Driving a Tacoma around the world

Subscribed! Contingencies...

 

Looks fantastic! Depending on whether we start our trip in Mexico or Australia we would love to meet up!

PS if you read all of the State Department Travelers Advisories you will never leave your house. Always exercise precautions of course but in general the world is a friendly and safe place.

 

^100%

My brother and I spent my 21st birthday in the mid 90's in Havana, drinking a 1/2 gallon bottle of Crown Royal with the street vendors deep into the night.
Anti US Propaganda billboards literally visible from where we sat under the stolen power that lit the lamps that hung over their makeshift tables.

Had a blast with the locals that week between Havana and Varadero, and did it with nothing more than a pocket Spanish/English dictionary.

Only bumped into a couple folks that spoke some broken English, but everyone we met was awesome. Almost without fail we were walked home by the locals to whatever dive motel we had chosen for the night.

Cuba was of course, a no-go back in those days. Literally printed in my passport, IIRC.

 

@RoundtheWorld What do you plan on doing for water storage and purification?

 

The camper will have a 20 gallon tank not counting a 4 gallon hot water tank as well. We plan on pumping water from a bucket/creek/mud puddle using a suction hose thru a Shurflo water pump and then having it run through a Pura UVB-2 (this is a two filter system with a 5 µm sediment filter and 0.5 µm carbon filter with a UV light) and then into the holding tank. That way all the water in the tank will have been treated so no reason to keep your mouth closed during a shower.

 

Awesome. Aren’t you picking up your camper soon? If you’re driving up by I-5 and need a place to stay in Ashland, Oregon drop me a line as we have a studio that’s available. We use it occasionally for couch surfers.

 

Thanks for the invite, I will let you know! I just received an email that my camper should be ready mid July! Can't wait!

 

Toyota gives a pretty accurate payload rating on their website and in the brochures.

If you get a somewhat basic SR5 extended cab with 38 gallon tank, you'll have a payload of ~1.5k lbs. Moreover, if the OP is considering going over GVWR, which it seems he is, then it makes a lot more sense to do so with a Tundra vs a Tacoma (the former is much more overbuilt compared to the latter).

3/4 ton's are nice, but cost more and use more fuel. You have to pay to play.

 

I like “Taco for two in route”. I’m excited for you OP! Perhaps emailing or sending Toyota Corporate a letter may be a benefit by the end of your trip. Good luck on everything, following this thread for sure!

 

I like that slogan. We're planning on contacting Toyota NA about sponsorship this winter after it's all ready to go, never hurts to ask. Stay tuned as the truck is getting a Long Range Automotive 33 gallon tank in 3 weeks and on July 11th, it heads into the shop for it's transformation into an international overlanding Taco, lots of photos to come

 

It comes down, in my mind, to track width. The Taco's track is 63", the Tundra's is 68" while the world-standard Hilux is only 59". In the less traveled roads where we've been and we're hoping to go again, all full-sized trucks will be "pinstriped" or worse. Yes, I'm definitely pushing the capabilities of the Taco but driven slow I'm hoping it will be fine.

This spring on property that I manage, I was having to charge through 18" of spring snow drifts with my stock Ram 1500 work truck and got stuck 3 times. My shop guys laughed when I told them that if they would have put on 33" with lockers I wouldn't have gotten stuck. Which is probably true, I would have been able to crawl through with a more capable truck vs doing high speed runs with a stock one. I can take things easy with an extremely capable truck, at least that's thinking

 

Hey OP, you should update your first post with what your actual build turns into -- unless it hasn't strayed from your original ideas. Enjoying watching this. I've toyed with the fantasy of driving as far south as I can through Central and South America. Now would probably not be a good time to do that, though, lol.

 

Good idea, just updated the front page. In a bit I’ll details the camper mods

 

I think you're far too concerned about track width while not giving enough attention to payload and overall capability.

Yes a 1/2 ton truck will be wider, but even in stock form it will fit and go just about anywhere a Tacoma can go. The worst you'll be looking at in a realistic scenario is some pin striping, which isn't a big deal in the grand scheme of your overall plan/trip. That's the biggest con against the Tundra.

The biggest con against the Tacoma is that its payload, towing, and overall robustness aren't nearly as capable as that of the Tundra. For weekend trips or even dedicated overland use within the OEM payload specs, there is absolutely nothing wrong or weak about a Tacoma. But for your intended use (overland travel in remote areas often carrying over-GVWR loads) the Tundra is subjectively, and objectively, a better vehicle to go with.

Weigh both cons. In my mind, having a Tacoma breakdown because of added weight is a bigger issue than having a Tundra get some pin striping on its sides.

 

Sounds like the OP pretty much has a built truck so discussing weight concerns sounds like beating a dead horse at this point...

 

There's probably some weld-on frame reinforcements that could be done to address some extra weight, although the flat bed probably helps stiffen things up a bit anyway. As long as it is sprung and damped properly for the weight, I think it should be fine if driven reasonably. Good call on upping the winch to 10K. I don't carry near that weight but still thought the 8K was likely too small for some situations. And that would be the one situation I find myself in.

Does the flatbed add or drop weight? With that camper at 1300 lbs., you are likely pretty accurate on your 1800 estimate. The regearing will help with strain on the powertrain.

Really cool build, can't wait for pics.

 

Definitely going to ask the shop to look at adding a steel quarter inch plate on the outboard edge of the frame aft of the rear axle.

A basic flatbed would probably be a wash regarding weight. But the Norweld flatbed with 4 boxes added and despite taking off the headache rack is probably 100 lbs heavier than the bed, tailgate, hitch, and rear bumper.

 

Payload posted on Toyota's website is not consistent with the door jamb sticker. If that were true, my DCSB TRD OR should be closer to 1,200lbs, not 950lbs listed on the sticker.

 

To re-hash old points:
My sticker numbers are:
GVWR 5,600 lbs
Front 2,910
Rear 3,280

My empty weight was 4,350 lbs so my payload is 1,250 lbs. I'm hoping to not run over the combined front and rear maxs, but stay tuned for the real weight of the modified truck and camper in 4 or 5 weeks.

 

First mod! 275/70/17 BFG KO2 instead of the stock 265/65/17 Toyo open country. Next Wednesday it is heading to Sacramento to have the 33 gallon fuel tank installed. I am excited!