How’s it goin

[Haulin&Crawlin]

Hey everyone, my name is Graham and I’m over in BC Canada. I was referred by Elliot to join the group and possibly do a build thread up on here. I’m a bit of a noob when it comes to trucks, I’m in the middle of a LT build with my 03 quad cab taco, learning lots as I go. When it comes to bikes I can nerd out with the best of them, it’s rad that the forum hosts both topics. They kinda go hand in hand with my friend group.

For my taco, it started out as a bone stock vehicle. American truck, had 150k Miles, but got it before the Toyota tax got crazy. Wanted something to go fishing, hunting, camping and shuttle mountain bikes with. Came with the factory e-locker which was a big selling feature, but quickly realized I needed to do some work to it if I wanted to keep it in good shape and out last me.

So I started with the classic Bilstine 5100s front and rear, UCAs OME Dakar leafs and some 33s. This made it a little more capable and fun but with that added confidence in the truck I needed some protection and recovery mods. First it was rock sliders, then front bumper, then a winch, then the rear bumper, boat rack, Cascadia solar panel on the hood, some lights.. Took me a few years to get it to this point, but once I got there I wasn’t fully satisfied with the end result and wanted something different, classic. So I did the only sensible thing and I entered “the rabbit hole”

Long story short I chose to go with the LT kit front and rear from Total Chaos, and have been tinkering on this new build with a friend for the last couple months. Here’s a couple photos from before the new build started and where we’re currently at.

Hopefully I didn’t bore you all with this novel. Maybe I’ll do a build thread down the road if anyone is interested.

Cheers 🍻

 

[dwphoto]

Welcome Dude! looks like you are off to a good start!

Standard evolution of most builds... get it "done" and then decide to do something completely different and cut it up haha.

Are you planning on keeping bed still?

 

[Haulin&Crawlin]

Welcome Dude! looks like you are off to a good start!

Standard evolution of most builds... get it "done" and then decide to do something completely different and cut it up haha.

Are you planning on keeping bed still?

Cheers! Yeah bit of a classic for sure!

I’m definitely going to try and keep as much bed and bed room as I can. Obviously will need to build a bed cage to accommodate the rear suspension. There are a few other guys with the same truck and LT builds that I’ve seen and have been asking them a few questions about. Still a few more I need to ask..

I guess I’m building some sort of a “prelander” because it also needs to carry a GFC (which I traded a mtb for, insane deal) bikes, and my little 10ft aluminum flat bottom fishing boat. I know this truck isn’t going to excel at one particular thing but if I can do a bit of everything decent with it then I’m happy. I went with ADV 4.5 glass front and rear, which will still give me a bit of tire poke for the odd tight trail and wheelin mission. I’m thinking I’ll run the bed cage along the sides of the bed where you would traditionally mount the GFC, giving it more strength and durability. Also this way I’m thinking I could weld on the camper brackets to the bed cage for added stability. Also going Ford 9” which seemed like the best play from the research I did. Will match the front track width and should be able to hold all that added load of weight and bigger tires. Hoping to get the thing on the road by March. Fingers crossed haha

 

[dwphoto]

The GFC are super nice.. we were hanging with those guys at KOH for a bit this weekend. Super cool dudes!
Whats the plan for MTB Hauling? Gunna do something off the roof or thinking hitch rack?

We had a little discussion going here...

How you move your Mountain bike

So I recently started riding mountain bikes i came from bmx so im used to throwing a bike in the bed of the truck. With nice suspension and derailers one worries about just tossing the bike in a truck bed. So i picked up a tailgate pad. That works fine but doesn't really lock them or have...

forum.badlinesgoodtimes.com

 

[Haulin&Crawlin]

The GFC are super nice.. we were hanging with those guys at KOH for a bit this weekend. Super cool dudes!
Whats the plan for MTB Hauling? Gunna do something off the roof or thinking hitch rack?

We had a little discussion going here...

How you move your Mountain bike

So I recently started riding mountain bikes i came from bmx so im used to throwing a bike in the bed of the truck. With nice suspension and derailers one worries about just tossing the bike in a truck bed. So i picked up a tailgate pad. That works fine but doesn't really lock them or have...

forum.badlinesgoodtimes.com

Yeah they seem really cool. When I first got this truck I seen photos online of Kodas Tacoma with the GFC and I wanted one ever since. Just seemed like the best of both worlds with having a canopy/ tent and being able to possibly mount a boat or canoe up top.

For the bike hauling with this truck I ran a North Shore rack, it’s a classic out here in BC and a fairly reliable set up. I prefer this one over some of the other verticals because of how adjustable they are. I scoped that link, lots of great options out there. I do really like the tray style set ups as well, Thule makes a really good one that we’ve rally’d with and bikes stayed on. They have good ground clearance as well when just the two bikes but the four bike tray style is just too long and will hang up when crossing water bars and stuff like that. Coastal Off-Road helped me with the bumpers and they have been working on something that works with their swing outs but I haven’t seen a final product yet. It would be a vertical carry as well I believe.