Common Tools to Carry for Overlanding?

Define what over landing means to you.

Type of terrain? Winter or summer?

How far from civilization? Out of cell range? How many days?

Miles on truck? Comfortable with the maintenance level?

 

Dude, I know. I've been driving for 20+ years and have only picked up a nail or so in that entire time. The only thing I can think of is if I picked up most of them in one spot. :shrug: Like I said, it was wild. Those tires looked like spaghetti inside when I pulled them. Plugs everywhere. Good thing they were about used up anyway.

Worst one was a 3/8 lag bolt. Plugged that out in California.

 

I carry lots of tools, soem for the truck, some just to have, but what nobody talks about is having the parts to fix it with. In that case, i usually focus on what's most likely to happen. Dead battery (jump starter), something in tire (compressor and plugs). Leaking hose, tape/hose repair kits, spare Belt, axe or saw. Things like ujoints, ball joints, etc should be inspected and replaced well before hand if your traveling in these situations.. Can these things fail in the field sure but unless you have the part tools do you no good. Theres always exceptions, and i love being prepared, but i guess im just saying you have to play the odds and focus on whats likely to happen.

 

An impact wrench with extra batteries is a bit of a luxury but it's nice to have. Get one with an LED light if you buy one.

A brass hammer, I keep a 2 lb. in my truck. The brass is softer than steel so if something needs a little "help" you wont damage the steel part. The brass wont chip or spark like a steel hammer so there is also a safety benefit.

 

Large enough tires can break an axle
So probably a spare one and whatever’s needed to change it
Or a stronger axle to handle the bigger tires

 

I was somehow unclear. I'm not sure how, but...

What I was looking for was the very specific common sizes and any very particular tools for common repairs on things which you could field repair.

 

Tire kit:
Plugs, external valve stem replacements, compressor, etc

duct tape/gaffers tape/gorilla tape

Big strong zip ties

multi tool.

recovery gear

Everything beyond that depends on your level of skill and ingenuity. Figure out what you want to carry as you go. But a set of 10/12/14/17mm wrenches (two of each) and a few screwdrivers will do half of our trucks’ work

 

Ok, this cracked me up!

 

I do a ~5K mile road trip every summer to CO; this year was extended and over 8K miles on a Tacoma with 140K miles when I left. I have a tool roll with the basics: 1/4 and 3/8 drive sockets thru 19mm; ratchets; a few extensions; screwdriver; combo wrenches thru 19mm; a few pairs of pliers; some stuff to repair wiring from animal damage (been there). And not in the tool roll is a breaker bar and socket/extension for lug nuts. The key is to keep up with preventive maintenance before you take a long trip. The majority of the time I need to use tools it's on other people's vehicles. I also have a plug kit and air compressor.

 

I don't know how to be more specific... I'll try again.

A compressor (which i have) is useless to swap a windshield wiper arm and certainly won't fit in a tool roll.

Sometimes a 17mm socket is unusable and you need a wrench; sometimes the opposite is true.

What handtools, and specific sizes (and shapes) are common on these trucks which I might stuff into a tool roll. An entire socket or wrench set is not needed; many aren't ever used on these trucks as there are no correlating fasteners.

 

Good point regarding chainsaw, I should have elaborated, I like to use my truck as a means to get to trailheads off the beaten path. Meaning the foldable saw can also come with me on a 3 day hike, great for emergency shelters & firewood prep.

 

Overlanding? Probably a bigger wallet.

 

Somewhat dependent on the trip for different conditions. I won’t go over the basics everyone else has. Just some oddball stuff I bring.

It’s always good have a real axe (not the 8” long ones) and/or a good pruning saw with a 12” blade. I’ve got a cheap black and decker folding saw with a 12” blade that works really well.

I’m a Milwaukee tools kind of guy so that’s what I’m going to refer to. I bring my M18 Hackzall (one handed sawzall) with a few blades for metal and a long pruning blade that is awesome for clearing branches or logs under 10”.

A USB rechargeable jump pack is handy for charging phones and jump starts if you kill your battery for some reason.

