The EXPO TRON Build

B.A.M.F. DAY - April 19th, 2017

Thanks to the "It'll Buff Out Award" on TacomaWorld.com, I won a $500 gift card to Bay Area Metal Fabrication (B.A.M.F.) Of course this meant it was time for Jerry's full size Tundra Bed Rack! I liked my previous setup but since they were just bed bars to hold the RTT, I didn't put too much thought into how much they would move around after wheeling as well as the lack of space to mount tools on them. Originally I planned to keep the RTT below the cab height, but turns out I like having full use of the rear window and more height for gear in the bed. I was even thinking of a camper for awhile, but this award was the perfect way to sway my decision Huge thanks to @jlee Jerry also for being super patient with me as I had plenty of requests for this rack. The end product ended up with his brand new universal mounting system. There's endless possibilities to mount your recovery tools on these new mounts, and I'm 100% satisfied with this transaction!!


Now it's officially #EAF


Here I have the Hi-Lift mounted already on the inner passenger side mount. Gotta love that BAMF cutout!


Literally the sexiest angles of any bedrack out there!

 

Glad you like it man it does look sick on your truck!

 

The fab work is amazing man, and I love this powdercoat too! I want all my armor done with it now haha. Next up, I'll prolly be getting in touch with you about some bolt-on awning mounts

 

looks great ! I like it............for meeeeeeee

 

You added a great product to an already great looking truck !!! Way to go Stefen

 

that looks sharp.

 

Didn't take me long to gather all my bedrack recovery tools and accessories before the Tundras to Sedona event! First up was the RotoPax and my Krazy Beaver Shovel aka Murder Spork I also went on YouTube and made a more permanent flag mount for the bed








Last but not least it was time to finally add Maxtrax to my recovery loadout!

 

Tundras to Sedona - April 27th-30th, 2017

This was a spectacular event for the Tundra Community! Gotta hand it to @KevinK for putting it together and attracting not only a ton of Tundra enthusiasts, but awesome vendors as well! The trip started Thursday the 27th after TRON was officially prepped and loaded. The RTT sat nice and high on the new BAMF rack, and I was excited to roll out with the new setup

Final Prep in Chandler with @PLC721










And Northbound!


Met up with @Help along the way and tuned off onto Stoneman Lake Road toward camp


Setup camp right away to enjoy the weather








Breaking in the Murder Spork!




@n2deep


Next morning we were up early and ready to GO FAST! @KevinK


Hey it was 5 o'clock somewhere..... not just 10:42am at Someburros in Flagstaff....



Go-FAST Friday at the Cinders I'll have to post my little video on here for those not on IG. Kinda sad we cut the day short but it was so much fun! I may or may not have hit the deep whoops at 50+..... but regardless my ADS 3.0s up front handled everything I threw at em with ease

@sdhq_offroad @olsin6 @PLC721 @Help














So we head back to camp to meet up with Brian @ADSRacingShocks and he showed up with this!!!


You could say I was like a giddy little school girl when he handed me the key and let me take it for a drive!


Without a doubt freaking DREAM Setup right here!




Saturday Morning Raffle time!




Front and Center I ended up winning the @sdhq_offroad Secondary Intake Pump Relocation Kit! I was just 1 of many prizes that morning and still amazed at how much the Vendors contributed to the raffle!


Immediately following it was time for the actual "Tundras to Sedona" for us anyway


Went on a whim and ended up picking the perfect place for lunch in Sedona! Moon Dogs Pizza before the trails


We were joined by a few more Tundras and @osidepunker @n2deep Led the way to the Greasy Spoon Trail West of Sedona Looking like we are about to straight up race in the Baja!


Our 2wd guys in the group making this trail look easy












To Be Continued...

 

So much win!!!

 

very nice ! Are those the San Francisco Peaks in the first few pictures ?

 

Murder Spork

 

Guess I'm calling it the Murder Spork now. Used it in the backyard last week... that thing is actually pretty awesome.

 

Wow!!!!

