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