Talk Me Out of an OBS as a budget overlanding rig!

[zelseman]

My wife and I live on the road full time in one of our two rigs: either the 4 window school bus or our 1986 4Runner with the roof top tent. One is more comfortable, the other is far more capable.

Things we like about the skoolie:
It is 100% self sustainable. We have solar, water, inverter, etc to stay in it without needing anything.
It is fairly comfortable. The ride is a bit rough, but it weighs 9500lbs. We have built the interior exactly how we want it with a quean bed, fridge, and oven.

Things we don't like about the skoolie:
It is extremely expensive to lift/4wd convert/modify
We can't get to some of the places that we would like to see/camp near/explore
It is ugly. You can put all of the lipstick you want on a pig, but it's still a pig

Things we love about the 4Runner:
It is super simple to work on
It's reliable and capable
It looks sooooooo good. Classic Toyota styling is the best!

Things we don't like about the 4Runner:
Living in a roof top tent full-time is awful. Between the wind, cold, and rain/snow...it gets old quick. Cooking outside in the winter everyday blows...literally.
Itty bitty living space!
Setup and teardown takes time

In the next 5 years we will be looking to consolidate our fleet into one vehicle that meets the following criteria:

• Budget is $20,000 for living quarters and truck
• Old tech: with the budget this should be an easy guess, but ideally less electronics and more manual/mechanical systems that I can repair in the field
• Off-road capable: we mostly cruise forest service roads and like beach camping in Baja but occasionally we leave Mike's Sky Ranch to the South and end up crawling through some stuff. This truck should be able to drive the Pan American HWY someday as that is on our short list of trips.
• Must have room for a good size ARB style fridge, camp stove, solar on top somewhere and a couple of batteries, plus on-board water
• Preferred 10-15MPG highway

I am leaning toward an OBS ford with the 6 foot bed and an older pop up camper in the back. Would love a 4 Wheel Camper but they are simply too much for our budget. Diesel is not mandatory, as most with the 7.3 are priced like they are made of gold. Is there a better option out there for our constraints than an OBS gasser 4x4? I am open to suggestions and this is long term planning as we basically have the next year of travel planned in either the truck or bus.

 

[Gfp Sean]

I have a 97 f350 with a 460. Forget about mileage, they drink (10-12 empty). Put a camper on them and that goes down to single digits. Cost of these trucks with diesels are going stupid. Flip side, with the diesel, 11-12 with a camper in real world conditions is do-able. 7.3’s arent hard to work on if you are savvy. They do have their issues. These trucks are getting old. Little things break. You probably dont want to take a cherry obs down the pan american. It’ll get destroyed or stolen. But if your heart is set on one, go for it! They are great trucks despite certain shortcomings. Turtle expedition would be a hood place to see what they did to fix those shortcomings.

Or you could cummins swap one ?

 

[Buliwyf]

I think a OBS and FWC combo pops up here in the for sales forum, for about 20.

 

[ultraclyde]

I had a '96 diesel OBS. Great truck even with 239k on it. Remember though, even the newest one is now 22 years old and a lot of them were beat hard. Figure out what's left out of your 20k after buying a camper and then figure you'll spend half of that to buy the truck and the other half to rebuild what's worn out. Maybe more.

I think the gas model is probably worth the lower initial price over diesel. I saw around 20mpg from my diesel 2wd unloaded at 55mph cruise, but it was usually more like 15 on average. Figure you'll be slightly lower than that with 4wd and a load, and you're talking, maybe 12-13mpg? With the 460 in good tune you'll get 8, maybe? So figure a difference of 5mpg, add the higher cost in most places of diesel vs regular, then figure a $3k-$5k premium for initial purchase, plus higher maintenance costs. Unless you are driving semi-truck mileage yearly I'd bet the gas engine is a break even. I know a friend whose an uptight engineer did the same analysis about 15 years back when buying a new Chevy truck and found out he'd have to drive 30k miles/year to make the diesel pay off, and the fuel price difference was much lower back then.

