Buying a Vehicle for Overlanding
- Thread starter Sailmike
- Start date
Made a list of the positives and negatives:
LMTV
Positives
-a true go anywhere vehicle
-8’ width gives me more room inside
-rugged
-heavy payload capability
-diesel engine
-central tire inflation system
-full time 4x4
-can climb a 60% slope
-22” ground clearance
-reliable?
Negatives
-high repair costs
-low mpg
-8’ wide
-tires are $1500 each
-Diesel engine
-no Diesel engine maintenance knowledge
-repair places may be hard to find
Thoughts?
LMTV
Positives
-a true go anywhere vehicle
-8’ width gives me more room inside
-rugged
-heavy payload capability
-diesel engine
-central tire inflation system
-full time 4x4
-can climb a 60% slope
-22” ground clearance
-reliable?
Negatives
-high repair costs
-low mpg
-8’ wide
-tires are $1500 each
-Diesel engine
-no Diesel engine maintenance knowledge
-repair places may be hard to find
Thoughts?
Last edited:
Off-Road Ranger I
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What @MidOH says.. I ran diesels my entire life as well. “ Modern” diesels require more maintenance than gassers. Period.. my current gasser has 330,000 miles on it and still going strong.. shouldn’t baffle you at all. Talk to some techs, read spec sheets. Read reliability statistics. I considered the Cummins 2.8 swap, but in all reality my current engine would probably outlast a brand new 2.8. Now, if your talking about big Diesel engines, 60 series Detroit’s, DD16s, Navistars DT 466s, etc etc, that’s a whole different ballgame than the little stuff.
Autism Family Travels
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To much arm chair not enough camp chair. I took me 40 years to get where I am now, plenty of rigs and configurations.
I have tent camped across much of the western US and Canada. My trips usually last 1-2 months. My last trip was to the artic circle and lasted two months. I just love that lifestyle. Now I want a reliable camper to live in. I’m relying on your experience and expertise.
Autism Family Travels
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Enthusiast III
Well, I would do what I suggested. Half ton truck, slide in camper. Heat, shitter and shower included, indoor cooking, dry, comfortable sleeping and living. The other things you are looking at are an un-necessary waste of funds that you can use to travel and see places. These large rigs cost money to run and maintain where you will only lose a few MPG in a half ton truck carrying a slide in. Your expenses will not change, brakes are cheap, tires are "cheap", oil changes are cheap, and parts are cheap. Once you move to the medium duty crap all that goes out the window.
Like I said, you are reading to much into the "lifestyle" side of things. pick up a used 1/2 do the regular maintenece items and get a used slide in. Go driving and camping.
Like I said, you are reading to much into the "lifestyle" side of things. pick up a used 1/2 do the regular maintenece items and get a used slide in. Go driving and camping.
Everybody was a different idea. The reason I love something is the reason you hate it. We all do different things also, I am a drive hard to get someplace and play. My truck is set up to do that. If I am driving every couple of days and moving it would be very different. Go get a 1/2 or3/4 ton truck and get busy, build your own camper if that floats your boat.
You can get a slide-in pop top that isn’t built out.I don’t know where I saw it, they are out there.
Google is your friend.
You can get a slide-in pop top that isn’t built out.I don’t know where I saw it, they are out there.
Google is your friend.
To drive on certain surfaces, such as sand or mud, it's recommended that the tire pressure be lowered. Can this be done on any kind of wheel or are beadlock wheels required? All of my backcountry driving has been done using a Honda CRV, but there were places I couldn't go and had to turn down.
Traveler I
I’ll never agree they are more maintenance or all hotshot drives would use them but they don’t. I could see if I had no experience with diesels but me and every family members diesels have all made high high mileage with very little maintenance. I mean my dad just sold a Chevy that was well iver 200k and he’s done nothing but put new oil in the thing and all the other rigs I’ve been around have been the same. Look over your spread sheets all you want but I’ve never seen that to be true and every bit of research I’ve done I to this since it was brought up shows even new diesels making 500k with only a transmission swap.
Traveler I
If you have some facts please link them I literally have find one only article about why they chose gas fleet vehicles vs diesel. Literally everything else I’ve read by techs or engine builders say diesels are typically more reliable even with the emission systems. Now I could see some of the really new small diesels envy having issues but I have no idea where you get that diesel trucks are a lot less reliable since I can’t see anything saying that.
