We recently connected with Overland Bound Member #0833, Isaac Marchionna about his mega loaded up overland rig that he uses every day as his daily driver in Downtown Portland. He gives us his insight into what to expect when you make your off-road vehicle your pavement pounder on the city streets!<\/p>\n
By Isaac MarchionnaOverland Bound Member #0833@lawndartdesignDaily Driver: 2015 4Runner TRD Pro (with a lot of mods)Location: Downtown Portland, ORAll photos courtesy and copyright of Isaac Marchionna<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve all felt it. The insatiable call of the wild\u2026 but the crushing reality of a day job. These two pulls have lead many of us to build an Overland Rig and then drive them on a daily basis. And with this decision comes different responsibilities and realities that you have to take into account when your daily driver is an expedition rig.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s be honest for a moment\u2026driving an Overland rig around a crowded population center can be pretty smile inducing. You’ll pull more attention than any sports car could muster; however, you\u2019re also driving around a rather big, heavy, and maintenance intensive vehicle.<\/p>\n
Here are a few points I\u2019ve learned along the way with my daily driver.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ve likely tricked out (or are in the process of building out) your rig to store all your camping gear, drawer systems, fridge, power management, etc etc etc. The downside to this consumption, or \u201cutilization\u201d of space, is that your ability to carry humans (what the vehicle was designed to do) has now been comically \u201cdownsized.\u201d<\/p>\n
I am familiar with the quizzical reaction by people when asked if I can haul stuff for them or pick up a group of people. I don\u2019t have extra space to offer. Remember that friend who needed your help moving a sofa?<\/p>\n
Have fun not sounding like a deadbeat when you tell him he\u2019s on his own moving and\u00a0you have a long bed expedition truck. \u201cOh I would love to help you\u2026but adventure mobile!\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the things you\u2019ll see on almost all Overland vehicles is the addition of armor, both underbody and front\/rear bumpers. Here are the advantages.<\/p>\n
First off, these systems are invaluable in their ability to take a hit and be beaten back into shape or replaced entirely. Damaging a plate worth a few hundred dollars, rather than causing crippling damage worth thousands, is an entirely fantastic trade off.<\/p>\n
Bumpers allow for the mounting of additional lights, winches, recovery points, fuel, spare tires, jacks, communication systems, all while providing additional armor for the trail. I cannot tell you how many times my rock sliders have proved to be awesome investments just in stopping door dings, while mangling the doors of those who are careless around my truck.<\/p>\n
I shouldn\u2019t laugh, but here I am doing that while writing. But all that metal comes at a cost: weight.<\/p>\n
Weight can both help and hinder you on the trail. Proper distribution of weight can provide better traction when scrambling up a boulder field in the mountains. In the city however the additional weight means you have more mass to stop.<\/p>\n
Urban driving means a lot more stop and go traffic; it also means being able to stop the vehicle when a pedestrian darts out in front of traffic.<\/p>\n
We are vastly exceeding the original gross vehicle weights spec\u2019d by the manufacturers. My vehicle for example comes in at a whopping 6600 lbs fully fueled. The original vehicle ranged from about 4700-4800 lbs in stock form.<\/p>\n
That weight affects everything from acceleration to braking distances. Your brakes become that much more critical on the trail and on the street. Do not ignore them and upgrade as necessary. That might mean stronger pads, and caliper systems.<\/p>\n
You can do more damage in a crash due to armor and weight, and it is your responsibility to know how your rig behavior. Every modification you do has a real world implication on daily driver performance, and you are responsible in knowing how those implications play out on the road.<\/p>\n
Space is at a premium in cities and you need to know the relationship between the dimensions of your vehicle and how it relates to its place in the physical world.<\/p>\n
You do not want to be the person who parks their wonderfully reinforced steel bumper into someone\u2019s BMW because you were parallel parking your expedition battleship into a space just barely big enough.<\/p>\n
Parking space is going to be your biggest concern. If you think hunting for a parking is bad when driving a midsize car, it\u2019s hellishly tricky when you\u2019re trying to park a vehicle that\u2019s got a swing out tire carrier, bull bars, sliders, etc.<\/p>\n
Your friends will quickly learn to expect you 5-10 minutes late because you parked 10 blocks away\u00a0from your meet up point.<\/p>\n
Do you have a swing out tire carrier? Take into consideration the need for enough space to open your tailgate, especially in parking structures or on the street. It\u2019s all too easy to be forced to open up swing arms over someone\u2019s hood.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t be the guy that drags the business end of a hi-lift jack over someone\u2019s car hood. It\u2019s not cool.<\/p>\n
