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Excellent build, I have to say that after a lot of thought we turned ours over to a local outfitter; he did a great job (far better than we could have done) and it was mostly custom to our spec, but I always see some things looking at other builds ... “Arghh, we should have done that!” We did...

Will be following on the lift kit experiences as more people get them, and maybe there are some options in addition to VC. I’ve only lifted one vehicle, my old FJ80, and definitely noticed ill effects on handling despite just 2” taller springs (OME) and slightly taller tires. And I ended up...

Now I’ve figured out who you guys are on the Transit forum, I’ll chime in here and say it’s good to hear another person NOT complain about the OEM VanContacts (not Vanco’s). I’ve been happy in the snow and dirt with them, and even in sand, long stretches in the Mojave but not very deep and often...

We camp quite a bit in the desert in winter where daytime temps are pleasant but nights can get cool. While we always bring sleeping bags, just in case, we lately have been using a “home store” (IKEA? Bed Bath and Beyond?) down comforter which works fine, though the cotton cover is loose and...

I’m running 36-38 psi cold on the 265/75-16 E rated KO2’s on my Tacoma. About 35K miles on them, never rotated (I’m lazy) and pretty even wear with lots of tread left ... I’m sure they’ll go 50K. My truck is basically stock, just sliders and recovery gear, plus camping stuff on trips so probably...

You and me both. There are still a lot on the road around me.

I had one for a couple of years before I bought my Tacoma and I still miss the size and simplicity. As I recall there was a recall on either the idler arm or pitman arm; in any case, after new shocks and steering stabilizer, tie rod ends and lower ball joints, mine felt really good at almost...

If you’re not interested in DIY and don’t really need an inverter and 110 AC output, there are a bunch of us who like our Dometic PLB40 batteries ... see another thread in this section. Small and light (like a 6 pack of bottles), built-in solar charge controller and DC-DC charger, and a couple...

The insulation is a good idea. And it protects otherwise as well. I actually have the battery in a box I made but with only small pads to locate it, ot fully wrapped. This past weekend we had temps well below 0°C. The temp display on the fridge read 18°F in the morning, and it was set to 39°F...

My fridge sometimes threatens to be a duel zone when a couple of us are fighting to get to the beer ? first after a long MTB ride.

Looking back through this thread it’s hard to believe that I’ve only had my PLB40 and CFX35 for a year. I’ve used them so much it feels like forever. And I’m generally very happy. That said, as we moved the setup over to our new van, instead of tent camping from the pickup, and we’re camping in...

I paid $32K for my triple-locked 1993 FZJ80 in 1995, and sold it in 2007 with 140K and an OME lift for under $7K if I recall right. And it was a tough sell, zero bites after several weeks on CL and I finally sold it on IH8MUD. Times have changed.

I owned a Land Cruiser 80 for many years, but for various reasons replaced it with a Subaru Forester, which in the big scheme of things is similar to your Highlander: AWD, lower ground clearance, street tires etc. I was always impressed with what it could do with some care to avoid tire-cuts and...

I agree that the implementation of most swivel seats is pretty poor, but after owning them in a Vanagon 30 years ago, and having the OEM swivels in our month-old Transit, I’d say if you want to have two usable camping seats in a cargo van, you need swivels. And I can swivel the driver seat...

My ten speed EcoBoost combo seemed to shift perfectly right off the lot. Maybe I’m just lucky.

Two days into our second high Sierra camping trip with our new AWD T250 with EcoBoost. This motor with 10 speed and 3.73 gears is so good that I suspect the 3.5 non-turbo is still OK. Of course my other truck is a 3rd gen V6 Tacoma with AT so my standards aren’t very high. Seriously though, the...

I’m no expert, but as an engineer, two comments on the calcs, picked up from colleagues who did wind tunnel testing of vehicles. First, as someone else noted, the uplift from passing vehicles or just air going between the roof and the panels. That pressure is now acting on a much larger surface...

This has to be a personal decision. I have never been anywhere fun - in the Western US - that I would have wanted to tow a trailer. But if that combination of slightly unwieldy vehicle to get to camp, and something small when you get there, works for you, then it’s a roomier solution than any...

So we just bought a van, our first since a 1985 Vanagon Westy that we sold in 1994. Since then, have owned mostly pickups and one LC80. Anyway, our new van is a high roof Transit, 9’ tall even if we don’t end up lifting it and/or mounting bigger tires. And in the first 500 miles, including...

FYI, I reported on it a bit here, five years ago when I had it in my T100 before moving it over to my Tacoma in 2016, which reminded me that it’s been around for a while though software is updated regularly, and the hardware has had a few updates too. I’ll find some pictures, but it’s so small...