2016 adventure build

[tonkaman]

I'm ordering my 2016 TRD off-road and need to start prepping for modifications. I live in Utah so I'm out in the desert often, but also close to big technical trails. The truck needs to be capable of hauling 3 people and their gear for a week solid, as comfortably as possible while still being dependable.

I'm not sure who is even making 2016 products yet. help me out and tell me what you would use or who is already selling products.

-I want the best mid travel setup practical, with bypasses upfront and hydro bumps.

I'm thinking Total Chaos race series LCA and UCA along with ADS coilovers, and bypasses. OME Daker leaf springs with ADS shocks and bumps for the rear.

-Protection I want to keep lightweight, I'll already be loaded down so every pound helps!

-Front bumper I really like Pelfreybilt's plate aluminum look and its light.

-Rear Bumper will require a swing out for spare tire. I've always been a big fan of CBI in this department.

-Sliders. I'm not too sure what I like here. I know I like them unplated and fairly low profile.

-Skids will be aluminum to shave weight. Bud built comes to mind but open to opinions.

Thanks for any input you can provide me.

 

[brianjwilson]

You're off with the OME Dakar springs in my opinion. While they carry weight well, it is only because they will be riding on a big heavy overload spring. Those springs are good at carrying a few hundred pounds comfortably. More than that, and they carry it comfortably ON ROAD but will not ride smoothly or compress much. If you're doing a mid/long travel with hydro bumps, that is just the wrong spring, period. Not matched to the rest. Sure you could remove that big overload and use an extra leaf, but it is unbearably noisy (ask me how I know). The upper 3 leafs in my spring pack (as described above) do not have spring isolator pads and they are not punched, even if I wanted to buy and add them.

A good progressive spring is what you want. Something like the allpro expedition springs or a custom Deaver style spring pack.

 

[bkg]

Consider checking out all pros 2016 build.... Running 34" tires on 2.5" lift, I believe.

 

[tonkaman]

You're off with the OME Dakar springs in my opinion. While they carry weight well, it is only because they will be riding on a big heavy overload spring. Those springs are good at carrying a few hundred pounds comfortably. More than that, and they carry it comfortably ON ROAD but will not ride smoothly or compress much. If you're doing a mid/long travel with hydro bumps, that is just the wrong spring, period. Not matched to the rest. Sure you could remove that big overload and use an extra leaf, but it is unbearably noisy (ask me how I know). The upper 3 leafs in my spring pack (as described above) do not have spring isolator pads and they are not punched, even if I wanted to buy and add them.

A good progressive spring is what you want. Something like the allpro expedition springs or a custom Deaver style spring pack.

Thanks for the input. I'll put in a call to Deaver and see what they recommend. My experience with them has been solely with SUA long travel setups that won't hold any weight.

 

[brianjwilson]

Or Alcan spring or someone. Honestly deaver really pissed me off recently by not returning calls or emails and being less than helpful.

Bill at Alcan says he routinely builds Tacoma springs for people hauling four wheel campers. He says he designs them to carry an additional 1000lbs over stock capacity. Much more friendly and responsive than Deaver.

 

[rambrush]

Ok educate me, why spend the extra money for the 2016 trd when you are planning on revamping everything underneath? what comes with the trd package that makes it worth the expense? could you not buy a standard SR5 and upgrade that?

 

[tonkaman]

Ok educate me, why spend the extra money for the 2016 trd when you are planning on revamping everything underneath? what comes with the trd package that makes it worth the expense? could you not buy a standard SR5 and upgrade that?

In the end it came down to numbers. Basically after I upgraded everything on the SR5 it was more expensive than the TRD Off-road with he same options. It would have been cheaper if I was ok with them in standard form, but I like the exterior and other changes that come with the higher trim level. I'm sure it will be easy to sell the parts I do strip off as well.

 

[forty2]

Ok educate me, why spend the extra money for the 2016 trd when you are planning on revamping everything underneath? what comes with the trd package that makes it worth the expense? could you not buy a standard SR5 and upgrade that?

There's only a $2700 difference between the base SR5 and TRD (same powertrain in DCSB), getting a rear locker eats up much of that and you miss out on the MTS/CC. Opting for a manual on the TRD closed the gap considerably down to around $1k. Comparing SR to TRD and the difference is much wider, but the SR is really quite spartan.

