Building an Overlander.... don’t kill me

Also highly recommend a pressurized water set up. I did a DIY system with a 3 gallon pump sprayer mounted to my bed rack with two propane mounts. (I'll post it soon) All in cost around 65$. Makes camping alot nicer. I use it for dishes, cleaning floor mats, getting dirt off my mountain bike.

 

All great stuff. Thanks.

 

^Holy S**t someone with common sense. Don’t spend a dime until you break the truck and your family in on the camping in the wilderness thing. Be amazed at the things you don’t need.

 

Watch as many of this guy's videos as you can. Mike has a ton of knowledge and experience on this subject. This will answer any questions you have about Overlanding in a Tacoma.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCokbcF52AEExNQ30h7vi6yQ

 

So today I ran my first difficult trail. My takeaway. I need clearance. Lol. I had to be very conscious of my line.

 

I wish I had 15k to blow on something I have no clue about.

 

15k WOW. Is it your everyday driver? You plan on driving around with gear on daily? You will blow through that with a lift , let me guess 33’s so re gear etc. Good luck.

 

Can't stress this enough OP. Don't buy into the marketing hype that you NEED thousands of dollars of accesories to get to a remote campsite.

Start with your truck as it sits, load up camping gear, and do a few overnight trips. You'll then begin to formulate what you need vs what you want.

That said, as most have indicated, a good set of more capable tires is the best true upgrade you can make. Depending on terrain, you may not need a bunch of armor. If you do, sliders are arguably the best place to start.

 

Why will you "for sure" do those mods you listed?
I can understand tires, especially in the desert, but a lift and winch? Especially since you have not even drove it stock offroad?

If it all about looks to you that's fine, but don't ask opinions if you have already decided on the outcome.

 

Damn dude do your own research and don't add to the clutter. There is only about 3000 other threads with this exact same information. If you want people to tell you what to do hire a dominatrix.

 

^^^

 

First of all drive it offroad bone stock. Know the truck first.
In my opinion, tires, armor, and suspension should be your go to's, in that order. And as has been said, lift and suspension are the exact same thing.

 

LMAO

 

Avoid the traction boards - these work sometimes, sometimes not. But if you want the boards to look good on your truck, that's fine and go ahead.

Get winch and/or straps instead. This is more easier if you have someone go with you in separate truck. If you get stuck, a guy will drive up and winch your truck or use yours to get your truck out. If no other trucks around you, then winch your truck to the tree with winch accessories.

Go to off road park with friends and learn first. That's what I did.

 

Gonna have to agree with the majority on this one... get out there and see what you need first. We all have different styles, want to see different places and have different terrain challenges where we prefer to go. My grandpa started overlanding in 1969 with a Toyota FJ 40, bigger tires and a patch kit which he used often. He used a lot of common sense and only needed to be pulled out 1X, but usually had others with him. You really don't need as much as you think.

We have had many overland style vehicles and with this one, we went on a 3200 mile, 4 state trip with this stock and basic camping gear from our last rig. It was a great time living simple but we will slowly build as needed. Thus, I suggest get out there and see what it is you need/want first then build what is best for you.

 

And somewhere on TW a wise sage pointed out that a good driver with skills is 80% of what it takes to get through rough stuff.

 

Congrats on the truck! While I only have about 2 years and maybe 10 off road camping trips in the books, I do feel like I have enough experience to give a little advice. I’d probably start with something like this:

- OME Lift Kit. The basic one, not the BP-51’s. This setup is a fantastic bang for buck and is tough as nails. It also really comes into its own when carrying a lot of weight.

- Any nice, lightweight 17” wheel of your choice and BFG KO2’s in the C RATED 285/70r17. I can’t emphasize how perfect these tires are for purely “overlanding.” I have this setup on my 4Runner and it performs amazingly in the snow, on the road, and on intermediate+ trails. I also only lost about 1 mpg between the lift and the tires.

- Rock sliders of your choice. I have the victory strike sliders and love them, RCI also makes a great product.

- Start with a 4-6 person ground tent for a season to make sure you’re going to use it as much as you hope, then consider stepping up to an RTT.

 

Recovery gear can start with a shovel. Like others have said don’t get caught up in the product craze for camping (redubbed overlanding in the 2010’s). Sometimes you have to think critically about the reality of your situations you’ll likely end up in based on your vacation style.