An impact makes short work of many tasks. I bring both my 3/8” and 1/2” Milwaukee Fuel impacts. For the 3/8 I bring 8mm-21mm shallow and deep sockets. For 1/2” sockets I bring
-17mm
-19/21mm flip socket
-22mm (to help others on the side of the road)
-24mm (to help others on the side of the road)
-3” & 8” extensions

Handful of different tow straps and a couple synthetic loops. A Hi-Lift or farmers jack is handy even if you don’t have sliders or steel bumpers. It helped me in an area where I couldn’t back up on a sharp turn (DCLB problems lol). Hooked a tow strap to the batwing hitch, hooked another strap to a large tree and put the farmers jack in the middle to pull the rear of the truck over to prevent crushing my drivers side on a large rock.

Even a standard floor jack is handy with a piece of plywood to put it on for soft ground.

There are so many things that are handy, but not required. I tend to over pack for everything. Lol The key is to spread the load in your group if you are not solo and make sure it’s ratchet strapped down or secured somehow so it doesn’t become a safety hazard or damage your tools.

 

Saw this at Costco for $99. Not sure if they still have it. I wonder if there’s anything similar and possibly cheaper also in a convenient plastic storage case.

I found myself needing sockets wrenches and ratchets today, and had none. 3/8 and 1/4 would have worked, with short and deep sockets.

curious to know who has something like that
Some off the stuff in the DeWalt set seem useless. Like nut drivers that go onto an electric tool to remove Mercedes bellypans.

Obviously DeWalt is (was) known for power tools. Not hand tools. So I’m sure they won’t grip as well as million dollar snap on.
But for occasional emergency use lower quality would suffice.

did a slight trail. Snorkel bolts came loose probably from vibration and the fact I didn’t put blue loctite. Needed to remove a bracket somewhere else as well. Wouldn’t say my multitool was best for the task.

 

OP,

Let's step through the process from a realistic standpoint rather than hoping you'll get a common answer from a forum of individuals that over pack, under pack, or pack just right. Everything is subjective and dialing in your kit will take time, not a magic answer.

So, while you are safely in your driveway, take your home garage tool kit and just start going over the items on the truck that are most plausible fail points.

Mark each tool you find with some orange tape that solves a task. You will find that various tool sizes needed across the truck will start to become redundant and stand out as the winners to buy for the truck.

Basic points of interest to check (your mileage may vary):

Battery, starter, alternator and all other common fail engine bay electrical components.

Wheel lugs, brakes, brake lines, master and slaves.

Front suspension, CV axle, steering, rear suspension, rear axle.

Pivoting, rotating and other things that do things like latches, doors and such.

Body, frame, bumpers, interior, etc.

You get the idea. There isn't any reason to actually take everything apart, just find what tool will most likely be the best choice and mark it. Don't forget to mark any extensions you used.

When you think you have covered everything, take a look at your orange tagged tools and start with that.

Now, do it all over again if you think you'll want to add any specialty tools like DMM, 12v test probe, inline torque adaptor, cheater/breaker bar, pick set, etc.

The specialty tools are VERY subjective and completely personal. If you find that you use any particular tool(s) often in the garage when working on your truck, get one for the truck.

My truck tool kit is an ever evolving kit and gets adjusted as needed.

 

So the big DeWalt set at Costco is now gone but they have this for $30

aside from the most basic of tools isn’t the point of Toyota that it’s reliable enough to never break or only break in a way that is still stable enough to wait until you get home to fix it

 

That might work if you break down at the mall, but if you are 3 hours from pavement, let alone any kind of civilization, a few more tools in the bag might be in order. If your clever with sticks and rocks, no tools are even necessary.

 

I bought this one. It is kinda crappy. That being said it works good for leaving in the truck all the time.

 

Black tools might be the single worst invention, ever. I bet you'd be lucky if you used 1/5th of those tools. However that was my first approach (not that kit, but a general socket type kit with a few other hand tools). Then space started to become a concern and I wanted to tailor it to this specific vehicle, and to things that might be corrected on the trail (I've got tons of tools at home, and I'm not going to be getting deep into the truck when I'm out and about).

 

This is what I was after. Vehicle specific sizes and types of tools. Looks like 17, 19, 21, 22, 24mm are common sizes for trail-type repairs? I've got duplicates of all of those. Wrenches as well? If wrenches, are ratcheting (and pivot head) necessary for some jobs? Universals for anything? For the 17mm is it more common to use a 1/2 or 3/4?

You broke out the 22 & 24mm for helping others; why is that? Are they not common to Tacos? Also, is that large enough to pull the hubs (I understand ball joints are a common failure point).