Overlanding? Vehicle prep, and finding a location/partner

[99-4runner]

:hello: Hi everyone, I've been on the forums a little bit and done my share of reading but have yet to intoduce myself. My name is Travis Von Elling from manhattan, ks. I am a KSU student majoring in economics. I have had my fair share of vehicles... heres the list in order 96 mustang gt, 01 supercharged tacoma (should have never sold), 99 cobra, 04 subaru wrx, 02 mustang gt, and NOW my baby.. a 1999 toyota 4runner.
she has 180k miles, and shes the love of my life... well.. 2nd. My girlfriend being first
So far it is stock. I picked it up at a dealer in springfeild, MO bone stock. I put in a new cd player deck, front kenwood door speakers, and I recently installed a 2.5" daystar spacer lift. Tomorrow my remote start is being installed. anywho...

I have recently been interested in this hobby called "overlanding" I dont know much about it.. and would like to learn more.

As a college student money isnt something I have alot of. But I am working on the truck little by little. My stepdad owns a powdercoating shop and we have plans to build front and rear bumpers for it and maybe some sliders.. who knows.

I am planning a rear diff breather install, and possibly a snorkel. I have seen the in fender ones and i am VERY interested. does anyone have a build thread link for me?? :hungry:

I am willing to travel a little ways, colorado, oklahoma ect. not to far.. just looking for someone/someplace for my first adventure. I plan on sleeping in my runner and just making it a 2-3 day trip for fun. I was thinking maybe this winter or spring so i have time to prepare??

TIRES
I was thinking terra grapplers from nitto?? would these be okay for trailing or no? I like them because for one they are fairly cheap, and 2 they are rated at like 50k miles

Wheels
should i just keep and coat the ones i have?? (i think they are ugly) or look for another set of stocker 5 stars (which are proving to be hard to find)

Any suggestions for mods for overlanding or anything like that would be appreciated.. thanks, Travis

this was BEFORE the lift btw

 

[COShadow]

I'd say load 'er up and go! You'll find out what you want/need after taking it on a trip. Depending on what you do or how much gear you take, you may want to beef up the rear suspension. Nice truck.

 

[slomatt]

Travis,

Expeditionportal.com is a site dedicated to overland travel and a great resource.

- Matt

 

[Gerdo]

The biggest things with overlanding or expedition runs is that you need to be self supportive. That means that you need spare parts to get you back to civilization. Also food, gas and everything you need to survive without coming thru civilization. You need to be able to get yourself out of jams with a winch and sand tracks for example.

Traveling with a group, even if it's just two vehicles, takes some of the repair stress out since you could drive one vehicle into town for parts.

As far as food, a fridge is great for cold things. You can also go with the totally freeze dried food route.

There is a ton of info here http://www.yotatech.com/f172/

 

[99-4runner]

thanks alot guys, and thanks for the compliment! How would I go about rigging up a fridge? Know of anywhere i could go near here?

 

[Gerdo]

As far as fridges there are engel Engel USA or ARB.

 

[gielamonster]

Definitely hit up Expedition Portal as they have a sub forum dedicated solely to our flavor of trucks. They also have some AWESOME build up and modification threads over there. Plenty of info on setting up a fridge, drawer systems, sleeping platforms...

CYi5's '99 4Runner Buildup




(none of these photos are mine)

 

[gielamonster]

Another good thread:

2001 4runner build at molasses pace...

 

[99-4runner]

Thanks a ton guys!!

 

[slomatt]

Here's a fridge install in a 4runner.

EdgeStar FP430 - BlankWhitePage

- Matt

 

[theizzardking]

i think this unit is slightly better, and offers an added a/c add on

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Coleman-Stirling-Cooler-Adaptor-Included/dp/B000A1FCIE]Amazon.com: Coleman Stirling Power Cooler with Free A/C Adaptor Included: Sports & Outdoors[/ame]


the vw bus people are pretty far out there, you'd be surprised at some of the stuff those guys do to their rigs.
TheSamba.com :: View topic - Fridge effectiveness


personally speaking there is no such thing as true "overlanding" in the united states as your never more then 107 miles away from a mc donalds and some sort of civilization
A McDonald's Is Never More Than 107 Miles Away

so i find a CB or a sat phone is more then enough and allows you to travel lite, bring fluids and basic tools along with normal 48-72 hour survival pack,
i tend to go by what we were required to carry when i did search and rescue.

SNOHOMISH UNIT MEMBER REQUIREMENTS
add extra water and change clothing options for desert environments, but remember it gets below freezing at night even there so even if you think you won't need them warm clothes are always a good idea.

for true overlanding you need to head to the north at least or south America and places like that, but still it doesn't mean that you can;t have an epic time driving across the vastness of the united states, in places like eastern Oregon and the south west you can cross entire states off road, i haven't done much in the mid-west or the east, but i can say you can keep it off road and get a good 300-400 miles in before you have to hit pavement again, it does take a fair amount of planning to accomplish this though.

another idea I've been thinking about is solar panels on the roof under the rack to power a dual batter set-up when stopped and camping.

one of my VW forum buddies drove from mainland europe to china through some of the most remote and desolate places on earth (mongolia anyone? lol)

really impressive for a 70's era vehicle aircooled.

i never plan on shipping my car over seas and when i finally get around to driving to the tip of south america i'm not taking my flashy 4runner down there, I'm

picking up an old subie or some sort of other suv that will make me less of a target, lol


thread about vw buw to china
TheSamba.com :: View topic - Baywindow to Beijing resto thread

i really do find though that if you're asking about fridges or dual batteries and such the best guys to talk to are the RV and vw bus people as for the most part they deal with that sort of things heavily and have done most of the research on items you just have to figure out how to adapt it.

:cheers: