Kansas - Magadan (1 Viewer)

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Jorgito

Jorgito

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Hello,

wanted to check with you guys, this is probably more for expeditionportal.com site but hopefully there is somebody who was dealing with the same issues I have.

We are going for camping road trip to Russia. Reason why I say camping road trip is that the roads really improved a lot for last couple of years and the "Road of Bones" is not such adventure today. There are guys going in regular not 4x4 offroad beasts. The difficult sections are now repaired and I would say that it is really not difficult as in technical sense.

What is scary in some sense is just the Russian traffic but it is probably the same in Perm, Kazan and East regions where we are going. Everybody knows about the famous russian videos. Other scary part is remoteness of the road specially between Yakutsk and Magadan, anyway talking to local guys there is stop / gas station every 250 km so it is not that bad.

I have purchased the Land Cruiser 80 back in October and did a lot of work on it.
IMG_5781 by xsanch1, on Flickr

I have done the head gasket and replaced all rubber and other hoses , radiator, water pump , new fan , new shroud, front axles , rear axles in plan. Total price only for parts was around 3000 $.

Now I am planning the shipping of the car to Russia and due to my visa and financial situation we have only two months of preparing so I need to move faster. Here is the list of what needs to be done:

  1. prinsu roof rack - this rack is amazing and everybody agrees
  2. gordigear roof tent - we will buy gordigear which is in my humble opinion very good option. We will buy the cheaper 240 cm version (explorer plus). Also we will have annex, awning and mesh room (lot of mosquitos in Siberia)
  3. water system - I purchased water tank (valterra abs), two water pumps, helton heater, temperature sensor. The setup will be to have one water pump to circulate water threw helton heater until the temperature is right. The second pump will be used to get water out of the tank (shower, kitchen)
  4. speski barrier - I already purchased the barrier and waiting for delivery. I think that this is really needed for security - we have two kids aged 9 and 6
  5. tailgate lid storage - I will buy the kit from @socallove . Will store stuff I hopefully will not need
  6. arb air compressor - this is needed for sure
  7. 4x4 lab can carrier - verified that it will bolt into kaymar rear bumper arm
  8. box kitchen - still deciding if I should buy kanza or if I should build one myself. Kanza is really nice but pretty expensive
  9. indel b fridge - I think that it is just fine with the right compressor (Danfoss).
  10. alu box - need some box to put all other stuff on the roof

Basically I would end up with the same setup as @Box Rocket . My car has J springs with L OME shocks. I just calculated that the height of the car with the roof rack and tent will be 250 cm which honestly is too high. I need to talk to @Box Rocket if he found it stable. Probably I will have to add at least spacers to have widen track.

Right now I am figuring out the shipping costs , they are ridiculous expensive as there is not too much traffic between USA and Russia. The costs for 20'' container is 3400 $ , if sharing the 40'' container the cost goes down to 2100 $. There is the RO-RO option from Seattle but I am not sure how safe | secure is it. Also I would end up paying higher rates due to the height of the car with tent.

Another concern is the weather , it should not be freezing - around 30 - 40 fahrenheit. This is another factor I need to put.

Jorge
 
replied to your PM but didn't answer one question. I do not have wheel spacers on my truck. Good luck on your journey. Sounds awesome.

edit: you might find that the J springs do not have the load capacity you need if you have LOTS of weight in the back of the vehicle. I carry a decent amount of weight with a large CO2 tank, Fridge, and gear as well as 6 people in the car (usually) and the J springs do well IMO. If you have more weight with your kitchen etc you might consider a coil with a higher spring rate in the rear. The OME competition coils would be one option. There are 4" or 5" options in those springs.
 
Box Rocket said:
replied to your PM but didn't answer one question. I do not have wheel spacers on my truck. Good luck on your journey. Sounds awesome.

edit: you might find that the J springs do not have the load capacity you need if you have LOTS of weight in the back of the vehicle. I carry a decent amount of weight with a large CO2 tank, Fridge, and gear as well as 6 people in the car (usually) and the J springs do well IMO. If you have more weight with your kitchen etc you might consider a coil with a higher spring rate in the rear. The OME competition coils would be one option. There are 4" or 5" options in those springs.
Click to expand...

x2 on the OME Comp Coils, fwiw you can find spring rates here:
Cruiser Outfitters




As to your trip to Magadan, what a fantastic adventure. I drove the same route with Expeditions7 in 2013, we did the Winter Road and part of the Summer Road (into TomTor which did have water crossings and much rougher road than the Winter Road (which is rough but not technical). The driving is some of the gnarliest I've done to date, there is no flow of traffic... you're either passing or being passed and it's usually on a rutted highway with two way semi traffic. You can read more of our adventure here: Wandering Through Siberia - Russia E7 Trip Report - Expedition Portal

Good luck!
 
