Tex68w
Beach Bum
I am currently in the process of building out my 2017 Ford F-250, thread here http://forum.expeditionportal.com/threads/172510-2017-F-250-Overland-Hunt-Rig-build, and all of the research, talk, ordering, purchases, excitement, anticipation, etc. has gotten the misses all hot a bothered for a rig of her own. I asked what she wanted or envisioned herself driving and building and her first answer was a new Land Cruiser lol. While I'd love to be able to buy her one and we would most certainly build it out, it's simply not in the cards at the moment. So when we got done laughing and day dreaming, I asked her to get serious with her reply and she quickly shouted "a new TRD Pro 4Runner." A 4Runner, while a bit over priced IMHO, is definitely more in line with the budget at the moment and it fits her lifestyle and needs. So I agreed to it and we started calling dealerships hoping there might be one lying around from a deal that fell through. As expected we had no such luck since they are a hot commodity, so we resorted to ordering it with the local dealership.
There's not a whole lot of options available on the TRD Pro, so we ordered it pretty much how it comes in her color of choice, Super White, and now we wait. The dealer told us to expect it to take six weeks, a few other dealerships told us the same time frame as well. I am not sure why I am skeptical about that time frame, but I feel like it's going to end up being longer, I hope my gut is wrong. I am ok with it taking 8-12 weeks, but I am hoping that it doesn't turn into 16-20 or worse, we will be down to one car for that time frame and things will get interesting if it stretches out past 3 months.
In the interim I am going to start ordering the first round of mods/accessories so that they are ready and waiting to be installed when we get her home. For at least the time being, I'd like to keep this build on the mild side, our truck is more on the wild end of the spectrum and it would be nice to have one of the two more everyday friendly. So here are the mods for phase one of the build 1) Pelfrey Hidden Winch mount with Warn Zeon 10S Platinum and Factor 55 Hawse Fairlead and Flatlink; 2) Shrockworks rock sliders with the dimpled tread plates (she wanted them flat and with texture for use with heels); and 3) either the Front Runner Slim Line II or Prinsu Roofrac, I am not too keen about drilling into the roof of a new vehicle, but these two seem to be the best and both require it. I like the flat racks for ease of mounting the RTT, that said, I was very fond of my Gobi rack I had on my FJ Cruiser, but my they sure are proud of them these days.
I think we are going to leave the suspension/wheels/tires (we really like the look of the TRD Pro wheels) alone for the time being, but after the winch goes on it might require a small spacer in the front to take the rake back out of it and level it out.
I plan to make my kitchen kit and fridge/freezer removable so that we can easily run them in either rig with a simple swap. I am eyeing the Expedition One rear bumper with dual swing outs for later in the year, their design kicks butt. I am leaning towards OME BP51's or King coil overs from Toytec down the road so I'll be keeping a watchful eye on user reports with those kits. I hope in the end she's a fan of the truck and enjoys it and I hope that I am happy with its use as an overlanding machine, I don't want to be getting out of it in a year or two just to start all over again.
Here are pics of one identical to what we ordered. This truck was ordered in by a customer in California, his deal almost fell through, so we thought we might be able to go home right away with one, but in the end he got it worked out and now we wait for our own.
There's not a whole lot of options available on the TRD Pro, so we ordered it pretty much how it comes in her color of choice, Super White, and now we wait. The dealer told us to expect it to take six weeks, a few other dealerships told us the same time frame as well. I am not sure why I am skeptical about that time frame, but I feel like it's going to end up being longer, I hope my gut is wrong. I am ok with it taking 8-12 weeks, but I am hoping that it doesn't turn into 16-20 or worse, we will be down to one car for that time frame and things will get interesting if it stretches out past 3 months.
In the interim I am going to start ordering the first round of mods/accessories so that they are ready and waiting to be installed when we get her home. For at least the time being, I'd like to keep this build on the mild side, our truck is more on the wild end of the spectrum and it would be nice to have one of the two more everyday friendly. So here are the mods for phase one of the build 1) Pelfrey Hidden Winch mount with Warn Zeon 10S Platinum and Factor 55 Hawse Fairlead and Flatlink; 2) Shrockworks rock sliders with the dimpled tread plates (she wanted them flat and with texture for use with heels); and 3) either the Front Runner Slim Line II or Prinsu Roofrac, I am not too keen about drilling into the roof of a new vehicle, but these two seem to be the best and both require it. I like the flat racks for ease of mounting the RTT, that said, I was very fond of my Gobi rack I had on my FJ Cruiser, but my they sure are proud of them these days.
I think we are going to leave the suspension/wheels/tires (we really like the look of the TRD Pro wheels) alone for the time being, but after the winch goes on it might require a small spacer in the front to take the rake back out of it and level it out.
I plan to make my kitchen kit and fridge/freezer removable so that we can easily run them in either rig with a simple swap. I am eyeing the Expedition One rear bumper with dual swing outs for later in the year, their design kicks butt. I am leaning towards OME BP51's or King coil overs from Toytec down the road so I'll be keeping a watchful eye on user reports with those kits. I hope in the end she's a fan of the truck and enjoys it and I hope that I am happy with its use as an overlanding machine, I don't want to be getting out of it in a year or two just to start all over again.
Here are pics of one identical to what we ordered. This truck was ordered in by a customer in California, his deal almost fell through, so we thought we might be able to go home right away with one, but in the end he got it worked out and now we wait for our own.
