Building My Overland Tacoma: Plans, Progress, Perplexions

[Michael]

Michael,

Do you have a writeup on your battery install. Really looks good.

Sorry it took so long to respond -- I missed your question in this thread.

If good intentions were any help at all, I'd have the write-up done by now I have the schematics, in-process photos, and material lists sitting on my bench, but I've been having way too much fun making expeditions to put it all together. If you're interested, I'd be happy to pass along the details to you in advance of my unfinished thesis titled (by my wife) "Why are you taking your new truck apart already?"

I posted bits and pieces of my project here and there, including the photos of my aux battery and my sleeping platform you saw a few pages back, and a few short write-ups on the electrical here, here, here, and here.

I added a few more photos below of some of the detail work and a spec sheet on the battery isolator I used. Yeah, I know, it would be a lot easier to start a thread

Overland Hadley's sleeping platform has some nice features I didn't think of when I built my platform -- can't wait to see what he comes up with next!

 

[FourByLand]

Nathaniel,

It was a pleasure to meet you guys and share a campfire with you. Be safe on your travels and watchout for those crazy people on the trail!

Awesome truck set up you have by the way!

:elkgrin:

 

[HMR]

Nathaniel,

It was a pleasure to meet you guys and share a campfire with you. Be safe on your travels and watchout for those crazy people on the trail!

Awesome truck set up you have by the way!

:elkgrin:

+1

 

[tacoma]

Well here are the photos of the new topper. It is a Leer 122 high rise. The best part of it is that I was able to get the high rise model with windoors and no vertical windows. I think that the option to get the high rise with the windoors is fairly new, what a great word, windoors.

This winter I will be building a storage/sleeping area in the back, something similar to what BAJATACO has done, with some added ideas that I have from the time that I have spent on sailboats. I am planning pull out drawers along the back, and the rest will be hatch-accessed compartments. I also want to build it with an extension so I can stretch out with the gate open and watch the stars.

I have put four load bars and a basket along with holders for a couple shovels and a high lift jack on top. The basket will hold water and gas cans for extended trips in the desert, and I will also carry sand ladders up there.

So enough talk, here are some pics.


The topper with load bars and basket.

The Windoors.

The back door looks a little big, but the racks on top help it not look out of place.

The roofline. More about the IPF lights to come.

Any ideas or thoughts? It would be great to hear them.

GREAT Setup!, this is mine. I'm interested on how did you setup those IPF lights over the roof, Where are they connected?

Thanks,
Regards.

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[Streakerfreak]

Are you hiding from us eepwall:

 

[Overland Hadley]

Are you hiding from us eepwall:

No, I have not been hiding. I just have been super busy with sumertime work, and I have had zero free time on the internet.

But I have a little time tonight, so I will try to get a few things up to date.

 

[Overland Hadley]

Nathaniel,

It was a pleasure to meet you guys and share a campfire with you. Be safe on your travels and watchout for those crazy people on the trail!

Awesome truck set up you have by the way!

:elkgrin:

Thanks Louis!

It was great to meet you in Death Valley.

Watching you drive away from our campsite was one of the highlights of the time on the road, you have a great rig and watching you drive away was very cool.

:safari-rig:

 

[Overland Hadley]

Post reserved for "lessons learned" or "thoughts from the road about my rig".

More to come....

 

[Overland Hadley]

I had some major work done on the truck while I was on the road.

This photo might give you a hint as to what I had done.

 

[Overland Hadley]

Full Old Man Emu on all four corners, and Dakar leafs in the back.



I had the work done at Safari-Ltd. Hugh is a great guy, and did some good work on my truck. Plus, I got a ride in his Series truck.

I am very happy with the OME on my truck, it performs very well, even with the truck loaded to 5800 lbs.

 

[daverami]

Awesome!

How much lift did you get all around?

 

[slooowr6]

Did you pick 886 or 885 for the front?

 

[Overland Hadley]

Did you pick 886 or 885 for the front?

885's

As the rig already weighs 5800 lbs when on the road, I decided that a new front bumper would add to much weight. It was a hard choice to make as I really wanted an ARB bumper up front.

 

[FourByLand]

Thanks Louis!

It was great to meet you in Death Valley.

Watching you drive away from our campsite was one of the highlights of the time on the road, you have a great rig and watching you drive away was very cool.

:safari-rig:

:ylsmoke:

Glad to see you guys made it back safe and sound!

 

[Overland Hadley]

Awesome!

How much lift did you get all around?

Not sure exactly, I was not able to make "before" measurements and the truck has a lot of weight in the back from the topper and racks.

I think the ARB measurements are 1.75 front and 2.75 rear.

But I do know that before I was hitting the bump stops a lot, and now I have tons of room under there.

I do not even think it would be possible to hit the bump stops anymore, as the second over load spring would keep that from happening. The Dakar springs are great.

(Thanks to heeltoe989 for the info on the Dakars while I was on the road)