Buying a Vehicle for Overlanding

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Sailmike

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Also, what should I look for? How hard is it to find one with some of the work already done? Large 4x4 tires? Suspension? Fording equipment?
 
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UgotWheelz

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He says USA and Canada, to start. I have driven to Panama without problems finding parts. I have 3 friends that drove the Pan American With 3/4 ton trucks without problems finding parts. Rebuilt diffs. replace axels, break assembly’s. A Hilux parts are no go in the USA. He wants a full sized truck, my god they drive unimogs around the world. Those of us that have full sized trucks understand the limits and drive accordingly.
Gone transcontinental in a stock Mazda 3 Seattle to Peru.
 
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UgotWheelz

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I would say run what you got try it out figure out what needs to change to make it better for you and if that means a different vehicle down the road you'll know what equipment and features you'll need.
 
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MidOH

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Maybe I'm missing something here but unless OP has the carpentry and fiberglass skills to convert one into a camper, these Unimog/Iveco/Acela suggestions aren't going to go very far on $40k. OP is solidly in the full size truck market and might be able to stretch it into a medium truck (F-450 or something) if space isn't too tight to get the truck where they want to.
The Lmtv I posted is $31,000. Likely 32ish with civvy paint.

That leaves plenty of room to furnish the box interior himself. No idea if the box AC is practical, or should be ripped out and replaced with an Rv rooftop Ac?



That truck is killing me, because the slide in camper that I want hovers around $35,000.
 
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UgotWheelz

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The Lmtv I posted is $31,000. Likely 32ish with civvy paint.

That leaves plenty of room to furnish the box interior himself. No idea if the box AC is practical, or should be ripped out and replaced with an Rv rooftop Ac?



That truck is killing me, because the slide in camper that I want hovers around $35,000.
There are 3 LMTV's at a used car lot near me he wants $14,000 each. Call Grigsby Brothers.
 
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MidOH

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I'd have Grigsby do a look over, and fix what needs fixed. Then hose it down with civvy paint.

I wouldn't go all in a tear the truck down to it's frame like Acela does.
 

Sailmike

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I like that LMTV, so I’m going to contact the company about the mpg and overall size. I’m guessing the mpg will make it impractical for me. Plus, I would need someone to teach me how to maintain it. Didn’t one of you suggest I stay away from military surplus vehicles due to how hard they are run? Oh, my budget turned out to be higher than I thought, $50k.
 
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Oregon_trail

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Who are most people? I don’t know anyone that has ditched a CAT. There might be a handful of hardcore gear/motor heads, but most people? I drove 18 for 27 years. The three best things that ever happened in the industry? No Idle policy/law. Computerized log books ( E-Logs ) and emission reductions. With each of these major changes my compensation went up, mine and your’s health got better and we are no longer so dependent on foreign oil because each change also led to saving over 6 billion gallons per year. That doesn’t include the major increases in MPG that new diesel technology has provided the industry. Unfortunately, the passenger vehicle Diesel engines are unreliable as the marketer/makers are squeezing every last bit of torque and horsepower out of tiny little engines, rendering them unreliable and requiring more maintenance that a modern gasoline engine.. sorry to the OP for wandering so far off topic, “most people” took me aback.
Yes most people as in anyone who mods there car. Ultimately calling modern Diesel engines unreliable is just absolutely not true. People seam to think this and say this and yet you don’t see gas engines making even 250k miles let alone people going on 500k. I’ve used diesels my whole adult life for work and they have been less maintenance than any gas vehicle I’ve ever owned or worked around. It’s baffling people think this but ultimately I believe it’s because people want to feel good about a weaker engine choice.
 

Billiebob

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Isn’t terminology fascinating? To me a full size truck (pickup) is a Hilux, an F150 is huge, and an F450 is gigantic. It’s all relative : )
Got to love International Forums. Many thanks for that perspective from South America. We tend to SuperSize everything up here. I remember when the Tacoma was a compact truck.
 

