Hondo Garage's New Thing

I have the same needs, I’m curious as well.

 

Most everyone on this site likes to throw way more suspension than they will ever need under their truck and then parrot why it's the best thing ever. If you are just going to be cruising down forest service roads heading to a nice camp spot, Bilstein shocks will do everything you need and a heavy duty leaf pack/rear bumps will keep your rear from dragging when loaded out.

If you are not trying for lift, just trying to compensate for the constant rear weight a new leaf pack and appropriate length shocks should be all you need. The Deaver U402 or OME Dakar EL096R with a Bilstein 5100/5125/5160 would be a good option that will fill most needs of an overlanding truck that's not bombing through the desert or going rock crawling. I'd add SumoSprings or Timbrens to deal with the biggest bumps and you'd have a reasonably solid setup.

 

Shay is onto something in his statement but I would like to add a few things when considering suspension.

Considering your expected weight load, you're on the right track getting a set of custom springs. The springs support the payload. Shocks dampen the ride. Although I do agree with @hoarder23 that most people try to throw on too much suspension, a payload that extreme will make your vehicle work. You also have to consider if this estimated weight is going to be full time or fluctuate for trips.

If you're just hitting fire roads a mono tube Billy will definitely do the work, however I would recommend getting a reservoir with adjusting abilities. This will also allow you to have the shock valving altered to compensate for the additional weight load. Although fire roads are not technical you can definitely get a shock to start fading if not adequate enough so the additional fluid capacity on a resi shock will give you ease of mind while an adjuster will allow you to alter dampening externally depending on if you're only carring the camper while daily driving or if you're fully loaded for a trip.

This does not mean you have to go to a 2.5" shock. You can if you want to throw out the change but a 2.0 w/ resi would be more than ideal and give you more bang for buck.

Icon and Fox offer a 2.0 w/ adjuster for OE fitment. I'm not aware of a King or ADS that is available. You'd have to go 2.5" for those companies.

 

I may stand corrected. I'm not seeing an option for a CDC adjuster for the 2.0 series Icon. Maybe contact them direct and ask?
http://iconvehicledynamics.com/shop...es-remote-reservoir-rear-shock-0-15-lift.html

Fox 2.0 w/ adjuster for 0-1.5" lift.
https://www.ridefox.com/product.php...=Toyota&model=Tacoma+&year=2018&position=Rear

 

I agree with this post and I agree with your original thoughts on Deaver, @The Smith
I run the Stage 2 Deaver kit, and got it based on plans for GFC and rear bumper, etc. I know someone who has the stage 2 kit and runs a GFC, and they are very happy with it.
Deaver Expedition stage 3 is the way to go for you, based on your weight.

Shock wise, I agree with getting compression adjusters. It helped me a lot when I was loaded up vs not. Loaded up, set to stiff and cruising around town unloaded set to soft. It makes a real difference.

Personally, it's overkill, but so is a GFC, and so is a lot of what we do to our trucks, I would just recommend King over Icon or anyone else.
If you decide to go king, you can order direct or from a shop and get them valved and tuned over the phone, by providing your vehicle weight. They will get things pretty damn close just by that alone. From there, they usually will give you 1 free re-tune if necessary.

 

A lot of distributors will offer a "custom tune" with purchasing a set of shocks. King is not the only option for that. The only issue I see with the King route is they don't offer a very budget friendly option for OE fitment. It's pretty much go all in or nothing.

@AccuTune Offroad is one of the many vendors that come to mind that will offer valving changes based on weight.

 

You couldn't pay me to buy shocks from @AccuTune Offroad after my recent experience with them.
You are absolutely right, Many options to call different shops and provide weights. They will have King build them.

 

Thanks for the tag.

Yes we offer custom tuning (free) with purchase of (king or Fox) shocks from us. We get all the weights, measurements and driving style from the customer to decide the right tune. We do not put the same tune in everyones truck. What we offer for recreational 4wheelers, is the same technology we use for tuning high end race cars.

 

We recently had some staff issues, which have been dealt with. We sincerely apologize for the service you received, but I can assure you that will never be the case again. We take great pride in offering our customers the absolute best service, product and tuning on the market.

 

Wasn't trying to bring up a touchy subject. Was just the first company that came to mind and they offer more than just King products so they can provide the best option per application.

 

I was reading some previous posts from people that gave their time line once they were "In production notified." I believe one person had their camper completed in 2 months and someone else it took 3 months from the date of that notice. Is this about right?

 

It should be closer to two months now. There were some delays in May around overland expo.

 

Yea 2” mattress. I’m using a thinner sleeping bag than I did in my old rtt, which also had a mattress topper, so this seems pretty firm to me so far (4 nights) but I imagine I’ll be able to do something about it.

Are you saying that after a few nights the mattress got softer?

I have the deaver stage 3 leaf pack and I thought it rode great with just a rear bumper with swing out, spare tire, gas cans. Now with the gfc I still think it rides great.

 

Oh and... my campsite for tonight. First this week with cell service. Seems like such a luxury to be able to plan tomorrow’s route on google maps before starting to drive into civilization. Big thanks to @2ayne for recommending it.

 

Where was this site? Planning my camping for the GFC install in August.

 

I’d say this goes without saying but PLEASE don’t post the location on an open forum. Unless you want to camp there with 15 other rigs and clean up a bunch of beer cans. Again i don’t want to sound preachy but I’d ask via PM. Just my $.02


That said having just been in the Utah/ Idaho/ Montana area for a few weeks it’s almost impossible not to find an epic campsite every night. I’m from the East coast so it was completely foreign to me but there’s literally millions of acres of land with dirt roads that are free and open to use... i way-pointed a TON of Epic spots just out exploring so I could revisit them next time. It’s so cool out west... sigh

 

Grab a map, drive down a back road, find an campsite. There's plenty of public land and seldom traveled roads to end up on.

You'll stumble on an amazing spot once in a while, and it feels better knowing you found it versus following directions from someone on the internet.

 

It's off GFC topic but figured it is something people should be informed of: http://idahonews.com/news/local/ano...rted-on-billionaire-wilks-brothers-idaho-land

I live in Idaho and you are partially correct about open access to many epic places, but a dark trend has started. The most recent example is a couple of billionaires buying old logging land and then putting up gates on publicly maintained roads. Some of these gates turn out to be legal because the roads were maintained by the logging companies, while others were maintained by public funding and are not legal. Either way there are huge swaths of public lands essentially being lost, no recreating or hunting, because we can't access them without going through what is now private, gated property. It is a sad reoccurring story in the west. I know Montana had been dealing with it as well. Political influence is being bought to protect the wealthy and lawsuits are long, slow, and expensive when you are competing leagues above your pay grade

 

Has anyone figured out a way to prevent or reduce condensation in the tent? We woke up to wet fabric on the inside which wasn't fun on a +/- 30 degree morning. Pic for attention.

 

Do you have the new tent fabric?