If you’re planning to go off-road, tires should be your first upgrade. If you’re just starting out with camping, I’d recommend trying it first before buying a bunch of gear you might not even use. A rooftop tent and a hard shell can easily cost over $5,000, and that’s not counting all the extras like rotopacks and fancy overland accessories. I do plenty of medium-level off-roading and camping with my truck and don’t have any of that stuff.
@West
If you’ve never actually slept in a rooftop tent, test one out before spending the money—especially on a windy night.
That experience completely changed my mind on them.
Raleigh said:
@West
If you’ve never actually slept in a rooftop tent, test one out before spending the money—especially on a windy night.
That experience completely changed my mind on them.
Tried one up in North Texas… never again. The wind made it miserable.
@West
If you don’t use a rooftop tent, what setup do you have for camping and off-roading?
lyra said:
@West
If you don’t use a rooftop tent, what setup do you have for camping and off-roading?
For off-roading, I have good tires (AT4W LT265/75R16), basic recovery gear (traction boards, tow strap, and an elastic strap), a paper map of the trails, a 2-inch lift, a buddy to go with, and my 9mm. For camping, I use a regular ground tent—Alps Lynx 3—and keep my camping gear in a bin under my tonneau cover.
Rooftop tents look cool, but I can’t justify spending that much. Social media makes it seem like you need $10,000 worth of gear to enjoy the outdoors, but honestly, just start small, go out with some friends, and figure out what you actually need.
@West
Yeah, sometimes having less stuff makes it more fun. Just take what you’ve got, use it for a season, and then decide what upgrades are actually worth it.
Might be worth looking into undercoating. Tacomas are known for rust issues.
Biggest advice: pay it off as fast as you can.
Tires make the biggest difference. Road tires will hold you back more than anything.
Flint said:
Tires make the biggest difference. Road tires will hold you back more than anything.
Since off-road tires don’t do well on pavement, what would you recommend as a good balance?
@lyra
Go for all-terrain tires. A lot of people swear by the Falken Wildpeak AT4W—they’re great both on and off-road and are some of the best tires for snow too.
Keats said:
@lyra
Go for all-terrain tires. A lot of people swear by the Falken Wildpeak AT4W—they’re great both on and off-road and are some of the best tires for snow too.
Thanks! I’m in California, so I don’t deal with snow much now, but I’ll be traveling more in the next couple of years, so snow performance will matter.
@lyra
Most all-terrains or mud-terrains will handle snow decently. Off-road tires work fine on pavement, they just wear out faster. Figure out what kind of driving you’ll do the most, then plan your setup based on that.
Yep, tires. Stock tires are useless in mud.
After tires, I’d look into rock sliders. Even if you’re not doing hardcore off-roading, protecting the rocker panels is a good idea. Conditions can change fast—bad weather or trail erosion can turn an easy road into something tricky, and it’s nice to have that extra protection.