Louisiana Overland - Build and Adventure

[Louisiana Overland]

2017 TRD Off Road Premium

Overlandlouisiana on Instagram

Mods:

-Ceramic Window Tint(including sunroof)
-TRD PRO grill
-OME 3" shocks and coils
-Toytec Differential Drop kit
-SPC upper control arms
-Urethane sway bar bushings
-Durobump bumpstops
-Dobinsons Adjustable rear sway bar links
-Eimkeith panhard correction kit
-SSO Full length roof rack
-SCS Ray 10 wheels 17x9, 3.5” BS, -38 offset
-BF Goodrich KM3 285 70 17
-SSO Slimline Bumper with Stage2 Clearance
-Smittybuilt 10klb winch
-Factor55 flatlink and fairlead
-Body Mount Chop
-CVT Mount Shasta Summit roof top tent
-Dometic CFX50 Fridge and slide mounted on a home built "goose gear" style floor plate.
-Odyssey Group 34 AGM battery and voltage boost trick
-Switchpro
-Diode Dynamics tail as turn mod
-LED reverse lights x4
-$5 in 5 minute auto dash light dim mod
-Diode Dynamics SS3 Pro fog lights
-Expedition Essentials dash accessory mount
-Rago Fab molle rear window panels
-Yaesu FTM400 HAM radio
-Midland GMRS
-Rig’d Supply hitch mounted tire swing
-Gobi rear ladder


Audio:
-Focal IS690 TOY front component speakers
-Focal IC165 TOY rear doors and hatch
-Audison Bit Ten processor
-JL Audio XD700/5v2 - 5 channel amplifier
-Sound Deadening(on going project)

 

[Louisiana Overland]

I am just completing my audio upgrade. A recent trip to do the Georgia Traverse sealed the deal on an audio system.

I began by replacing the front door speakers and dash speakers with the Focal IS690 TOY set sold by crutchfield. They made a tremendous improvement on their own, even though I felt the need for a little more power. They were pure plug and play and required no wire cutting or modifications to install. During the install I put Noico sound mat on the interior of the exterior door skin and Noico sound deadening foam on the inner door behind the door panel. I did not measure this, but the deadener made a noticeable improvement.

Next I ordered 2 pair of the Focal IC165 TOY 6.5" coaxial speakers for the rear doors and hatch. Again, these were direct plug and play and I installed all 4 in about an hour. Before they arrived, I took the time to install the sound deadening materials in the rear doors. I did not deaden the hatch yet due to seeing where people who have matted and changed speakers in the hatch have had to change struts due to added weight. I may deaden it later, but did not want to get into a strut change just yet. Many people who have added focals in rear locations have stated that they weren't convinced it was worth the expense. What I experienced was again a major improvement as the rears now sounded musical instead of muddy. That said, I saved some money by ordering the rear sets on Ebay. They shipped from Italy and it took a while, but was worth the wait. In all honesty, at this point the factory head unit coupled with the Focals in all locations sounded very very good. I could have stopped here, but I wanted a bit more volume.

The next phase of the install was to install an Audison Bit Ten processor and JL Audio 5 channel amplifier. The Audison went under the passenger seat, and the Amp under the drivers seat. I tried to use an amp rack from Taco tunes, but my amp was too large physically to fit with the way the plate mounted. In the end, I put 1/2" thick plywood cut slightly larger than the amp and processor. I put sound deadening foam on the bottom of the ply and slid it under the carpet and then used screws to mount the amp and processor. The carpet keeps things from moving and it looks pretty clean. I ran a 2/0 dual amp wiring kit from JL Audio. It has a main fuse under the hood and then a two way distribution block under the drivers seat. The amp required 4/0 wiring but I went oversize in the hopes of using the spare leg on the distribution block for a fridge outlet in the future. For harnesses I used thhe plug and play amp harnesses from Tacotunes. They were plug and play as advertised and I did not cut a single wire in the vehicle. I was careful to use nylon sleeves on all wiring harnesses and shrink tubing over all my soldered joints. The connector for the Audison required soldering to the tacotunes harness that terminated there.

The Focals sound amazing with good clean power running them. I still have some fine tuning to do, but that is part of the fun. The audison uses a pc based software to adjust time alignments and 24band graphic Equalizer for EACH channel. The soundstage and stereo separation are incredible.