Using today's AAA US average fuel prices and figuring on 15k miles/year and 8mpg vs 13mpg respectively, you'll spend $1700 more per year on gas than diesel. Maintenance costs are harder to quantify but one oil change on a diesel is two changes on a gas motor. Plus when something breaks on the diesel it's more expensive to fix. So...it comes down to the condition you can find the respective vehicles in for a given price range (as it usually does.)

 

[Mickey Bitsko]

Op, why OBS? Diesel is overrated IMO for most people.
Ford modular engines are very reliable , I picked up a 00' F-250 4*4 ccsb 6.8 w/Northstar 650 Pop up in very good condition for 11k.
With a little research you will find they're quite desirable.
I had reservations about the zf transmission but that went away after I learned about reliability.
With a little newer vehicle you get a little better technology.
And a MUCH BETTER ride.

 

[XJLI]

Find a GMT800 (00-07) 2500/3500 with an 8' bed. Regular or extended cab. 6.0 with a tune will be just peachy, 8.1 is a monster but will eat a bit more fuel. You don't need a big old solid front axle truck for what you're doing. Chevys from that gen are cheap, comfy, and dead ass reliable. Factory rear locking diff, level the front with some 285/75s, get some tie rod sleeves and/or carry spares; call it a day. Some dude on this forum has one IIRC and is down in central or South America.

 

[eblau]

I have both a 92 crew cab dually IDI with over 400k and a 96 crew cab 4x4 7.3 SRW with 260k ... both are stick shifts. They are awesome trucks but like anything they will need maintenance to remain awesome. They are loud big heavy old trucks. The engines and manual transmissions are amazingly durable. The interior quality is so-so. The parts are cheap and can be found in any parts store anywhere in America.

 

[zelseman]

I have a 97 f350 with a 460. Forget about mileage, they drink (10-12 empty). Put a camper on them and that goes down to single digits. Cost of these trucks with diesels are going stupid. Flip side, with the diesel, 11-12 with a camper in real world conditions is do-able. 7.3’s arent hard to work on if you are savvy. They do have their issues. These trucks are getting old. Little things break. You probably dont want to take a cherry obs down the pan american. It’ll get destroyed or stolen. But if your heart is set on one, go for it! They are great trucks despite certain shortcomings. Turtle expedition would be a hood place to see what they did to fix those shortcomings.

Or you could cummins swap one ?

Thanks for your input on the mileage. I expected somewhere between 10-15, but less than 10 is less than ideal.

I had a '96 diesel OBS. Great truck even with 239k on it. Remember though, even the newest one is now 22 years old and a lot of them were beat hard. Figure out what's left out of your 20k after buying a camper and then figure you'll spend half of that to buy the truck and the other half to rebuild what's worn out. Maybe more.

I think the gas model is probably worth the lower initial price over diesel. I saw around 20mpg from my diesel 2wd unloaded at 55mph cruise, but it was usually more like 15 on average. Figure you'll be slightly lower than that with 4wd and a load, and you're talking, maybe 12-13mpg? With the 460 in good tune you'll get 8, maybe? So figure a difference of 5mpg, add the higher cost in most places of diesel vs regular, then figure a $3k-$5k premium for initial purchase, plus higher maintenance costs. Unless you are driving semi-truck mileage yearly I'd bet the gas engine is a break even. I know a friend whose an uptight engineer did the same analysis about 15 years back when buying a new Chevy truck and found out he'd have to drive 30k miles/year to make the diesel pay off, and the fuel price difference was much lower back then.

Using today's AAA US average fuel prices and figuring on 15k miles/year and 8mpg vs 13mpg respectively, you'll spend $1700 more per year on gas than diesel. Maintenance costs are harder to quantify but one oil change on a diesel is two changes on a gas motor. Plus when something breaks on the diesel it's more expensive to fix. So...it comes down to the condition you can find the respective vehicles in for a given price range (as it usually does.)

The real reason for considering the diesel was parts availability out of country. The 7.3 seems to be more recognizable and popular in the developing world making parts easier to source.
Thanks for the input!

Op, why OBS? Diesel is overrated IMO for most people.
Ford modular engines are very reliable , I picked up a 00' F-250 4*4 ccsb 6.8 w/Northstar 650 Pop up in very good condition for 11k.
With a little research you will find they're quite desirable.
I had reservations about the zf transmission but that went away after I learned about reliability.
With a little newer vehicle you get a little better technology.
And a MUCH BETTER ride.

