Pictures of build with details at the end of the post!

Back again with this year's summer adventure in the budget frontier rig, entire build and truck was under $12,000. 6 weeks - 15,000 miles.

Route consisted of Bitteroots, Sawtooths, Cascades, Western BC North, Whitehorse, Anchorage & Seward, Denali, Fairbanks, Tombstone & Dempster, Eastern BC South, out through Calgary.

2018 Nissan Frontier 2.5L 4cyl, 2WD, 200k miles, 17.1 MPG trip average
Equipment: Starlink mini, 2 x spares, traction boards, Jackery 1000, 200W solar, Norcold fridge, 20L gas gerry can, 12V air compressor, 8L shower container with schrader valve compressor for water pressure, PVC Flyrod case, Advanta ATX 850 tires

Highly recommend the route, there are very few sections that are legitimately concerning with offroading. I would say that the best sections/most worth it sections were almost all in BC. Northern Alaska and Yukon are pretty, but also monotonous. The lower Yukon and upper BC sections were absolutely stunning and can save at least two weeks of driving. Most fire roads, campsites, BLM land, and major routes through the area can be handled by anything with good tires and medium clearance. Some rough sections, got stuck twice once in mud once in sand while in search of fishing spots and campsites. Yukon fishings and small game hunting is spectacular, very easy to get small game license for hares and ptarmigan as well as lake trout and copious pike fishing. Difficulty of route and also lack of resources such as fuel is pretty overstated, most rigs seemed well used and purpose built however which was refreshing compared to the larping parts of the US.

This is the third iteration of the overlanding build, most things have settled now as efficient and budget oriented as I can get them, pics and details at the end of the photo carousel.
Happy to answer build questions or why things are the way they are!

At least my dog is there to help.

Can’t wait to hit the trails, but also can’t wait to do a few little upgrades to the trailer!

I was considering moving my 20L water containers up to my roof rack. I've always carried them in the cargo area inside, but they take up a lot of space, and I've got room up on the rack. I was concerned, however, that having them up in the sun all day would cause the water to taste too much like plastic. Can anyone who has their water up on their rack let me know if this is a valid (or hopefully invalid) concern? Many thanks!

Hello, new to overlanding hoping to gain some information from this group. Here’s my 25 gladiator

Looking for a recovery rope and it sounds like I need a kinetic rope of some type. What do you recommend? What is your budget friendly and entry level one? Or a kit that’s is just ideal. Just to get people out of mud, sand or snow with my Tacoma! Thank you so much!

I got the Smittybilt Overlander XL gen 2 from a buddy at a great deal. Didn't think I would ever get a RTT with the prices they are these days since Covid. But, I couldn't oads up the deal. It didn't come with the annex. I took it out for the first time a couple of weekends ago to see if I would like it, which I did. How many of you use an annex with this style tent? I used my Ozark Trail 2 room shower tent for changing which worked fine. But, it would be nice to have the annex for that at least. I have A Gazelle T4 Plus and I love having the extra room for changing.

Looking for some suggestions for a showers tent/awning. Something like a standalone unit.

Living out dreams I didn’t even know I had! Took me a while, but I made it to Costa Rica in my Ford F350 6.7 diesel w/ norweld flatbed and FWC hawk flatbed camper. And yes, that’s a Honda CRF250L in the front hitch and no it doesn’t overheat 👍

Couple more mods, and towards the wilderness!

Considering building a tool to help make planning around weather easier. Curious if anyone knows of one that already exists.

Recently added a leveling lift to my 2nd gen Tacoma and looking for advice on rims and tires. I want that off-road look and I will be taking it off-roading but realistically 90% of the time is paved road driving. I am worried about MPG so nothing too aggressive or big I was thinking.

For info it's 2.5" in the front 1.5" in the back. The tires I have now are 31" tall 17" rims tra sport tires. The stock tires were 30 I believe.

I was thinking some black rims and maybe 32s or 33s I like the space in between because it makes it look taller then it is and the black would be cool with the green but any sort of advice is welcome, even if opinion is to keep same size or rim or anything.

