My first Overland Vehicle

[Bradley beyer]

I decided to do a build thread on here as well. Have one on tacomaworld, but would like to do more on here with rallies and meet ups and those things. My background is jeeps, always had them from wranglers to a grand Cherokee. Always kinda pieced things together as they came. Fast forward to today, my build starts with my first Tacoma a 2018 TRD OR my first brand new truck, so I wanted everything perfect and well thought out. I’m wanting to take this truck and camp in all 50 states, and try to do a trail in each while I’m at it. So far I’m 2 states in with a third next month. Slow process right now with my girlfriend finishing LSU and paying for that so my battles have to be picked and chooses between her education or my truck lol. Now that you know a bit back story let’s get into this build. My first mod was a cosmetic one, I loved the way the TRD PRO fog lights looked, so I picked up a set, and changed the headlight bulbs while I was at it.
Next mod came the switches. After reading reviews and searching I found a company SDHQ that makes a mount for the Switch-Pros panel for the inside of the Tacoma that looks so factory it was the main selling point for the Switch-pro. Now I have a small foundation to build. Makes adding accessories that much easier. No photo. With the Switch-Pro installed and ready for fun. I started with my OBA system. Slee Offroad makes a good underhood mount for the Tacoma, I went that route to keep my bed cubbies opened for bike junk.
I drilled through my front bumper for a quick connect on the front seeing as I’m going full steel down the road. For the time this works and works perfect. Also mounted a rear one on my hitch, when I get my rear bumper I’ll figure out a new location, but for the boat trailer or camping trailer this quick connect works amazingly as well.

 

[Bradley beyer]

The process is a long slow run, but it’s not how fast you make it but the process of just making it that is the key to success. The Tacoma is no different, now that I have some foundation to grow on it’s time for some basic interior protection. I went with weathertech floor mats and coverkings ballistic swat covers. The weathertech, well you already know how amazing they are, and the coverkings set, you might not know them. This is my second set and I’m completely happy yet again. Tad pricy and small wait, but worth every penny and minute.
With protection comes more protection and a fire extinguisher is probably one of the most important. A company called Atomic Monkey makes a sweet headrest mount, it’s simple and cheap and well well well built.

 

[Ryan Matthes]

nice build - keep the pics coming!

 

[Bradley beyer]

Now that we are getting the ball rolling, we need more tires was my next job. Between Chris school, saving for a house and just enjoying the feel of a new trucks ride I opted not for a lift just yet. At this point my truck is around 3 months old and 4K miles. So I’m enjoying this virgin truck. After some reading I found that a 265/75-16 will fit on a stock Tacoma, no lift no spacer. And that same size fits the spare area no cutting or mods. So I went with a wrangler duratrac, because they are amazing on road, both dry/wet conditions and do great offroad.

 

[Bradley beyer]

My next mod was something I seen on Tacoma world. It’s a water pump mounted in the truck, I just changed the location and mounting area to keep my cubby empty and clear. We do a yearly camping trip to Albert Pike Arkansas, it’s primitive do water is a must. Especially to clean the kayaks. After reading that forum I found the pump on amazon and the rest of the parts at the local hardware store. Wired to the Switch-pro and I now have a way to pressurize water. Still haven’t figured out where the onboard water tank can go. But I’ll figure it out here one day.
I also have 1/4” rubber plugs, so if I opt to remove this, I’ll just plug those holes lol. But now it works and love it. I have two of those 7 gallon water tanks and enough pressure to easy clean light mud off my truck or dirt off the kayaks.

 

[Bradley beyer]

My next mod was purely cosmetic, not a fan of chrome so had to get rid of all that. I started with the rear bumper, a company Ecoological makes bumper covers in colors or textures and since I haven’t decided on a rear bumper it works for the time being.
My next step was the front, I picked up a set of headlights from a guy off IG, it’s the faux pro headlights from Unique Racing. They have never been opened so very much new and completely happy with the 250 price compared to the 2k toyota seems to think their headlights are worth lol. While I had the front apart, I went ahead and just used some plastic dip for that chrome grill ring. Works, cheap and if needed I’ll just purchase a SR trim piece one day.
My first exterior lights also went on, picked up a set of Rago Fab ditch brackets and some Rigid Industries D-Series. Since the PRO fogs are Rigid, I decided to go Rigid brand to keep all lights matching brands.

 

[Big Kahuna]

Now that we are getting the ball rolling, we need more tires was my next job. Between Chris school, saving for a house and just enjoying the feel of a new trucks ride I opted not for a lift just yet. At this point my truck is around 3 months old and 4K miles. So I’m enjoying this virgin truck. After some reading I found that a 265/75-16 will fit on a stock Tacoma, no lift no spacer. And that same size fits the spare area no cutting or mods. So I went with a wrangler duratrac, because they are amazing on road, both dry/wet conditions and do great offroad. View attachment 98686

Nice Ranger

 

[Bradley beyer]

Now we are coming up to my truck being 9 months old. At 8k still loving it so far. But interior space sucks, so I found a company OG Fabrications that makes these sweet door panel molle panels. A forum member on tacomaworld, I was happy to support this guy and his great product.
Basically got everything from giggling in my door to a new spot to giggle. Also at this point I have failed to mention my tool box in my bed. It was cheap and good option for my tools that I used here and there. But not what I wanted. So I got smart, I decided to organize it all. If it couldn’t fit in my truck I didn’t need it in my truck lol. I picked up a tool bag from Blueridge Overland and a new 179 piece tool set that fit in it perfectly. Also since I have the ballistic seat covers I decided to use those molle backs at bit more. Really helped, and that allowed my to get rid of the tool box that I had a love hate for.

