Hondo Garage's New Thing

Leaving it on your truck all the time is definitely up to you. Though from what i gather on here about 25% plan on removing it for winter. I installed mine with Graeme and one other guy. It’s not something you’re going to take on and off every weekend that’s for sure....

Also count on it weighing in at least 250, give or take. Perhaps a breath more with windows. His initial guesstimate of 200 was based on soft sides way way way way back before these actually existed...

My setup added about 750-850 fully loaded out (not counting people).

I’d imagine if you went bare bones and just tossed on a GFC to a stock Tacoma you’d be gtg... it’s the bumpers, gas, spare tire, recovery gear, fridges, slides, drawer systems that kill you...

 

What is the logic behind removing it during the winter? I'm not super knowledgeable about these things. But I do live and travel in a fair weather state (CA).

Also, I don't plan on doing much to my truck. Would I be overloading with the following?

- GFC (275 lbs, generous here)
- Sliders, Mobtown Off-road (163 lbs)
- Cooler (50 lbs)
- Sleeping equipment for 2 people (bags, pillows, etc). (10 lbs max)
- Kitchen box (50 lbs)
- Chairs, firewood, water cube (50 lbs)
- Two people (350 lbs max)

How much weight does that leave me to play with? I know what it's rated at... But I'm wondering about real world application, not just hauling dirt.

 

I upgraded suspension because I was concerned with the extra weight and being on my bumpstops constantly. You could try sumo springs or something similar if you dont want to upgrade your suspension.

 

Logic behind removal is simply personal preference. I live in the "Rust" belt so if my truck was my daily driver I would most likely remove it just to keep things nice. Mine lives in a nice heated garage though so it's won't see any snow or salt this winter after my trip to NC in late November.


Like @Quadabaum said if you don't want to do a full suspension system Sumo Springs are Timbrens would most likely suffice, but in reality if you but that much weight on your truck expect some sag... Just the way it is. If you're going through the trouble of Mobtown Sliders (I have the same ones) I'd guess a little extra clearance would be your friend anyway and you'd want to consider larger tires and a slightly 1-2" lift on your truck).


I'd recommend your try and spend some time searching or reading this thread or any of TW because most anything you could want to know is probably out there. To summarize if you're going to camp/ overland your Tacoma more than likely you will need a little "help" in the suspension department, the Route you go is up to you.

-YOTA

 

I think the biggest thing here is you will have a constant (key word here)weight of 438pounds with those sliders and GFC. That really isn't much less than the constant 600 pounds less than I have with my heavy suspension that is looking just ok now and is needing another leaf.

Honestly, I wouldn't worry now except doing research to make sure you know what you want if/when the time comes. Get that stuff on your truck. See what happens and how you feel. If you upgrade your suspension (with the front too) you will need an alignment and it is best to have all the weight that will normally be on the truck anyway (I'm sure you already know this but just making sure).

Like @YOTA 4X4 said, if you've got sliders, you probably want the clearance. And from what I see right now on my truck with heavy leaf springs (now I wish I knew about custom or even heavier ones)... You definitely won't have that extra clearance with that weight on stock as it will likely sag.

Hope this helps!

 

Does anyone have the Icon RXT leaf kit? I'm thinking of going this route after I receive my GFC (many, many months from now). I like the fact that they are user-adjustable.

 

No experience with this pack but I believe most of the aftermarket leafs out there allow you to adjust to a degree by adding or subtracting leafs. I wouldn't let the "user adjustable" bit sway you from other packs.

 

I think you guys are overthinking it. This is a pic with OME Dakars (Heavy Duty) and I STILL have a ton of rake. And there’s over 100lbs in tbe bed, in addition to the shell and swingout. They ride great loaded, and fine unloaded.

Don’t think anyone needs custom rated spring packs set to 617.92lbs at all times with a precjse 4.7 inch lift with a price tag of $1,000...Lol.

 

They do when the Dakars are frowning 10k miles later.

