Overland set-up total vehicle weight...

Hey dumbass, what about that 200 lb fiberglass cap? That's not stock.

 

Point taken, good sir. Point taken.

 

Focus on what you want for camping gear first. then figure out what you need to carry that, then do whatever upgrades after that. In my experience, you can get to a lot of very far away places with a stock truck and decent tires. A lot of the skid plates and stuff are completely unnecessary unless you're going rock crawling.

Seems like what people around here often want is a rock crawler and a baja racer and a daily driver and and a camping rig and a race car and a home depot runner all in the same truck at the same time.

 

#swissarmyknifelife

 

#leathermanmasterrace

 

#imdoingathings

 

To answer/reply to a couple of posts. I have no experience in overlanding/camping (insert acceptable term here). I've always wanted to visit the country and visiting cities didn't interest me. I've always enjoyed driving and seeing the countryside. I want to visit the places where most people never get to. I want to visit the mountains, deserts, forests and I have an irrational desire to visit Prudhoe Bay, Ak. The like the idea of traveling on a trail and being unhooked from society. I want to see the stars, smell the fresh air and hear nothing but the sounds of nature and my tinnitus. Now that I'm getting closer to being able to completely retire, I'm wanting to prepare for it. I've always liked the Tacoma so that's what I'm building it off of. While trying to educate myself, I've tried to watch video and see what others were doing. Other than a couple of people where I live, there really isn't any overlanding/vehicle camping community here - Columbus, Ga.

I have a friend that sleeps out the back of his 6' taco w/cap and I've spoken to a guy here that has a Ranger with Smartcap/iKamper set up - which was great because I was already thinking that way and he said it works great. More on that later...

One thing I felt was stressed, through the videos, was protecting the engine and other components so I got the skid plates and rock sliders. The forums bounce back and forth on what is better, alum or steel. I chose steel figuring I'd rather have too much than not enough. My next thought was protecting the front and rear body so I was looking at the bumpers. Here, my thought process was "well, if I'm going to get bumpers, I might as well get the ones I like." Funny, the ones I liked were the heavier ones...

I was originally looking at a Diamondback and build off of that. I want to be able to secure my gear if I decide to play tourist somewhere. Then I found the Smartcap and really liked that. I feel you can put more gear in the back and secure it. The iKamper because I like the idea of sleeping off the ground. Because it will just be me and the dog, and the dog probably won't help, I figure a hard top is pretty easy for one person to set up and take down by yourself.

So, that was the short version of the evolution of what I wanted.

Funny thing though...all those videos didn't say anything about the vehicle weight and and when I thought of it, I started to add it all up and had questions. I then went to the TW community. And, being serious, I've learned a lot...most of which was useful

One thing I learned was that we have a bunch of people driving around in vehicles that are overloaded.

Well, as I stated before, I do have a base version of what I wanted which is the Smartcap and iKamper. I wasn't planning on getting the bumpers anytime soon. Still have to work for a bit longer. I'll head out with what I got, see if the bumpers (and other gear) are necessary, and go from there. Also, I can always take off some of the skid plates if I feel I need too.

Those are the basics. I need to finish this and pick up the pup from the vet. She was a rescue and it seems, after doing a 6 month follow-up that my pet...has pets of her own. The heartworm treatment has begun.

 

You'll figure it out as you go. If you ever watched expedition overland, I think it was season 2 where they had the supercharged second gen. Clay said it weighed 7500 pounds. They also seem to sell their trucks around 50k miles...

Hope your pup is ok. One of mine has heart damage from heartworms before we rescued him. Somehow, a lot of it has reversed.

 

Lol wrong. It is for that truck period, unless you are qualified to determine what mods are needed to increase GVW? And be willing to put lives on the line with your decisions?

 

FWIW my truck is on 33s, 2” lift and 650# of constant weight. I’m still able to get advertised fuel economy if I drive conservative.

That’s showing 21 MPGs not accounted for larger tires, so it’s actually a bit more than 21 MPGs.

 

Whosaaaaaaaa gooood boyyyyy

 

I’m Sorry but how do differential gears and upgrades suspension will increase the payload?

 

LMAO

 

It does, but weed gets lonely without some beers in the system.

 

I was talking in general, but anything’s payload can increase if you beef up the parts on the truck . For instance, swapping leaf springs for higher rated ones. Boxing the frame to make its after for more weight. Gusset if the bed to handle weight. Swapping axles or gusseting axles to handle more weight. Changing gears to handle increased loads on drivetrain. Making the necessary upgrades to the truck to handle the weight you add to it. Yes dumping 2000 pounds on a stock frame axle shock’s suspension etc would be dumb.

 

I mean by then you gotta upgrade engine, transmission, brakes, driveshaft etc.

I see no point in that, just get a full size that’s actually designed by vehicle engineers to carry more.

 

Put a lot of thought into big purchases that add a lot of weight and cost. Really get to know your truck and more importantly, what you enjoy doing with it.

I learned I'm not a huge fan of running hard trails. Wasn't fun in an overloaded tacoma. If I wanna run difficult trails, I'll build a light 4runner. I enjoyed going places sprinter vans and RVs can't get so and staying for a while so I ditched the heavy skid plates, and added a fireplace.

Don't try to build a do everything vechical, it won't do everything well. Find what you like and do that

Also, to answer your questions, you can't do anything about the payload, it's a Tacoma it'll be fine, it's just going to make you real slow

 

That's okay. I understand.

 

You are not wrong there at all, but I think engine skid is super important if doing any off-roading.

For example, we went to this lake last year and getting there was super easy. CRV could’ve easily made it.

We were leaving the beach to go home and I didn’t see this pretty big log chilling on the beach. My truck suddenly came to a halt and my front wheels were off the ground. Front of my truck was resting on my TRD skid plate.

I was very thankful I had it, otherwise that would’ve been a very, very expensive lesson.