 

Tundras to Sedona - Continued

Thanks to Joey @olsin6 for some more awesome pics of TRON in the Cinders and then continued on in Broken Arrow






Huge thanks to @n2deep Wife for these photos! She did a great job of capturing some cool moments!


















After completing the Greasy Spoon Trail West of Sedona we headed to the Enchantment Resort of Sedona! I could not believe this 5 Star Hotel existed without my knowledge after all the times my Wife and I had visited! It was pretty damn "Enchanting" and served as a nice place to clean up abit and grab some drinks before heading out for the Broken Arrow Night Run Of course we found another photo op since we were deep in the Sedona Red Rock














$20 Margarita with a View!


SQUAD PIC


Travis grabbed a pic of TRON on our way to Broken Arrow


Broken Arrow we meet again My new rear lift definitely allowed for me to play around this time!


















It was one HELL of an awesome trip! Cant wait for T2S 2018! Here's the last one I have before the real night run which was fun navigating through Broken Arrow at night, definitely added more of a challenge

 

SDHQ Secondary Air Intake Pump Relocation Kit

The SDHQ Air Intake Kit relocates the failure prone stock intake pump from the inner fender well to inside the engine compartment close to the engine intake where it is better protected from the elements up and out of harms way. It's certainly a nice insurance to have and was very simple to install! You can see where the new hoses connect and then it's all covered back up with the inner fender well.



And then tucked away safely in the engine bay

 

Overland Expo West - May 12-14th, 2017

I already feel spoiled this year with all the Adventures thus far, and 2 of the biggest ones in just one month! Only 2 weeks after T2S, we were headed straight back North to Flagstaff for the Overland Expo West 2017! This time my little Brother, USAF Sensor Operator, came home from his station in North Dakota, and joined my Wife and I. I am determined to get all my family into the Offroad/Overland scene and the Expo is the perfect place to start We left late Friday night and joined up with our buddy Mike @mh.meier of Pelfreybilt at his house in Flagstaff.


A beautiful Saturday morning in Flagstaff before the Expo TRON posted up in front of Mike's house and his "TruckNorris"



You could say I snatched a good parking spot at the Expo! Was actually better than some of the vendor spots lol


First Order of Business and my only true goal for the entire day.... Find the EARTHROAMER! This behemoth ultimate offroad rig was my highlight, and I swear I will own one of these when I retire


Of course when I'm having tons of fun I tend to forget to take pictures, but I did manage to take some early on in the day. First up was the Expedition Overland Booth. Really cool bunch of guys, I thoroughly enjoy watching their YouTube channel and crazy adventures! I have to admit if someone offered to trade me their Land Cruiser, I don't know if I could resist! It was pretty badass






We talked to many vendors including Overland Bound Owners, Mike and Corrie, which was awesome to get face time with them. Here's OB Mike interviewing the Global X Vehicle's Owner! Yea EarthRoamers have competition too I guess...


I did make sure to finally meet Mr. Jon Burtt, an Overland Tacoma guy that I've been a long time Instagram fan of. Love his Flippac setup! If you guys get the chance look him up on IG @jonburtt. He was also hosting the Goose Gear Booth, which was another goal for the day to check out. But I'll let the pics do the rest






My good buddy Jamie stole some photo opportunities of myself and my lil bro as well as TRON






And then Ryan took some with his awesome camera as well LOL




This sums up everything from the Expo, but the trip was far from over. To be continued...

 

Overland Expo West - Continued

Moving on from the Expo we grabbed lunch and headed to camp not too far away. The weather was perfect and we had an awesome group of people to hang out with for the night! My wife of course spoiled everyone in attendance with her famous tacos!






























Early the next morning, Matt in his T4R aka the Mini Fridge, and I headed to Broken Arrow in Sedona since he and my little bro had never seen or done the trail before. As always the views were spectacular and TRON handled all the little obstacles with ease






Parked and went exploring on Submarine Rock




My gorgeous Wife


We split off from there and let Matt finish the trail. On our way back out through Mini Moab, we actually ran into James and his Land Cruiser of Off the X Adventures & Stay the Course. He came all the way from Florida and attended the Expo as well. Always cool to run into people like that on the trails

 

Hey quick question, excuse my ignorance but did these MCM Fab UCAs give the truck any additional lift apart from the 35s and the coachbuilder products? I don't want to say I'm mirroring your build, however, you have done some pretty amazing things to your Pro that I am considering!

