Wheeling in a 2WD truck for overlanding? | 4WDTalk - Overlanding and offroad Forum
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Wheeling in a 2WD truck for overlanding?

Foxtrot Whiskey

Well-known member
Looks like I've finally inspired my brother to jump into camping. The question I have for you folks is he happens to be one of the most frugal people on the planet. He has a 2wd toyota tacoma, and he doesn't want to upgrade to a 4wd.

My question is how realistic is it to run just a 2wd truck for wheeling and various overlanding?
 
You can, but winch, clearance and good set of tires will make that 2wd capable for offroad.
 
vw-kaefer-transafrica-wohnwagen-herbie-weltreise.jpg


How much and hard offroad we do while we do overlanding - this can be discussed very differently.

Exploring a country by car, by mostly sleeping in the car, cooking you own food. Self-sufficient (water, energy, food storage) for severall days - enyoing back and fireroads - that is overlanding.

Who has the bigger adventure, the couple above in the beetle or a heavy modded 4x4 overlanding rig on a wold tour? Yes, this beetle above did the big 4, a transafrica (roundtrip), australia, panamericana and silkroad.

But yes, they cant do hard offroad. But did cross africa, on bad tracks - what mean a lot of offroad.

Guess we had to discuss the "wording" of our hobbies
  • offroad competition
  • vanlife (living out of our vehicle, do travelling, mostly not high mileage)
  • Weekend wheeling (outing for 4x4 fun & nature)
  • overlanding short (2 weeks)
  • overlanding international (6 months and more)
An international Overlander who is equipped with 80l Water, 280l fuel, gear, clothes and and self-sufficieny for two weeks (food, beer) need the winch there where the weekender is still driving relaxed. The weight will makes things harder - even on a good dirttrack uphill, soon.

It is to late to discuss the wording, anyone has his own focus and view. But yes, you can do even serious offroad without 4x4 as long you dont love muddy terrain. But you will get stuck more often.

trippin
 
Well this turned out to be a good post for perspective. Trippin, thank you for the informed answer. I'll share this with my brother. I'm sure he is going to be relieved on the idea of what he will be able to do.
 
Absolutely! Its just about knowing your rigs limits, and having proper recovery gear. If you are heading out with 2wd, you best have good tires (know when to air them down) and a good winch or some sort of pulley system you can use. Traction boards are a big old plus as well.
 
Yep, agree. Having the right tires is key and easy to overlook. Speaking of air pressure, be sure to have a good compressor system as well!
 
100% if you have some decent recovery gear and understand how to pick a good line.
 
Will all of the above into account, keep in mind, simple common sense should be factored in.
 
vw-kaefer-transafrica-wohnwagen-herbie-weltreise.jpg


How much and hard offroad we do while we do overlanding - this can be discussed very differently.

Exploring a country by car, by mostly sleeping in the car, cooking you own food. Self-sufficient (water, energy, food storage) for severall days - enyoing back and fireroads - that is overlanding.

Who has the bigger adventure, the couple above in the beetle or a heavy modded 4x4 overlanding rig on a wold tour? Yes, this beetle above did the big 4, a transafrica (roundtrip), australia, panamericana and silkroad.

But yes, they cant do hard offroad. But did cross africa, on bad tracks - what mean a lot of offroad.

Guess we had to discuss the "wording" of our hobbies
  • offroad competition
  • vanlife (living out of our vehicle, do travelling, mostly not high mileage)
  • Weekend wheeling (outing for 4x4 fun & nature)
  • overlanding short (2 weeks)
  • overlanding international (6 months and more)
An international Overlander who is equipped with 80l Water, 280l fuel, gear, clothes and and self-sufficieny for two weeks (food, beer) need the winch there where the weekender is still driving relaxed. The weight will makes things harder - even on a good dirttrack uphill, soon.

It is to late to discuss the wording, anyone has his own focus and view. But yes, you can do even serious offroad without 4x4 as long you dont love muddy terrain. But you will get stuck more often.

trippin
Hey did you see the VW bug that was interviewed by this channel a couple years ago? OMG let me see if I can find.
 
Two powerful points to keep in mind, tires and tire pressure.

This beetle with the trailer did need more. An Land Cruiser who pulled him through west africa.

Did read the blog of the land cruiser driver too. He did help severall days between camerooon and angola. He was also on the west, they did meet and did a part of the journey together.

trippin
 
Isn't there an offroad beetle that someone did a 4x4 conversion to it?


There's a few out there in the desert race circuit I've seen pictures of. I want to build one on a VW Thing chassis using a Porsche AWD Transaxle and a Subaru STI engine. It would be more like a street legal side by side.
 
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