GEN 2 Math behind overlanding: Exceed truck weight limit?

[GordoJay]

I've assumed that you all have been here ... https://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/
but that might not be true, so here you go.

 

[adllewis42]

My idea of "Overlanding" isnt going slow or carrying a house full of supplies with me.

I regularly take 750-1500 mile trips in my raptor and essentially live out of it, except I prefer to stay in a hotel for the night. If I were to be sleeping under the stars, I'd add another 200 Lbs of gear and be completely fine with it.

My point in my commentary is twofold:

1. Deaver leafsprings and upgraded shocks will facilitate being able to carry whatever loadout you want.

2. Don't go overboard on all the fancy crap before you actually use the truck for the purpose.

I can't tell you how many "Overlanding approved" piles of crap that I've tried on my truck and either threw out while on the trip (in town) or tore off the truck and tossed into the scrap pile.

This goes for some of the spendier stuff too. I've watched bed slides, decked setups, SWAG action packer mounts All die very quick deaths in Baja (I've launched an action packer about 80 ft into the air when the swag mount let loose. Some of my stuff is still probably laying around hammertown, or someone has put it to good use by now) and I've seen bed walls crumple with the racks on them.

My offroad trips tend to consist of Mexico and the SW U.S. If you're headed to a different climate and/or prefer to go slow like the jeep crowd, disregard my commentary completely.

Totally fair but I think your notion of "overlanding" is different than many others. I totally see where you might find issues with certain things given the way you recreate but I think most people "overlanding" aren't bombing across Baja.

Your advice is totally sound though. I would agree on not going overboard with all the "fancy crap" before you try it first without it.

 

[GordoJay]

Yeah, "overlanding" is a fancy way to say "car camping". Everyone has a different idea of what that entails, too. And most overlanders don't really need 4WD for what they actually do, let alone a Raptor. My old 2WD 1962 Chevy 3/4T made it to some ridiculous places because I wasn't afraid of bashing it or of backing down stuff. I didn't need a Raptor, I wanted one, and I was willing to make a few compromises to have one. I'm happy I did. There is no one vehicle that can do everything well. You just have to decide where your priorities lie. If overlanding was my only priority, I'd build out one of those Mercedes vans.

 

[adllewis42]

Yeah, "overlanding" is a fancy way to say "car camping". Everyone has a different idea of what that entails, too. And most overlanders don't really need 4WD for what they actually do, let alone a Raptor. My old 2WD 1962 Chevy 3/4T made it to some ridiculous places because I wasn't afraid of bashing it or of backing down stuff. I didn't need a Raptor, I wanted one, and I was willing to make a few compromises to have one. I'm happy I did. There is no one vehicle that can do everything well. You just have to decide where your priorities lie. If overlanding was my only priority, I'd build out one of those Mercedes vans.

Haha that's EXACTLY where I landed. The Raptor may not be the perfect overland setup on paper (or in reality) but it's one that makes me smile a lot every time I get to drive it and that's all I really care about.

 

[amREADY]

Good discussion. To sum up and maybe reinforce a couple of points.

If you do a +3 you'll be able to carry your tent, recovery gear, misc gear and water and it will perform fine. Not the nimbleness of an unloaded truck, but not the ass dragging sag of stock either.

Some of the gear you listed I would rethink. Bedslides, drawer systems add weight, take up tons of useful space and add little utility. You can't go wrong with totes and pack squishy stuff between them. Not sure if you have access to the full rear seat area or need to leave room for 1 or 2 rear seat passengers. You can put some of your heavier gear more forward if no passengers, for example.

I hadn't used a RTT until this year and love it. I went with a small awning too, but too soon to give a report on it. However, I decided against the full 270 degree awning (even though I often camp in really rainy areas) and went with the 2000 ARB. I can add a room to it if I am taking the whole family, but usually just me and my son. The annex for the RTT will come on some trips and not on others. Same with the awning room. Or even the awning. In other words, I bring the minimum for the trip.

