What would you do to a Tacoma with 5k?

[Celerrime]

Hello! Long time reader, first time poster. I bought a mostly stock 2001 Tacoma last month. 2.7l, automatic 4x4. Not a TRD sadly, tho the PO did put the stickers on it. I'll try to post some pics later. I used to have a beat up TJ, but it was given to me and literally falling apart, so this is my first decent truck. Already planning my first trip with it to Colorado this spring!

I have a limited budget, as I graduated recently and am throwing most of my money at loans. With that said, I want to outfit my truck to be a daily driver that is also capable of 1-2 week long expeditions on/off road around United States/Canada/Mexico. Not a rock crawler, but capable of driving some moderate off road trails and living out of it. My budget is 5k over the next couple years.

With 5k being your budget, what would you upgrade first, and in what order? I've read numerous build threads of rigs with several $$$ in them. While they look amazing, I can't afford to go crazy, so I am looking for basic must haves that come from the experience of you veterans out there.

 

[proper4wd]

Good tires, make sure the suspension is in good shape, maybe a winch and recovery gear depending on what you're planning on doing (alone or with a group?) and just go explore!

 

[troyboy162]

1.tires that wont pop aka C, D or E rated and as large as your gearing and MPG will support.
2. camping gear
3.Armor the tender spots
4. moderate lift if you find you are on the skids all the time.
5. sliders only because #6 will make you take harder trails.
6. rear locker for control on moderate trails.

 

[Clutch]

Trip to Mexico.

$5K buys an awful lot of fuel, beer, and tacos. Stock tacoma will go a lot of places.

I keep my trucks basically stock...and only upgrade if I break something...and even then, might just replace it with stock components.

Even tires, I'll cruise CL looking for brand new take-offs. I can afford new stuff...but I am cheap SOB, and like having money in the bank.

 

[SDDiver5]

First and foremost I'd get tires. ~$1000.00
ARB or VIAIR Compressor for OBA. ~$350.00
Used Topper- Leer, ARE, Etc. ~$200-$600
Build a sleeping platform with storage- This way you don't have to sleep on the ground and the weather stays out of your truck ~Be smart. I did mine for maybe $40.00
Light bar ~$300.00
CB or HAM ~$50-$200
Rock Sliders ~$400.00
Front OR Rear Bumper- Big Price Range here so hard to estimate
Misc. Suspension parts

Options for your year truck are endless. You could easily make an even more capable rig for under 5k.

Good Luck!

 

[zidaro]

good tires, great shocks if mex.

shell to store all your gear in a protected area (mex), roof rack.

rear detroit for dependable traction on the cheap and still street able

sliders to protect the sides from tight trails and use as a step

GPS, the cheap Nuvi will take you everywhere you mentioned

good Battery- Dihard Platinum

hilift and learn how to use it safely. I have a winch on every vehicle i used off road (they are cool), but the high lift will get you out of most situations and costs a lot less


recovery strap, shovel, ax and bow saw

good set of tools

good fire ext.

front bumper built for deer and errant tourists, if you have $$ left over.


thats a good start

 

[Martinjmpr]

If it was mine first thing I'd get would be a topper/shell. You can find one on CL pretty easily. The most I've ever paid for one was $300 and it was even color matched (though it helped that my truck was white.)
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Nice thing about a shell is that you can lock things in your truck. Not that a determined thief can't find a way around it, of course they can, but a good locking shell will "keep honest people honest."
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Also if it was mine I'd shop on CL for some stock Tacoma 16" wheels and sell those fugly wheels that are on the truck now. You can probably get at least a couple hundred for the wheels you have now, more if the tires are in good shape. Find someone who's building a "bro dozer" 'cause those totally look like bro-dozer wheels.
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Honestly I wouldn't waste money on armor except maybe some sliders for the side. I did fine 'wheeling all over CO and UT in my stock '04 Taco and never had any issues. With a 2.7/automatic you aren't going to be charging anything at high speed anyway.
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If you have a garage or know somebody who does, once you get a shell you can build a pretty sweet sleeping platform that will give you storage for your gear and also a nice flat place to sleep up off the ground.
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Beyond that I'd say some good camping gear, some maps, a decent GPS (as long as you remember GPS IS NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR A GOOD MAP!) and hit the road. No need to go crazy unless you want to. A stock 1st gen Taco is pretty darn capable right out of the box.

 

[ADVW/Liam]

suspension; recovery gear; camping gear. That's the order I went in. Some people may argue that regear and lockers counts as recovery, but I am going to get the camping gear before the regear and lockers. With the Suspension, you will get multiple different opinions on what to get. I went with Old Man Emu becuase it's been tested in the Australian Outback for many years. Lots of folks will suggest King, Icon, or some hybrid such as Toytec. No doubt those are great kits, I just decided to go with the OME, 886 front coils and the Dakar rear leafs. Oh, dont forget the Icon or similar upper control arms if you're lifting the truck. You will not regret it!

