When Your Daily Driver is Your Overland Rig

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Corrie

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LawnDart

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Corrie, if you could please re-title this awesome article to "So, your Overland Rig is Your Daily Driver?". Hahahah. I'm kidding. This was another great one.
Thanks. I tried to focus on stuff that regardless of make/model of your rig, would still be applicable. As I've seen the same general issues occur regardless if you're driving a smaller rig or not.
 

Joey D

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Great article, I'm just really glad Salt Lake has great public transportation options so I only need to drive a couple miles to the train station and I can take it into the city for work. Keeps the miles off and makes it so I'm not guzzling a tank and a half a week. My wife has a Ford Focus too so when need be we just take that and my truck can chill at home.
 

AZ_Overland

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I find it hard when I read an article that pulls a couple cords in my heart because I know I fall in that category. I'm lucky to work only 5 miles from base camp 1 (also known as home) in which my backup daily is a motorized bicycle that can hit 30mph. However I hate being cold and we'll Arizona drivers aren't known for being incredibly safe or alert. I'm currently building up a small trailer just so I don't feel like I have to stack all my gear on or in my rig especially since I have several children that need to fit in safe and comfortable.

Sent from my SM-N900V using OB Talk mobile app
 
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Big E

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I teach at an Elementary school, at least the kids find it cool when the truck is muddy, dusty, or filled with goodies for camping. Adults look at me like I am three headed. Oh well.
 

YETI X

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This thread hits very close to home for me. I drive, a LOT, for work, sometimes have to drive clients and have a kid who plays volleyball that I get to drive everywhere and two large dogs (Ridgebacks) who need space too. Because of this, I can't really build my 4Runner into a full-out expedition rig. That said, when I do off-road, I need to take it more easy than some others because I need to be able to get to work and transport the kid and dogs which is hard to do on my KTM. Battle scars, while cool, also don't work when picking up clients who expect an attorney to drive a nicer rig and not a beater.

My plans are to do something like the C4 Fabrications partial front bumper, aluminum skid plates, sliders and a rear bumper. (Does anyone make a rear bumper where the swing out can be removed?) I will not be building a drawer system, but will build a low profile platform with tie down racks and store my gear in Pelican cases and keep food, beer, etc. in a cooler. When I get them, I'll leave the Maxtrax and Hi-Lift in the garage and only put them on the rig when I'm actually heading out for a weekend (or longer) trip. My goal is to make it very easy to "gear up" when the time calls for it, but to leave the rig as road-friendly as possible the majority of the time. This way, the 4Runner will be road-friendly for work and M-F, but can easily be converted into a off-road rig.
 

SAC-CA-Runner

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This thread hits very close to home for me. I drive, a LOT, for work, sometimes have to drive clients and have a kid who plays volleyball that I get to drive everywhere and two large dogs (Ridgebacks) who need space too. Because of this, I can't really build my 4Runner into a full-out expedition rig. That said, when I do off-road, I need to take it more easy than some others because I need to be able to get to work and transport the kid and dogs which is hard to do on my KTM. Battle scars, while cool, also don't work when picking up clients who expect an attorney to drive a nicer rig and not a beater.

My plans are to do something like the C4 Fabrications partial front bumper, aluminum skid plates, sliders and a rear bumper. (Does anyone make a rear bumper where the swing out can be removed?) I will not be building a drawer system, but will build a low profile platform with tie down racks and store my gear in Pelican cases and keep food, beer, etc. in a cooler. When I get them, I'll leave the Maxtrax and Hi-Lift in the garage and only put them on the rig when I'm actually heading out for a weekend (or longer) trip. My goal is to make it very easy to "gear up" when the time calls for it, but to leave the rig as road-friendly as possible the majority of the time. This way, the 4Runner will be road-friendly for work and M-F, but can easily be converted into a off-road rig.
You can always look at the Wilco Hitchgate. Have one on my 4R and I know their is a 5th Gen running one as well that I always see pics of. I like mine as I'm not a huge fan of the big metal rear bumpers...yet. :-)
 
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