MidOH

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Yes most people as in anyone who mods there car. Ultimately calling modern Diesel engines unreliable is just absolutely not true. People seam to think this and say this and yet you don’t see gas engines making even 250k miles let alone people going on 500k. I’ve used diesels my whole adult life for work and they have been less maintenance than any gas vehicle I’ve ever owned or worked around. It’s baffling people think this but ultimately I believe it’s because people want to feel good about a weaker engine choice.
Master tech here. A good diesel is everything you claim, but the diesels in 2017+ trucks are absolute garbage. Avoid them unless you have no other choice. IE: Loads too big for a gas engine.

High pressure common rail will never be as reliable as Tier IV was. Especially with defective cp4 pumps.

My Ford 6.2 had 250,000 when I got rid of it. With a fresh set of plugs and a fresh timing chain, it most likely would have gone another 150,000 easy. Modern gas engines are more reliable than the new diesels. And with lighter loads, pretty darn powerful as well. My Cummins is quite slow. A whole lot of hype.
 

MidOH

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I like that LMTV, so I’m going to contact the company about the mpg and overall size. I’m guessing the mpg will make it impractical for me. Plus, I would need someone to teach me how to maintain it. Didn’t one of you suggest I stay away from military surplus vehicles due to how hard they are run? Oh, my budget turned out to be higher than I thought, $50k.
The Lmtv's biggest drawbacks
-slow. 60mph. But my Suzuki Drz400s has never seen the highway either. And it's one of the finest overlanding options out there.
-heavy
-you'll need to read up on them to learn how to take care of it.
-huge tires are expensive as heck. About $1000 a piece.

Mpg isn't bad. About 8-10. Keep in mind that my Ram Cummins gets only 11mpg. 13 on a very good day. So mileage really isn't bad.

They're tall, but no bigger than a CC truck with a camper.

The non electric CAT's are very reliable. The Lmtv has been awarded as the most reliable Army vehicle of any type ever made. That's why there's surplus units for sale with only 4000 miles on them.
 
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Oregon_trail

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Master tech here. A good diesel is everything you claim, but the diesels in 2017+ trucks are absolute garbage. Avoid them unless you have no other choice. IE: Loads too big for a gas engine.

High pressure common rail will never be as reliable as Tier IV was. Especially with defective cp4 pumps.

My Ford 6.2 had 250,000 when I got rid of it. With a fresh set of plugs and a fresh timing chain, it most likely would have gone another 150,000 easy. Modern gas engines are more reliable than the new diesels. And with lighter loads, pretty darn powerful as well. My Cummins is quite slow. A whole lot of hype.
Literally all you’ve said bad is basically restrictions that were put on by the government. That being said I own a 20 cummins and other than the sucky fuel pump it shares the same motors that people have hundreads of thousands of miles on. Greater most of my diesel experience is with older engines pre DEF systems but I know people who pull with these engines for a living and they love them. Ultimately don’t really know why people have such issues with them other than the emission systems and even those don’t cause the issues they did when they were new.
 

Sailmike

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Right now I’m wondering if the positives outweigh the negatives for the LMTV’s. At $1500 each tire, how long do they last. You guys have been talking a lot about the quality of diesel fuel around the world. Won’t there be a problem with low quality diesel? I’ve heard that mechanics for that engine are hard to come by. What about repair costs? The top speed of 58 is pretty low, but I’m already driving fairly low speeds, though, not 58 mph low.
 

MidOH

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Well the emissions controls are there. And they suck. My 2019 Cummins guzzles DEF. About 1g every 55gallons of diesel (one tank). Double that in the winter.

Too loud to sleep in with the engine running. And smells like piss when it bumps the idle up to 1000.

Most of the engine is under the dashboard. You have to pull the cab just like the others for engine work.

Cp4 is rubbish. But at least on the Cummins you can reach it with an engine bay creeper.

Wiring harness is coated in delicious cheese flavored Rubber.