 

[Bradley beyer]

Now that my mods are caught up, and we are back here at today. I’m 10 months in 11k on the odometer, one trip and 2 trail rides. We made the trip to Gilmer Texas for the Toyota Jamboree. And I really found out what this truck can do stock with decent tires. The good thing about that trip was I decided my next step for my mods. My truck needs sliders lol. So I’m looking and pricing. Since I’m kinda OCD I want matching products, so I’d like my skids and sliders to match my bumpers. And the only bumpers I like are CBI, so I’m leaning towards their sliders and skids. It’s a toss up between them and RCI right now. Little more homework and thinking I’ll have them soon. For now the truck is amazing, handled everything a lot better than I thought. I stuck with the 2 out of 5 star trails, but with constant rain it made for some exciting runs. Met some great people and decided to make that a yearly trip.
Pre Jambo 2019

Few action shots

Then back to all clean, bunch of dents and scrapped up factory skids, they held up and did their job. Only small scrapes to my rear bumper covers. I’d say it was a great trip. Did finally get to use that locker I paid for, just didn’t try out the crawl or MTS system. Maybe next time.

 

[Bradley beyer]

We are now caught up, I guess I could post some future plans.
Let that photo be a teaser of a sweet item I found for very cheap and very much new. So my next plans are some sliders, to get those out the way. I’ll probably end up doing some new skids while at it. Everything is up in the air from here. I’m going to the Southeast Rally in Ozark Arkansas if anyone else is going as well. Would like to do a re-gear here soon to go ahead and get that part knocked out the way. 4.88 should really do this truck well, hate to do a lift and bigger tires with the way it runs right now. That damn transmission and it’s searching makes it very unfun to drive for distances. But I’ll post on here as I build, any and all input please put some. Hope to meet and do some trails with y’all in the future.

 

[JCWages]

Sliders and skid plates make the trail much less stressful. With a 2" - 2.5" lift and some 255/85/16s you'll be set!

Digging the build so far!

 

[Bradley beyer]

Sliders and skid plates make the trail much less stressful. With a 2" - 2.5" lift and some 255/85/16s you'll be set!

Digging the build so far!

OME Medium duty is coming in. Gonna order the JBA control arms before I put it on. All looking at those dynamic bump stops.

 

[Jakes2514]

We are now caught up, I guess I could post some future plans. View attachment 98705
Let that photo be a teaser of a sweet item I found for very cheap and very much new..

Not a Taco expert but that looks suspiciously like a bumper...

Great build so far [emoji1419]

 

[PHANTASTIC81]

nice rig!!

 

[Aaron Lee]

Great looking build! My first truck (nearly 30 years ago) was a Toyota. My wife and I were overlanding in that before we knew what overlanding was. Such great trucks.

 

[JCWages]

OME Medium duty is coming in. Gonna order the JBA control arms before I put it on. All looking at those dynamic bump stops.

Nitrochargers? I think that's what my buddy has on his '06 Taco and they ride sooo much smoother over rough terrain than my Eibach setup. So I just ordered a set of Kings to fix that issue. lol

 

[Bradley beyer]

Great looking build! My first truck (nearly 30 years ago) was a Toyota. My wife and I were overlanding in that before we knew what overlanding was. Such great trucks.

We do a lot of tent camping. Actually do a yearly tent camp in the ozarks, never really called it overlanding. Heck I’m still not buying a vehicle tent. A trailer could be in the future, though.

 

[Aaron Lee]

My wife and I are building a Wrangler LJ for overlanding and I'm doing the OME lift on it as well. They make some great lifts. We're intentionally not going with a RTT due to weight and the fact that we hike long distances (currently section hiking the Oregon portion of the PCT) and are more than comfortable with ground tents. Also, there are no critters in our area to really need to be off the ground.

Thanks,
Aaron

 

[Bradley beyer]

My wife and I are building a Wrangler LJ for overlanding and I'm doing the OME lift on it as well. They make some great lifts. We're intentionally not going with a RTT due to weight and the fact that we hike long distances (currently section hiking the Oregon portion of the PCT) and are more than comfortable with ground tents. Also, there are no critters in our area to really need to be off the ground.

Thanks,
Aaron

OME is the way to go. I’ve had it on a few vehicles now, I didn’t like how on the wrangler, especially the JK that for the price it felt very incomplete compared to other brands.

 

[Billiebob]

OME is the way to go. I’ve had it on a few vehicles now, I didn’t like how on the wrangler, especially the JK that for the price it felt very incomplete compared to other brands.

Best thing about the wranglers is "they do not depreciate" they hold thier value for decades, not just years.