psweeney's Adventure Ranger

[psweeney]

Hey Guys!

So I've been lurking on this forum for a while and finally decided I should post this up here. I love seeing all the cool builds people are working on with the Ranger and I've loved using mine for all sorts of fun trips.

So here goes...a basic inventory of all the work done so far.

5x 285/70/17 Nitto Ridge Grapplers
5x 17" XD RG2's
King 2.5 Extended Travel Remote Resi/Adjusters/Bypass on all 4 corners
SVC Offroad Billet UCA's
Leitner Designs Bed Rack, Gear Pod XL
TredPros, mounts
2x Rotopax 3gal, mounts
Roofnest Eagle
Whole Variety of Baja Designs lights
ScanGauge II
Husky Rubber Floor Mats
Line-X Spray In Bed Liner
Switch-Pros 9100
Mountain Hatch

And so much more to come...stay tuned for that, I'm working on a bunch of stuff for her.

It's been a lot of fun using it all (so much different in performance to it's first trip as stock with less than 100 miles on it to Baja and Berdoo Canyon). It's a great camping vehicle, handles mild level boogie in the desert really well, and still gets mileage like a stock Tacoma even with all this done. (Had to get a good dig in on the Taco didn't I?) In seriousness, though the Taco is a great truck I just love this so much and it's served all my needs incredibly well and hasn't given me an ounce of trouble.

Any questions about it or tips or anything, feel free to post!

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[Pathung]

Very nice. Did you the Mojave Road? That's on my bucket list.

 

[psweeney]

Very nice. Did you the Mojave Road? That's on my bucket list.

Not yet, but it's on my list too!

 

[psweeney]

Ok, so we started at the present, now let's go back to the past.

I picked up my Ranger on April 8, 2019 after waiting for this spec to arrive (HPR, Lariat, FX4, basically everything they had at the time). I had waited for the Ranger's return rather than buying a Taco or anything else and I'm so happy I did. I'd been doing my off-roading/overlanding in my '84 FJ60 but after some time with that, it was time to send her off to another great home and get a modern truck that the lady (and I) would be more happy traveling in. So, the Ranger was picked up and it started so much more than I had ever even hoped.

 

[psweeney]

The weekend I picked her up, the first thing we did was throw a Bakflip MX4 on and take her on a trip to see our friends in Baja at Rancho La Bellota. Amazing people, go if you can and they're very overlander friendly (listed on iOverlander, etc and are very welcoming whether you're staying with them at the guest ranch or just passing through but try to get in touch in advance to make sure they'll be there, they're quite fond of exploring the country themselves).

Then, came back home and put some Tactilian flags on to make her more my own, then started working. Getting under it and looking at stuff and doing a lot of thinking. That gave me the impetus to start making stuff for it.

 

[psweeney]

Next came some lights! Fog replacements and a-pillar ditch lights were first up, then the Husky floor mats front and rear and those are such a great upgrade. I'm really happy with those because when you go offroading, they get gross and i can just take them out, hose them off, and put them back and I'm good to go.

To control the lights current and future, I chose the SwitchPros 9100 and I'm really happy with the mount location. Visible, but out of the way and doesn't impede the use of the tray Ford left there for us.

She was already serving double duty as carrying big stuff and an adventure vehicle.

 

[psweeney]

After that, the Bakflip came off, the Leitner Designs rack went on, and I was off to the races.

Roofnest Eagle got picked up, tested around town and then taken on a first trip almost immediately up the coast to Half Moon Bay.

Upon returning home, the GearPod XL went on and that's been a super helpful piece of kit that I use all the time.

 

[psweeney]

Next were the dust lights (all Baja Designs all the time) and the Factor55 Hitchlink.

Then the really fun stuff started showing up like the SVC Offroad UCA's.

 

[psweeney]

Then I did a little work on the Leitner box using GreyManTactical panels and picked up a ScanGauge to monitor some other parameters on the truck like trans fluid temp (also more to be revealed on that later) and took her out on another trip this time to Berdoo Canyon where we had a great time, but suffered a slit sidewall and had to swap to the spare on the trail. Thankfully I knew new wheels and tires were going on very shortly, so I just rolled around on the spare for a little while.

 

[psweeney]

Next, we ended up out at the JTree Cleanup in November of last year, my girlfriend took her on a girls' trip with Jillian from the Tacoma overlanding world, and one we did last trip to off-road near Vegas before the new suspension, wheels and tires went on and then immediately went out to the mountains. Apologies if photos are out of order.

 

[psweeney]

And then we met the team from Mountain Hatch who used our tailgate to create their new product for the Ranger.

And finally some odds and ends and that leaves us where it sits this past week where the first post on this thread started.

Lots more being worked on, lots more still coming, but it's been a really fun ride and I'm so glad I've had this experience and the traveling it allows the lady and I to do all over the place and be comfortable the whole way.

 

[FULLSCALE]

Love what you’ve done so far, and I look forward to seeing what else is coming! What does the Mountain Hatch tailgate thing do?

 

[2020FX4]

I bought my Ranger @ Galpin too!

You've built up one sick Ranger, It looks awesome. I wish there was an option to have a bed rack for a tent AND the bakflip to secure the goods in the bed.

 

[psweeney]

Love what you’ve done so far, and I look forward to seeing what else is coming! What does the Mountain Hatch tailgate thing do?

It's a flat food grade/food safe cutting board with the cupholders integrated on the side. No more tipped over bee....beverages on the tailgate. They invented it to actually make cleaning game or fileting fish easier while they were out doing that and it works for that and many other things as well.

 

[psweeney]

I bought my Ranger @ Galpin too!

You've built up one sick Ranger, It looks awesome. I wish there was an option to have a bed rack for a tent AND the bakflip to secure the goods in the bed.

Thanks! Galpin's great!

And apparently Leitner is working on a new version of their new Forged bed rack that will accommodate a tonneau cover as well but nothing public yet. That would be great.

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