Off-Road Ranger I
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Ok, clarification is in order... big truck engines are generally warrantied for 750,000 miles. The last three corporate assigned power units I drove were still running strong with zero issues at 650,000 plus miles each. Older small truck diesels, think, Cummins 4bt will easily last 500,000 miles. When anyone worth their salt is in the business of ordering fleet trucks of any size, they think in terms of “ cost per mile “. Most all medium and heavy duty trucks are diesel because of total cost per mile to operate. Small vehicle diesels are horribly unreliable simply because the manufacturers are squeezing every last ounce of torque and horsepower out of very tiny engines and doing it it the most cost effective manner by cutting corners. VW has been building crap diesels since common rail came out. Some of the new light duty Ford, Chevy, Jeep common rail diesels are completely unreliable over the long term. The old mechanical light duty diesels were superior in reliability, easily surpassing 500,000 miles before any major repairs. I’ve been considering swapping a diesel ( the 2.8 Cummins ) into my Landcruiser since the idea has been floated. If I read any long term success stories I might do it. So far, they haven’t been around long enough to garner any long term reliability overviews. Btw, do you think that Jeep, Chevy, Ford or VW will have any bad research about their products? Noooo. But the techs know. That’s who to talk to and ask. Or talk to your local UPS door to door delivery driver. The started out using the Ford 300 six gasser. Their experiment with diesels is about over and they’re going back to gas , propane/hybrid. The facts are out there, you gotta find em. Here in the US markets Heavy Duty = Diesel Medium Duty = Diesel Light Duty = gas Peace out
wow, there are stories all over by guys who suffer in the diesel limp mode for weeks and no one can fix the problem. My buddy went thru Ford, Dodge, Chev from 2012 thru 2016, he finally bought a Chev 3500 gas job and has not had an issue in 4 years. He runs a transit mix business and drives 30K miles a year often towing a tridem. He'll never buy a diesel pickup again. The last one, the Duramax was in the shop for 6 weeks waiting for parts. He bought the new gas job in week 2 and left the diesel there. He was so pissed he even bought a brand new Tundra..... but found out it was more car than truck.
The old Powerstroke and 12Valve were bulletproof diesels. But the new diesels have nothing in common with them. Buy gas and you'll not regret it.
Traveler I
With that you seam to be talking about mostly smaller engines than even the 6.7 cummins and will definitely agree with you there and even as a fleet truck I can see them not being worth it. As a individual owning a ram truck I’ve still seen very little to say it was a bad choice especially if the emission systems disappear ;) granted the fuel pumps are garbage from what I hear and may never be a issue but can easily destroy the whole system. I’ve heard many people just out in a lift pump to mitigate this risk.
Traveler I
That’s to bad for your buddy ultimately most are not having that issue or it would be everywhere how bad diesels are now. Granted most people did have issues in the early days of these emissions.
Advocate III
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An LMTV is a bad ass rig. The Cat engine is very reliable, but very costly to repair if something goes wrong. The electrical system is way too complicated for what it really is... the push button transmission shifter is a common problem on these, as is the CTIS system (think when it fails your tires go flat), you need a CDL or farm endorsement to drive the rig because it has air brakes. And Lastly it’s to large to take down most Forrest service roads... this is all coming from a guy who spent 14 years driving and working on them. While it’s a great truck, it’s not a great Overlanding truck for most of the US.
Thank you. That’s the kind of answer I needed. All modern cars and trucks have complex electrical systems. I don’t think there’s any getting away from that, especially with self driving cars/trucks on the horizon. I’m wondering, if after working out major problems the first year or two of driving them, are they much more reliable from then on? Also, if the CTIS fails, isn’t it just a matter of looking for the air leak?
Advocate III
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If the CTIS system fails, it’s the controls... when I say overly complex... I mean more so than civilian vehicles... if the controller goes out it takes the whole system down with it... designed that way to be easier to fix in the military settings... unfortunately parts for this aren’t available to civilians... so again, there are lots of other military vehicles to choose from besides the FMTV line of trucks.
