Driven To Wander
Adventurer
As a long time Expedition Portal follower, I am excited to contribute to the forum for the first time. This site has been a great inspiration to me.
After years of dreaming and researching and making some mistakes along the way, our plans to go around the world with a vehicle are finally getting some traction. The idea of an extended overlanding trip has been brewing in my head for a long time. In 1978, my parents packed our family car, a 1300 cc - 68 hp Fiat 124 and put my brother and me in the back seat and drove around Europe for 3 months. I was 9. That magical road trip sowed the seeds of the overlanding journey we are planning.
About 3 years ago, after a very long and frustrating day at work, I pitched the plan to my wife. She said “Sure, let’s figure it out” and it was on. We were living in Singapore at that time where even a Honda Civic comes with a $100.000 price tag. So all I could do was keep dreaming. When we moved to Canada we were (ok, I was) anxious to get going. So we purchased 2006 Toyota Tacoma 4x4 Dbl Cab TRD. It had less than 60K miles on it and was in great condition. It was fun to drive, nimble and getting great mileage. But it's gross combination weight rating (GVWR) was too much of an uphill battle. We would have needed so many modifications to carry a camper that could accommodate our family, that it became unrealistic for us. If it were like its cousin, the Aussie Hilux which has a 1 ton payload capacity and a diesel engine, it would have been perfect. After lots of upgrades and with a broken heart we sold the beloved Tacoma. Before we choose our next vehicle, we decided to first pick the camper.
We will be traveling with our 3-year-old toddler in tow so we want to have good protection against elements, enough space in our living quarters and we don’t want to pull a trailer. These three requirements quickly eliminated roof top tents and some of the best overlanding platforms like Toyota Land Cruiser and 4Runner. We are left with pickup trucks with campers or vans. Sportsmobiles were too expensive and we saw to many Vanagons in the back of the tow trucks. Finally, we want to be able to ship our vehicle in a shipping container rather than using Roll-on-roll-off (Ro-Ro) vessels. We decided on a Hallmark Everest as our camper of choice. We are picking up our camper in 2 weeks. I will report about the Hallmark under "Expedition Campers/Pop-up Truck Campers" forum.
The Rig
After yet another weeks of research, we decided on 5.9 Cummins powered Dodge Ram should be our truck. Finally we found one in great shape last April.
Why did we choose Dodge Ram for a trip around the world where parts would be very difficult if not impossible to find outside North America? Well, it is a risk, but a calculated one we are willing to take. Here is a quick table of our decision making process and other used vehicles we have considered. I have put two of my favorite vehicles, Defender 130 and Hilux there also. Since they are not available to us in Canada they get 0 points for cost and they are there purely for comparison reasons.
On a scale from 0 to 10, where 0 is no-way and 10 is awesome.
A couple of other factors that swayed our decision were, Ram 3500’s big brakes and 5.9 Cummins engine’s ability to run with ultra low sulfur diesel (ULSD), low sulfur diesel (LSD) or high sulfur diesel which is still the norm in some countries we want to visit.
The Build
This build is going to be about preparing the truck for a long overlanding journey with limited funds. Truck is in great shape overall as a base rig. One can easily blow the budget on the truck upgrades and be left with nothing for the trip. I have to admit I have a soft spot and must be careful about it.
There will be a bit more detail in the build section of our travel blog here http://driventowander.com/category/build/, along with links to where we got all the parts, equipment, and services we use to complete the build.
After years of dreaming and researching and making some mistakes along the way, our plans to go around the world with a vehicle are finally getting some traction. The idea of an extended overlanding trip has been brewing in my head for a long time. In 1978, my parents packed our family car, a 1300 cc - 68 hp Fiat 124 and put my brother and me in the back seat and drove around Europe for 3 months. I was 9. That magical road trip sowed the seeds of the overlanding journey we are planning.
About 3 years ago, after a very long and frustrating day at work, I pitched the plan to my wife. She said “Sure, let’s figure it out” and it was on. We were living in Singapore at that time where even a Honda Civic comes with a $100.000 price tag. So all I could do was keep dreaming. When we moved to Canada we were (ok, I was) anxious to get going. So we purchased 2006 Toyota Tacoma 4x4 Dbl Cab TRD. It had less than 60K miles on it and was in great condition. It was fun to drive, nimble and getting great mileage. But it's gross combination weight rating (GVWR) was too much of an uphill battle. We would have needed so many modifications to carry a camper that could accommodate our family, that it became unrealistic for us. If it were like its cousin, the Aussie Hilux which has a 1 ton payload capacity and a diesel engine, it would have been perfect. After lots of upgrades and with a broken heart we sold the beloved Tacoma. Before we choose our next vehicle, we decided to first pick the camper.
We will be traveling with our 3-year-old toddler in tow so we want to have good protection against elements, enough space in our living quarters and we don’t want to pull a trailer. These three requirements quickly eliminated roof top tents and some of the best overlanding platforms like Toyota Land Cruiser and 4Runner. We are left with pickup trucks with campers or vans. Sportsmobiles were too expensive and we saw to many Vanagons in the back of the tow trucks. Finally, we want to be able to ship our vehicle in a shipping container rather than using Roll-on-roll-off (Ro-Ro) vessels. We decided on a Hallmark Everest as our camper of choice. We are picking up our camper in 2 weeks. I will report about the Hallmark under "Expedition Campers/Pop-up Truck Campers" forum.
The Rig
After yet another weeks of research, we decided on 5.9 Cummins powered Dodge Ram should be our truck. Finally we found one in great shape last April.
- 2007 Dodge Ram 3500 4x4 HD
- 5.9 Cummins Turbo Diesel
- 325 HP - 610 lb-ft torque
- GVWR :10100 lbs
- 103K miles
- Rebuilt Transmission @ 81K miles
- Fass Titanium Fuel Pump
- Michelin LTX A/T Tires
Why did we choose Dodge Ram for a trip around the world where parts would be very difficult if not impossible to find outside North America? Well, it is a risk, but a calculated one we are willing to take. Here is a quick table of our decision making process and other used vehicles we have considered. I have put two of my favorite vehicles, Defender 130 and Hilux there also. Since they are not available to us in Canada they get 0 points for cost and they are there purely for comparison reasons.
On a scale from 0 to 10, where 0 is no-way and 10 is awesome.
A couple of other factors that swayed our decision were, Ram 3500’s big brakes and 5.9 Cummins engine’s ability to run with ultra low sulfur diesel (ULSD), low sulfur diesel (LSD) or high sulfur diesel which is still the norm in some countries we want to visit.
The Build
This build is going to be about preparing the truck for a long overlanding journey with limited funds. Truck is in great shape overall as a base rig. One can easily blow the budget on the truck upgrades and be left with nothing for the trip. I have to admit I have a soft spot and must be careful about it.
There will be a bit more detail in the build section of our travel blog here http://driventowander.com/category/build/, along with links to where we got all the parts, equipment, and services we use to complete the build.
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