Did I buy the right truck to Overland?

Overlanding is about as cool as owning a Honda Civic with a 5" exhaust tip or a stacked diesel truck jacked up on some retard black smoke tune. I thought it really was just wheeling and traveling but that isn't trendy #not trendy

 

Idk about over landing we just go camping and the tru k takes us there

 

^ basically what I’m gonna be doing soon.

Bought a good ground tent, getting great tires soon, have a cooler and an air mattress. Will be a nice few years ahead of us!

 

Like others have said, put the money you saved into recovery gear (maxtrax, winch)

The only time ive seen a lock as necessary is for serious rock crawling. Without a locker you have overcome those obstacles with speed (bump it) and risk breaking something.

Proper tires, tire pressure, and tire placement are far more important than a locker

-Fellow sr5 owner

 

Tires, deflator, inflator, maxtrax and you'll get in and out of most stuff. When I go somewhere where I'm pretty certain I'll get stuck I go w/ friends.

 

You are overthinking the shit out of this. I "overlanded" a 2003 Mercury Grand Marquis for like 5 years before I finally upgraded to a 4x4 Tacoma. Any 4x4 Taco is one of the best for this purpose regardless of trim.

 

This. "Overlanding" is the current hipster term for car camping in the US. I've taken a '74 Super Beetle and a '78 Westfalia more places than a goodly number of the so-called "overland" rigs will ever go (admittedly, old VWs are actually pretty capable vehicles with little more than a decent set of tires on them).

Throw your camping gear in the bed and go camping. The more you go, the more you'll figure out what kind of camping you like and what you need/want to make life more enjoyable on your trips. You don't need a rooftop tent, a bunch of Snowpeak gear, enough Rigid lights to illuminate a stadium, and the latest TAG gear jacket and pants.

 

Right

But if you are "Overlanding" you would need every thing that ARB sells, a roof tent, large drawers in the bed, light bars everywhere, and some plastic traction surfboards mounted on the roof.

I'm not saying I don't own some stuff but 90% of trucks I see with all that crap on them have not a single scratch or even a winch. But they have enough LED's to light a stadium.

Wheel it, break it, see what to add. Don't need all the junk to overland.

 

Wow

Bajatacoma wrote pretty much what I wrote at the same time. At least I know I'm not crazy!

 

run it... IF you ever get stuck enough that you wish you had a locker get one. I haven’t ever needed mine in my Tacoma for that matter I owned a Power Wagon for a few years and NEVER used either locker or stretched the which. Conversely I had a Wrangler Rubicon and used the lockers often. I think the fundamental difference is off-roading vs. overlanding. When I was an off-roader (Jeep) I took bigger chances and went farther, usually with other vehicles. As an Overlander I am normally alone and take far less risks, More of a dirt-roader than hardcore off-road.

All that said, I LOVE my Taco, it’s been the best vehicle I’ve had for this type of thing... and I have had A LOT! And if and when you re-gear add a locker to the back. No biggie.

 

Or maybe we're both crazy.

I'm not saying I want to get rid of my truck, but some of my best memories are of basically living out of a '74 Super Beetle after college (early 90s; I had a '75 FJ-40 too but the VW was a little faster and got better gas mileage). I had a roof rack with my bike and kayaks on top, my camping and climbing gear stayed in the car and as soon as I could slip out of work on Fridays I'd head to the mountains or beach and not come back until Monday morning.

 

You said your Super Beetle was faster...I think the FJ had like 60 wheel horsepower

What you said probably makes the Tacoma one of the best all around all purpose trucks. Haul some gear, go anywhere, and reliable. I don't think I will be selling my Taco anytime soon but I am absolutely not impressed with how it is built and all the hype/inflated cost to own one. Sure it will go probably over 300k but it has some serious flaws like an emissions system that will put you into limp mode, a half C channel frame that flops around like my square nose Chevy does, interior design that feels like I'm looking through a welding helmet (short windshield) while perched on the most uncomfortable bucket seat that is bolted damn near on the floorboard.

But...

It is an off the shelf truck that comes with a locker, weld on some sliders, get a winch on the front and go wheeling 90% of the shit out there. Then cruise home at 85 mph. Lot to be said for that. I think that is what makes it one of the best "overland" vehicles. Too bad they sold out. $40k gets you a double cab with a periscope on the fender. I see a lot of stuff on this forum that would have been a joke 10 years ago. Offroaders took pride in learning how to weld, fabricate, and build something tailored to what they need. Now it is a race to bolt on the most expensive gear to get the coolest looking avatar truck photo.

 

Actually the 1600cc VW was rated about 60hp and the F engine in the '75 was rated at 105hp; no idea what that translated to at the wheels but I'm sure that heavy transmission and transfer case cut into what it had. The '75 FJ-40 was kind of a bastard year- last of the F engines (the 2F was rated at 135hp), last of the drums up front (non-self adjusting, dual wheel cylinders per wheel), first of the 4 speeds, last of the tailgate, first of the larger front turn signals, etc. Heavy and geared for off-road, the rpms would start climbing at highway speeds even though it was still 55mph back then. My '80 FJ-40 was better on road. The VW was lighter, better geared for the road and quieter too (it had some interior insulation and sound deadening), which makes a difference on longer drives.

I'm in total agreement about the Tacoma- it's good amongst its competition, but overall it's not that impressive when you really look at it with an open mind and I say that as a Toyota fan boy who's owned Toyotas since the '80s. I have zero desire to own another American built Toyota. Lots of reasons for that, but that's enough thread derailment for today.

 

I own a CUCV Chevy truck...TH400 with 4.56 gears...I know all about that high rpm drone. It gets old after about 5 minutes.

I owned a few of the pre 95' trucks and yeah the 22re was nothing special but it atleast just worked. I'll take a much stouter pre 95' truck with a 22re brand new over a 2nd or 3rd gen Taco any day of the week. I know its not an apples to apples comparison but I hate to say it...just not built like they used to be. Its like Toyota went from "lets build the best thing on the road" to " lets make it just good enough so people spend more then they should on it"

 

I only wave at Tacoma owners when I'm in my Jeep.
And I wave at jeeps when I'm in my Tacoma.
It makes them wonder if they know me when I'm in a different vehicle.

 

Sorry, it needs to say KAMAZ on the front. Maybe next time.

 

You found a good truck there. You'd be hard pressed to find it's equal in a TRD OR version. Keep what you have and slowly upgrade until you're happy with it. I'd hang on to that bad boy and just upgrade as you can afford it. On the list of upgrades, good AT tires, sliders, skid plates, etc. I have a TRD OR and the locker is great but it would be way down on my list of upgrades for what you're wanting to do.
Congratulations and welcome!

 

I think everyone here had great thoughts but these two really summed it up for me. A few of the pictures I posted in my OP were from my first Overland trip. I was with 12 other rigs on that trip, running stock on the Geolander G015 245/75/16 A/T's aired down to 18psi all around. I kept up through the whole snow trip (a beautiful overnight trip in the PNW Cascade mountains snow) and I actually never got stuck once badly enough to need recovery gear or aid from others. I just put it down into 4L and 1st gear when I got particularly stuck and was able to crawl out of a hairy spot without assistance; everyone was really impressed! So I think what everyone is saying about these being incredibly capable rigs stock is totally true.

I think my next steps will be sliders and skids. It seems that no matter what else a guy is planning on doing off-road, these additions only add protection in what could be unpredictable situations. Later on down the road, a reasonable lift, larger, better tires (33's?), and new wheels (16 or 17") will be on my radar. It feels like it would be silly to mount new tires on these stock rims right now since I will likely be going larger in the next year anyway. Better to run what I have and feel all the more excited about upgrading if these Geolanders don't perform up to snuff for my needs!

Thanks everyone, I think at this point I am pretty much resolved to keep the truck and see and appreciate what I can do with it!

 

I took my SR5 to Moab and had a great time. I did add sliders and full skids from SOS, but the suspension is stock(probably less than stock with all the weight I added ) Even got to make it to TOTW

 

If one "overlands" the way most of the posers around here do, a Prius would probably work.