Pongo, The story of our 2016 Tacoma

[dorton]

Great story! Been shopping Tacomas. Trying to determine whether I should go with the TRDOR or just an SR and build it up. I appreciate your feedback on the vehicle. Excellent pics, too!

I was trying to decide between the SR5 and the Off Road. I wanted a locking rear differential, whether it be an air locker, or e-locker I didn't really care.
When I started comparing the two, and the options I knew my wife would want(upgraded radio among others) the SR5, and Off Road were within $1000 of
each other. I couldn't buy a locker and install it for that, so I went with the Off Road.

We continued to be in awe of the San Juans, and were able to camp in some of the most beautiful places we could imagine.

The scenery never ends, even though our trip soon would.

The reality of having to go back to the daily grind started to creep back into our subconscious. With a heavy heart we folded the roof top tents
one last time before heading back east to North Carolina.

 

[jon c]

True story: I live in CO, my family is still in NC waiting for one of the kids to finish school before they relocate. I was home this weekend, and my wife had some continuing ed stuff in Burlington. We drove up there from our farm outside of Pinehurst and I waited in the parking lot surfing around ExPo. We were talking about some trips to take next year after the snow melts and I showed her your thread. Heading down the backroads from Burlington to Pinehurst...the two Rock Creek Overland trucks at a gas station in the relative middle of nowhere.

I wanted to stop and chat with you guys, but we were in a hurry to get back due to some prior commitments. Small world!

 

[Boonie Buster]

Really cool truck! I've been enjoying your Instagram feed lately!

 

[dorton]

True story: I live in CO, my family is still in NC waiting for one of the kids to finish school before they relocate. I was home this weekend, and my wife had some continuing ed stuff in Burlington. We drove up there from our farm outside of Pinehurst and I waited in the parking lot surfing around ExPo. We were talking about some trips to take next year after the snow melts and I showed her your thread. Heading down the backroads from Burlington to Pinehurst...the two Rock Creek Overland trucks at a gas station in the relative middle of nowhere.

I wanted to stop and chat with you guys, but we were in a hurry to get back due to some prior commitments. Small world!

Wow, small world! We had just finished up swapping the rear coils on his 4runner to some Old Man Emu heavies from medium, to help with the added weight from his
recently installed CBI rear bumper, and had stopped to grab a bite at the diner there. Would have been awesome if you could have stopped.

Be sure to say hello if you see us out out and about!

After we left the diner, we went on to do some editing on previously shot footage, and performed some testing with our
drone named Globalchickenhawk.

 

[dorton]

We attended the Appalachian Toyota Roundup in Windrock Tennessee on Labor Day Weekend, and thoroughly enjoyed the even. This was our 2nd time(also their 2nd anniversary of the event).
The trail system there is pretty vast for east coast standards(300+ miles). There was around 200 Toyota's participating in the event. I would recommend checking it out in 17'. Of course there are
trail rides, but there is also a large raffle event, catered meals, vendors, and great folks.

We were there representing my work, so we camped in the vendor section.

And the Tacoma we built for the event

I have made a couple minor changes to Pongo recently.

I added TRD Pro Tacoma tailights

and a black vinyl hood insert

so that I could add a solar cell to help keep the fridge running on the single battery.

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[dorton]

I have been looking forward to my ARB Safari Snorkel arriving for a while now. We received a shipment from ARB with them on Tuesday, so like a kid wearing a
new pair of shoes out of the store, I had to go ahead and put it on.

The install is easy(hardest part besides getting the nerve up to cut the hole, is removing the fender liner clips), and the fit/finish
is as you'd expect from and ARB product. I'm really happy with it.

 

[REDROVER]

Absolutely beautiful truck, what kind of roof rack do you have ? I am picking up my 2017 quick sand trd off road this week I ordered With 6 speed manual, it an awesome experience when Toyota sends you a vin number of the truck before its even build.
I was watching your build and you have done everything I would love to do on my truck, Arb Bumper was the hardest choice to choose before I saw it on your truck I was thinking its gonna look huge and extend another 3 ft but it looks great,bumper arrived,old man suspension arrived, this week hopefully I'll get the back heavy duty bumper and the snorkel as well.

Thank you for this post you started it gave many of us great ideas and inspiration.

 

[dorton]

Absolutely beautiful truck, what kind of roof rack do you have ? I am picking up my 2017 quick sand trd off road this week I ordered With 6 speed manual, it an awesome experience when Toyota sends you a vin number of the truck before its even build.
I was watching your build and you have done everything I would love to do on my truck, Arb Bumper was the hardest choice to choose before I saw it on your truck I was thinking its gonna look huge and extend another 3 ft but it looks great,bumper arrived,old man suspension arrived, this week hopefully I'll get the back heavy duty bumper and the snorkel as well.

Thank you for this post you started it gave many of us great ideas and inspiration.

The rack is from Prinsu Designs Studio. It's a well made rack, that both looks and performs well.

Very cool. That will be sharp! You've got some parts to keep you busy installing.

 

[mtnbike28]

Solar Cell info please! upgrades look great as always!

 

[dorton]

Solar Cell info please! upgrades look great as always!

http://www.swps.com/22670.html
It's a panel I purchased over a year ago but wasn't sure how long I would keep the FJ cruiser so I didn't install it. It's only 14 watts, but it should be able to extend times between needing to run the truck to regenerate the battery for the fridge.

 

[pnw_chris]

Are you running wheel spacers with the TRD wheels? The stance looks perfect.

 

[REDROVER]

Are you running wheel spacers with the TRD wheels? The stance looks perfect.

TRD wheels have one inch negative offset compared to stock wheels that's why it looks perfect.

 

[matmattmatthew]

Truck looks great! I went to Clemson so I'm a big fan of the Orange, unfortunately my wife isn't so I'll be getting a different color.

What is the approximate height difference between the top of the bed rack and the prinsu rack? I'm a custom home builder and occasionally need to carry 16' lumber. My current truck has a ladder rack, but when I get a Tacoma I'm debating between a bed rack and prinsu rack over the cab, or getting a Cap and putting Prinsu racks on the Cap and Cab.

 

[dorton]

What is the approximate height difference between the top of the bed rack and the prinsu rack? I'm a custom home builder and occasionally need to carry 16' lumber. My current truck has a ladder rack, but when I get a Tacoma I'm debating between a bed rack and prinsu rack over the cab, or getting a Cap and putting Prinsu racks on the Cap and Cab.

The rack is about 3.5" above the roofline. The tie down loops are on top of that by 1.75"

I've had some questions on the Matrax mounts. It worked out really simple without anything extra. Once the rack was assembled, but before it was installed on the truck,
I laid the Matrax on and checked where the mounting holes lined up. The holes correspoded with the cross bars close enough that I could just mark and drill the holes
for the Matrax mounting pins. Once the pins were installed, I went ahead, and installed the rack on the truck.

 

[SKT]

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Great thread, thanks for sharing!

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