Built for Anything: Kelsie Heck’s Off-Road Tacoma

Off-road builds don’t live easy lives. 

Desert heat. Long days.
Hard landings. No mercy.

That’s exactly why Kelsie Heck’s Tacoma deserves the spotlight.

It’s purpose-built, hand-crafted, and built to be ready.

Meet Kelsie Heck

Kelsie is the kind of person you want parked next to you at the trailhead.

She drives hard, she knows her stuff, and she’s not shy about sharing what she’s learned. No sugarcoating. No pretending.

And the biggest thing you notice about her isn’t just the build.
It’s the mindset.

Take a glance at the mindset from our interview with her at LS Fest Texas 2025:

What Makes This Build Different

This truck is entirely custom. Everything is hand-crafted and, for the most part, one-off specifically for this Tacoma.

That’s what separates it. It wasn’t built by picking parts off a shelf and hoping they play nice together. It was built with a vision and executed with intention.

“This build takes our love of horsepower and puts it to work in the off-road space.”

The Vision

Kelsie’s crew calls it “fast to go slow.”
Push hard to the trails, then spend the day crawling rocks.

The goal for the Claassen-built Tacoma was an Ultra4-inspired hybrid with an enclosed cab. Living in the Pacific Northwest, weather is unpredictable, so a sealed cab was a must.

Toyota is the preferred platform, so they gave it a full revamp to handle everything from high-speed desert runs to technical terrain.

Build Snapshot

Here’s the quick breakdown. 
Then we’ll get to Kelsie's favorite part of the build.

Engine
- 6.2 LS3
- Stage 3 LS3 NA Texas Speed Cam
- Holley Engine Management & Intake
- CHE Trunnion Eliminator
- Johnson link bar lifters
- Rear Mounted Radiator

Axles
Custom fabricated housings & 9-inch center sections

Shocks
- 16-inch Radflo coilovers and bypasses axle mounted in the front
- 14-inch Radflo coilovers and bypasses trailing arm mounted in the rear

What’s Her Favorite Part?

It’s how seamlessly the truck transitions between high-speed desert runs and technical rock crawling.

The 6.2 delivers serious power, but the suspension and chassis balance make it incredibly composed and predictable.

It’s aggressive when you want it to be and controlled when you need it to be.

Why the LS Makes Sense

Kelsie likes the LS platform for the same reason a lot of smart builders do. It’s straightforward. It’s modular. It’s supported everywhere.

And when you need to wrench, it doesn’t feel like the engine is fighting you the whole time.

That matters when maintenance is the mindset.

“We go over with a fine-tooth comb because we like our trucks to last our lifetime. We’re tearing it down, taking it apart, putting it back together almost every time we take it out.”

Follow Kelsie Heck

If you follow Kelsie, you’re going to pick up on a few things fast:

-Prep beats panic
-Reliability is earned, not assumed
-Build for the trail, not the comments

If you like real-world build talk and zero fluff, she’s worth the follow.
Follow Kelsie here: @whatthekelsieheck

Every build tells a different story.

This one is built to handle whatever the trail throws at it.

Stay tuned for more community builds coming soon.