Aisen Trans is clunky at best. Very rough. But hopefully it works well.

Slower than my Ford 6.2 was when towing 10,000#. The Ram throttles back to make harsh rough upshifts, so it doesn't crush the transmission with that Cummins torque. It seriously slows on ramp acceleration. The gas Ford could bang full throttle upshifts perfectly smooth.
 

MidOH

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Right now I’m wondering if the positives outweigh the negatives for the LMTV’s. At $1500 each tire, how long do they last. You guys have been talking a lot about the quality of diesel fuel around the world. Won’t there be a problem with low quality diesel? I’ve heard that mechanics for that engine are hard to come by. What about repair costs? The top speed of 58 is pretty low, but I’m already driving fairly low speeds, though, not 58 mph low.

They last OK. But it's a pita.

You'll need to find a private diesel truck tech for repairs and tires. No car shops. Cheap engine for minor repairs. Especially since the cab lifts right out of the way. Any kind of major repairs to the engine..........whole truck is scrap. Since that's a real deal industrial engine. No idea on pricing, but guessing $30,000.

Any CAT shop can service it. But you might want to check farm tractor shops instead.

They should have quality filters and water separators on them. Just keep extras.
 

Oregon_trail

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Well the emissions controls are there. And they suck. My 2019 Cummins guzzles DEF. About 1g every 55gallons of diesel (one tank). Double that in the winter.

Too loud to sleep in with the engine running. And smells like piss when it bumps the idle up to 1000.

Most of the engine is under the dashboard. You have to pull the cab just like the others for engine work.

Cp4 is rubbish. But at least on the Cummins you can reach it with an engine bay creeper.

Wiring harness is coated in delicious cheese flavored Rubber.

Aisen Trans is clunky at best. Very rough. But hopefully it works well.

Slower than my Ford 6.2 was when towing 10,000#. The Ram throttles back to make harsh rough upshifts, so it doesn't crush the transmission with that Cummins torque. It seriously slows on ramp acceleration. The gas Ford could bang full throttle upshifts perfectly smooth.
I’m not going to disagree but when pekoe call them garbage but people get 500k without any issues if they are using the trucks I have to disagree with them. Granted you do hear of a lot of people who just put around town in them have issues and maybe that’s why people end up disliking them. If I was able to have seat time while towing a new gas truck maybe I would have been went that route but from past experience I’ve never seen a gas truck keep up when towing and definitely not in engine life but I have heard good things about the new Ford. Ultimately though the upfront price of the truck almost always pays off on the back end as well and that with the longer engine life unless gasers can really start keeping up im not sold on them for me and my uses for a truck.
 

MidOH

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Only if you win at Russian Roulette (cp4). You can rack up a $12,000 bill very quickly in repairs. A crank, no-start condition, due to one measly bad injector, is often diagnosed as a whole complete fuel system replacement. Gas long block is $8000 installed. Lot's of people have been burnt by the big 3's warranties, that only cover what never fails.

Mine will likely be fine since I drive it 50,000 HARD miles per year. It's the poor guys that only get to drive them on weekends that are really hurting right now. Or the unloaded single rear wheel guys.
 

Sailmike

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Don’t companies like Grigsby go over the whole truck and engine making them more reliable?
 
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Oregon_trail

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Only if you win at Russian Roulette (cp4). You can rack up a $12,000 bill very quickly in repairs. A crank, no-start condition, due to one measly bad injector, is often diagnosed as a whole complete fuel system replacement. Gas long block is $8000 installed. Lot's of people have been burnt by the big 3's warranties, that only cover what never fails.

Mine will likely be fine since I drive it 50,000 HARD miles per year. It's the poor guys that only get to drive them on weekends that are really hurting right now. Or the unloaded single rear wheel guys.
Agreed there. I don’t do the miles you do but hit 30k typically on any given year. To me it comes back to the same thing with even old diesels if you barely drive them and domt work them regularly they will never be worth it:
 
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