With my recovery gear, full loadout, including water etc., I am probably around 500 lbs. It is too heavy for the stock rear springs. It drives fine, but I can tell I've lost suspension travel and clearance. So I think I'll run it this way for a bit then do Icons or Deavers. It is also my daily, so trip loadout is the exception.

As far as the desert racer guys blowing out their bed sides, I think the rack system alleviates that to a large degree. It has to add some rigidity to the unsupported bed sides? With my tent and rack system, even on the retrax base, I see zero flex when offroading. I am not 'racing', but I am not crawling either. Brisk is probably how I would describe it.

In the attached pic, I am running full water, extra recovery gear, food for 2 weeks, ARB fridge, misc other gear and you can see the ass end is squatting down more than I'd like. It still ran fine, but rear springs are near the top of my list.

 

[adllewis42]

Everyone's gonna have an opinion on drawers. I too thought that the decked system "took up" space and, on paper, maybe it does. However, it replaces two full bins and now leaves the "floor" of my bed totally flat all the way across. For me, it's perfect. Maybe not for everyone but far from a waste. I also chose to ditch the bed rack (had a KB Voodoo which was fantastic) in favor of a cap because I needed to put two dogs in the back (which works out immensely better with the drawer system now)

 

[zombiekiller]

Good discussion. To sum up and maybe reinforce a couple of points.

If you do a +3 you'll be able to carry your tent, recovery gear, misc gear and water and it will perform fine. Not the nimbleness of an unloaded truck, but not the ass dragging sag of stock either.

Some of the gear you listed I would rethink. Bedslides, drawer systems add weight, take up tons of useful space and add little utility. You can't go wrong with totes and pack squishy stuff between them. Not sure if you have access to the full rear seat area or need to leave room for 1 or 2 rear seat passengers. You can put some of your heavier gear more forward if no passengers, for example.

I hadn't used a RTT until this year and love it. I went with a small awning too, but too soon to give a report on it. However, I decided against the full 270 degree awning (even though I often camp in really rainy areas) and went with the 2000 ARB. I can add a room to it if I am taking the whole family, but usually just me and my son. The annex for the RTT will come on some trips and not on others. Same with the awning room. Or even the awning. In other words, I bring the minimum for the trip.

With my recovery gear, full loadout, including water etc., I am probably around 500 lbs. It is too heavy for the stock rear springs. It drives fine, but I can tell I've lost suspension travel and clearance. So I think I'll run it this way for a bit then do Icons or Deavers. It is also my daily, so trip loadout is the exception.

As far as the desert racer guys blowing out their bed sides, I think the rack system alleviates that to a large degree. It has to add some rigidity to the unsupported bed sides? With my tent and rack system, even on the retrax base, I see zero flex when offroading. I am not 'racing', but I am not crawling either. Brisk is probably how I would describe it.

In the attached pic, I am running full water, extra recovery gear, food for 2 weeks, ARB fridge, misc other gear and you can see the ass end is squatting down more than I'd like. It still ran fine, but rear springs are near the top of my list.

I've seen the "chase rack" style racks tear the aluminum bedsides, but I have yet to see a full length adventure rack cause the same issue. ( as long as the bed is as it came from the factory)

I have seen some pretty bad damage from the adventure racks when the truck is running aftermarket fiberglass bedsides. When you do them, the bed walls lose quite a bit of structural integrity.

The net of my commentary on the subject is centered around average offroad speeds between 40mph and 60 mph. If you're going slower, then a lot of what doesnt work for me will probably work for you.

If I'm going on a trip that is specifically targeted at camping, I tend to take my superduty and the raptor will stay at home. ( bed is bigger/stronger. The SD has a carli pintop kit which makes the truck capable of normal "raptor stuff" save for jumping.)

 

[Phil O]

Good discussion. To sum up and maybe reinforce a couple of points.

