Driving a Tacoma around the world

I have airbags and daystars on mine too, for towing and for leveling when loaded up for extended trips. They are great!

 

Been awhile since I was on this thread, don't waste your time with Dakars, get a set of custom made springs from Deaver or elsewhere once you know the weights.

 

A lot of these so called light weight aluminum bumpers are not that light weight. The FCBI one is about the same weight as the arb summit bumper or within 10% which is not much of a weight savings given the benefit of steal.

 

Welcome back! Too late man. Installed this week, finger are crossed. The owners of Mule Expedition Outfitters convinced me that the heavy duty Dakars will work great - they've installed them on multiple Tacomas/Colorados carrying this amount of weight with no problems. They also said that parts and service for Dakars are available around the world. If not, my plan B is to run airbags, plan C Deavers...

Regarding weight of the front bumpers. From what I've found, the ARB summit runs about 160 lbs while the aluminium version of the CBI T2 bumper is 70. If they were the same weight, definitely wouldn't do aluminium. The CBI website for the T2 bumper is confusing as the specs of 185 lbs doesn't change even if you put in aluminium instead of steel. If not, I've wasted $450 on a less strong bumper.

 

I've put the RideRites on my last 2 Tacomas -- cheap, functional, adjustable, and out of the way. Only need a bicycle pump to adjust the pressure. Cheap insurance to deal with changing load weights.

 

Hmm, the CBI one I was looking at was not much difference in weight its actually listed at 185lbs, no hoops. Although now that I look at it that weight is probably for the steel and is not changing when I select aluminum. Damn.

Keep me posted on the trip and also the offer still stands if shit hits the fan or are stuck. I'll PM you my cell/email/whatever again and will do what I can to help.

https://cbioffroadfab.com/product/t3-front-bumper-current/

 

i hate to do it, and i didnt ready all 25 pages, but im gonna risk being the first one to say -

"what a dream, but it aint gonna happen. Not as planned".



That said, i REALLY hope OP has the freaking financial and practical resources to see this through. It would make the news. Realize theres a lot of fanangling to get ship rides from continent to continent... Youre not gonna turn a tacoma into a sea worthy amphibian, and its not like you can just hop on any transcontinental oceanliner.

I legit wish you all the luck in the world you plan to circumnavigate! Props for your wife being down to do it too, its going to be far from anything easy! Im subbed to the thread, ill love to hear of every mile you go, but im really hoping in three years you prove me wrong, and that i see your names on every news channel in town because you drove a freakin pickup truck around the world. Bon Voyage!

 

Waitaminute, I know that lift..

(we did the LRA install there so Cruiser Brothers could document the process)

 

Yes sir, Cruiser Brothers did this about 10 days ago. I believe this is the 1st one on a access cab

 

BTW I would run an extra leaf in the rear packs if you haven't done so from the start (I do with a Vagabond Drifter, drawers, LRA, 15g water tank, bumper, etc). Two if you are going to be 1000lbs over. Will help keep things happy and less stress for bags. Mine has had about 15k of adventurous miles and hasn't moved with that setup.

Have had good luck with E rated tires vs punctures for the past few years.

 

Thank you for the help in advance. West Africa is my biggest concern. It has everything; ferocious mud, unstable governments, bribe attempts, bad roads, language barriers-don't speak French. Looking forward to it

 

Thank you the encouragement. Enough financial resources is always in question, but I think we can do it. I want to show people that you can retire early and spend only $3000 a month while not giving up too much comforts while driving around the world.

We're planning on shipping the truck in a 20' container between 5 different continents. A couple of them will be a real PITA, the others will be pretty easy.

My wife is a real trooper, believe it or not she is the one pushing to travel. I promised her when we got married that we would travel and I have been remiss until now…

The people on TacomaWorld have been great. I will be picking up the truck outfitted next week. Over the next 6 months we will be testing it. Might need overload springs or air bags, or something else we'll see

 

Keep a couple bars of plain ivory soap and epoxy putty in your emergency supply kit. The soap makes a good emergency gas tank hole plug you can whittle to fit and it doesnt dissolve in fuel, and epoxy for repairs later.

 

Good to to know, I was actually just thinking about how to repair a fuel leak.

 

Awesome! Will definitely pack them both. Thanks!

 

This is what a wet dream with wheels looks like!

 

A quick photo of it having arrived 30 minutes previously. More photos to come!

 

Very nice!

 

Thanks. It drives very nice. The suspension is simply amazing; super compliant on low speed big bumps while not leaning much while cornering. It's simply eerie. But I've never driven a truck with a top end suspension

 

The transformed truck. Driving at 60 mph for 200 miles on Interstate 5 achieved 14.7 mpg, about what I expected. Had to drive slow to break in the new 5.29 gears. First gear has been transformed, it now has plenty of grunt right off the get go. At 60 mph the engine was at 2,500 rpm, before it was doing 75 mph at 2,500 rpm.