Hi Kurt,

I am constantly in contact with friends in Magadan and really the road got better. I would say the major repairs were in last summer. We will not do the old summer road as we neither have equipment and capabilities to do so. The regular Kolyma highway today can be really passed even in Toyota Camry (and many do so). There is still couple places which are not the best (according to my friends near Yakutsk), but I think that we should be fine.

Probably traveling in winter is safer, the zimnik (frozen road) is much easier to get around. I hope all goes well, my wifes family which is in Magadan think we got crazy and say that we would be either killed, eaten by bears or destroyed by Kamaz trucks, but honestly none of them did go recently the Kolyma highway. For example the Black and Yellow pass which was really famous to claim a lot of lives was repaired and there is nice road now.

This is my friend going from Amur to Magadan.

[youtube][/youtube]
 
Hi Jorgito,

A few things:

About the lockers: I would go for Eaton E-lockers. Same function, less stuff that can break less weight (no air compressor involved).
And maybe just one in the rear axle? I mean the road have improved. If you're going offroading where you not a front locker as well, I'm assuming you're not going there alone?

I have always used Waeco compressor fridges. They are cheaper and use the same Danfoss compressors (like BD35F)
You can get them as tiny as 15 liter, which saves a lot of space, but you can keep the important stuff cool.

About shipping. the container option is more flexible. But I heard that there is a Roll-on-Roll-of car ferry from USA east coast to Hamburg, Germany. Probably not what you want, but you could just drive from Hamburg to Perm (3500km 2200 miles or something)
Maybe it is a cheaper option for you?

And maybe a satelite phone for the remote areas?

You will leave in two months? But you also want to travel in winter time?
As you already mentioned, in the summer there are swarms of musquitos.

Good luck preparing.
 
Hiace4wd said:
Hi Jorgito,

A few things:

About the lockers: I would go for Eaton E-lockers. Same function, less stuff that can break less weight (no air compressor involved).
And maybe just one in the rear axle? I mean the road have improved. If you're going offroading where you not a front locker as well, I'm assuming you're not going there alone?

I have always used Waeco compressor fridges. They are cheaper and use the same Danfoss compressors (like BD35F)
You can get them as tiny as 15 liter, which saves a lot of space, but you can keep the important stuff cool.

About shipping. the container option is more flexible. But I heard that there is a Roll-on-Roll-of car ferry from USA east coast to Hamburg, Germany. Probably not what you want, but you could just drive from Hamburg to Perm (3500km 2200 miles or something)
Maybe it is a cheaper option for you?

And maybe a satelite phone for the remote areas?

You will leave in two months? But you also want to travel in winter time?
As you already mentioned, in the summer there are swarms of musquitos.

Good luck preparing.
Click to expand...
Hi,

actually I was not talking about ARB lockers. Unfortunately I don't have money for that, I will do aussie locker in the rear which is the suggested and preferred way for cruiser. Regarding fridge indel b is pretty cheap, the 50 liter fridge is about 500 dollars which is not bad.
We will not have sattelite phone but will probably purchase some sort of sattelite communicator (spott etc).

Regards,

Jorge
 
Pretty busy day today. I have ordered Prinsu roof rack, circuit braker and terminal fuses with terminal fuse blocks also some 12V usb sockets from west marine. Ordered tailgate lid storage kit from @socallove. I received the water system today:

water system

water system

 
In the morning also went to doctor to see what immunization we should get. Kids are already vaccinated for all they need to school plus hepatitis A and B. We are looking to get the japanese encephalitis vaccination. Calling blue cross blue shield if they cover or not ..

Would be interested what immunization did Kurt @cruiseroutfit got when traveling to Russia.
 
Honestly my biggest worries are not bears but nasty ticks. There are reported very serious cases of lyme disease. Looking to get a lot of permethrin. This is pretty good site with information about ticks. TickEncounter Resource Center
 
Last edited:
I tried to fit the tank under the frame where the tire reserve was. To me it looks like the tank is very close to the exhaust. I am bit worried as the tank is actually plastic. I could try to wrap it in some heat wrap but even that might not be enough .

tank

tank

tank

tank

tank

tank

tank

tank

 
Jorgito said:
Do you guys think that this compressor should be enough to air up the 35's ?

It's the ARB compressor:

ARB hardmount compressor CKMA12
Click to expand...

Yes, adequate but not insanely fast, I've been using the same. I've been using the same model on several rigs sine they debuted, no complaints. A twin (CKMTA12) would be preferred if space and budget allow. Make sure you get the corresponding pump up kit or are prepared to build your own. Oh, and a plug for a source that will hook you up ;)
Cruiser Outfitters
 
Guys , I need some feedback on the water tank and it's location. Do you think that it is too close to exhaust ?
 
I'd be worried about plastic that close. A heat shield might do the trick or perhaps a slight exhaust reroute if you must run the tank there.
 
They both probably run the BD35F compressor, so it should be pretty much the same.

Check that they both run that compressor, and then choose the cheapest :p

And they should both have voltage detection shut offs, if you're interested in that.
 
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