 

[zscott]

Despite, what has been said earlier in the thread about the dakars, I wouldn't rule them out. I have had mine on my 2013 for about 2 years and they have never let me down. They carry more weight than I could possibly ask for the ride doesn't suffer.

2 reasons people dont like the dakars are:

1) They get the standard pack without the HD add a leaf and expect it to carry tons of weight.
2) They expect the dakars to have a nice arch when they actually tend to run flat. ARB says they are designed this way so that up and down motion is more fluid. Dakars can have negative arch no problem under full compression and the leafs are made to handle it.

Not saying that Deaver, Atlas, or All Pro aren't good options as well, just giving you some feedback about the Dakars. I live in Utah so if you need to come look at them on a truck let me know. I have a heavier truck than most and use the bed to haul lots of weight and have never been on the bumps.

I can't recommend OME shocks for performance so I think you are smart going with ADS. I had the OME shocks at first and am now swapping everything out for King or ADS.

 

[tonkaman]

Despite, what has been said earlier in the thread about the dakars, I wouldn't rule them out. I have had mine on my 2013 for about 2 years and they have never let me down. They carry more weight than I could possibly ask for the ride doesn't suffer.

2 reasons people dont like the dakars are:

1) They get the standard pack without the HD add a leaf and expect it to carry tons of weight.
2) They expect the dakars to have a nice arch when they actually tend to run flat. ARB says they are designed this way so that up and down motion is more fluid. Dakars can have negative arch no problem under full compression and the leafs are made to handle it.

Not saying that Deaver, Atlas, or All Pro aren't good options as well, just giving you some feedback about the Dakars. I live in Utah so if you need to come look at them on a truck let me know. I have a heavier truck than most and use the bed to haul lots of weight and have never been on the bumps.

I can't recommend OME shocks for performance so I think you are smart going with ADS. I had the OME shocks at first and am now swapping everything out for King or ADS.

Thanks for your feedback. It seems as if everyone I know around here is OME diehards, that's probably why the Dakars were my first thought. They definitely do what they were intended to quite well, although thinking about it they don't match my front end plans very well.

Thanks for the offer to check out your truck sometime, I'll take you up on that as my build plans start coming together.

 

[brianjwilson]

I think the dakars are fine, my opinion is just that they aren't well matched to what he wants to do. I am running mine with an extra leaf, and the big overload removed.

If you leave the upper overload in place, you're seriously limiting travel as well. I have allpro's u bolt flip kit with the short timbren, as well as wheelers superbumps depending on what I'm doing. My shocks are several inches longer than stock. With the overload in place, I couldn't even get the superbumps to touch the frame after the truck was airborn. I could feel the rear bounce off of the overload spring and the bumps wouldn't touch the frame. Even my much longer than stock shocks couldn't get near compressed.

So when I installed the add a leaf and pulled the overload, the ride was firmer but I could at least contact the superbump rather than bounce off the overload. Although the unloaded ride is rough, and no matter what I do it is extremely noisy due to the aforementioned lack of spring isolation pads.

Here is my setup now (when the camper is removed).


And before I installed the add a leaf and removed the overload. Factory shocks still, but you can see how the overload is almost in play at unloaded ride height. I could air the truck out and bounce on that overload and not even touch those bump stops.


Again, fine springs in general. Just offering my experience, and it is my opinion that a custom progressive spring would be a better match.

 

[1shot1kill]

The 3rd gen Tundra has been out for 2 plus years and ARB and others have not caught up on building front and rear bumpers. WTH! We have got money and they are not willing to take it.

 

[zscott]

Thanks for your feedback. It seems as if everyone I know around here is OME diehards, that's probably why the Dakars were my first thought. They definitely do what they were intended to quite well, although thinking about it they don't match my front end plans very well.

Thanks for the offer to check out your truck sometime, I'll take you up on that as my build plans start coming together.

Yeah I am a fan of the Dakar Springs. Wasnt as impressed with the shocks or the front coil strut assemblies they offer.

 

[Plannerman]

Like Zach, I'm a big fan of the Dakars. They just work so damn well.

 

[tonkaman]

I made some calls around for front bumpers. Looks like Pelfreybilt and CBI are my two favorite options, both are making an aluminum version, and both with be released to order in February. I'm excited to see what they come up with!