Powhunter
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So it took me way longer than I’d hoped to get this truck off the pavement but finally did it this past week. I put over 300 km on gravel and about 15km on some technical OHV trails up a small mountain. Long story short, this truck is a beast in stock form, except for wheels and tires which are Toyo RTs in 285/70R17.
On the trail I aired down to 20 psi and stuck it in 4LO. Which the clutch needs to be pushed in to switch from 4HI to 4LO. 1st gear in 4LO is VERY slow, around 5-6 kph at 2000 rpm. Great for crawling. I didn’t have any big boulders to contend with, but had some steep switch backs on loose rocks that required a three point turn and I was very happy with how the three pedals handled it. I thought I might need to try the clutch cancel start feature but didn’t need to. Now heading down the mountain 4LO was just as impressive. On super steep sections I barely needed to touch the brakes, the engine held back the truck and didn’t feel like it wanted to over speed, great control.
There was one spot where the sway bar disconnect would have come in handy as I had a wheel in the air and had to make a couple extra points on a different hairpin turn. I spun out once on a steep section with loose fist sized rocks, but threw in the rear locker and walked away. A couple 1-1.5’ deep mud holes with locker and no problems.
Back on the gravel highway I played around with tire pressure a bit. There were some decent washboard sections and 25psi at 75-80 kph was VERY comfortable, very impressed with the stock suspension here. I wasn’t super comfortable going that fast for an extended period of time with the psi that low so I bumped up to 30 psi and it definitely got a little bumpier but smooth road sections at 100-105 kph could’ve been done all day if it wasn’t for the 80 speed limit.
So the highlights for me were the suspension on washboard and the control of 1st gear 4LO for crawling situations, up or down. I haven’t owned a Tacoma before, but this is a seriously capable truck, even in stock form. That said, it still probably won’t stop me from shopping for a small lift and a sway bar disconnect if/when they become available.
Earned some pin-striping too unfortunately.
On the trail I aired down to 20 psi and stuck it in 4LO. Which the clutch needs to be pushed in to switch from 4HI to 4LO. 1st gear in 4LO is VERY slow, around 5-6 kph at 2000 rpm. Great for crawling. I didn’t have any big boulders to contend with, but had some steep switch backs on loose rocks that required a three point turn and I was very happy with how the three pedals handled it. I thought I might need to try the clutch cancel start feature but didn’t need to. Now heading down the mountain 4LO was just as impressive. On super steep sections I barely needed to touch the brakes, the engine held back the truck and didn’t feel like it wanted to over speed, great control.
There was one spot where the sway bar disconnect would have come in handy as I had a wheel in the air and had to make a couple extra points on a different hairpin turn. I spun out once on a steep section with loose fist sized rocks, but threw in the rear locker and walked away. A couple 1-1.5’ deep mud holes with locker and no problems.
Back on the gravel highway I played around with tire pressure a bit. There were some decent washboard sections and 25psi at 75-80 kph was VERY comfortable, very impressed with the stock suspension here. I wasn’t super comfortable going that fast for an extended period of time with the psi that low so I bumped up to 30 psi and it definitely got a little bumpier but smooth road sections at 100-105 kph could’ve been done all day if it wasn’t for the 80 speed limit.
So the highlights for me were the suspension on washboard and the control of 1st gear 4LO for crawling situations, up or down. I haven’t owned a Tacoma before, but this is a seriously capable truck, even in stock form. That said, it still probably won’t stop me from shopping for a small lift and a sway bar disconnect if/when they become available.
Earned some pin-striping too unfortunately.
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