For Recovery gear, again, I went with ARB cause I like them and they're readily available, and I got a Warn M8000 winch. I found a few snatch blocks at Tractor Supply, and a few shackles, along with a tow strap, kenetic recovery strap, and smaller strap for pulling little things. Both times I've used my winch under load were on JKs... Also, when I bought the ARB/OME lift from 4 wheel parts, they threw in a hi-lift jack, and a few other goodies.

Dont start blowing money on huge light bars until you do some research. I spent @$200.00 on a set of Rigid Duallys, and I am happy with them. I also spent @$260.00 on a 30 inch light bar from Trail Worthy Fab (I highly recommend them and Wheelers Off Road) that I mounted to the top of my bumper. It's crazy bright, and if it breaks, TWF will replace it for about a year free of charge, then he said he would fix it after the year is up, and we'd have to chat about the shipping. I think Rigid may have a longer free replacement warranty, but they are real proud of their product. I'd have to save for a number of months to come up with Rigid money, and I'd rather spend the money on motorcross stuff for my 4 year old, fuel, and camping gear. It's no use having a tricked out truck if you cant afford to wheel it.

 

[v_man]

I'd spend the money to make sure the motor was tip-top, and the tires were road worthy.

Then wheel it and use it and determine for yourself what additions you need .

 

[p nut]

Trip to Mexico.

$5K buys an awful lot of fuel, beer, and tacos. Stock tacoma will go a lot of places...

Listen to this guy.

People take MB's to crazy places in S. America. Stock Taco is capable for plenty of trails.

 

[Clutch]

Listen to this guy.

People take MB's to crazy places in S. America. Stock Taco is capable for plenty of trails.

Found a picture of my old '92 the other day. Paid $6,000 for it, it came with the camper shell. Went all over the South West, Colorado, SoCal...Baja MX with that thing. Bone stock...ran the tires bald until I upgraded to BFG AT's. The only other upgrade I did was a Downey header to try to get more power out of it...then decided I wanted a V6 and an Extra Cab.

Black thing on the hood is a futon mattress I used, swear I slept better on that thing than in my own bed at home.

 

[Celerrime]

I agree with you guys- my first objective is to start going. I've already made a couple 400+ mile trips and haven't had an issue. IT has a few issues I am trying to resolve - a small oil leak from the oil pan, and the rear diff has a bit of a leak. I want to get those figured out, replace the timing belt/water pump (came with no service records and has 180k miles), and repair the rusted through parking brake cable then simply go!

I have a bit of cash I could free up withy the current wheel and tires, too. Both have between 5k-10k on them, great shape. Could probably sell them and not spend too much more on a nicer looking set. They are a bit bro for my tastes

 

[brianjwilson]

1) preventative maintenance. Change the fluids, filters, belts, plugs. Fix any leaks or descrepancies. Have a good look at the front end components (ball joints, cvs, tie rod ends, bearings) and u joints etc. I've seen a lot of second gens stranded with broken ball joints and broken wheel studs. Oh yeah carry extra wheel studs, lug nuts and tools.

2) good set of tires with a matching spare. A set of quality chains is never a bad thing

3) basic recovery gear (and knowledge to use it), tire repair kit, compressor (mv-50 is cheap and reliable)

4) a canopy/shell whatever you prefer to call it with a decent sleeping platform, or a roof top tent mounted on it

5) use it and see what else you need!

 

[Arktikos]

What brianwilson said. The current tires are probably just fine, but those wheels are definitely a no go. :Wow1:

 

[tgreening]

Hello! Long time reader, first time poster. I bought a mostly stock 2001 Tacoma last month. 2.7l, automatic 4x4. Not a TRD sadly, tho the PO did put the stickers on it. I'll try to post some pics later. I used to have a beat up TJ, but it was given to me and literally falling apart, so this is my first decent truck. Already planning my first trip with it to Colorado this spring!

Trade it in on a real truck? Something like this...

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Owww, that's bad! Couldn't help it though.


A top for the back. I was going to go with a hard side but around here finding one used was like finding Bigfoot,

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and new ones are apparently made out of gold pressed latinum (points for correctly identifying that) so I went with a softopper and liking it already. It's nice to have someplace to keep extra gear dry.

If it were me, I'd make sure general maintenance was up to code, grab some decent dual purpose rubber, spray bomb the rims if the accent color bugs you, lunchbox locker in the back because it's dead simple to install in your driveway, basic recovery gear, and hit the road/trail. You'll be surprised how far your basic truck will take you with some minimal additions. Personally I'm not even all that big on "armor", preferring to drive my way through or around rather than drag my belly all over the place. When did it become "armor" btw? Back in the day we just called them skid plates, and after 30 odd yrs of wheeling left coast to right coast, never needed more than what the factory gave me.

Point being, you can "upgrade" your junk to death, and in the end find 90% you never really needed, but it looks cool in the sig line.