If so what was your process?

They are, Ive been using plastidip to decide on rim colors as it's pretty cost effective and let's me see color combos on the truck before I get around to purchasing wheels. I just purchase one of dipyourcar's wheel kits and use their process for painting. Currently I have their anthracite gray on the OEM wheels.

 

[Iridium]

Got a chance to hang out with the Guys from TFL, the result was a vehicle walkaround, unfortunately not in full overland spec but still a good overall view of the rig as it sits now:

 

[High Country Tuning]

Got a chance to hang out with the Guys from TFL, the result was a vehicle walkaround, unfortunately not in full overland spec but still a good overall view of the rig as it sits now:

Nice video! I tend to enjoy TFL's content. How fun that they featured your build!

One of the other guys in my tuning network saw this video and was like, "Luke, you gotta get to know this guy!"

I'm based out of Aspen, and I'm still getting to know the local overland, Toyota, Tacoma, etc. community. I have a 2018 Tacoma OR; mostly stock, but full RCI skids and 255/80/17 tires. Hit me up if you're ever in the area or hear of any fun events. I see that Loveland has the Mountain West Overland Expo and Gunnison has the Overland Rally, but I'm trying to find some smaller clubs too.

Congrats on the feature!

www.HighCountryTuning.com

 

[Iridium]

Decided I needed more easy access to my recovery gear and a handful of other items that should always be on the truck. Ended up getting an 83L roam box to mount to the roof using Sherpa's ingenious mounting brackets.



After discussing with my wife decided we also wanted to be more prepared for more solo travel so finally pulled the trigger on a winch. Waited for a good sale and ended up with a 12k Ironman 4x4 winch. Ended up mounting the Control box just in front of the radiator making use of factory threaded inserts on the radiator support.



And here is the truck in its current state:

 

[Iridium]

Went to Overland Expo Mountain West and picked up some recovery gear and ended up getting the new Loop Guard they just released to minimize potential heavy projectiles during winch recoveries.

I then decided it was time to build a multi -tire inflation system (of course its blue). Worked an absolute treat on our late summer/fall trips.

Ended up picking up a bunch of goodies during Black Friday sales. Replaced all incandescent bulbs inside and outside of the truck with Diode Dynamic LEDs




I got tired of all the random switches hanging out from underneath my steering wheel so I picked up an Auxbeam Switch Panel and wired everything up. (New battery is probably needed). Ended up mounting the switch panel just in front of the map lights.



Replaced my ditch lights with some Diode Dynamic SS3 Pro amber lights. Then fabricobbled some brackets to mount my older SS2 lights as chase lights on the back of the truck.


Finally the tires were pretty worn out at ~5/32 on all 4 corners so it finally time to upgrade my wheels and tires. Ended up picking up a set of RRW RR7-h in Graphite blue and some Mickey Thompson Baja Boss ATs in 285/70/17. The dogs were almost as excited as me!



Here she is on her Maiden Voyage in her current state. Just waiting on a couple more items for diode dynamics and we should be good for the coming season!.