So…
I had my truck and I had put some miles on her. I had my partner in crime. Now it was time to make my truck more capable.
Remember how I said that I built Rogue with the idea that she and I would be waging some desert special operations war? Well… I didn’t want to do that with Freyja. But… I also wanted a capable truck that would get me into, or, more importantly, out of, anywhere that I wanted to be. I didn’t want the modern version of a station wagon, but I wasn’t picturing Freyja festooned with belt fed weapons, ammunition, and radios either.
I was also determined not to make the same mistakes that I had made before. I didn’t care about looking cool… ok, that’s a lie… but I wasn’t going to make decisions based on what looked cool. I wanted it to be functional.
I knew what tires I was going to go with. The BF Goodrich All Terrain KO2s had been brilliant for me. I knew what wheels I was going to go with, my KMC Wheels on Rogue had been perfect, plus I found some that were pretty cool looking.
The big question was the lift. That was where I had run into problems with Rogue and that was the point of most concern. I didn’t want to buy some garbage lift that looked cool but wasn’t. At the same time, I’m not racing Baja. I also didn’t have every single dollar.
On that note… if any of you out there have any pull with any of the off-road companies orrrrrrrrrrr want to fill my bank account with upgrade money… call me.
With age comes wisdom, or it is supposed to, and while I have often proven this to be wrong, I like to think I didn’t drop the ball this time.
I decided that there were others that knew more than I did and so… I reached out to Apex Overland in Greensboro, NC and asked.
What I settled on was a 3” lift from Toytec.
Uh… what?
Wasn’t that the company that I had a problem with when I first built Rogue?
Yep.
The difference is this. Toytec has now hooked up with Bilstein, a company that makes some of the best shocks in the off-road world. These were the shocks that I went with when I replaced my Toytec lift. So what does that mean?
It means that the coilover lift that I went with is built around some of the best shocks out there which made me feel comfortable enough to go with them again. Is it the top of the line, most capable suspension out there? Nope. Will it support upgraded bumpers? Nope. But it’s a start.
Here’s the deal. Whether you drive a Baja trophy truck or a Prius, suspensions eventually need to be replaced. I made the decision that before I spend every single dollar on a top of the line suspension, I wanted to see if I was even going to need it.
Sure, the argument can be made that I won’t know if I need it if I limit my capabilities right off the bat. I counter with this. If I break something, then I will know that I need a better suspension. When I decide that it is time to upgrade the bumpers, I will know that I need a better suspension. In the meantime, the suspension that I have has handled everything that I have thrown at it so far.
What are my plans for the future?
Well, initially, she needs rock sliders. I am probably going to go with RCI bolt on sliders. Actually, she will eventually have a fully armored underbelly and I will probably go with RCI for all of my armor but that is still over the horizon at this point.
She is also going to need a roof rack. That is a game changer. The ability to have my recovery equipment stored outside the truck and someplace that I can easily get to it, not to mention the ability to carry baggage there, is going to be huge. At this point I am planning on going with a Gobi Stealth rack.
Those are the next mods. What’s after that? Well… maybe an air compressor and air lockers, maybe bumpers, maybe an awning. Time will tell.
For now, I am going to see where I can take Freyja and where she can take me and make my future mods from there.
0 comments