Take the shovel for instance. I see lots of mini shovels that fold in half and other widgets on overlanding lists and gear videos. For reducing the space they take up and the casual use to dig a toilet hole in water saturated soil or sand wash they’re fine. Now picture yourself stuck in wet sand or needing to dig out some rocks in hardpack AZ desert for making a ramp for getting over an obstacle. What would you want then - a mini foldable shovel vs. a real shovel with the leverage of a full handle. Key thing to think about is if you were in the same situation you’re facing in the wild but you were at home, what would you choose? Of course you’d leave the mini folding shovel in the shed and grab the full size shovel. I am aware that panicking isn’t the way to go in a potentially dangerous situation, but there’s a significant chance your not going to be calm as you’d be using your equipment if you were at home sipping iced tea and listening to your tunes. Herein lies the most important advice I have. Practice.

Practice tire changes and lifting each corner of your vehicle with the equipment you’ll be using out in the wild. Otherwise you may have your first flat out on a trail at night and not know how to drop your spare or find that one corner of the vehicle sucks to have to lift with the stock bottle jack for you. If it’s a finicky operation in your driveway it’ll be anxiety panic city out in the wild. If there’s tools you find extremely useful at home, take them on the trail. But here’s the takeaway, proactively go through all the things you’d need to do to keep your vehicle running (ie battery self jump etc) at home one or two times at least before going out and learning the hard way.

Don’t let the product market for “overlanding” take your money - you’re obviously smart since you can afford a brand new truck. There’s better and less expensive routes in a lot of cases than buying the same niche products the guys on social media and overland poster trucks on here. Basically treat it just as you would getting a project for the backyard going. There’s awesome tools out there to make a patio, but why spend way more on things that get used once and don’t do the job any better for you when you’d have more money to spend on the decking material which will be seen for years to come. For every niche product like a refrigerator or performance cooler there’s a potentially perfect $40 cooler at Walmart which you could find adequate since you may find you never go out for long enough that it’s failing to suit your needs when stocked up with frozen containers of water or frozen water bottles and the three meal items you might want to keep cool on 99% of your trips. As others have said go slow and the items you eventually might spend on will be ones that are worth the money you spend.

Back to mental preparedness. There might be others with good resources and I invite you to educate yourself with those, but you will be doing yourself a deal of good by marathoning:

Ronny Dahl North West Australia Off-road

Matt’s Off-road Recovery - which a lot of videos probably are in places which you’d visit or similar terrain

Finally, skimp when possible starting out on the Overland specific gear and focus your attention on off-roaders driving on the same trails and roads you will be on because a trip with substandard creature comforts that you make it back safely from is always going to be better than a trip that your vehicle simply won’t be able to make it over obstacles you’re going to encounter. Then you could possibly have to turn around and drive long distances to get back to pavement or get into a dicey situation like having to take a bypass and running low on gas. Get your vehicle ready. That doesn’t mean King shocks and 35 inch tires. I cruise plenty of off road areas using second hand TRD off-road shocks and tires from newer trucks with my little 4 banger 5 speed open diff regular cab, all my tools and a floor jack, and 20+ years of experience in off-roading.

Ok absolutely last thing - navigating. GPS and sat nav are nice, however using your trip odometer and a legitimate park or off road trail map (paper works as well as pdf maps) and making sure to observe memorable landmarks still work just fine. In fact you’re better to have all the low-tech gear and have mental preparedness about where you’re going than reading a trip report and punching in some coordinates into your GPS with little information other than sights you’ll be seeing. Map out nearest hospitals and pavement along the way. Here’s a write up I can’t improve upon so if you’re planning on going alone (which is not really a good idea even if you have a ton of experience and recovery gear that probably is now useless without 2 trucks):

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/going-alone-single-vehicle-wheeling-safety.454083/

oh man I guess I lied. Last last last thing - baby wipes - you’ll thank me later

 

Life is short, no need to be super serious, Ill help you spend your money
For suspension I'd go with ELKA https://tctmagazine.net/fall-2018/elka-suspension-review
for wheels I'd go with SCS in 17 inch - a few more options for lighter tires
Tires C load 285s with a good weight - KO2 is one of the best for weight 51lbs but Duratrac in D load is also pretty good.
Front bumper go with something built with Aluminum,
for a rack again something light, below cab height
RTT - my father in law has the Free-spirit out of Bend, Ore and really likes it. I sleep under my Leer canopy.
I do always take my Garmin in reach in case of emergency, I have only used it for casual communications but it works well.
Have fun with the new truck!