In 2008, there was a fuel crisis with oil going to $140 per barrel and gas to over $4 per gallon. They say that one man's suffering is another man's opportunity. I happily picked up a 2002 G500 with 57K miles on it in Tectite Grey for only a few dollar more than the old diesel truck fetched. I was sorry to see the old girl go, the simplicity of some aspects of its design was the perfect compromise between comfort and utility. However, driving on the interstate and up to the mountain with the 5 banger screaming along at 4000 RPM was not the answer, and I decided it was not best suited to my needs.
The G500 was a big change with lots of power, super comfy, great A/C, and a ready platform for building it into something more consistent with my needs. While the tropical roof on the 300GD was super cool, it prevented mounting of any kind of sturdy roof rack, unlike the G500. I started just by driving it as is for a few months and getting used to it. There were a few cosmetic issues that were easy to fix and new tires were in order as I developed the so called "death wobble" at 50 MPH. Tony at Motorsports here in Portland slapped on some nice 275/70/18 General Grabbers. 33" and no noticeable change in power or braking distance. Wow, what a change from my experience with the old underpowered diesel. The Grabbers are winter rated and studdable. I ended up getting a second studded set on a spare set of inexpensive 18" Ashtaroths for driving to the mountain in the winter.
I rolled it down to Death Valley in October 2009 for my first real outing with the boys. It did great and was really dialed in so to speak. Everything from here on out was just fluff as the only thing the truck needed for overlanding was a better set of tires. I did put on a tow pin bumper on it right off the bat too. It was sourced from Vlad at Fourbyfourclub. I had one of them on the 460 and really liked the added utility for pulling logs on our forestry property. The spare tire cover had a small dent when I purchased it, so I picked up the new Gwagenaccessories locking spare tire compartment, a real nifty item. I also got a decent deal on Karl's new Rock-Meister rock slider rocker protection that complemented the look and improved functionality. Adios stainless side steps...