Know your vehicle’s height, and know it as well as you know your social security number. Know it so well that you begin to cry a little every time you go to park your vehicle in a parking garage, but immediately turn around because you know you\u2019d tear the top of your vehicle off if you proceeded down that highway to the danger zone.<\/p>\n
Parking garages are not your friend. They are no one\u2019s friend. The average height of parking garages in my city range from 6\u20196\u201d to 7\u2019. My truck is 6\u201911\u201d when fully fueled. Most parking garages also have weight limits on their ramps.<\/p>\n
You will exceed one or both of those limits. Again, do not be that guy. You\u2019ve made a conscience effort to build up your vehicle with lights and roof top tents, you put a bed on the top of your vehicle. Now you must lay down in it and live a life of desolation far far away from the comfort of a parking garage.<\/p>\n
One of the more overlooked upgrades you must also do is security. This means where you leave the vehicle and how you leave it.<\/p>\n
Many of us outfit our vehicles with communication and navigational gear and these are items that are highly desirable by those who might wish to alleviate us of our technological and financial investments.<\/p>\n
That means being able to stash or secure high value items in our daily drivers such as HAM radios, GPS systems, lights, etc. Anything that can be secured via locks or anti-theft bolts is worth the time to do so.<\/p>\n
If you carry fuel and water externally it behooves you to keep things locked. I have heard conflicting thoughts on keeping external gas tanks fueled or not, and I am not an expert on this from a legal standpoint.<\/p>\n
I’ve seen\u00a0shady people come up and wrap their knuckles on my fuel tanks to see if there was anything in them, or come out of stores to see someone trying to mess with the locks thinking they could steal the cans.<\/p>\n
Also consider that someone could tamper with your external fuel tanks. 5 gallons of gas can do quite a bit of damage when strapped to your rig, especially in the hands of someone who wishes to do your rig harm.<\/p>\n
Know when to fuel up and load up the vehicle for travel, and download gear and fuel when back in town.”We didn’t buy them for the mileage…”Speaking of gas, all of these modifications come at a severe penalty to miles per gallon.<\/p>\n
The original manufacturer spec sheet for my vehicle listed 18 city and 21 highway. I\u2019m going to go have a sad moment when I think about what I\u2019m getting now. Okay, the moment has passed. I\u2019m lucky to get 13 in town and 14-15 on the highway at sea level, on a downward slope\u2026with a tailwind.<\/p>\n
This is the nature of what happens when you add nearly a ton (that\u2019s not figurative, that\u2019s literal) of armor, cargo systems, roof rack, lights, winches, batteries, and all other forms of expedition knick knacks.<\/p>\n
You will find that your ability to make it 4-5 days of commuting will become a bit ambitious, especially when you factor in traffic. Know your vehicle, and how thirsty it gets.<\/p>\n
Gas is more expensive in population centers, and you will pay dearly for your decision to live in a city.<\/p>\n
You’re ready. Ok. That’s not Isaac’s 4Runner, but he did take this picture of the OB rig as daily driver in Downtown Portland.<\/p>\n
Because all overland rigs vary, what I\u2019ve mentioned may not apply to you. \u00a0The takeaway is that every overlander needs to be well versed in how their vehicle performs, how it exists in physical space, and how your daily driver modifications affect those around you.<\/p>\n
From stopping distances due to extra weight, how additional armor increases the size of your vehicle, and how internal modifications alter usable space\u2026 if your vehicle is your daily driver, and thus there is no separation between \u201cwork rig\u201d and \u201cplay rig\u201d you need to understand there will always be a compromise somewhere in what you\u2019re giving up to take on.<\/p>\n
There is something incredibly powerful in having an overland vehicle. It means you are constantly in a rig that tempts you to go and explore. And it means you\u2019re daily driving something that can be loaded up in a moments notice to escape the confines of urban living and find yourself on an adventure.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ll get more smiles, waves, and questions than the guy driving his bland and boring sedan to work and back. If you\u2019re prepared for the trade-offs, it\u2019s a wonderful thing to have a vehicle that inspires as much as it can be challenging.<\/p>\n