 

Bro, got me on the light mod now. hahaha fml

 

Thanks man and no UCAs do not provide lift, just allow for a better alignment and better articulation of the suspension

Haha! GOOD!!

 

did u take trail 366 from swift trail junction a lil south east of mt graham? just curious where u entered i wanna do this during monsoon season this august

 

Yes we took 366 all the way out there toward Riggs Lake. I'm praying the whole mountain doesn't burn... really sucks to watch it just engulfed in flames... not even sure whats left currently

 

Three Feathers to Chiva Falls ROUND 2! - 5/21/2017

Before the Arizona Heat Wave of Summer rolled into the Tucson area, we took advantage of a beautiful Sunday Evening to go on a quick local adventure! It was time for redemption and I wanted to claim Three Feathers once again, but with all the mods Last time I went in pretty stock, just rocking the TRD Pro front suspension on 35s with a stock front bumper and no sliders. Now I had a solid 3" lift on ADS 3.0s, SDHQ's Chromoly Front bumper and sliders, a better understanding of the trucks limits, articulation, and length through tight trails, and ALL the lumens for a night run!






Ran into this little beast on the way out! The endangered and glorious Gila Monster




Making the approach to take the same line as the first time. My wife grabbed all of this obstacle on video so I'll do my best to upload it eventually. Otherwise you guys can check the highlights on my Instagram. Follow me @st3f3ns I can tell you this obstacle was SO much easier the second time around. Although, I took a better line since TRON has much more clearance on the front end, the fact that I had sliders this time made me super comfortable going through it. I never even touched the sliders, and surprisingly managed to clear the rear bumper as well. Gotta say I'm super happy with my setup once again!




...and a fresh reminder as to what this looked like last year!




Moving Forward, we started to notice how fast we were losing daylight. I wasn't too worried thanks to all the Baja Designs Lumens, but this would be the first significant night run in TRON as well as the first time on this trail running solo at night!




















Wife's turn to drive Also more video of this to follow






When she's having just as much fun as I am!


Now I'll let 55,750 Baja Design's Lumens do the talking!










Brighter. Bolder. Better! That rock wall otherwise known as Chiva Falls when its obviously running was easily 150-200 yards away. There was enough light to walk all the way through the wash and trees to the base of it without a flashlight! It was pretty damn dark too, no moonlight or anything, just TRON with the OnX6 Arc 50" Lightbar and A-Pillar Mounted XL80's








And this was standing at the base of the falls. Just ridiculous how much light there was haha, but this also concludes my pictures for the trip. For all you local guys reading, we are definitely planning to return after the monsoons and Chiva Falls is running full blast! Last pic is a comparison of it running from our first trip

 

Great photos! Love the night runs!

 

just a word of advice..the side hanging exhausts the tundra have look nice but on those drop off be cautious..i wish i had cut mine down as a precaution..instead i crunched the body panel

 

Oh yea not a stranger to that, already pushed the driver side in lol luckily popped right back! @Pelfreybilt I'm sure will soon solve all our problems

 

LOL, I did the same thing on a rock here in Colorado

 

my solution was to cut the exhaust, and cut the rear panel at an angle to match my lowpro rear bumper im having built ...it worked out in the end...love your truck dude, we gotta wheel sometime..i get my truck back this week from getting new gofast suspension

 

I just cut both exhaust pipes (TRD dual) a few inches after the rear axle and dumped them downward. Clearance for everything!

Also, still waiting on you to make it out to SoCal, Stefen. Make it happen.

 

Nice pics bud! Still need to get on the trails with you. ^^I'm about do the same with the tails. I've scrapped the crap out of those lol