If you do a +3 you'll be able to carry your tent, recovery gear, misc gear and water and it will perform fine. Not the nimbleness of an unloaded truck, but not the ass dragging sag of stock either.

Some of the gear you listed I would rethink. Bedslides, drawer systems add weight, take up tons of useful space and add little utility. You can't go wrong with totes and pack squishy stuff between them. Not sure if you have access to the full rear seat area or need to leave room for 1 or 2 rear seat passengers. You can put some of your heavier gear more forward if no passengers, for example.

I hadn't used a RTT until this year and love it. I went with a small awning too, but too soon to give a report on it. However, I decided against the full 270 degree awning (even though I often camp in really rainy areas) and went with the 2000 ARB. I can add a room to it if I am taking the whole family, but usually just me and my son. The annex for the RTT will come on some trips and not on others. Same with the awning room. Or even the awning. In other words, I bring the minimum for the trip.

With my recovery gear, full loadout, including water etc., I am probably around 500 lbs. It is too heavy for the stock rear springs. It drives fine, but I can tell I've lost suspension travel and clearance. So I think I'll run it this way for a bit then do Icons or Deavers. It is also my daily, so trip loadout is the exception.

As far as the desert racer guys blowing out their bed sides, I think the rack system alleviates that to a large degree. It has to add some rigidity to the unsupported bed sides? With my tent and rack system, even on the retrax base, I see zero flex when offroading. I am not 'racing', but I am not crawling either. Brisk is probably how I would describe it.

In the attached pic, I am running full water, extra recovery gear, food for 2 weeks, ARB fridge, misc other gear and you can see the ass end is squatting down more than I'd like. It still ran fine, but rear springs are near the top of my list.

How is that Yakima rack system working for you? Is it sturdy without the side bars?

 

[Tr4ckD4ys]

Couple clarifications: I’m not currently buying this whole setup, but rather on the path (piece by piece) to get started with overlanding. I’m starting with rack, tent and suspension upgrades. And that’s where the questions came from. Seeing how far people take it, this thread has provided a lot of good input on how to think about getting started, finding “your own way” of overlanding and ultimately how to think about loads on the bed.

Over time, I’ll have to find my answers to questions around the need for and use of annex rooms, decked system (200lbs is a lot but it adds convenience), power generator + fridge, et cetera, et cetera...

As for rack: I really like the ADD Lander Overland rack, it looks great but there’s no info online around load weights and it’s a steel construction and very heavy. Therefore, it seems that the Leitner ACS Forged system is the best out-of-the-box solution that holds a ton of weight and is sturdy as hell. Just doesn’t look great.

As for tent: I’ve been going forth and back between budget options (tuff stuff) and the CVTs of this world. I just can’t tell “how” different they really are to warrant the extra 1500$. Some of the hard shell tuff stuff tents seem great (I.e. the Alpha)... but it gets you in the Freespirit/CVT price range for non-hard shell ones.

As for suspension: It looks like the Icons give me the most flexibility, bit more lift and are slightly better quality than the Deavers. Given all the uncertainty around load weights, there’s really no other way to go here. I’ll put eibachs as well because I like the leveled look and lastly, I won’t add an aftermarket bump stop kit because that feels a bit overkill for someone not jumping the truck around. Plus they’re hell pricey.

For sure next Memorial Day I want to spend camping and not in the Chicago burbs.

 

[adllewis42]

If I can give you and word of advice, it would be to NOT get a soft shell tent. CVT makes some decent hardshells (I've owned many of their soft and hard shell tents) but DONT go with the soft shell unless you need to sleep a lot of people in a single tent. Of all the tents I've bought, the James Baroud is, by a wide margin, the best when you're looking at comfort and ease. It's pricey, for sure, and I kinda miss the little bit of awnings that the softhshells have, but I'm so happy to never have to deal with a travel cover and the Baroud has the most comfortable mattress of all I've slept in.