He doesn’t just play a rugged outdoorsman on TV…
A lot of people just assume Hollywood stars are all pretty soft, and considering the images many put forth that seems fair enough. However, there are exceptions like Kevin Costner of the hit TV show Yellowstone. To prove it, Costner, who owns a ranch in Colorado, showed off his custom Toyota Tundra which is outfitted for playing in the great outdoors.
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According to the actor, he’s very particular about what outdoor equipment he uses. That’s wise, because many people get themselves in dangerous situations by buying whatever and only looking at price tags, then that equipment fails at the worst possible time. Anyway, he settled on a Tundra for his outdoor toy hauler and had Complete Customs in McKinney, Texas do the upgrades.
Instead of just choosing some parts out of a catalog, Costner actually approached the shop with drawings he made of what he wanted for his truck. From there, Complete Customs did some renderings and after they were approved it was time to make the magic happen.
If you want to take a pickup truck out away from roads and into rough country, ground clearance is a primary concern. To address that, the Tundra has a 4.5-inch BDS suspension lift with Fox coilovers and shocks, plus 35-inch Nitto Ridge Grappler tires mounted on 18-inch Method Race Wheels.
Instead of going for rock rails, Costner seemed more concerned about reaching items on the roof and added N-Fab side steps, which makes sense considering he’s probably not going rock crawling.
The reason for using a pickup truck instead of an SUV for venturing into the great outdoors is to take advantage of the utility the bed provides. There are sliding storage boxes in the payload as well as a Dometic dual-zone cooler to keep food, fresh caught fish, or whatever nice and cold.
One of the most advanced parts of the build was the two-piece roof rack. It was custom designed and fabricated, then attached to the ARE V Series Truck Cap. It’s so long it covers not only the bed area but also the cab, allowing Costner to haul a long canoe, inflatable raft, jerrycans, or whatever other outdoor equipment he wants to bring along.
The front and rear bumpers were custom-fabricated using heavy-gauge steel, and you’ll notice the front bumper is tapered to prevent tire rub when off-roading. There’s a Warn winch mounted to each bumper. The LED light bars and other lighting elements were all sourced from Rigid Industries, which makes some of the best LED lights out there, but they’re not exactly cheap.
To secure items in the truck while Costner is away from it and enjoying the outdoors, he had two Lock’er Down security safes installed in the cab. One is locked under the rear seats and the other is in the center console. Since the truck is used by the actor, his three kids, and his wife, there are monitors mounted in the front headrests, as well as a padded area for the little ones to sleep.
