Driving a Tacoma around the world

Yes we were, but just the SW corner! Had freezing fog in the Badlands last fall and unsurprisingly were the only ones in the NP campground. Bison bull wanted to gore the truck in Wind Cave NP. Good times

 

Sounds amazing! Just took some family from the pacific islands out there for the first time before this cold hit. We were some of the only ones out there as well!

Safe travels, amigos!

 

Did you do the heated seat option with the Scheel Mann's? I just ordered a Vario F XXL for my driver's side 3rd gen and will need to figure out the best path for integrating their heated seat control.

 

Yes we did the heated seats option. Well worth it, as it heats up the non leather seats quite quickly.

Had a buzzing noise when the seat heaters were turned on while shifting gears. It was coming from a resistor in the heater wiring. With a bit of Cruiser Brothers help over the phone I rewired it and it works great. Just test it out before leaving the shop

 

Any pointers for how you wired it up? My 2020 OR came with stock heated seats. They are controlled by a 3 setting (hi/med/low) switch in the dash. The Scheel Mann are 2 setting (hi/low). I can just run ignition-based power to the Scheel Mann's I suppose, but I would love a conversion harness so I can use the stock switches on the dash...

 

Yes we did the heated seats option. Well worth it, as it heats up the non leather seats quite quickly

 

How did you wire them?

 

Sorry, funky internet in Baja. We had Cruisers Brothers install the seat heaters, not us. I would ask them for pointers. They were quite helpful

 

We just picked up an older eagle for our Tacoma as a fixer uppper. Followed you guys to keep us motivated.

 

That’s awesome! most important is getting out there with people you’re close to. Happy to share any opinions or insights with you

 

Does your seat have built-in switches? If yes, use the factory power (Blue or Sky Blue wire) and ground (Black or White with Black). This lets the ECU control the seat heater relay (20 Amp fused circuit).

OEM supplies power to the seat then had three separate wires to the seat. Not really clear how Toyota controls those wires (I suspect three sets of heating wires for hi/med/low), but that is seat dependent, so unlikely Schellmann wired the same as Toyota.

I wish they had a technical FAQ on their website. I see they just moved to a Portland, OR warehouse. If you have an electrical diagram, please post it.

If Schellmann is interested in an OEM Toyota Switch solution, it can be done. Involves reverse engineering and making a control box that reads LIN and controls the seat. If I said "I can do a prototype for $20,000" you would scream I'm crazy but for an OEM they say "That's cheap as we have 2000 customers asking for that, and we can sell a $100 solution to recover our cost" Hence, but a seat with built-in switches. Then again if you are Elan Musk, that $20,000 is a reasonable cost.

 

Andy and Dawn, if you are back up near Austin, TX do give us a shout.

My wife is not into camping, but our kids are always telling me to go for it! Her first question would be "is there a toilet and shower in there?"

Enjoy the adventure!

 

@BigNTall I found you!!

 

Thank you sir! And yes, you tell your wife that my wife required that the camper have both an inside shower and toilet. We’ve now have been living full time in our taco for the past eight months and continue to love the lifestyle and the places we’ve visited.

just spent 50 days in Baja and wild camped on the beach at least half the time. it was awesome! If you know someone who’s considering going it’s a great place for a cheap, fun, safe vacation. We did it for $60 per day, $1,800 per month including food, gas, camping, everything.

Not to push our website, www.roguewanderers.com, but we’ve written about 8 posts detailing where we went


Beautiful site we had all to ourselves at shell beach, just south of San Felipe

 

Dannnnggggg I really want to camp in Baja but I've been leery on doing it. Sounds and looks awesome !

 

Oh no! The last trip I did to Mexico was to Cancun/Tulum and hated how the policia muncipals and the vendors treated the gringos like a limitless cash machine and vowed never to go back to Mex. Well let me tell you that Baja (avoiding Tijuana!) is completely different. The people are friendly and even the policia can be dealt with. We even had almost 10 dinners on the fish we caught off our inflatable kayak and I’m a noob when it comes to saltwater fishing.

if you’re thinking it just do it! You be hooked

 

I've just been listening to my parents about Baja and have heard mixed opinions on it recently.

Glad to hear it is still travel and camp friendly. Have any issues with the tolls in and out ?

 

Tolls? What tolls? I heard there’s one somewhere around Tijuana and another north of Cabo but we drove on different roads and didn’t see any. If your serious about going there, there’s a Facebook group called talkbaja. There’s really good info there. Regarding getting into Mex, the border people didn’t even check our passports or tourist visa called the FMM. Looked in the camper maybe a minute and asked if I had any beer or wine. I laughed and said yes, some Tecate - we were at the Tecate border point

 

They probably just wanted to make sure you had some!

Looking at your site, I am just in awe at the route you're planning to take. It's just not in me to undertake something like that but I'm glad there are people like you that are up to the challenge. Safe travels, Andy!

 

Well thanks Drew! Right now we’re just planners, scheming a trip. Who knows, we might chicken out, or end up being ransomed