Battleship Jones: 2015 Tacoma DCLB Build Thread

Adventurous

Explorer
Well good people, it's official.

DSC_3956 by Tim Souza, on Flickr

2017 Ram 3500 4x4, crew cab long bed with the 6.7L Cummins. Taco is still in the family and I'm contemplating just hanging onto it since I'm most of the way through the loan anyway.

After much consideration, I decided to go down this road for several reasons. The first, and perhaps the driving factor, was the pending sale of our house and the ensuing road trip. While the trailer was the plan for that, the more our itinerary shaped up, the more limiting dragging a trailer around became. There are a number of times when having a trailer along during our adventures would have resulted in a miserable time backing out of a Forest Service road with no place to turn around and either no way, or too many challenges to go forward. Not to mention the plan for the trailer had morphed away from the rudimentary build I was once planning and the desired end goal was a state beyond my realm of knowledge, especially considering our time frame. So I did what I wanted (and was convinced otherwise) from the beginning, got the one ton truck and will be getting the slide in camper. I recognize that there will be places I want to, and could otherwise have visited if I had the Taco, but the gamble is that the new truck will get me *most* places and the others will be little more than a bicycle ride or hike away from. I'm not sure there was a "right" choice, but I've made peace with the choice I've made.

So this isn't goodbye by any means, I'll still hang around this forum, but I may not be as active, especially as we prepare to depart. I'll be sure to update this thread with a link so those interested can follow along with our adventures!

I can see why you would want to move that direction but I don't think I'd want to own a newer gen diesel, especially for back country exploring. Just so much to go wrong with them and leave you stranded. A buddy of mine was stranded on a dirt road with his 5th wheel trailer when his duramax decided to fry a sensor. Crazy thing was, GM would not tow him out of there. He had to have someone else tow him to a paved road and unhook the 5th wheel before the GM tow truck would hook up to it. I could see moving up to a 3/4 or 1 ton truck but I'd probably stick with gas.

While the additional emissions equipment was a definite downside of going with the diesel, for my needs the pros outweighed the cons. That was one of the reasons I chose the Cummins over the other two, it represented a great powertrain in a good truck, while the Ford was a good trucks with a good powertrains (didn't like the Chevy). We'll see if that move pays off, I sprung for the 6 year/100,000 mile bumper to bumper warranty, so I should be covered if anything other than wear parts die within that time frame.
 

Scott B.

SE Expedition Society
It sounds like you thought it through. I am glad you are happy with your decision. We will certainly miss you and your ideas on this forum.

Do post a link to your build thread and your road trip thread.

Which camper are you going to get? There are many choices these days... :)
 

tjalward

Observer
Are you planning any kind of build out of the new rig? Tires, suspension, camper, backseat (dogs), bumpers, recovery gear, etc?
 

Adventurous

Explorer
It sounds like you thought it through. I am glad you are happy with your decision. We will certainly miss you and your ideas on this forum.

Do post a link to your build thread and your road trip thread.

Which camper are you going to get? There are many choices these days... :)

Aw shucks! Glad to know I'll be missed *blushes*

We are still combing the used market as the new ones are insane, but I'd love to get into a Lance. I like the true 4-season capability and the aluminum frame. Their drawback however is the lack of storage space relative to comparable models. Not looking to get anything too crazy, just a 9.5' version that somewhere south of 2,700 lbs dry.

Are you planning any kind of build out of the new rig? Tires, suspension, camper, backseat (dogs), bumpers, recovery gear, etc?

Gonna keep it kind of mild for now I think. Looking to do either no lift or a 2" lift, either would be with Fox 2.0 shocks instead of the Bilsteins that are included in something like the AEV kit. My biggest problem with lifting it is then you are tempted to do larger tires, once you get larger tires the spare no longer fits under the bed, and given that the bed is absorbed with a cab-over camper, that leaves little other space for it. Not to mention most of the lift kits don't seem to be bolt in, the AEV for instance requires you to ream out a hole on the passenger side knuckle and chop off part of the coil bucket. Tires, going for the tried and true BFG AT KO2. Rear seat will be removed in this truck just like in the Tacoma and replaced with a dog platform. For the time being recovery gear will be limited to some traction boards and the factory LSD. A winch and bumper would be nice, but at this point I can't justify sinking $3K into what'll more than likely be a glorified pavement/gravel/forest road queen. We'll see though, hoping to espouse the less is more philosophy with this one a bit more than with my Taco.
 

Adventurous

Explorer
Congrats on the purchase! A one-ton with a proper camper will be an awesome vehicle to do serious overland trips in. And I suspect that you'll not find the physical size all that limiting.

Here in the backcountry of BC, I can think of many places where a full-size truck will struggle fitting, but for long-term, long-distance trips, a full-size and camper won't be nearly as much of an issue. You're going to enjoy it!

Where are you planning to go? For how long?

Thanks!

Planned departure date is sometime in July and we are going to head up to Alaska. We'll be back down and on the East Coast towards the end of the year, but back out west in the beginning of the year. Goal is to stay out as long as possible, at least as long as our budget allows for. It should be at least a year, hopefully two, but those kinds of things can be hard to predict. By the end of the trip I'm hoping we have found a new place to land; I keep pushing either BC or Alberta but that might be a bit of a struggle as a US citizen.

Luckily the truck + camper solution will easily allow for MTBs to come along. To be honest, a mountain bike is my preferred method of backcountry travel anyway, so I don't envision the full size thing holding me back from going where I wanna go. It'd be almost criminal to drive through some of the best MTB spots on the continent and only be able to stare longingly.
 
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Watt maker

Active member
Congrats on the new rig! I'm totally jealous of your travel plans btw. That's something I've always wanted to do and should've done when I had the chance. Hopefully, after my kids graduate high school (only 12 or so short years away), I can break away and do a long trip like that.
 

Adventurous

Explorer
Well folks, it is with great sadness that I will be putting the truck up for sale in the coming weeks. It has been a long journey, one with blood, sweat, tears, learning and lots of money, but the realities of storing, paying for, and insuring a vehicle while we are on the road are just too burdensome. :(

With our house about to go on the market and departure day quickly approaching, I need to get my affairs in order. I will have a for sale ad up within the next few weeks. If anyone is interested, feel free to contact me in the mean time. Otherwise, I will update this thread again once the for sale ad goes live.
 

Adventurous

Explorer
I know I teased about it a lot recently in this thread, but the wife and I are on the road now, currently in Banff National Park making our way north. If you’d like to follow along you can keep up with our travels here:

https://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/explore-the-untamed-get-lost-find-yourself.196785/

Or on instagram @ explore_the_untamed

We’ll be passing through Jasper within the next 1.5 weeks and heading up the Alcan; don’t know if any of y’all are along the way but let me know if so!
 

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