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If you are just driving on a beach then you don't need extra ground clearance, so stock sized tires should be fine. Tread pattern (traction) is more important than diameter in that situation. I'd also recommend making sure you have a shovel and solid front and rear recovery points, and if you...

Next up... picture of something cooked in a dutch oven on an offroad trip.

Did you end up finding some snow covered roads to explore? I was up at Kirkwood on Saturday and it looked like Bear River Road (heads down to Bear River Lake Resort) was open and not plowed. Great suggestion, and a fun trail in the snow. The front end of my ZJ started floating while crossing...

If you do decide to hold down the front you might want to check out the way we did it on The Adventure Index's drawers. The factory tie down loop extends through the plywood and then a piece of steel and a bolt are used to apply tension. https://theadventureindex.com/shop Or you can use a...

Interesting discussion, especially since I need new tires on both my trucks. :) In my experience tire failures on the trail are extremely uncommon. In 20 years of offroading I can think of one, and in that case it was a large branch straight through a sidewall. All of my tire problems have been...

Looking good so far! I like how you used the factory threaded holes to hold down the front of the box. Is there anything holding down the rear? Drawer depth really depends on what you are going to put in them. For things like toolbags and recovery gear I like a deep drawer. For things like...

I've personally experienced three negative incidents involving firearms while on various trips. Interestingly, none of these involved an animal, other than humans. In fact my go-to for animals is a can of bear spray. The most concerning incident was on a trip with an online club (not OB, but...

Personally I'd go with the steel option. I have a WARN receiver adapter in my 4Runner that has been used for many recoveries with no issues. More recently I purchased a "RHINO USA" receiver on Amazon for my Tacoma, and while I've only used it a few times it seems to be good quality.

Hi Chris, I drove up highway 4 last weekend and there was basically no snow in Arnold at 4000ft and several feet at 7000ft. The south end of Mormon Immigrant trail is also at 7000ft so there is likely significant snow on the ground. USDA shows about 4' of snow at the south end of the road...

I owned a salvage titled Discovery 1 diesel for a while and had no issues with insuring it in California. To me there are two major downsides of salvage titles: 1) It's hard to be sure just how much damage the vehicle sustained, and since I have a kid I'm not willing to take that risk. 2) Resale...

The factory Toyota jacks that come with 4Runners, Tacomas, etc are good quality, don't leak, and lift reasonably high. As a bonus they are fairly light and don't take up much space. A common reason for jacking up a truck is to replace or repair a tire, and in that case the lift mate isn't...

You might not actually need a hi lift or traction boards. In many cases a quality factory jack and saddle adapter can be a safer and lighter option than a hi lift. Also, keep in mind that your truck needs to have usable lifting points for a hi lift to work. Traction boards can be useful in soft...

I'm not 100% sure, but I think that if you try to "overland" in a stock vehicle it will probably light on fire or something. Or perhaps the overland police pull you over and take your license. Tomorrow I'm driving our stock MDX up to the snow so the kid can play. I'm going to be really careful...

Are these being mounted in the factory location? If so, what battery sizes can you fit in your truck? That will determine what to recommend.

Sounds like a fun trip. I'd recommend bringing warm sleeping bags and also lots of water as well since melting snow is a pain. Personally I wouldn't feel safe driving 30 miles on snow covered dirt roads with only one rig. If you get stuck and can't extract yourself then that is a long walk in...

The only spare parts I carry are a set of used belts that I threw in the back of the truck when I put on new ones. Beyond that I think it is to difficult to guess what will likely fail on my particular trucks. I do carry a fairly extensive fix-it kit including things like tape, wire, sealants...

My advice is to keep the suspension stock for now and to take the truck out on various trails to get familiar with it. Regardless of the capability of our trucks there is always a trail that exceeds their limit, and it is good to learn the limits of your truck's stock ability and then modify it...

For me it came down to weight and safety. Synthetic line reduces the weight that is cantilevered out over the front end, and it allows me to carry a lighter snatch block designed for synthetic rope. The light weight also makes it easier to spool/unspool the rope and to run it out to whatever I'm...

Personally I don't like to add a lot of wires to the battery posts for three reasons: 1) Increased force on the post. 2) Makes it more of a pain to remove the battery. 3) It gets difficult to keep an insulating cover in place. Like MidOH I prefer to run a single wire from the positive terminal...

I keep most of my recovery gear in a Warn winch bag in my storage drawer. The recovery strap fits into the side storage panel in the rear of my 4Runner. In general I like soft sided storage bags because they are space efficient and help keep the contents from rattling.