Full rig build out breakdown of Isaac’s Beast here!\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n Join the Overland Bound Team!<\/a>Become a Member of the fastest growing global Overlanding network!Order your custom Member Emblem and begin your journey.Click HERE<\/a> To learn more.<\/p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We recently connected with Overland Bound Member #0833, Isaac Marchionna about his mega loaded up overland rig that he uses every day as his daily driver in Downtown Portland. He gives us his insight into what to expect when you make your off-road vehicle your pavement pounder on the city streets!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":34568,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"We recently connected with Overland Bound Member #0833, Isaac Marchionna about his mega loaded up overland rig that he uses every day as his daily driver in Downtown Portland. He gives us his insight into what to expect when you make your off-road vehicle your pavement pounder on the city streets!\nThe Art of the Overland Rig Daily Driver\nBy Isaac Marchionna\nOverland Bound Member #0833\n@lawndartdesign\nDaily Driver: 2015 4Runner TRD Pro (with a lot of mods)\nLocation: Downtown Portland, OR\nAll photos courtesy and copyright of Isaac Marchionna\n\nWe\u2019ve all felt it. The insatiable call of the wild\u2026 but the crushing reality of a day job. These two pulls have lead many of us to build an Overland Rig and then drive them on a daily basis. And with this decision comes different responsibilities and realities that you have to take into account when you daily an expedition rig. \n\nLet\u2019s be honest for a moment\u2026driving an Overland rig around a crowded population center can be pretty smile inducing. You'll pull more attention than any sports car could muster; however, you\u2019re also driving around a rather big, heavy, and maintenance intensive vehicle. Here are a few points I\u2019ve learned along the way with my daily driver.\n\nYour Friends\nYou\u2019ve likely tricked out (or are in the process of building out) your rig to store all your camping gear, drawer systems, fridge, power management, etc etc etc. The downside to this consumption, or \u201cutilization\u201d of space, is that your ability to carry humans (what the vehicle was designed to do) has now been comically \u201cdownsized.\u201d\n\nI am familiar with the quizzical reaction by people when asked if I can haul stuff for them or pick up a group of people. I don\u2019t have extra space to offer. Remember that friend who needed your help moving a sofa? Have fun not sounding like a deadbeat when you tell him he\u2019s on his own moving and you have a long bed expedition truck. \u201cOh I would love to help you\u2026but adventure mobile!\u201d\nThe Fury Road Factor\n\nOne of the things you\u2019ll see on almost all Overland vehicles is the addition of armor, both underbody and front\/rear bumpers. Here are the advantages. First off, these systems are invaluable in their ability to take a hit and be beaten back into shape or replaced entirely. Damaging a plate worth a few hundred dollars, rather than causing crippling damage worth thousands, is an entirely fantastic trade off.\n\nBumpers allow for the mounting of additional lights, winches, recovery points, fuel, spare tires, jacks, communication systems, all while providing additional armor for the trail. I cannot tell you how many times my rock sliders have proved to be awesome investments just in stopping door dings, while mangling the doors of those who are careless around my truck. I shouldn\u2019t laugh, but here I am doing that while writing. But all that metal comes at a cost: weight.\n\nWeight can both help and hinder you on the trail. Proper distribution of weight can provide better traction when scrambling up a boulder field in the mountains. In the city however the additional weight means you have more mass to stop. Urban driving means a lot more stop and go traffic; it also means being able to stop the vehicle when a pedestrian darts out in front of traffic.\n\nWe are vastly exceeding the original gross vehicle weights spec\u2019d by the manufacturers. My vehicle for example comes in at a whopping 6600 lbs fully fueled. The original vehicle ranged from about 4700-4800 lbs in stock form. That weight affects everything from acceleration to braking distances. Your brakes become that much more critical on the trail and on the street. Do not ignore them and upgrade as necessary. That might mean stronger pads, and caliper systems.\n\nYou can do more damage in a crash due to armor and weight, and it is your responsibility to know how your rig behavior. Every modification you do has a real world implication on vehicle performance, and you are responsible in knowing how those implications play out on the road.\n\nWide Load\nAll that junk in the trunk.\n\nSpace is at a premium in cities and you need to know the relationship between the dimensions of your vehicle and how it relates to its place in the physical world. You do not want to be the person who parks their wonderfully reinforced steel bumper into someone\u2019s BMW because you were parallel parking your expedition battleship into a space just barely big enough.\n\nParking space is going to be your biggest concern. If you think hunting for a parking is bad when driving a midsize car, it\u2019s hellishly tricky when you\u2019re trying to park a vehicle that\u2019s got a swing out tire carrier, bull bars, sliders, etc. Your friends will quickly learn to expect you 5-10 minutes late because you parked 10 blocks away from your meet up point.\n\nDo you have a swing out tire carrier? Take into consideration the need for enough space to open your tailgate, especially in parking structures or on the street. It\u2019s all too easy to be forced to open up swing arms over someone\u2019s hood. Don\u2019t be the guy that drags the business end of a hi-lift jack over someone\u2019s car hood. It\u2019s not cool.