Have a 4th gen Tacoma and am planning to add a camper (e.g Topo toppers, ovrlnd, tune, etc) but am having second thoughts. My biggest concern is range with the 18 gallon tank and exceeding payload.

Anyone out there that can share their experience? I’m curious to hear whether you upgraded your suspension and what your mpg was before and after.

The alternative is trading in for a 3rd gen tundra, but I’m concerned about the engine issues.

I'm in the middle of a road trip from Texas to Washington, where I hope to retire my poor Kona from camping duty. This rear wheel drive compact suv has seen some rough stuff in Big Bend and the Grand Canyon, and it deserves a break after this last trip through 5 national forests and parks. Looking to trade it in for a car that's more suited to frequent 3-day hunting/camping trips into the national parks and forests in Western Washington, and the occasional longer hauls into neighboring states. Hoping to keep the base vehicle near the same price range as my 24 Kona traded in, sub- $20k and hoping under 100k miles. Going to be rocking a rooftop tent on it. Looking at a Nissan Frontier as the frontrunner right now, as I do prefer a pickup. Anything else on the used market I should keep my eyes out for?

What are you favorite ways to find overlanding routes? I mainly stick to old dudes at the local coffee shop who have lived somewhere for 50 years as my guide, so I never really use apps or websites. Just curious what you guys use?

I got my Wave3 installed the way I want in my camper build yesterday. So today around 10:30 with an outside temp of 92* I turned it on, Cool, fan speed 2 & set temp to 70.* Inside camper temp was 94. After 1hr of run time inside camper temp was 82 & stayed at 82 till I turned if at the 2hr run time mark. This my time 1st actually running this inside the camper, does this temp sound right? At the 2hr run time mark outside temp was 95 & the truck was parked in the sun. I know it will be cooler when the temp drops later in the day. Just wasn’t sure about only a 12\* temp drop in a 2hr time period.

Recently, one of the very few public offroad trails in the state of Virginia, Flagpole Knob, became very popular when truckloads of boulders were placed near one of the trailheads.

If you’re from the region, you know how special this trail is because it’s one of maybe 4 off-road trails where you can use 4x4 for more than 5 minutes in the whole state.

As you can imagine, everyone and their mother had something to say. Speculation grew from “they’re just going to close the outlaw trails” to “they’re closing the whole road.”

I wanted to get right to the point so after some phone tag, I was able to interview the North River Ranger District for comment.

The TLDR:

1: boulders were delivered
2: People are creating mud holes off trail by doing burnouts/donuts, etc
3: people are entering wildlife protection areas
4: the vista of flagpole knob WILL stay open to vehicular traffic, but the various “social trail” entrances will be bouldered off.

Mind you, there was no warning here. It happens that fast. One day the gates go up or the boulders get placed. Once it closes, it’s gone FOREVER.

Management is our responsibility, otherwise closure becomes management.

I inquired with the rangers district about my organization adopting all or in part FR85 to assist in volunteer management of the trail.

The first 10 minutes of our most recent show covers the interview and locations in more detail, but I will not link that here because you guys will have an uncontrollable meltdown for self promotion.

I have a gearbox that I need to mount to my new roof rack. Previously, I had just been using ratchet straps, but find them incredibly fussy and limit access to the box. It does not fit in my garage when mounted so it needs to be something that is quick release to take on and off for trips. The company doesn’t appear to make a mounting bracket for the box, so I am looking for alternatives, either pre-manufactured or DIY options. The rack (Wescott Designs Modular 5th gen 4Runner) has T tracks underneath the floor plates and slots through the plates that would allow use of the tracks.

I have looked at mounting brackets from multiple other manufacturers, but none of them look like they would work with this box. I would love a no drill option, but if that’s the only option to mount an attachment, so be it. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Hi, we are going to overland in Uruguay and would love some recommendations! 

These are the main destinations we will visit and pass through. Do you have any recommendations for hidden gems, any overlanding tracks you have used yourself or local experiences that are less common for tourists that could be interesting?

• Montevideo
• El Eden
• Punta del Este
• Faro de José Ignacio
• Punta Rubia
• Barra de Valises
• Punta del Diablo
• Carmelo

• Colonia

  Thanks for the help!