This is why I posted, for real world examples of potential rigs. I had steered clear of the next generation of Fords as I have twitches from the last one I worked on. My sister had one with the 6.0PSD and it was a piece of junk. I will look into the v-10 models.

Find a GMT800 (00-07) 2500/3500 with an 8' bed. Regular or extended cab. 6.0 with a tune will be just peachy, 8.1 is a monster but will eat a bit more fuel. You don't need a big old solid front axle truck for what you're doing. Chevys from that gen are cheap, comfy, and dead ass reliable. Factory rear locking diff, level the front with some 285/75s, get some tie rod sleeves and/or carry spares; call it a day. Some dude on this forum has one IIRC and is down in central or South America.

The only concern with that truck is the parts availability somewhere outside North America. I will look into them though. I don't care for the styling too much, but that can be overlooked.

I have both a 92 crew cab dually IDI with over 400k and a 96 crew cab 4x4 7.3 SRW with 260k ... both are stick shifts. They are awesome trucks but like anything they will need maintenance to remain awesome. They are loud big heavy old trucks. The engines and manual transmissions are amazingly durable. The interior quality is so-so. The parts are cheap and can be found in any parts store anywhere in America.

Thanks for the input. Old trucks don't scare me away as the '86 Yota has had it's own issues that needed fixing. Just trying to find something that needs regular maintenance and will just drive.

 

[WFOORBUST]

I was having the same debate gas/diesel! I just bought a 2004 Chevy four door 3/4 ton, gas, 6.0 with 67k miles for 12k. Diesel would have been another 10k for the same truck... Looking to go flatbed with a FWC, mostly Baja and Mexico travels to start... Some mild mods and a few upgrades and it will be good to go. I have talked to several guys with the same truck, with big campers and they were happy with performance and durability. I just took the back seats out and built a platform and storage box, it added a lot of storage. I think that unless you are pulling a big trailer or huge camper, gas will work just fine.

 

[XJLI]

The only concern with that truck is the parts availability somewhere outside North America. I will look into them though. I don't care for the styling too much, but that can be overlooked.

You won't need parts, its a Chevy! (ha). I don't really like the styling either, but it's the most reliable truck I've owned so far.

 

[snorkel54]

I’m dumb. What’s OBS?

 

[zelseman]

I’m dumb. What’s OBS?

Old body style

 

[zelseman]

That is

I was having the same debate gas/diesel! I just bought a 2004 Chevy four door 3/4 ton, gas, 6.0 with 67k miles for 12k. Diesel would have been another 10k for the same truck... Looking to go flatbed with a FWC, mostly Baja and Mexico travels to start... Some mild mods and a few upgrades and it will be good to go. I have talked to several guys with the same truck, with big campers and they were happy with performance and durability. I just took the back seats out and built a platform and storage box, it added a lot of storage. I think that unless you are pulling a big trailer or huge camper, gas will work just fine.

Thats is essentially our plan. Find a lowish mike truck, flatbed it and throw a slide in on the bed with storage boxes on the side the head to Patagonia. Now I need to go drive one of these trucks.

 

[LeftCoastKiteboarding]

I have ABSOLUTELY nothing bad to say about our ‘02 7.3. It’s not an OBS but it is a great truck. CCLB 4x4 in near pristine condition. Not sure what your budget is but we paid $10k for it. Reliable, great support globally, decent MPG, and a ton of power. For the price I’d buy it again in a heartbeat.
We carry a large Lance camper to Baja and it goes good. No complaints.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[glock7018]

I currently have a 1996 F250 with a 7.3. Love the truck. 302,000 miles. I also own a 2008 F250 with a 6.8L V10. With that said I dont plan on ever putting my obs in 4x4. The 05+ Ford superduty's are the best built trucks out there from a body and chassis perspective. Roomy well built cabs, interiors that dont fall apart, beefy soild front axle, ect. Where as with my OBS I feel its a bit more fragile. Part of its age and part of its design. The frames on these OBS trucks are pretty thin which leads to a lot of body flex that I don't care to put my truck through.
Here is my 96




And here is my 08