Driving a Tacoma around the world

Ha, literally the same thing happened to me when purchasing a SnugTop a few years back. Careful who you have working on anything electrical!

 

My 2 cents... consider shocks that are widely available. Idk if those high end OME shocks are. But Dakar leaf packs are GTG

 

What a fun idea and great adventure! Kudos to you OP!

 

I second the Nisan frontier suggestion. Shoot I’ve even seen them in Nepal. Land cruiser might be another good option.

 

Eh, yes, but with a big caveat. From experience I've had to refuel our company (diesel) ranger in some fairly remote places. Some villages had no electricity but they did have a pair of pumps, the attendant would pull a lever attached to the side, kinda similar to a slot machine, and literally pump fuel into the truck. I don't really remember one that didn't offer at least one grade each of "gasoil" and "petrol."

That said, big problems exist with both types. If you run a diesel engine, it can't be a modern North American model unless you run a detuning mod. Some countries don't distinguish between ULSD and "off-road" grades of diesel.

Gasoline is more uniform around the world, except that they use different units: their octane rating of 98 translates to our 93, their 95 is our 87. Most countries don't add ethanol. I haven't seen leaded gas in years, I doubt there are refineries that are still producing it, but I'd still check before filling, out of habit.

Water contamination is a huge issue. Especially in the tropical areas. Carry a hydrometer and check the specific gravity of your fuel. Be in the habit of partially filling a Jerry can and checking it before sticking the nozzle into the tank. Otherwise you had better have some decent wrenching skills and know how to dry out an engine.

 

If you are going to Germany you may want to wait for a supercharger of turbo so you can hang with traffic on the Autobahn!!! Lol!

Keep us posted with you travels.

 

Mind sharing your route of posting a link?

 

www.gofastcampers.com or the Vagabond Drifter website would be a VERY good place to start. Both threads have a huge amount of information on setting up your truck to camp while still staying light and mobile. If you’re serious about doing it in the Taco I’d keep it as simple as possible. As mentioned adding complexity and weight will not help.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/hondo-garages-new-thing.516490/#post-16314648

There’s well over 7000 responses on that thread.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/vagabond-drifter-camper-buildout-and-mods.540940/

Quite a few here as well....

Overall advice would be to keep things like tires and wheels “standard” take it easy on your vehicle and have a plan to back out if you need too (I mean of the trip, the country, or heck a sticky spot in the Mud) consider the exit before you enter...


I feel like my truck is set up very similar to what you’re looking for. That said 2 weeks is the MOST I’ve ever spent in it without a break. To be honest if I was planning to travel for years I’d have to be in something that I can get from the driving position to the back (kitchen, bed, food ext.) without getting out.

Have you considered a truck built on a 4x4 Fuso chassis? Most of those are built with world travel in mind. Google it...

Either way I’d love to follow along. Good luck please keep us updated and welcome to TacomaWorld.

 

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I have been to every continent, and to most 3rd world countries. The " United staes plastic bed Tacoma" would be my absolute last choice. The reason?? You already said the words yourself in your first post. I.mean let's be smart, they don't have a drainable tank, or even a replaceable fuel filter. Good luck op

 

Do not go with BP-51's and OME Dakar leaf springs. They cannot handle the weight you are putting on the truck. I just went through this right now with a drifter on the back and the truck only had a decked and rear bumper on and they inverted. The ones I had with an extra two AAl (as recommended by ARB) were 880lbs capacity, that will not be enough for the FWC alone. Those suckers are heavy. I just switched out to deavers and kings, fantastic ride. Personally go with a good suspension that is easy to get replacements for. Sure you can ship anything anywhere, but you will not always get the packages there. If they do ship it ,have them do it in a blank box with a non company address/labeling. The courier depots were common stealing points, especially if the locals new that expats frequented the shops. Also 2 wks for a part delivery is more like 4wks, fyi. .

Personally, if i were going to do this, I would find a diesel hilux or 79 series, add in a second fuel tank (probably will not need it except for parts of africa and South America), actually screw that I would go with a unimog, miss the one i had.

Anyways you got a taco, considering you have experience in Africa, install a second fuel filter should be the first mod. The locals tend to steal the fuel out of the fuel trucks and drop in used oil/water/etc into the tanks to make up for the loss of volume in the tanker. And by steal I mean to the tune of 1000's of litres. I spend 4 years in west africa and this was extremely common especially if having to get fuel from TOTAL. Also make sense to get one of the funnel filters as well as you may have to buy it off the side of the street in some village, that is usually mixed with who knows what and is plagued with algae growth (diesel, which won't be an issue for you).

Do not drive at night anywhere in a 3rd world country, if it can be avoided. It was not uncommon for local villagers to push their kids out in front of us to try and get compensation if we ran them over. We would rarely drive off the compound as this was so damn common. Plus if a local was driving, we would just get out of the truck and jump in the second vehicle and be gone while the locals/company sorted it out, yes it happened a lot. Wasn't uncommon for locals to drive into the trucks and want compensation from the company. Granted that was a company they were after and not an individual.

Carry a thousand dollars in US cash in small denominations, 1's and 5's Hide the majority of it or put it somewhere it is easy access. I am not fond of bribing people, but sometimes it has to be done. remember in Africa in most countries 2-5 dollars is more than what some of these guys make in a day. Our work force was paid 3/day which was 6 times the national average for where we worked. US cash is king in international travel. I'd also carry a rolex as your watch. People may think I am crazy for suggesting this. but if shit hits the fan, you can buy your way our of a lot of places with it and they do not devalue as much as other watches. Damn stuck in the Ural's, war is about to break out and you need to get out. But you don't have enough cash? Well that little watch will save you bacon in many spots.

