Blog

2019 Toyota Tacoma

May 24th, 2019 12:00am 8 minute read

Our customer came to us with a brand new 2019 Toyota Tacoma wanting to transform it into a vehicle he could use to explore and tour the United States in, and that's exactly what we gave him. We began this build with a premium suspension upgrade in the form of a BP-51 kit from Old Man Emu and SPC Upper Control Arms. With an Old Man Emu BP-51 suspension system, the possibilities of where this vehicle can go abounds. BP-51's are constructed of a revolutionary, patent-pending technology that delivers an unparalleled driving experience on and off road; tested and created in the harshest conditions in Australia, these shocks will last and perform again and again through the toughest routes across the American landscape.

For protection, we went with CBI. From them, we outfitted a CBI front bumper, a CBI rear bumper, CBI rock sliders, and a CBI aluminum full system skid. The aluminum full system skid plate and matching rock sliders will serve this Tacoma well, protecting its vulnerable undercarriage from any protruding rocks and obstacles that lay in wait on the trail. In addition, the simple styled front and rear bumpers will provide extra protection and recovery ability. Equipped within the front bumper, is a Baja Designs light bar, a WARN ZEON 10-s winch, a Factor55 Hawse Fairlead, and a Factor55 UltraHook.

For the gears, we went with 4.88's. While down there, we also lengthened the differential breathers to keep everything high and dry when this truck finds itself locked in water-logged environments. Likewise, we equipped an ARB Safari Snorkel to ensure clean, dry air enters the engine. This device will be useful in inundated or extremely dry environments where dust is rampant. Both these modifications protect the health and function of this Tacoma's drivetrain and engine so nothing will be able to take it down from the inside during its adventures.

After modifications to the suspension and body, we bumped up this truck's power with an Off-Grid Engineering Complete Dual battery System and two Odyssey Batteries. This will ensure that all these vehicle's accessories are properly powered when needed. To control and distribute this power, we mounted and equipped a sPOD Bantam with an HD smart panel. sPODs are a safe and easy way to power 12/24VDC accessories, plus, with their small size, placement options are endless within the vehicle.

The sPOD HD smart panel, conveniently located on the dashboard, makes accessing and activating your accessories a finger's reach away as well as supplies a ready place to install and control any additional accessories our customer would like to add to his vehicle in the future. Surrounding this well-designed panel, are a blue dual battery volt meter, a red dual battery management switch, and a warn power interrupt switch to complete this rig's command center. For the final touch under the hood, we installed a Noco 2 Bank On-broad Charger for all sure power needs. With this two bank charger, we installed a custom plug, which is conveniently located to the right of the hawse fairlead on the front bumper.

For the wheels and tires, we wrapped four Braid flat Black WinRace wheels in 34" BFGoodrich All-Terrain KO2's. For spares, we choose two simple aluminum wheels from American Racing, which are attached underneath and to the rear door of the Canopy Camper.

Now for the adventure on wheels. We outfitted a black-finished, short bed, prime packaged Alu-Cab Canopy Camper. The Prime package includes a bundle of great accessories to make your overlanding experience as easy and effortless as possible. The prime package includes a Shower Enclosure with an Integrated Table Mount, Molle Corner Plates (Pair/Black), a Folding Aluminum Camp Table, 3 National Luna Dual Color LED Lights (Red + White), Bed Platform Map Lights with USB chargers, Shadow Awn with Mounting Brackets, a Spare Wheel Bracket, and a Canvas Storage System (Front Bulkhead and Rear Door). Other additions were a left-side shadow awn, 1450mm load bars, Jerry Can holders, a 5lb Propane Tank holder, Maxtrax Table, and two Sunflare 105 watt solar panels.

The Alu-Cab Canopy Camper is one of the most practical and reliable campers on the market. Built to last and proven in South Africa, its aluminum extrusion space frame construction guarantees the highest strength while maintaining the lowest possible weight. On the inside, unlike the Khaya Camper- whose interior is occupied with a kitchen unit, storage compartments, and seating- the interior of this camper is left open for you to use and customize as you like, and this canopy offers a massive space! The Camper for short bed offers up a vast 98 cubic feet of storage (115 cubic feet for 6' beds) and up to 8' of standing room when roof and bed panels are popped. The bed platform is spacious as well with a 100" x 54" total area. Plenty of room to comfortably sleep two full-sized adults.

For this build, the customer decided to design and install a custom Goose Gear plate and drawer system inside the bed of his camper. The Goose Gear drawer system is comprised of a 60L National Luna Dual Zone Fridge Freezer, a sink, a portable hot water heater, and a Partner Steel 2 Burner 22". The sink is supplied by a Frontrunner 40L Water Tank that is sneakily mounted on the bulkhead of the camper and drains from a tiny opening within the wheel well through a a Frontrunner premium water hose kit. This set up also includes a 22" Partner Steel 2 Burner Stove.

Located, on top of this camper is an Alu-Cab Matrax Table, an Alu-Cab 145o mm load bar kit, two Sunflare 105 watt solar panels, and a custom Prinsu Roof Rack. The Prinsu Roof rack had to be modified in order to fit underneath the overhang of the canopy camper. When overlanding, storage space is at a premium. This addition is a practical use of the total roof space of the vehicle. In the same vein, the Alu-Cab load bar kit and Maxtrax table also provide great locations to store all your oversized gear for you adventures.

Sunflare modules are outstanding additions to your dream or budget overlanding vehicle. These panels last: they are flexible than silicon-based solar panels, which makes easier to install and eliminates the micro-cracking that silicon cells experience after the flexing of sport and recreational driving. Micro-cracking compromises the electrical integrity and reduces the power output of the panels over time.

Hit a bad patch of weather? No sun? No problem. Sunflare panels are better in partial shade. Each cell has a bypass diode so that only the shaded cell turns off. Other panels are set in strings so that if one cell in a string is shaded, the whole string goes out. Depending where the shade is hitting, the whole panel can be knocked out. By choosing these panels over others, it guarantees that your panels are capturing sun whether or not you have load bars or gear loaded on top. They are always on the job.

Lastly, to ameliorate rear visibility when backing up, we equipped a back-up camera and custom made parking sensors. The parking sensors are located up and under the bottom-hanging spare tire and rear bumper.

Click Here or below to watch a walk around of this build with our very own Chuck Sensinger:

Under the Hood:

sPOD Bantam with HD Smart Panel and 36" Battery Cables
PowerTrays Bantam PowerTray
Noco 2 Bank On-board Charger
Off-Grid Engineering Complete Dual Battery System for 2005-2017 Toyota Tacoma TRD-Offroad
Odyssey Battery 35-PC1400T Automotive Battery
WARN Power interrupt Kit
Zamp Solar Controller 30 AMP Controller