Northern Explorer's 2015 TRD Off Road Tacoma

[Northern Explorer]

The Taco is looking great! The pizza cutters look real good on it too.

Thanks...I'm really happy with these tires so far.

 

[Northern Explorer]

GPS Mount

The GPS is a hand me down from my Colorado. Idea stolen from the A-Pillar RAM mount thread over at Tacoma World.

I'll eventually hardwire this in.

 

[Northern Explorer]

Rock Sliders

With weight being an issue with this build, I was looking for a basic set of rock sliders. Basic to me means no square tube, no kickouts and no extra beefy mounting plates. Just a simple set of sliders to protect my rocker panels. I found what I was looking for at Marshal Offroad Fabrications. They don't publish the weight online but they ended up weighing 44 pounds each. Just slightly above my estimate. I decided to go with bolt on this time so that I can take them off if I ever need to do maintenance.

As they arrived.

Grade 8 hardware and backing plates.

After priming.

Solo job.

One minor flaw. Easily corrected with a file.

Angled 20 degrees up.

Ready for the rocks. Still need to drill three holes on each side of the frame to complete the install.

 

[Rattler]

They look good! I use Duplicolor spray-on bedliner on stuff often. It seems to hold up to the MI winters ok.

No stainless hardware?

 

[BajaSurfRig]

@northernexplorer did the air deflector you made help get any MPG back or has it only helped out with keeping noise down? My camper is lacking in the aerodynamics department and I am wondering if building an air dam like what you have is worth the time?

 

[Northern Explorer]

They look good! I use Duplicolor spray-on bedliner on stuff often. It seems to hold up to the MI winters ok.

No stainless hardware?

Nothing stainless on these. This is a summer only truck so hopefully I won't have the rust issues I had with my sliders on my Colorado.

 

[Northern Explorer]

@northernexplorer did the air deflector you made help get any MPG back or has it only helped out with keeping noise down? My camper is lacking in the aerodynamics department and I am wondering if building an air dam like what you have is worth the time?

I have to think that it must help a little with aerodynamics. I'm sure it's such a small amount that it would be hard to measure but even a small amount adds up on a 4000 mile trip. The wind deflector that you see on my truck was made for my Chevy Colorado with this camper. It's a little small (48 inches wide) for this setup. Ideally it needs to be four inches wider and about two or three inches taller. At very least it eliminates bug splat on the front of the camper which can be hard to clean off.

 

[Northern Explorer]

Air Bag Axle Bracket Extension

I decided to get the axle bracket extension rather than fabricating a shim under the existing bracket as I had previously mentioned. There wasn't much left to the original extension after customizing it for my needs. They needed to be shortened and three new holes needed to be drilled.

Line showing where I made the cut.

After cutting and drilling.

Repainted and installed.

 

[Northern Explorer]

Pictures

Not worthy of a full trip report, here are some recent pictures.

Keweenaw Central Locomotive

Copper Range Railroad "Under-Crossing"

Secret Spot

 

[Rattler]

Looking good.

I had to snap a photo of my Taco in that railway cutout too.

 

[Northern Explorer]

The Sad Story of my Toyota Tacoma

 

[life_w_vagabonds]

The Sad Story of my Toyota Tacoma

Dang. Sorry fella, maybe try a different color Taco?

 

[Rattler]

Sorry to hear about that second Tacoma. I will never forget that message a few hours after we left your front yard about that tree coming down. We were just past Newberry. That was crazy!