Also carry a second disposable wallet with copies of id's, old CC's etc. so if you do get mugged/robbed you can toss them that wallet and walk away, hopefully.

At the same point carry a thumb drive with scans of all your id's, credit cards, vaccination records, passports, etc. Get an iron key that is password protected. It also allows you to use internet cafes and do your banking/etc through secure channels. Why you may ask, well go do online banking from some internet cafe in in the Middle of Liberia. My bank locked out my acct cc, debit, etc. and I had zero access to cash for two weeks as they presumed it was illegal activity. They were notified not to do this as i was overseas, resulted in two weeks of phone calls for them to reinstate my cards, which is apparently extremely difficult to do once they are canceled.

Get an insurance called Global Rescue or one of the many others. If one of you gets hurt badly they will come and get you and fly you back to your hospital of choosing. They also had a kidnap and ransom team if I remember correctly which was a bunch of ex special forces. Can't remember if it was them or not, but they would come get you if shit hit the fan, rare as most people will get the hell out of dodge, but some people are morons with zero situational awareness and will keep pushing forward. I never thought this stuff existed and was just movie stuff (thinking of that russell crowe one where he works for a insurance company), but it does, completely mind blowing.

Oh for vehicle travel you will need to talk to an insurer to get carnets for various countries, I believe AAA does this. Royal pain in the ass and it can be expensive, just make sure you get it stamped in and out at every damn country.

Apologies, I went a little farther then you probably wanted, I have been in some sketchy spots over the years, seen a lot of terrible things that I will never forget, mostly it was all good things but the bad times are what you remember the most and change ya. No matter what you do, take a trip to expedition portal where other guys like me whom have this type of experience in international travel reside and exist. I am a scratch in the cap to what some of these guys have done.

i am off to go walk the pup, well maybe it is the other way around, she keeps looking at me like come on tubby lets get that fat ass trimmed back down either through walking or I am going to slice a piece off of it an eat it. She's all touch love this one.

 

Thank you all. Thought long and hard over buying an older (<2003) Ford F-250 diesel and changing all of the potentially worn-out parts but was worried about the complete lack of parts and inevitable breakdowns. A new diesel won’t work cause of the rest of the worlds diesel is still dirty. The deciding factor was driving in Australia, South Africa, Botswana and Western Europe and seeing that the width of a full-size truck would be severely handicapped on back country roads; one tire in the rut with the other out, brush was beating the crap off the Hilux even. For us at least the choice of the taco has been made. Being white it should blend in with the other half brother- Hilux’s at least at first glance. Gas is available but not quite as common as diesel for sure hence the 600 mile range.

Thanks @Shellshock and @hiPSI for the electrical advice, I’ll defintely follow it.

Will also upgrade the winch, cheap insurance

Interesting thought @Stocklocker

 

I’m being quite serious here. If you plan a round-the-world trip in a Tacoma, there are 10’s of thousands, if not 100’s of thousands of people who would be extremely interested in following your progress. A YouTube feed and a Patreon account could cover your fuel costs (not joking). Personally, I would subscribe and contribute.

This trip, to the best of my knowledge, is unprecedented in a Toyota Tacoma. The promotion of the vehicle from completing a journey like this would be unprecedented. Toyota USA would have to be fools not to capitalize on the opportunity. Having the backing of Toyota could be a huge help in a remote area. Look at what Toyota does for the guys at “expedition overland”, and those guys only travel to places in the Fodors Travel Guide with a “security officer”.

My sincere advice:

Prove to Toyota you are serious about this trip. Get some videography skills if you don’t already have them. Launch a YouTube channel and let us all contribute to this journey. I’d be stoked to see it happen, as I believe others here would as well.

 

agreed!

 

You are welcome. I too have driven all over the world and almost without exception I was in a Land Cruiser, even on the Trans Siberia highway. All were diesel. Everywhere except Brazil they were older. Good luck!

 

as far as checking fuel quality - be it gas or diesel - a product called kolorkut is what you want to use. I work in the marine industy and we use this when we are taking fuel. smear a little dab on a screwdriver etc.. and if there is water present it turns from yellow to red.

$7 Kolor Kut 3 Ounce Water Finding Paste

https://www.amazon.com/Kolor-Kut-Ou...UTF8&qid=1546717398&sr=8-1&keywords=kolor+kut

 

Contrarian view: If I were planning a trip like this for fun the LAST thing I would want is to be on someone else's schedule, which is what happens if you have sponsors.
Personally I would find a big Toyota parts supply house, talk to them about your plans and set up a plan with them as far as shipping parts to unique locations. I would try to do that on each continent to control the horrendous shipping costs.
Logistics are going to be a key here, not sponsors or videos.
My view.

 

Dang dude, I must have got lucky, the worst I had was the crazy lady that would dance in the street and wouldn't let traffic pass until someone gave her a dollar.

Yeah we got fender benders too, actually. Thank goodness I had a driver when that happened, because I would get out and walk five blocks away, he would pick me up 15 minutes later saying that the other party suddenly lost interest.

Cities are the worst, if it's visible and it only takes two people to lift it out of the bed, consider it gone. I had some co-workers in a momentary lapse of judgement, set their backpack in the back seat while they rode front passenger. All it took was a rock and a quick pair of hands, that pack along with the laptop and camera was gone in a flash.

Though if it were me, despite seeing some amazingly beautiful topography in West Africa, I sure as hell wouldn't go there unless someone paid me to. The road that follows the coast is gorgeous once you get south of Luanda, but if it were on my dime I'd rather bypass Sudan and ship the truck to Kenya, go down the southeast coast instead.

 

No they aren’t.

Not for the weight mentioned here.