Hondo Garage's New Thing

Could say the same to Toyota for whoever decided to put highway treads on the Pro's . AEV fenders fit 33's with no lift though. Either way the new version should up the ante; hope Japan has some ideas for the new Taco. Competition is better for consumers anyways!

 

“PRO” ha yeah. You’ll notice almost everyone on here runs an OR....

 

Yeah. Believe it or not these questions are for a friend. She will be traveling the county for 6 months with her GFC and she has some obvious concerns. Her number is in the very high 100’s though so I’m sure more will be out before her trip starts in April. But stealthing is important to me as well as it’s just easier sometimes when you’re driving 1000 miles to get somewhere....


Personally if i come across any bears my plan is to grin them to death like Davy Crocket.

 

Lol no but i do bend at the knees, waist, and neck. I’ve slept in a 2 dr wrangler on quite a few occasions so a 5ft bed is just fine in a pinch. Also depending on your life experiences any truck bed is pretty nice. Got any buddies in the Military. You should see where those guys can sleep.

 

Exactly, with little to extreme suspension modifications. The only crutch I really deal with is inboard lower shock mounts. Once I have a tig that'll change to outboard and hence solve clearance issues. A buddy has a BDS 4" lift and 35's that really props the truck up. He keeps up with Jeeps on 37's through the mud. Last trip we took I went through one of the harder trails up in Drummond Island completely stock. We only saw Jeeps around, but almost no one in MI owns a Toyota anyways, so might be a two fold reason lol.

 

He did not. Though i didn’t ask.... now that i have it that doesn’t bother me “as much”. For some reason i can’t picture a thief having any idea how to get in lol. Plus once your in you don’t have a good way of getting something like a fridge out Be interesting to see what accessories they do start selling though.

 

Nice. I’ve been thinking about a fridge slide too. Especially if I get a decked system. Can you tell me if you’re able to access the fridge through a side panel? I can see the fridge won’t open much, but would it be able to open enough to grab a beer? Same question for a yeti tundra 45 cooler.. similar height as an arb fridge except the lid opens differently.

I’m also wondering if you could grab a measurement between the top of the deck and the bottom of the ceiling. Wondering if a pitbike could fit in the bed..

Thanks for any help

 

When I stealth camp in the city, it's not just safety I worry about but also attracting the attention of law enforcement. With the tent up, it's obvious that someone is sleeping inside.

 

I agree. Same goes for sleeping in a ski resort parking lot or somewhere that overnight parking is allowed, but camping is not allowed. No one would know if you’re in the bed, but the tent would be a dead give away.

 

I know that some of the towns along the Oregon coast have very strict ordinances, like a $600 fine, if you're caught stealth camping even if all the local hotels are booked. I live in a small town. I do overnight trips to the big city and would rather not cough up $150 for a hotel room. In the big city security is important along with the stealth factor. Also in small towns, I sometimes frequent the local brewery, so it would be nice to just crawl into my GFC instead of hitting the highway with few too many pints in me

 

@CalTacoma09

 

Not recommended. Those rivets are enclosed on the backside to make them waterproof. A regular blind rivet is open on the back which lets water through the center hole. There's not a lot of material back there to grind away. The rivets are close to the tube but if installed properly they won't hit. We just made a mistake and will be working with him to fix it. The fix is as easy as loosening a few bolts and retightening with the hinge pushed a bit farther out. But as @ace7196 pointed out, there are a few details to pay attention to when you loosen up the panels so we plan to put together a little protocol to make it easier.

 

My bad! I will delete that post. It looked like they were solid rivets, not blind.

 

@YOTA 4X4 - It's not the most "secure", but the rear striker plates have a slot in them that can be used for fashioning some latch cords. Either small bungee or P-cord tied to the holes in the rear panel stiffener and knotted so they can be pulled up into the slots. I don't have any photos on me at the moment. It does at least keep the panel from flapping around when it's not latched.

As for stealth, I've given up. These days I'm shameless and pop the thing up in parking lots, rest areas, side of the road, etc. And for some reason I never get hassled anymore. Probably comes down to having a new looking truck. I've had a perfect no-hassle record sleeping in hotel/motel parking lots. That's all west coast though. Can't speak to the east

 

I didn’t say anything about “the bad man”..

And what are your suggested “much nicer, legal areas” that are “only a few miles away”?

Are you talking about getting a hotel room? Some that are as close as the parking lot I was referencing, are $500 a night. If you get a cheap room with in driving distance of the parking lot, maybe $200 if they aren’t fully booked.. which mid season, they are usually fully booked.

If you’re talking about a campground.. there are none open in the winter within an hour’s drive of any of the resorts I frequent (that I’ve been able to find atleast).

So for killington, your legal options are:
$500/night hotel
$200/night hotel
Rutland Walmart parking lot half hour away

Not legal option:
Parking lot in the base area

 

This...


If you’ve never done it i guess you wouldn’t understand. But stealthing is just a reality of cross country travel. The less than glamours, non-IG part. I’m not saying anything people don’t know but we can’t all be in mountains in Wyoming all the time..... sometimes you’ve gotta be at Walmart in Fort Wayne... lol

 

I've always managed to find an area I can camp at for every stop when driving cross country. I'll drive an extra hour to avoid stopping at Walmart. Takes a little research sometimes but there's always something within a reasonable distance of your route.

Going back a few posts to your friend's grizzly concern - nothing to be worried about. Slept in mine plenty of times and had no bear problems. If a bear wanted in the panels wouldn't keep them out any longer than the tent material.

 

I've considered getting an NRA sticker just for deterring people. The only thing I carry is bear spray which covers 30 ft, so about the safest non-lethal available to civilians. As for legal vs. illegal, Walmart is always legal and I find that in the back of the lot is usually the best. I did that in my old subaru outback driving across country. No issues, but if there would have been I can easily spray and go from there lol. With the GFC I wouldn't hesitate to pop up in a Walmart though. Really a non-issue if you stick to legal 'camping'. I also find no one disturbs you from 11pm to 5am anyways.

 

I think that second one is the biggest single thing. Folks have ruined so much by not packing out. If there was no evidence that folks were there, we'd have so much more still available to use.

But then, I still can't teach my kids to take the stuff out of a room that they bring in with them.

 

Again..... this seems like a regional issue. And FWIW NOT all Walmart allow camping overnight anymore. SoCal and the #VanLife movement ruined a lot of that.

As for an NRA Sticker my vote is the EXACT opposite. I’m thinking about sticking a ladder on the rack and cutting some vinyl that says “Uncle Joe’s Roofing” or something like that with a generic phone number lol... i like that mine looks like a contractor truck not a super duper 90k Overland rig....