But...Im not finished yet....

I am looking for a subwoofer solution that wont cramp my cargo area. Tacotunes has one in the works and I am patiently waiting to see what it looks like and what are the specs. I have a 300watt channel waiting on the amp for a sub install. Also, I plan to rewire the rear doors so that I can configure the rear speakers in parallel. The factory configuration has them wired in series. Parallel wiring will greatly increase the wattage getting to each speaker. By doing this, I will be able to reduce the gain on the amp to the rear channels and have even less chance of distortion.

I am a VERY happy camper with this set up!

 

[Louisiana Overland]

SSO roof rack

Southern Style Off-road full length roof rack.

 

[Louisiana Overland]

Road Trip

Georgia Traverse 2/18

 

[mustangr2]

What’s your opinion of your sso rack so far?

 

[TheLostMtnMan]

Southern Style Off-road full length roof rack.

That rack is awesome!

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

 

[Louisiana Overland]

What’s your opinion of your sso rack so far?

I like the fit and finish. SSO as been working on accessories and options to add later. The modular design leaves it wide open for custom attachments. Also SSO customer service is excellent. What's not to like?:yo:

 

[Lujess]

Looks great thus far - thanks for sharing all the pics

 

[Runnin4mylife]

Hey man, I'm Jared, I see you're in Baton Rouge! I've been looking for fellow T4R enthusiasts in the area to wheel/overland with for a while now. It seems like everyone here has a damn Jeep... Do you wheel very often around here? I've been hearing a lot about 4x4 life off-road in St. Francisville and will probably join them on a ride soon. That's a great looking rig, by the way, I want to do something similar with mine.

 

[TForceRunner]

2017 TRD Off Road Premium

Mods:

-Ceramic Window Tint(including sunroof)
-TRD PRO grill
-OME 3" shocks and coils
-Toytec Differential Drop kit
-SPC upper control arms
-SSO Full length roof rack
-BF Goodrich All Terrain K02 285 70 17

Audio:
-Focal IS690 TOY front component speakers
-Focal IC165 TOY rear doors and hatch
-Audison Bit Ten processor
-JL Audio XD700/5v2 - 5 channel amplifier
-Sound Deadening(on going project)

that's a sharp rig right there

 

[Louisiana Overland]

Hey man, I'm Jared, I see you're in Baton Rouge! I've been looking for fellow T4R enthusiasts in the area to wheel/overland with for a while now. It seems like everyone here has a damn Jeep... Do you wheel very often around here? I've been hearing a lot about 4x4 life off-road in St. Francisville and will probably join them on a ride soon. That's a great looking rig, by the way, I want to do something similar with mine.

I primarily bought the rig to travel. Along the way I discovered the world of overland travel which interests me very much. I love travelling off road but dont really feel the pull of organized wheeling in large groups. I did about 2/3 of the Georgia Traverse earlier this year and I am planning to be in Chattanooga a week from tomorrow to pick up a roof top tent at CVT and then start the Traverse at the eastern end on Sunday. Ill have plenty of time this trip to do the entire trail and camp along the way. Locally?? I take trips to Kisatchie National Forest and do the forest service roads and dispersed camping. My goal at the moment is to prepare myself, the rig, and camping set up for the Enchanted Rockies Trail in September of this year. I hope that doesnt come off as being stand offish. Id be thrilled to meet other t4r members and see their rigs. Even maybe plan trips with smaller groups.

 

[Louisiana Overland]

that's a sharp rig right there

Thank you!!

 

[Louisiana Overland]

Looks great thus far - thanks for sharing all the pics

Thank you for your kind remarks.

 

[Runnin4mylife]

I primarily bought the rig to travel. Along the way I discovered the world of overland travel which interests me very much. I love travelling off road but dont really feel the pull of organized wheeling in large groups. I did about 2/3 of the Georgia Traverse earlier this year and I am planning to be in Chattanooga a week from tomorrow to pick up a roof top tent at CVT and then start the Traverse at the eastern end on Sunday. Ill have plenty of time this trip to do the entire trail and camp along the way. Locally?? I take trips to Kisatchie National Forest and do the forest service roads and dispersed camping. My goal at the moment is to prepare myself, the rig, and camping set up for the Enchanted Rockies Trail in September of this year. I hope that doesnt come off as being stand offish. Id be thrilled to meet other t4r members and see their rigs. Even maybe plan trips with smaller groups.

