Overland build?

What are some traits or mods that one would look for or do for an overland oriented rig?

Comfort and storage are #1. A solid roof rack would be the very first thing i'd do. Alternatively, a platform tent on the roof and shelves/compartments in the back.

Parts availability, reliability and ease of maintenance and repair. Those come first. Second comes comfort.

I'd say serviceability first. You don't want to have to take half the drivetrain out to fix a wear and tear part. Second and very related is being common enough that you can find a replacement part in anytown USA 's pepzone.

reliability, servicability, ease of maintenance and comfort, in that order for me. That's why I want an old Box-body 'burb/blazer.

Depends on how your using it. Overland is different than just your normal 4x4. I know plenty of guys who originally got into simply driving off-road and "wheelin" but as much as they loved their Jeep or Samuri or regular cab truck at first, once they started wanting comforts in the backcountry they realized the difference between offroading and overland.

A huge underpowered vehicle might suck for rock crawling or mudding, but fuel efficiency and ease of maintenance win out when you're 100 miles from the nearest paved road.

Personally, I also believe an Overland vehicle should allow for camping off the ground, whether inside the vehicle, on top, or what have you. You may drive for 10 hours out to the middle of no-where, be dead tired, and suddenly get stuck in a storm.

redundancy. redundancy. redundancy. redundancy. redundancy. redundancy. redundancy. redundancy. redundancy. redundancy. redundancy. redundancy. redundancy. redundancy. redundancy. redundancy. redundancy. redundancy. redundancy. redundancy. redundancy. redundancy. redundancy. redundancy. redundancy. redundancy. redundancy. redundancy. redundancy. redundancy. redundancy. redundancy.

Storage, reliability, comfort, water and fuel storage. An FZJ80 with lockers, dual batteries, winch, and a roof top tent would be how I'd do it.

I would start with keeping it mostly stock. You aren't building it to cross the worst terrain, you are building it to go from one place to the other. To explore, not climb walls and swim. Part of that is going around the worst terrain.

I spend a lot of time in the local national forest. I started with a Samruai with 33" mud grips, locked differentials, big winch, huge jack, the works. It never got stuck and would go anywhere but it wasn't a overland machine, it was a off road machine. Now it's sitting on 29" all terrain tires, open differentials, no jack, no rack. Just the winch stayed. It lost 500 pounds in useless junk. It will still go anywhere and has still never been stuck.

The difference is, now it drives better, rides better, doesn't eat u-joints, and is a lot less likely to snap an axle or gear set. It also went from 17 mpg to 28 mpg. I spend a little more times picking my lines through the rough stuff, but it still will take me where I want to go.

I guess my point is don't overbuild it. You can go overland with a minivan better than you can go overland with a monster truck.

I was going to say, check first that the word TOYOTA is written somewhere on the thing. Everything else is pretty much optional.

I would love me one of the Mercedes overlanders, and you cant dispute its abilities,but really, where the hell do you get parts when it breaks?

In reply to NOHOME:

In that same vein, I'd get something with Ford/Chevy/Dodge written on it. If it were me, I'd find a Ford E-250/350 based RV and slap in a 7.3 Powerstroke and the four wheel drivetrain from a Super Duty.

its hard to beat the toyotas when it comes to reliability, which i consider one of the biggest parts of any overland build, but my recently acquired xterra has 260,000+ miles on it and still drives like its not a day older then 100,000 miles. it also has zero rust, not many toyotas can say that.

im building it as a weekend overland/minor offroad vehicle to take the family out in and all im doing it cranking torsions to level the front, manual hubs, and some meaty 29" tires to help keep mpg close to the same.

This guy seems to have a decent light overland rig:

http://www.gmc4x4.com/topic/230-my-build-thread-2002-tahoe/#

RossD wrote: In reply to NOHOME: In that same vein, I'd get something with Ford/Chevy/Dodge written on it. If it were me, I'd find a Ford E-250/350 based RV and slap in a 7.3 Powerstroke and the four wheel drivetrain from a Super Duty.

Like this? Missing the 7.3 part, but its got F350 running gear and a v10

Thats the winter rig, This is the summer rig.

This:

With some form of modern diesel (cummins, d-max) and OD trans. My personal fave would be a G-series D-max 4L80.

sort of depends what your goals are - going camping for a weekend at a national park is a different need than taking a road trip to tierra del fuego, but for a start, winch(es), roof storage, multi-use bumpers (storage for tires, fuel, hi-lift jack, water, camping gear). The bigger/heavier the rig gets, the more capability/reliability you have to build in - making it bigger/heavier and in need of more capability...

Depending where you plan on traveling the number one priority to me would be how accessible it is to find parts no matter where you are.

sesto elemento wrote: redundancy. redundancy. redundancy. redundancy. redundancy. redundancy. redundancy. redundancy. redundancy. redundancy. redundancy. redundancy. redundancy. redundancy. redundancy. redundancy. redundancy. redundancy. redundancy. redundancy. redundancy. redundancy. redundancy. redundancy. redundancy. redundancy. redundancy. redundancy. redundancy. redundancy. redundancy. redundancy.

That was redundant.

I was thinking along the lines of a JKU with an Adventure Trailer Habitat hardtop tent. Would I want to start with a rubicon for heavier parts and extras like lockers or a base model for less extreme gears?