Driving a Tacoma around the world

Your rig looks awesome, very well thought out! I can see you two being very comfortable in it. We have firmed up our date and it looks like April 2022 is when we hope to start our travels. Now that you have it pretty much done just wondering with the additional weight how does it drive and handle, looks like you took it on a fairly aggressive trail so you have a pretty good feel for it? As you know I'm looking at something along the same lines as what you have, probably just a slide in though. Everybody keeps talking about the weight on the Tacoma but there are all sorts of people travelling around with all sorts of things strapped to the back, any idea what percentage of people actually have a problem? Particularly if you're driving conservatively. The four wheel camper/mule expedition etc don't seem to have any concerns with the extra weight. Sorry to beat a dead horse but it's a big question for me, thanks.

 

For all the concerns about people who overload their Tacoma’s well (1000-2000lb) over GVWR, I have seen few examples of vehicles having problems. I am guessing Toyota engineers have built in at least a 50% cushion in vehicle specs. I have debated this point with myself as I plan to go overweight as I build out my rig. I am sure it isn’t ideal, but it sure seems to work for most people that aren’t doing go fast, long travel, or rock crawling.

 

Thank you! We are getting close to starting our trip, potentially the 1st of September. So far we are very happy with it.

Congratulations on your upcoming retirement. If you are thinking of leaving right at April I would give yourself a year to figure out the truck configuration.

 

Thank you! We are getting excited as we may start out in August. Potential buyers are visiting our house tomorrow.If you are thinking of leaving right away in April then I would give yourself at least a year to get the truck configuration worked out.

I think the truck drives great. Even with the suspension upgrades it swayed a bit so adding the rear anti-sway bar really improved the ride. But please realize that I like cars that corners flat and accelerates hard, think Porsche turbo. That's what I really love to drive. But i drive the Tacoma with a different mentality. It does not drive ponderously but I don't push it hard either. I have confidence that it will last. @Steelhead Taco and @friendlywithbears have basically the same setup. @friendlywithbears has put over 100,000 miles on his. I haven't heard of anyone having problems. It is designed to tow 6500 pounds after all.

 

Someone who is quite close to you is @Stopmithering. He has basically the same truck configuration. We’re welcome to drive ours if you’re ever in southern Oregon

 

Thanks that's very generous, glad to hear that the weight isn't a problem.

 

Skid arrived from Greenlaneoffroad! Thanks for that tip- great unit at amazing price.

 

Very nice! It’s a great tradeoff between weight vs protection.

 

Finally finished the insect netting that completely surrounds the awning. It’s about 7’ by 8’


I made it with two 16’ by 7’ mosquito netting designed for a double car garage. It has two entrances; the one below uses magnets and the other zelcro. Had to sew the Velcro one by hand due to going thru 4 layers of Velcro, only took 7 hours...


The front rolls up and the back screen under the stairs is attached with magnetics.


Front is attached with 2” wire Velcro, stays on really well. Even though the bottom has some weights, will use stakes when camping to hold down the bottom.


I used two aluminum square tubes each 4’ long that slides into each other. And put Velcro on two sides.


Rolls up into a 6” by 5’ roll. Thinking of putting it into a 6” plastic pipe and mounting it underneath the camper overhang.

 

Sounds like fun, we are doing a ring of the US, up to Prudhoe Bay Ak, across Canada to Newfundland, then a ring of South America.
Not too hip to a Europe trip though..
Good luck and safe trails.

 

Wow! That’s a big trip. How long are you planning on this taking?

 

North America then home for a bit then off to South America..no time limit

 

Well I wish you a good adventure. We also thought about driving Prudhoe starting in early September but is a little late for that far north, no bugs though!

good luck and sounds fun!

 

I resemble that remark. We in the Navy, prefer to call it a French Bath, and when you get to France, you'll know why. Lol
Zim

 

Ive been to France several times but must have missed it. Oh, maybe it’s the fact that showering there with some of the people there is an optional thing

 

Most of the perfume in the world in made there....for a reason. LMAO...ahahhahahahahahahha They're getting better at it tho.
Zim

 

I just weighed in at 7000 fully loaded, which is on the light side for these.

Definitely work out your suspension, I drive like a racecar on the road and a monster truck on the trails and you can definitely get them dialed in to perfection for both.

Change your diff oil more frequently, consider regearing, otherwise have fun.

 

Nice to know! What springs & shocks are you running? I think we’re 6,800 lbs with 33 gallons of gas and recovery gear but otherwise empty so we’re pretty close. We put 5.29 gears and that seems to help on the secondary mountain roads.

Our fun hopefully will start around August 10th!

 

Realized one of the two solar panels wasn’t charging. After a bit of back and forth trying to figure it out with the with Overland Solar they sent me a new panel. They said this was their first failure. They’re a great small company based out of Boise, ID


Why me...that’s the bad news but the good news is that I’ve learned a lot about my solar/lithium battery/charge controller system. It looks like the installer that I hired to build my camper setup didn’t support the semi flexible panels and they bent to much possibly causing the failure. They also didn’t install VHB tape between the bolts holding the panels down onto the aluminum Z metal. The Z metal is bolted onto Yakima roof rack tracks installed at the Four Wheel Camper factory


So now’s my chance to do it right. I didn’t want to have the panels bonded directly to the camper roof for several reasons, 1) panels are more efficient when cooler, 2) they’re a lot easier to take off, 3) the air gap keeps the camper cooler as well.

Here I’m mounting the Z metal with the VHB tape on the upside down panel. I also changed the wiring from being soldered to using MC 4 connectors; they’re foolproof


The nice thing about the Overland Solar panels are they are designed and built to be mounted directly on a sailboat’s roof and walked on! Not many panels can do that they’re built tough and have a grippy surface similar to a golf ball; wouldn’t want to slide off and see your boat keep sailing

Here’s the specs, this is the underside


At the truck’s current location, from 6 pm until 9 am, the panels are shaded and the battery provides camper power and typically uses about 22 amp-hours or 300 watts of electricity. In 2 1/2 hours (9:00 am to 11:30) of sun, the battery is fully charged. Don’t need to run the truck to keep the battery charged

 

Next project is finish mounting my 12 gallon grey water tank underneath the flatbed