No stand offish at all! I completely understand your position, I am slowly but surely getting there. If you haven't already, you should check out @swellrunner on youtube. He is a beginner overlander story and has several videos traveling the Georgia Traverse. I have the same ultimate goal, but I am on the budget of a recent college graduate and the vacation schedule of someone just starting a career. The Georgia traverse, Moab, Enchanted Rockies, and Anza being among that goal. The only reason for me to wheel locally is to gain experience and techniques for future trips. I would love to plan a long weekend trip to Arkansas or Texas I just haven't found anyone as interested as I am. So as I hope you can understand, it is exciting to find someone with similar goals in this area.

 

[Louisiana Overland]

No stand offish at all! I completely understand your position, I am slowly but surely getting there. If you haven't already, you should check out @swellrunner on youtube. He is a beginner overlander story and has several videos traveling the Georgia Traverse. I have the same ultimate goal, but I am on the budget of a recent college graduate and the vacation schedule of someone just starting a career. The Georgia traverse, Moab, Enchanted Rockies, and Anza being among that goal. The only reason for me to wheel locally is to gain experience and techniques for future trips. I would love to plan a long weekend trip to Arkansas or Texas I just haven't found anyone as interested as I am. So as I hope you can understand, it is exciting to find someone with similar goals in this area.

I follow swellrunner on youtube. It will be too hot for camping pretty soon but Id love to get a few locals together to do The Mississippi Loop. You dont hear much about it, but google it and see what you come up with. Being in the south, my worries are that it would be prone to have a lot of mud. I dont have a winch yet so havent investigated it much.

 

[LaO_T4R]

Hey man, I'm Jared, I see you're in Baton Rouge! I've been looking for fellow T4R enthusiasts in the area to wheel/overland with for a while now. It seems like everyone here has a damn Jeep... Do you wheel very often around here? I've been hearing a lot about 4x4 life off-road in St. Francisville and will probably join them on a ride soon. That's a great looking rig, by the way, I want to do something similar with mine.

Yeah not many people with rigged out 4runners around BR. Like yourself, I'm always happy to meet more local 4runner/overlanding enthusiast. My buddy runs a group "Louisiana Overland" which you can find on FB and get a little more involved with local trips and groups. If you and the OP ever want to meet up, give me a shout :thumb:

 

[Runnin4mylife]

I follow swellrunner on youtube. It will be too hot for camping pretty soon but Id love to get a few locals together to do The Mississippi Loop. You dont hear much about it, but google it and see what you come up with. Being in the south, my worries are that it would be prone to have a lot of mud. I dont have a winch yet so havent investigated it much.

Your runner looks a lot like his. I've never heard of the Mississippi Loop, but I am definitely interested in exploring it. The mud can really be an issue around here, especially if you are traveling alone. As long as you are careful and have one or two other rigs it can probably be done. Keep in touch, I would love travel the loop. I did some googling and it looks a like a great place to start!

 

[Runnin4mylife]

Yeah not many people with rigged out 4runners around BR. Like yourself, I'm always happy to meet more local 4runner/overlanding enthusiast. My buddy runs a group "Louisiana Overland" which you can find on FB and get a little more involved with local trips and groups. If you and the OP ever want to meet up, give me a shout :thumb:

I requested to join the FB group. Excited to see what the hype is about!

 

[LaO_T4R]

And sorry [MENTION=176486]Louisiana Overland[/MENTION], wasn't trying to jack your thread.
Also, [MENTION=167719]Runnin4mylife[/MENTION], as far as 4x4 Life Offroad in St. Francisville, it's worth checking out.
I've been there a couple of times and helped guide some trails as well.
I went with just tires and my lift the first time and had a blast.(I did rip my rear valence off) They have a wide variety of trails out there from easy to hard. No worries about not having a winch out there, they'll pull ya around if needed.
You guys should check it out!

 

[Toffees]

Surely "overland" is a bit optimistic? Maybe "overswamp" or at least "overmud"?

Nice rig