The Ultimate Shop Truck

There’s no ideal vehicle to travel out of. Every single one has its positives and negatives.

This 2005 Toyota Tundra is our take on the perfect vehicle. It’s got it all, capability off-road, comfort on the highway, and an absolutely killer camp setup on the back.

Doing that wasn’t easy.

While Toyota’s are reliable, if you bolt +2,000 lbs to the back of one and drive it as hard as we do down in Baja, you’ll need to beef a few things up.

We went through it all. Every single suspension component has been changed for stronger ones, and the entire frame has been boxed in. We swapped a full-float Dana 60 into the rear end and have gusseted every suspension mounting point. The entire braking system has been swapped out for bigger & better components.

We’ve done our best to turn this Tundra’s chassis into a 1-ton truck.

There’s a reason why a ute with a tray on the back of it is so common over in Australia. They are, hands down, the most practical thing to travel out of. So we stuck a MITS Alloy on the back of ours.

We went for a 50% tray, 50% canopy setup. The best of both worlds. We have internal storage space for a kitchen, power system, and gear that needs to be inside. Plus, a back deck for the fridge, firewood, wet wetsuits, and all the stuff that can live outdoors.

The amount of storage you get and how accessible it all can be is the best feature of a tray & canopy. They also look damn good.

We like to camp comfortably, probably a bit too comfortably, but that’s ok. We’ve jammed this truck with so many amenities. We can stay out for weeks and have everything we need. The full kitchen has a coffee machine, induction cooktop, fridge, oven, slide-out pantry, and satellite internet. We have a heated blanket & diesel heater, a pass-through GFC rooftop tent, and 12 gallons of fresh water. Enough power to run and charge anything, and lighting everywhere we need. This thing is so dialed, it’s like we never left home.

The truck is mainly built to cruise around Baja in search of waves. We built it to be able to crush hundreds of miles of washboard roads and carry a couple of thousand pounds on its back. Baja backroads are known to be tough. They’re full of jagged rocks, rough washboard and have massive dips & whoops scattered across them.

So we strengthened nearly every single aspect of the chassis and suspension so that we could go down, drive hard, and know we would have the reliability in robustness in the truck to get us back no matter how hard we hit that random dip we didn’t see coming out of a corner.

The list of unmodified things on this truck is shorter than the modified list. We haven’t touched the engine, cab, or transmission. Thats it. Everything else on the truck has been modified in some way or another.

It’s a purpose-built vehicle, with Baja surf trips in its crosshairs.

The Tundra

  • 2005 Toyota Tundra

  • Access Cab

  • Limited

  • 4x4

Driveline

  • Factory Toyota 4.7 V8 engine & 5-speed transmission

  • FJ Cruiser transfer case with twin stick modification

  • Custom Oceanside Driveline rear drive shaft

  • CVJ high-angle front CV axles

  • Factory front differential. (4.88 gears, ARB air locker, ECGS needle bearing delete)

  • Custom-built East Coast Gear Supply Dana 60 rear axle. (4.88 gears, ARB air locker, 67” WMS, 35 spline chromoly axle shafts, 6 bolt Toyota lug pattern, full float hubs, 3/4 ton disc brakes, ARB diff cover)

  • Crown Performance braided stainless steel ARB air locker lines

  • GPS wheel speed sensor sending unit

Brakes

  • Powerbrake big brake kit with PB05 upgraded pads

  • Crown Performance custom braided brake lines front and rear

  • Wilwood rear brake proportioning valve

  • 3/4 ton rear disc brakes

  • Toyota T100 Master cylinder & brake booster

Wheels & Tires

  • BF Goodrich 35x12.5R17 KM3 tires

  • Custom-made BRAID wheels (17x7.5, 0mm offset, 108mm hub bore, beadlock-B system, Antracite)

  • APEX Designs rapid air up/down valve stems

Miscellaneous Truck

  • 100 series land cruiser snorkel

  • Centri pre-filter

  • Custom aluminum 24-gallon auxiliary fuel cell

  • ARB Twin air compressor & locker manifolds

  • Custom side exit exhaust with Magnaflow muffler

Armor / Barwork / Gussets

  • Modified Tacoma ARB front bumper (WARN ZEON 10, Master Pull synthetic line)

  • Custom rear hitch

  • White Knuckle off-road rock sliders

  • Custom aluminum front skid plate

  • Shock tower gussets

  • Spindle gussets

  • Cam tab gussets

  • Fully boxed frame & gusseted cross members

  • Additional cross member above rear axle

  • Gusseted steering rack mounts

Front Suspension

  • Arizona Desert Racing 2.5” coilovers with resis, adjusters, and 700lb coils

  • Speciality Control products upper control arms

  • Solo Motorsports factory length lower Control arms

  • Speciality Control products 1.5” travel hydraulic bump stops

  • 10” limit straps

Rear Suspension

  • Arizona Desert Racing 2.5” rear shocks with resis & adjusters

  • Speciality Control products 3” travel hydraulic bump stops

  • Custom Alcan leaf springs for 3” of lift & 2500lbs of additional weight

  • East coast gear supply Dana 60 u-bolt flip kit

  • Archive garage Hammer hangers & shackles

  • Currie Enterprises Antirock sway bar

  • 16” limit straps

Truck electronics

  • Custom Off-Grid Engineering dual battery system

  • REDARC BCDC1225

  • REDARC load disconnect (for self-jump start)

  • DC-Power 270A alternator & big three wire upgrade

  • 2x Group 35 Full-Throttle batteries

  • Switch-Pros 9100

  • Kenwood TM-D710 radio

  • Alamosa dual-band radio antenna

  • Baja Designs 40” ONX6+ light bar

  • Baja Designs Squadron SAE fog lights

  • Baja Designs rock lights

  • ARB Intensity V2 LED driving lights

  • Baja Designs RTL-M 3rd brake light

  • iPad Mini for nav/music

  • REDARC tow pro

Tray & Canopy

  • MITS Alloy 1870mm x 2050mm x 850mm tray

  • MITS Alloy 1870mm x 1000mm x 850mm canopy

  • MITS Alloy stubby sideboards

  • MITS Alloy 30L headboard water tank

  • MITS Alloy fenders & under tray toolboxes

  • MITS Alloy ladder rack

  • MITS Alloy under tray drawer

  • MITS Alloy rear ladder

  • Custom rear canvas walls

  • Custom twin spare tire mounts

  • Custom interior fit out (single drawer w/slide out table, pull out vertical pantry, battery cover, oven mount)

  • Go Fast Campers V2 pass through XL Roof Top Tent

  • ARB Awning

  • L-Track tie-downs throughout tray & canopy

Canopy electronics

  • REDARC REVISION system w/ 3x screens

  • REDARC Manager 30

  • REDARC BCDC1250

  • REDARC 3000W inverter

  • RELiON 300ah low temp lithium battery

  • REDARC 240W folding solar blanket

  • REDARC water tank level sensors

  • 1500w Induction cooktop

  • Nespresso coffee machine

  • Starlink 12v satellite internet

  • 12v camp oven

  • ARB Elements fridge/freezer

  • Exterior solar input Anderson SB50 connector

  • Exterior 12v Anderson SB50 connectors

  • 110v outlets

  • USB/USB-C outlets

  • Hardkorr lights on canopy doors

  • Interior Baja Designs rock light

  • Exterior cargo area Baja Designs S1

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