OEM+/mild build. Ramblings of trips past and future.

[BrennMan]

Hi All,

I've been lurking here for a while and figured I would take a moment to start a little pictorial history of my truck.
Pretty basic stuff because I'm not a real "offroader" per say.

Details:
2007 Toyota Tacoma Access Cab Prerunner 6spd manual
265/75/16 Hankook dynapro
Billstein 5100s set at 2.5"
Spidertraxs 1.25" wheel spacers
Weathertechs front
Pop lock tailgate lock
TRD CAI and exhaust
Dipped grill and badges
Windows tinted to legal level
Bestop supertoper

Currently 111k miles

Totally stock


2014- First Road trip to Colorado, made a cheap sleeping base


Lots of Texas


Pull off main highway and make it look like you are on a real adventure haha


A touch of New Mexico


Walmart camping along the way



Riding in Boulder


"Stealth" camping before climbing Long's Peak


Random Texas dirt roads on the way home


Ran out of gas once in 2014. Gauge showed I still had 1/8th tank. Narrow shoulder on bridge between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Terrible experience but it is a good story now ha! Actually sat in the bed of the truck to put the gas in, too narrow to stand along side.


Parked next to a deuce and a half


Spent a lot of time in the library parking garage. I was still and school and studying a lot.


Made a quick (24hr) round trip to Midland, Texas as a wanna-be "hot shot" driver haha. 1200 ish pounds of steel plates and 300 ish pounds of valves in the bed to show how squishy the stock leaves are.


Drove through the night and got there right at sunrise


Passed by George W. Bush's childhood home and then headed out of town.


2015 Colorado trip
Texas days- pull over take a picture+drive a couple more hours, repeat.


Palo Duro Canyon-flies/spiders/bugs were horrendous


Colorado


Mount Elbert trailhead camping. Stayed there 2 nights. Great spots to pull off the road and have a little touch of a secluded campsite.


Along the road there are lots of pull offs like this. Note: not my fire.
Note 2: running out of gas scared me. I carried 5 gallons on this trip "just in case".


Road to Kite Lake trailhead to climb Mt. Lincoln, Bross, and Democrat. Super cool drive. Clearly I'm not into "gnarly" offroad so this was fun to me.


More of the trip to Kite Lake trailhead


A couple from the trailhead



Anyway just thought I would try to contribute to the community with a little eye candy. I know I've consumed my fair share here.

 

[Dr. Cornwallis]

Cool stuff man. It's great to see people getting out and using their stuff. A lot of people get really caught up in buying an image vs buying what they need. A stock tacoma is a very capable vehicle.

Do you have any intentions of doing drawers for the bed? I too have a second gen taco and I'm planning on doing some drawers and maybe onboard water. Debating between onboard water and jerry cans and a bug sprayer.


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[BrennMan]

Hey doc,
Thanks man glad you agree, we can't all be hardcore.

At the time I don't have any intentions of making any drawers. I typically don't use this setup very often, maybe 2-3 times per year. Having said that, I can absolutely see how beneficial they would be. I've used Walmart storage bins on my trips and while they work great they do tend to slide while driving making them hard to retrieve under the sleeping deck.

My only complaint about drawers would be the weight and difficultly of removing them.

 

[River19]

Nice truck.

I also subscribe to "if it doesn't have a purpose it isn't going on my truck" mentality. While I like seeing some of the hardcore builds, and many people do in fact push their rigs to the limits etc. there are many others who build garage queens which is also fine, just a different purpose and mentality. I've been beating the piss out of my Tundra for 15 hunting seasons now and stock these vehicles are more capable than many believe.

A mild lift from darn near any quality company, some decent rubber for the conditions you will encounter and some maintenance and people would be surprised by what these rigs can handle.

The only thing right now I really wish I had were lockers.....for the slippery stuff.

Get out and enjoy that rig more.....

 

[BrennMan]

I can't disagree. I need to enjoy it more.

The best part about keeping it mostly stock is saving all the money I would be sinking into mods. I'm afraid if I got started I wouldn't stop modding. Having said that, a mild lift is at the top of the list.

 

[Dr. Cornwallis]

I can't disagree. I need to enjoy it more.

The best part about keeping it mostly stock is saving all the money I would be sinking into mods. I'm afraid if I got started I wouldn't stop modding. Having said that, a mild lift is at the top of the list.

The key is being realistic. When I first started looking at stuff for "overlanding" I totaled it all up and I had added something astronomical like 20 grand to the cost of the vehicle and I didn't even have everything I wanted. The Internet and websites like this are really bad about making us thing we need stuff we really don't. Be reasonable and buy top quality, but don't over buy. An example, I want King Remote resis all around but at the end of the day, I will never use them to their potential, ICON no resi extended travel shocks and a good leaf pack are all I actually need and they saves me around a grand. Maybe more.


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[tanglefoot]

Thanks for the great pics! It looks like you're doing more with 2wd than most people do with 4--kudos!

The BMA biking park in Boulder is a good bit of fun, isn't it? I like how they have something for all levels, including stay-on-the-ground types like me.

It's been a while since I've been on the Mt. Bross road. I remember it got the adrenaline going pretty good...and that was with 4wd.

 

[Shradicalwyo]

The BMA biking park in Boulder is a good bit of fun, isn't it? I like how they have something for all levels, including stay-on-the-ground types like me.

That bike park is so amazing, I couldn't believe it the few times I was down there visiting my gf this summer. The slopestyle course is crazy.

I can't wait to get back down to CO and drive some of these amazing passes, I was looking forward to living down there, but it just didn't work out.

 

[BrennMan]

Thanks for the great pics! It looks like you're doing more with 2wd than most people do with 4--kudos!

The BMA biking park in Boulder is a good bit of fun, isn't it? I like how they have something for all levels, including stay-on-the-ground types like me.

It's been a while since I've been on the Mt. Bross road. I remember it got the adrenaline going pretty good...and that was with 4wd.

I agree! The bike park is phenomenal. I too like to keep the wheels on the ground (for the most part) and the slope style as well as the pump track were my favorite. The pump track taught me to look way ahead through the corner. Funny story about the bike part: I was waiting at the top of the slope style course and overheard a teenager express his frustration about a bike shop in town not having a particular tire in stock. He finished up his frustration with, "This whole town is just anti-bike." I couldn't help but laugh.

The Mt. Bross road was super fun. It was quite long (as far as trailhead roads in my experience) and had enough loose rock/roughness to make me feel like I was doing something exciting without ever feeling like I was doing anything too dangerous (I travel alone). Really fun experience. Looking back I should have aired down but I didn't realize the road was that long.

 

[BrennMan]

That bike park is so amazing, I couldn't believe it the few times I was down there visiting my gf this summer. The slopestyle course is crazy.

I can't wait to get back down to CO and drive some of these amazing passes, I was looking forward to living down there, but it just didn't work out.

I can understand liking Colorado passes but from what I hear the Tetons have a ton to offer. I really want to make a trip out there one day. The flights are just sooo much more expensive.

 

[BrennMan]

This year we pulled a pair of motorcycles to Denver and rode from there. Left the truck in Denver so it didn't get a real taste of Colorado but I figured I would post pictures anyway.

The bikes combined weight was probably around the 1100-1300lbs mark (NC700x and r1200GSA). This picture is with stock leaf springs in the rear (known to be less than desirable) and billstein 5100s set on the highest notch in the front so there is some "bro lean".
Once we played around with placement of the bikes front to rear to get the weight correct there was no swaying. I also bumped by tire pressure from 32psi to 40psi and this made a *huge* improvement. Anyway, I hope this is helpful to someone in the future.