New to the overlanding world from South Shore of MA. I went a couple weeks ago to an offroad park and went through some beginner trails and obstacles with my Ram 1500 crew cab and now im hooked. Ive been following some of the Overlanding channels on Youtube and have been gaining a lot of good info. I know the Ram isnt ideal for offroading in New England, and im having trouble deciding on a good vehicle for starting this adventure on a budget. We are a family of 4 with a 6 and a 4 year old so lots of space is ideal. It will mostly be a commuting/family hauler. Ive been looking at the 4Runner, older Land Cruisers, and possibly the Hummer H3. My mechanic has told me the H3 with the i5 isnt so reliable, but it is a cheaper alternative to a JKU/4Runner. Any advice/input would be greatly appreciated. Looking forward to meeting new people and exploring whats out there.
New member from MA. Suggestions on an overland rig?
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Pathfinder I
The 4runner - and I’m not just saying that because I use one as my rig. Toyota is extremely reliable, and the 4runner is a good balance of interior space with a not too wide body for wheeling, which is particularly good on the east coast where the trails are narrower. Mileage is pretty good and they are comfortable and good looking vehicles. I’ve owned Land Rovers, Jeeps, Fords and even Subaru’s, and I’ve driven all types of trucks overseas. Nothing beats a Toyota. Just my opinion.
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Anything Toyota, and not just because I have a 96 80 series with 305,000 miles on it, but because of one major thing, reliability. The only thing that is not stock on mine are the bumpers, springs and shocks. I just recently replaced the original suspension bushings and of course I used all Toyota bushings again. In the Jeep world, aftermarket parts can be and usually are superior to the stock parts. Your mechanic is right, there are multiple reasons why the hummer failed to continue production. I’ve had Fords, Jeeps, VWs, Chrysler’s Datsuns and finallyToyota’s the 80 and a Rav 4 . BTW, the rav4s are little tanks.. Last month my wife walked away from a head on collision, the guy in the dodge came across 2 lanes. The dodge was wiped out and tossed all over the highway. The rav 4 came to a straight stop, didn’t budge. Did I mention I like Toyota’s?
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Welcome to the forum and the Overlanding world!
My advice — use your Ram, and put some miles on. With a modest investment, the Ram can be a great off roader that will take you to 95% of the interesting and remote places in North America. When shopping for a rig, it’s usually best to buy/build for the expedition/type of trip. There is no “do it all” rig — every platform is a compromise of some kind. Until you know what type of trips you will do, it’s hard to know what compromises you can live with and which ones you can’t.
Putting miles on adventuring with your family will really help you narrow down the kinds of trips you want to take, and that will result in a better vehicle purchase — which you may find you don’t need to do, as again, your Ram is a great platform. It should have 4x4 with a two speed transfer case, so mechanically its very capable. Its got amazing payload for an Overlander, which is important. Depending on how you live on the road, you can equip a rig with a lot of stuff — water heaters, slide out kitchens, roof tents, etc. — and that stuff‘s weight adds up. A high payload rig like your truck can easily carry lots, so you have options. Maybe you want a trailer or a slide in camper? Both are options with your Ram.
Once you do a few trips the compromise of your rig might rear it’s head, though. There’s a chance it never is an issue depending on your style if adventure. The main compromises for your rig are size —the departure angle and break over angles specifically. It’s also marginally wider than some other rigs, but that is rarely a problem in this scale; the couple of inches you’d gain with a different rig might mean more scratches for you, but will rarely mean you can’t progress down a track. If you do find these compromises to be too much for where you want to go, a modest amount of money will get you aftermarket bumpers that will dramatically improve your approach angle, and a few dollars more opens a lot of options for bigger tires and a modest lift, which will alleviate that compromise a lot.
Overlanding can be cheap and on a budget, or it can be a millionaires hobby, and anything in between. I would spend a bit of money on recovery gear (Maxtrax, a shovel, a Jack, and the fixings), a bit on some emergency communication devices (InReach or Spot, or even an eBay Iridium sat phone) and then a lot on gas and go see the world around you. You’ll soon find out what rig will work for the places you want to go to.
My advice — use your Ram, and put some miles on. With a modest investment, the Ram can be a great off roader that will take you to 95% of the interesting and remote places in North America. When shopping for a rig, it’s usually best to buy/build for the expedition/type of trip. There is no “do it all” rig — every platform is a compromise of some kind. Until you know what type of trips you will do, it’s hard to know what compromises you can live with and which ones you can’t.
Putting miles on adventuring with your family will really help you narrow down the kinds of trips you want to take, and that will result in a better vehicle purchase — which you may find you don’t need to do, as again, your Ram is a great platform. It should have 4x4 with a two speed transfer case, so mechanically its very capable. Its got amazing payload for an Overlander, which is important. Depending on how you live on the road, you can equip a rig with a lot of stuff — water heaters, slide out kitchens, roof tents, etc. — and that stuff‘s weight adds up. A high payload rig like your truck can easily carry lots, so you have options. Maybe you want a trailer or a slide in camper? Both are options with your Ram.