\nHeight\nAn acceptable parking garage.\n\nKnow your vehicle's height, and know it as well as you know your social security number. Know it so well that you begin to cry a little every time you go to park your vehicle in a parking garage, but immediately turn around because you know you\u2019d tear the top of your vehicle off if you proceeded down that highway to the danger zone.\n\nParking garages are not your friend. They are no one\u2019s friend. The average height of parking garages in my city range from 6\u20196\u201d to 7\u2019. My truck is 6\u201911\u201d when fully fueled. Most parking garages also have weight limits on their ramps. You will exceed one or both of those limits. Again, do not be that guy. You\u2019ve made a conscience effort to build up your vehicle with lights and roof top tents, you put a bed on the top of your vehicle. Now you must lay down in it and live a life of desolation far far away from the comfort of a parking garage.\nLock It Down\nOne of the more overlooked upgrades you must also do is security. This means where you leave the vehicle and how you leave it. Many of us outfit our vehicles with communication and navigational gear and these are items that are highly desirable by those who might wish to alleviate us of our technological and financial investments. That means being able to stash or secure high value items such as HAM radios, GPS systems, lights, etc. Anything that can be secured via locks or anti-theft bolts is worth the time to do so.\n\nIf you carry fuel and water externally it behooves you to keep things locked. I have heard conflicting thoughts on keeping external gas tanks fueled or not, and I am not an expert on this from a legal standpoint. I've seen shady people come up and wrap their knuckles on my fuel tanks to see if there was anything in them, or come out of stores to see someone trying to mess with the locks thinking they could steal the cans. Also consider that someone could tamper with your external fuel tanks. 5 gallons of gas can do quite a bit of damage when strapped to your rig, especially in the hands of someone who wishes to do your rig harm. Know when to fuel up and load up the vehicle for travel, and download gear and fuel when back in town.\n\"We didn't buy them for the mileage...\"\nSpeaking of gas, all of these modifications come at a severe penalty to miles per gallon. The original manufacturer spec sheet for my vehicle listed 18 city and 21 highway. I\u2019m going to go have a sad moment when I think about what I\u2019m getting now. Okay, the moment has passed. I\u2019m lucky to get 13 in town and 14-15 on the highway at sea level, on a downward slope\u2026with a tailwind.\n\nThis is the nature of what happens when you add nearly a ton (that\u2019s not figurative, that\u2019s literal) of armor, cargo systems, roof rack, lights, winches, batteries, and all other forms of expedition knick knacks. You will find that your ability to make it 4-5 days of commuting will become a bit ambitious, especially when you factor in traffic. Know your vehicle, and how thirsty it gets. Gas is more expensive in population centers, and you will pay dearly for your decision to live in a city.\nYou're ready.\nOk. That's not Isaac's 4Runner, but he did take this picture of the OB rig in Downtown Portland.\n\nBecause all overland rigs vary, what I\u2019ve mentioned may not apply to you. The takeaway is that every overlander needs to be well versed in how their vehicle performs, how it exists in physical space, and how your modifications affect those around you.\n\nFrom stopping distances due to extra weight, how additional armor increases the size of your vehicle, and how internal modifications alter usable space\u2026 if your vehicle is your daily driver, and thus there is no separation between \u201cwork rig\u201d and \u201cplay rig\u201d you need to understand there will always be a compromise somewhere in what you\u2019re giving up to take on.\n\nThere is something incredibly powerful in having an overland vehicle. It means you are constantly in a rig that tempts you to go and explore. And it means you\u2019re daily driving something that can be loaded up in a moments notice to escape the confines of urban living and find yourself on an adventure.\n\nYou\u2019ll get more smiles, waves, and questions than the guy driving his bland and boring sedan to work and back. If you\u2019re prepared for the trade-offs, it\u2019s a wonderful thing to have a vehicle that inspires as much as it can be challenging.\n\nFull rig build out breakdown of Isaac's Beast here! <\/a>\n\nJoin the Overland Bound Team!\n<\/a>\nBecome a Member of the fastest growing global Overlanding network!\nOrder your custom Member Emblem and begin your journey.\nClick HERE<\/a> To learn more.","_et_gb_content_width":"1260","footnotes":""},"categories":[35,26,25,20],"tags":[45,28,47,59,60,24,31],"class_list":["post-21181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-getting-started","category-news","category-tips","category-vehicle","tag-adventure","tag-expedition-2","tag-overland","tag-overland-bound","tag-overlanding","tag-packing","tag-rigs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21181\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/media\/34568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.overlandbound.com\/marketing-api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}