FOUR WHEEL CAMPER (FWC) THREAD!!

I don't have one yet but plan to go the Sherpa route as well and second that recommendation! First started talking with them when i had my drifter and now they make a bunch of different length racks for campers with cab overs that mount really solidly. I have a DCLB with a Fleet and they have a couple sizes that will work good and even a super tiny rack for DCSB rigs. There is another guy, i think its marshal offroad or something that makes some shorty racks.

 

My tacoma has always gotten me there…

 

Does anyone have airbags with their set up and despise them? Every speed bump I go over the back bounces like a pogo stick a few times. Thinking of switching over to a heavier duty leaf pack but $$$$

I have a 2012 Eagle on a 2010 AC Taco

 

love mine.
if you're getting too much bounce after a bump, stiffening the spring will make it worse.
you need more damping

 

My rear shock absorbers are pretty old. Leaf packs and bags are discussed a bunch in this thread but rear shocks not as much. Suggestions??

 

Nice drone shots by the way and I just checked out your build @Blueberry.Taco. Damn near perfect!
A shot from last summer in Sierra nf...

 

How much pressure are you running in them? Stiffer leaf pack is going to yield the same results.

 

35psi in the left and 25 in the right. Everything heavy on taco and fwc is on the left side . Yeah the rear shocks need to be replaced. I have some eibachs that came with the stage 1 lift that I'm gonna swap out soon. Bought the truck with twin tube absorbers in the back. Truck drove great with the camper off and I assumed they were better quality but they could be 12 years old . Just seems like the airbags limit the amount of travel back there especially with the cradles.

 

I'm running fox 2.0x12 smoothies and have them on max stiff low speed compression setting on the stock valve stack.
It was good enough with the stock bed + camper but with my additional fuel tank and an aluminum bed for the next season I have a feeling I'm going to need a stiffer valve tune.

 

Nice. Just swapped out some old icons (I think, probably 12 years old) for some eibach stage 1 rear shocks and that didn't make a difference. Here are some pics

 

remember most bolt-on aftermarket shocks are designed for stock weight vehicles (not even at GVW)
once a taco gets a fleet on it, you're pretty likely to be well over GVW, so anything bolt-in aftermarket will be underdamped for your use.
the old school way to get more damping was to bolt more shocks on.
now there's so many rebuildable and adjustable shocks on the market that make it a lot easier to do.
I haven't contacted them or ever used them, but i assume companies like accutune can build you a shock that works with your weight and goals, if you are uncomfortable opening up a shock on your own

 

I think FWC and its dealers are starting to be worried about mid-trucks exceeding their GVWR. We been living in our setup for three years, covering 85,000 miles, doing some very rough roads with few problems, but maybe we’re just lucky. Our truck is about 100 lbs over on the front end rating and 800 over on the rear. But we’ve modified just about everything except the engine/transmission, frame, and driveshafts. It would have been easier to base our setup on a 3/4 ton chassis but then we lose the nimbleness/reliability of the Tacoma


A muddy road in Gabon, West Africa

That being said I believe a Tacoma is tough enough to handle it but at a minimum it should have extensive modifications to the suspension. Additionally you should adjust your expectations of acceleration, braking and cornering for safety purposes

Good luck!

 

Thanks for all the replies and advice much appreciated.

I guess I think that even though I like my Tacoma a lot I’m maybe not willing to invest the time and expense to perform extensive or even moderate suspension modifications. I’m not a gear head. I own and use a ton of tools but working on vehicles ain’t my thing lol. Half the stuff I read on tacomaworld I haven’t the faintest idea what y’all are even talking about.

I love the nimbleness of the Tacoma and love having a m/t also. I like it’s looks. On the other hand the entrance to the interstate is about a half mile from my house and when I get on going east it’s about a half mile or more of uphill grade and it’s a little dicey sometimes watching trucks barge up my ass while I struggle to get up to speed lol. I think it’s underpowered.

My wife has a 2011 4 runner with 4.0 v6 (245k miles and has never been in the shop for other than brakes and tires dare I say) and it has enough giddy up imo.

 

Oops hit post too soon.

I also think driving an over loaded truck might not be the greatest from a liability standpoint. Hate to think that if I ever got in an accident some aggressive lawyer could make a case for negligence.

I like to drive. A lot. I have 75000 miles on my 3 year old truck and work 6 miles from my house… Took the Tacoma to Banff last fall and Tucson this winter from Illinois. And while I think it’s comfortable enough my 63 year old wife isn’t particularly fond of the comfort level. It took Toyota how many years to make a 8 way adjustable drivers seat but not the passenger seat? ‍♂️ A little tight too. Guess I could look for a younger wife but that’ll be way too expensive lol.

So I’m thinking of going back to the Tundra. I had an 06 for 14 years only got rid of it because of frame rot. Good truck.

Finally I have the short bed. I’d just as soon have a 6 foot Fleet instead of the shorter swift. Don’t want to worry about weight that much. 1500 is a lot more to work with than 900.

 

I understand what you're saying completely. If you're looking for a "turnkey" FWC on the truck setup you should look at 3/4 Ton truck with a Fleet or Hawk model setup and you'll be fine.

 

If we weren’t sticking to just North and South America travel then we would strongly consider going with a 3/4 ton, but then we’ve been traveling for 3 years with probably another 3 to go. If we were to travel around the Americas traveling limited to several weeks we’d probably go with a 1/2 ton, but realize that even the highest payload (8’ bed models) are around 2,200 lbs, which we would exceed. So with the The most appropriate half ton will still be over payload and will still need to do extensive modifications to the suspension. There’s lots of chatter on Expedition Portal and Wander The West websites about overweight trucks (I call them the GVWR Police) but no one has been able to point to an actual case of someone winning a lawsuit regarding an overweight pickup. But you must decide on your risk tolerance

 

I'm running OME Dakar heavy duty leafs, Firestone airbags separate with Airlift remote compressor, OME 2885 coils, OME UCAs, and Bilstein 5100s. Re-geared to 4.88 (my next set of tires will be bigger).

I just added a front Hellwig sway bar with Overland Custom Designs sway bar links. The sway bar upgrade has made a huge improvement in handling. I wish I had done it sooner.

 

Nice! We added a Hellweg rear antisway bar which improved our cornering immensely.

 

Got the second iteration of my flatbed design mountable a few weeks ago! This one is all aluminum still working on some wheel well boxes and boxes for the gap between the bed and camper. First trip with the new bed at a local campground went well!

 

Good evening,

Been striking out for a bit so I figured I’d try here. Been on the hunt for a fwc eagle 2009 or newer. Cash in hand and willing to travel. I always seem to be a day late and a dollar short.