Extreme 4x4 tv show and reality

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More often than not for me right now, my longer trips are to southern Utah area and I move every day to a new campsite. I just use a small tent, a propane cook top, and a cooler. My wife and I can set up the tent in 10 min pretty easily. I really don't need much else.

If I were doing this for a month at a time, then I'd really want something like the camper truck or a real camp trailer. For a week once a year and weekends otherwise it's really hard to justify owning, maintaining, and storing a trailer.
 
Fast Eddy said:
How'd you like the trailer though?

A little bird told me there may be a very similar trailer for sale with a mud discount pretty soon.
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The trailer cost more than the truck towing it....there NOT cheap
 
freepowder said:
Times change, true. But remember the Colorado state motto: Don't fix it if it ain't broke. I already have an FJ60 why would I go buy a new(er) vehicle when the one I've got does what I need? Years ago we used to say the difference between two wheel drive and four wheel drive is about a hundred yards. I'm guessing the difference between stock coil over and my ol' school leaf springs is about fifty. Not to mention that on Xtreme 4x4 they're always cutting the coil spring IFS front ends off everything and replacing 'em with solid axles. I'm afraid to cost that out. And even if I don't have coil overs, I already have that solid axle.

I'll end up with something around seventy five pounds on the rack, what does a roof-top tent weigh? I don't think that's gonna roll me over. I went a lot of places with an insanely heavy 12.50-16.5 and all the camp gear up there on my FJ55 until I went to TruTraks.

If I switch to 33's I'll have to swap out my 3.73s for 4.11s. I'd like to have a few bucks left over for gas when it's all built. I'd be curious how it'd run with 32/11.50-15s. Then again maybe not, I'm thinking there's about a $30-40 per tire difference between the 31's and either of those. There's also a difference in the HP required to turn all that extra rubber. Suffice to say, run what you will, I'll stick to my little tires and go as far as I will.
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I don't think you can judge the difference between coil and leaf by distance, unless it's how many miles of wash board you can do in a day without blood in your urine.:lol:
In my opinion coils have a much better ride on washboard, got an FJ60 and a UZJ100 and put some miles off road on both so I have a good basis for this opinion. I also love IFS on washboard and wouldn't change my 100 to a solid axle even if I could afford it.
Tools camping gear and cook gear weigh 75#? Really? :rolleyes: BTW I'm not a fan of RTT's either.
I'm not arguing tire choice, just your statement that 33's are harder to come by. If you get where you want on 31's good for you heck run 28's if you want it's your truck.
 
To resurrect an old thread, what are y'all's thoughts on the latest Tacoma expedition build on Xtreme?
 
yea but ya know trailgear hooked him up with all that, i thought the taco was ok, but alot of that show seemed to be selling stuff, Ian is a good fab guy, and overall the taco was a pretty neat build, although probably not my choice of a expo build, im just glad to see them getting off the crawler stuff a little...
 
If only they would feature something like this on a build show. Unfortunately those of us that would care to see it are more likely out in the shop or out in the trees as opposed to sitting in front if the tube.

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That is a sweet 60 camper. There is a new show called 'Extreme RV' now. I don't know what station, but it covers everything from 50' million dollar diesel pushers to some really extreme offroad RV campers. The sad part is the extreme also refers to the amount of money involved to own one.
What we need is Stacey David doing another DIY'r show building whatever yourself! The original 'Trucks' is what pushed me to do my own FJ40 restoration. That is what I miss.
 
They're finally building a budget 'wheeler.

Turbo mini truck for under $5000, well, $6000 including the purchase of the truck.

Of course, you'll no doubt still need to be a master welder to do it. Maybe. We'
ll see.
 
I think a lot of you miss a very important part of TV show equations when you bash them. They are not free to make and when Ian mentions a product or provider it's because they are bankrolling the show and part of the deal is he has to showcase the product some.

There has been some changes to management and where you can watch the show and he's trying to encompass more types off off road styles. Ian posts on PBB. When season are in production he does ask opinions. Go look for it in CC and the main tech forums.

He's building a turbo mini budget build crawler this season. http://www.powernationtv.com to find channel and show times.
I'm not into the tube buggies but I do watch the show and appreciate when it touches on expedition type builds as it's more my interest. It's a source for ideas as much as anything. Take it at face value.
 
They got a new name and logo, but still showing the same old re-runs.

It's about the only 4x4 show left on TV, so I watch.
 
He's changed his format a little bit and now it's more like "Hey! If you wanted to do something like this here's how your could do it and why." I like that better.

I'm curious as to why you'd put a 4 link on the back and a leaf springs on the front of any rig, though, let alone a budget build. Simple leaf lift kit in the back gotta be cheaper than 4 link. I won't even mention all the welding.
 
I'm liking the show more and more.

I appreciated the segments on how to work your welder. THAT is some useful information!

As usual I thought the hauler truck was serious overkill but still of moderate interest.

I suspect some of my issues with the show are regional: I'm in the west, SW Colorado to be exact, he's back east.
There they go to an off-road park. Here we go to the mountains or the desert. All of it. Different culture.
Also, my days of beatinhg the s**t out of a rig for S 'n G are done. I go *places* now, ghost towns, fishin' holes, stirring visitas. . . that sort of thing.

I do appreciate the subtle change in tone--Ian seems to be more talking *to* us rather than what felt like talking *down* to us before.

Improvements. Good. Still watching. :)
 
I watch it and enjoy it, but what I wonder about is how realistic / well done all those mods are. As in do they work in the real world? Would people really want to do this in real life?
For example, they'll show you the welding of some bracket to the frame. Make it seem very fast and easy. BAM, new bracket for a link. Sure, just about any welder could weld something to the frame in some way, but the questions in my mind would be is it necessarily a good idea, and especially would it last or compromise the frame in some ways after the cameras stop rolling. Maybe he knows by experience and/or has worked out all the numbers but I can't help but think they are taking shortcuts for the show that may not work in real life. How much of this is "cosmetics"?
Kinda like you take your truck to Earl Scheib. It would look OK in a vid afterwards but not so much in real life. You cover rust with paint, it will look great for a bit and then not so much.
Also the time factor. They make it look like something takes 2 minutes whereas in real life it might well take hours to get prepped, trial and error and the like, at least for non-experts.
Of course, it's a show, they have to live with limitations on what they can do. But I can't help to think this is all somewhat misleading. But yes, it's a show for entertainment so it's all good.
 
A buddy of mine just turned me on to the Expedition Overland series. My wife and I watched the first two episodes on the web, and I am not sure where it airs on regular TV. Anyway, we found their setups to be impressive - although I would have liked to se an 80 series - and the show is inspiring. Has anyone seen it? What did you think?
 
Not seen it. I'll see can I find it.
 
Watched them all on my Tivo via youtube, pretty good series and gave me a lot of ideas for my dream to do Dalton to Dead Horse.
 
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