Once you do a few trips the compromise of your rig might rear it’s head, though. There’s a chance it never is an issue depending on your style if adventure. The main compromises for your rig are size —the departure angle and break over angles specifically. It’s also marginally wider than some other rigs, but that is rarely a problem in this scale; the couple of inches you’d gain with a different rig might mean more scratches for you, but will rarely mean you can’t progress down a track. If you do find these compromises to be too much for where you want to go, a modest amount of money will get you aftermarket bumpers that will dramatically improve your approach angle, and a few dollars more opens a lot of options for bigger tires and a modest lift, which will alleviate that compromise a lot.
Overlanding can be cheap and on a budget, or it can be a millionaires hobby, and anything in between. I would spend a bit of money on recovery gear (Maxtrax, a shovel, a Jack, and the fixings), a bit on some emergency communication devices (InReach or Spot, or even an eBay Iridium sat phone) and then a lot on gas and go see the world around you. You’ll soon find out what rig will work for the places you want to go to.
Thanks for the great info guys. I sure do love my Ram. It's a '14 Outdoorsman package which has hooks on the front bumper. I definitely love having the extra fuel capacity compared to any Jeep/Toyota. The extra payload and towing capacity (yea it's got a Hemi) would be a lot to sacrifice for an SUV.
I'll have to look into upgrading the Ram to make it more overland worthy.
I will say though, on the beginner trail I did at the offroad park there were a few 90 degree turns and tight spots which showed its weakness with a long wheelbase and wider vehicle. I did end up ripping off my side step on that trail too
.
I think I'll have to adventure out with the Ram and weigh my options after a little more overland experience.
I'll have to look into upgrading the Ram to make it more overland worthy.
I will say though, on the beginner trail I did at the offroad park there were a few 90 degree turns and tight spots which showed its weakness with a long wheelbase and wider vehicle. I did end up ripping off my side step on that trail too
.I think I'll have to adventure out with the Ram and weigh my options after a little more overland experience.
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Traveler III
Use to live on the south shore too, in Scituate. Like the other have said use what you have for now. I found spending time with the stock rig gave me a better understanding of what I was looking for. What I would like to change or things that I wasn’t sure it was capable of. But I’d vote toyota if you do end up switching. Have a Tacoma but think with family I’d lean for a 4Runner or tundra.
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Sorry for not chiming back in sooner — i was actually just on a trip in my full size all weekend with limited connectivity. I tried to reply but it kept timing out so the best I could do was a like! The Outdoorsman package is a great rig as-is! Really nice trucks.Thanks for the great info guys. I sure do love my Ram. It's a '14 Outdoorsman package which has hooks on the front bumper. I definitely love having the extra fuel capacity compared to any Jeep/Toyota. The extra payload and towing capacity (yea it's got a Hemi) would be a lot to sacrifice for an SUV.
I'll have to look into upgrading the Ram to make it more overland worthy.
I will say though, on the beginner trail I did at the offroad park there were a few 90 degree turns and tight spots which showed its weakness with a long wheelbase and wider vehicle. I did end up ripping off my side step on that trail too
I think I'll have to adventure out with the Ram and weigh my options after a little more overland experience.
On the ripped off side step, you may want to consider replacing the side steps with step & slider combos. These will be a lot more robust and are designed to be scraped along rocks and such to protect the body. With a big rig, body/component protection is important, and with your super high payload, you can afford to bolt on some modest protection. You will still scrape and rub, but on armour designed for it.
If you are planning on a lot of technical trails, then perhaps the full size isn’t the best bet, and something smaller would be a good choice, but then the question would be what proportion of your travel will be technical trails versus unimproved roads/tracks? For example, a Jeep Rubicon can tackle almost any technical trail in North America from the factory, but it does so at the expense of comfort for the 95% of the rest of the miles, and it has other issues like payload.
“Tolerable Compromise” is the name of the game! Either way, lots of excuses to get out adventuring to find out where that tolerable compromise is for you!
Enthusiast III
I was thinking of at least getting Bilsteins to level the truck, or maybe a 2 or 3" lift. I also started looking at rock sliders to replace the side steps.
I'll have to plan some trips and get out to test out the trucks capabilities.
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Speaking of rock sliders, you, as was I, a few years ago, between the proverbial rock & the hard place.. choosing an overlanding vehicle is not an easy task, I spent literally thousand of dollars in an attempt to make my TJ Rubicon into a long range overlanding vehicle.. I’ll step up and admit that it was money and 7 years wasted. I absolutely loved that Jeep, however, too small, unreliable, ( we were forever replacing U-joints and bushings ) and extraordinarily uncomfortable as it would literally beat hell out of us after several 500 mile days. Hindsight is always 20/20.. my best advice? Hang on to your pickup, but just don’t go overboard on any upgrades until you are 100% sure it is the correct vehicle for you and your family.. good luck in your quest.. oh, BTW,, several have stated there is always some sort of compromise. My 80 is not a compromise, unless one considers 12mpg a compromise, which I do not. I consider it to be the perfect vehicle for us.
