Finishing Up the 4x4 Garage Toyota Tacoma Overland Exploration Vehicle!

The gang is back at work, upgrading this 2023 Toyota Tacoma TRD Off-Road with some select parts that offer a great off-road bang for the buck. The last episode of4x4 Garage, presented by RealTruck, saw Christian, Johnny, and the rest of the gang at Wood's Off-Road in San Marcos, California, put in a good day's work on Ultimate Adventure alumnus Zaed Ismael's first brand-new vehicle, installing a RetraxPro XR powdercoated aluminum-slat roll-up tonneau cover for the bed, an Elevate Rack System onto which he can mount any number of outdoor toys and equipment, and a complete Viair Dual 400 High Performance VMS onboard air system that fits neatly under the hood of this brand-new Tacoma thanks to Viair's slick new VMS, or Viair Mounted System. This time, with some more product from RealTruck having been dropped off at the shop, it's time to finish up our modifications before sending Zaed and Jeff Ismail back home to Grass Valley, California, to pack their gear into the crew cab Taco for its initial shakedown run up in the picturesque California Sierras. Christian will pick out a scenic route on OnX Offroad, and after sharing with the group, we'll all converge at that location for some much-needed outdoor recreation—but first, here's how we wrapped up this project.

Adding an Eaton ELocker for On-Demand Traction

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A locking differential is probably the single most transformative component you can add to your vehicle in terms of off-road performance. Having a real locking differential makes an absolute night-and-day difference in capability. No longer being limited to spinning tires hopelessly in search of traction not only adds enjoyment and reduces stress, but allows you to drive more elegantly, gently, and with control through the trail. One of our all-time favorite traction-aiding devices is the electric Eaton ELocker. Requiring only a 12-volt connection, at the flip of a switch the ELocker allows you to go from completely open differential to fully locked, spool-like traction, with both tires pulling equally. Our truck's TRD Off-Road package actually includes a factory electronic locker in the rear, so we're leaving that axle alone, but had we needed a locker, Eaton makes an ELocker for both the larger 8.9-inch rear axle in our TRD Off-Road as well as the base-level 8.0-inch Tacoma axle. Up front, we dropped the IFS differential out of the vehicle so Johnny Wood and Jeff Ismail could tackle upgrading the diff on the bench. Since our truck has 3.91 gears, we selected Eaton's PN 14221-1 ELocker, which includes the ELocker differential and a complete waterproof wiring harness that runs from the locker connector at the diff all the way up to the interior switch.

Superlift Leveling Kit for Larger Tires

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Christian and Johnny had already disassembled the front suspension to remove the front CV shafts in order to drop the differential for the ELocker installation. It was the perfect time, while reinstalling the IFS centersection, to add the new Superlift leveling kit that boosts the front ride height about 1.5 inches and helps clear room for slightly larger tires. The Superlift leveling kit works with the factory shocks and coils.

Rugged Ridge Rooftop Tent

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With the Elevate Rack System installed, we took the opportunity to add some creature comforts in the form of a Rugged Ridge Roof Top Tent. There are way fancier (and exorbitantly expensive) rooftop tent varieties out there, but we dig the bread-and-butter affordability and simplicity of the Rugged Ridge design, which features a beefy aluminum base that resists flexing, a comfy 3-inch foam mattress, extending ladder for entry/exit, and a durable 600 poly shell to keep you snug and dry. The Rugged Ridge tent can hold up to 660 pounds and comfortably fit two adults. It's light enough for two people to mount or remove it, and the included PVC cover keeps the tent protected whether it's being stored separate from the vehicle or going down the highway at 75 mph in a torrential rainstorm.

Raceline Wheels and Toyo Open Country R/T Trail Tires

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We'll fully admit that when it came time to select our tire size, we sort of rolled the dice. It's a well-known thing that the Tacoma and 4Runner vehicles usually require a bit of fender and/or body-mount cutting to cleanly fit a 33-inch tire. We originally planned on keeping the factory 265/70R16 tire size because the vehicle owner, Zaed, was understandably dead-set against making any cuts into his brand-new vehicle. However, after our bitchin' Raceline 935M Defender wheels showed up, we couldn't help but think how bitchin' they'd be on this truck with some LT285/75R16 Toyo Open Country R/T Trail tires wrapped around them. After seeing the front stance with the new Superlift leveling kit installed, and taking some rudimentary measurements, we figured we'd be OK, given the 16x8-inch wheel's 4-inch backspacing that, if things didn't settle too much, would allow the tires enough clearance when turning in the bumps. Well, as of this writing, it's been a few weeks and several hundred miles and the tires are indeed in danger of making contact with components. We looked into cutting some more or adding extra lift, but really the easiest solution for this vehicle at this stage of its evolution is to downsize the tires to a shorter, narrower 265/75R16. We'll be addressing that in Episode 3. If you've got the space, though, we wholeheartedly recommend these Toyo Open Country R/T Trail tires as a design that grabs like gangbusters in the dirt, rolls smoothly and quietly on the road, and features a 45,000-mile tread life expectation to boot!

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