 

I have almost 40k on mine and they still are bowed

 

When you have actual weight they don’t. You have a swingout and a shell.

Not exactly a taxing load compared to the guys with custom packs that are weighing in much heavier than your truck, Dakars and similar off the shelf packs don’t last, don’t work, don’t hold up.

Glad it works for you, but you’re just running a shell and a bumper on the rear end. Pretty basic.

 

Mhm....160+lb shell, 120lb tent, 150+ swingout, full size spare, 15 gallons of fuel, 100lb bed buildout, and a full bed with easily 200lbs of gear.

I carry a lot of damn weight haha

 

Im using OME Dakar CS047R (older model version of "HD" springs) plus I added a leaf and a 1/2" axle shim to each side on the back. When the truck is empty, it has about a 2" rake but when loaded up, it has about a .75" rake.

I am likely to get a Deaver spring pack when these dakars wear out. They make them with up to 10 leafs and should handle the heavyweight loads some of us are carrying.

 

Post pics all day man, doesn’t change the fact that your truck isn’t on the same level as the guys who need custom packs. You’re acting like Dakars are the end all be all and anybody needing “637.8 lbs on driver side leaf” are just pretending.

That’s fine.. but your truck isn’t there.

 

Thank god I don't overpack or need a full dine-in kitchen like some people in the overlanding crowd lol. Just saying for *MOST* people, it's fine. Not everybody needs a custom set of leaf springs for only 500lbs, so I'm trying to tell people it's not worth spending $1,000+ on springs, when $500 would've worked A-Ok.

 

As others have said, it's up to you. However, I designed it with leaving it on all the time in mind. The lightish weight, low-profile, and copious bed access mean you can use the truck as a truck for the most part.

Weight really is the enemy though. For me at least, my trips are all about the driving. The camping is really just in support of the driving days (and nights). So you won't see me running heavy bumpers or swingouts (a 34" tire fits in the factory spare location BTW), drawer systems or a winch (I do keep a pair of maxtrax under the bed platform though). I run a fridge and a house battery, but no fridge slide. And I put that weight as close to the cab as possible. Where the weight is placed makes a huge difference to the leaf springs. I'm also not a fan of bolting things to the outside of the vehicle if you can help it. My recovery gear (maxtrax, yank strap, small shovel and fiskars axe) all go in the bilge under the bed platform where the dirty stuff lives. But I'm weird and don't really need the world to know I'm an off-roader. I get that everyone's goals are different though. And sometimes you need to carry what you need to carry. Rock crawlers will weigh in heavier than I will by nature of the required armor. But no matter your use case, I encourage everyone to really evaluate what accessories they need vs what they just think looks cool. My two cents. Ignore at will

 

@wileydavis Is the 10 campers a week plan solid now? Is there a point at which you guys will start re-confirming earlier build dates with people?

 

GFC plus some camping gear and a cooler full of beer will be more than 500lbs.

I paid $700 for my custom springs.

There's nothing off that shelf that would have worked for me.

 

It's solid as far as our capability to build at that rate. We are still suffering from some supplier slow-downs though. But we can see the light there. For instance, right now we are waiting on extrusion. What happened is the lead times on extrusion went up (thanks to a strong economy and demand on their side). So that led to us being able to build faster than they were suppling us under our previous reorder structure. We have a guy that spends most of his time managing the supply chain now, though, so we now have both larger orders and scheduled POs with suppliers one year out that will allow them to supply us consistently regardless of fluctuations in their lead times. But those don't start taking effect (for extrusion anyway) until October 22nd, when our next shipment of material arrives. To work around that, we front load as much as we can so that campers are built to the extent they can be when the extrusion comes in. That means what you'll see on the leaderboard is a whole bunch of campers enter production then stay there for a while, then a sudden spurt of completed campers toward the end of October/early November. But that in-production/completed cycle should start to stabilize in November.

To answer your other question, once that stabilizes we hope to be able to offer more accurate completion estimates, but those will always only be estimates as unexpected things do happen.