Kansas - Magadan
- Thread starter Jorgito
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- Thread starter
- #82
Here is the route we did, unfortunately we didn't have any sort of gps tracker and our navigation broke down in Mongolia 
Kansas - Magadan - Prague
Regards,
Jorge
Kansas - Magadan - Prague
Regards,
Jorge
- Thread starter
- #83
Hi,All I can do is stand back and applaud! To start by purchasing a Cruiser in October to going from Kansas to Prague via Russia and Mongolia less than a year later...major congrats to sticking to the vision and making it happen!
Thank you for sharing all the photos...I could literally go through almost your whole trip just through your album on Flickr. Thank you! Major motivation for me!
A couple of questions... In your photos on Flickr, I noticed a couple of photos of gas stations. There were two grades listed on the pumps...one was 92 and the other 80. I assume the gasoline (petrol) was the 92 grade and the 80 grade was diesel? Did you find gasoline easily? If you don't mind sharing, how much did gasoline did you use on the entire trip and approximately how much did you spend on gasoline?
Secondly, how did your tires hold up? You were running 35's, right? Did you get any flats that you had to deal with?
well regarding gas stations they were pretty good in Russia mostly they were selling 92 octane gasoline which was fine, worst and most expensive gasoline was in Mongolia. Sometimes I just asked if it is not diesel then just took the gas as it was. We did not count how much we spent on the gas during the trip otherwise we would not make the trip at all
My calculations were somewhere around 3-4k dollars only on gas. We did not have any problems finding gasoline even on the remote roads of Yakutia and Mongolia, but I constantly had 40 liters of gas in our gas cans.Tires were great and we did not have any single puncture or problem which seems pretty awesome. We did 20k kilometers without changing tire ! Honestly we skipped the most difficult part of the journey (about 1300 km from river bank of Aldan to Magadan) where everybody has problems with tires. I was also taking care pretty good care, lowering and putting back the pressure as needed.
Jorge
- Thread starter
- #84
We stay in Prague, plans is to join Budapest - Bamako in 2018 which is far far future from now. I leave the car on US plates as it is more convenient for now.
Jorge
Good to talk to you the other day. I think everyone is very impressed with your trip.
- Thread starter
- #87
I just don't know if going Budapest - Bamako with this thirsty beast is good idea. The range is the only thing which is wrong with this vehicle , I don't care paying the fuel and don't mind the MPG but the range is killing it to be serious overlanding vehicle for touring places like Africa and Australia I might be wrong as always
I might be wrong as always
Well, what is the range currently?
And why could you not fit a second fuel tank?
I'm not sure how much you actually need. It already makes a lot of difference if you carry 2 times 20 liter jerrycans.
And why could you not fit a second fuel tank?
I'm not sure how much you actually need. It already makes a lot of difference if you carry 2 times 20 liter jerrycans.
I just don't know if going Budapest - Bamako with this thirsty beast is good idea. The range is the only thing which is wrong with this vehicle , I don't care paying the fuel and don't mind the MPG but the range is killing it to be serious overlanding vehicle for touring places like Africa and Australia
I would do a diesel swap otherwise you will have to carry a lot of fuel when we lived there and anytime we traveled outside of Bamako we carried at least 10 gallons of gas in the event any of the road side vendors didn't receive a shipment.
- Thread starter
- #90
Diesel swap is not feasible at the moment for couple of reasons:
I would probably stay with 1fz , just will have to bear in mind that I should carry more gasoline then usual. The Budapest - Bamako is in 2018 so still a lot of time.
- Don't know anybody who could do that around in Europe - maybe in Germany there could be someone who would do that. It is not like in US where this conversion is pretty popular.
- I don't think that the investment to the diesel is worthy given the price of the diesel and gasoline the ROI would be pretty long
- I really like the 1fz-fe as I took a lot of effort to understand that engine
I would probably stay with 1fz , just will have to bear in mind that I should carry more gasoline then usual. The Budapest - Bamako is in 2018 so still a lot of time.
Haha dude, Europe is one big (stinking) diesel continent! Most of our Landcruisers are diesel, so the experts know them better then the petrol versions.
Engine swaps also happen, typically to put newer engines in older landcruisers. For example, a friend of mine put the 1HD diesel engine from the 80 series into his 40 series. And I know several companies to do that, at least in Netherlands.
But yeah it would become expensive, if you dont drive much it wont be cost effective.
Engine swaps also happen, typically to put newer engines in older landcruisers. For example, a friend of mine put the 1HD diesel engine from the 80 series into his 40 series. And I know several companies to do that, at least in Netherlands.
But yeah it would become expensive, if you dont drive much it wont be cost effective.
But what kind of range do you have now and what do you need for the trips you want?
You could buy a second fuel tank and solve the issue?
You could buy a second fuel tank and solve the issue?
He's running a water storage tank up where the spare tire used to be, and where the spare fuel tank would go. @Jorgito somebody makes 38 gallon replacement tanks for the factory one. I can't remember if its long ranger or Man a Fre.
- Thread starter
- #94
Well, planning again whole summer in Russia. I mentally decided that I would stick to 1FZ-FE but as I am planning the trip to Altai mountains I wonder if I made correct decision. Even with the 15 gallons in jerry can's the range would probably be just over 250 miles which is just a joke. In this way our land cruiser are not such great vehicles, I don't care about paying the extra cost of the gas but the range is what is the worst on this vehicle. From Kosh-Agash to plateau Ukok is 100 miles in low range style and without any gas stations. Sorry for frustration ...
Altai would be fantastic! I would like to go there as well. But not this summer 
Do you know if this 100 mile stretch is the longest journey (in Altai) without gas stations?
250 miles is still more than 100 miles, so is there really an issue?
And it can't be 100 miles all climbing and such right? There is a big mountain range between them ok, but other then that.
When descending you don't use any fuel (injection engine). And when you can do 60km/h (on gravel) in 4th gear or something, it could be relatively efficient. (more efficient than 100km/h anyway)
Have you ever measured fuel consumption during offroad driving?
Also, you could locally buy extra plastic jerrycan of fuel, which you immediately fill in the tank when possible, and then throw it away (not in nature of course).
Do you know if this 100 mile stretch is the longest journey (in Altai) without gas stations?
250 miles is still more than 100 miles, so is there really an issue?
And it can't be 100 miles all climbing and such right? There is a big mountain range between them ok, but other then that.
When descending you don't use any fuel (injection engine). And when you can do 60km/h (on gravel) in 4th gear or something, it could be relatively efficient. (more efficient than 100km/h anyway)
Have you ever measured fuel consumption during offroad driving?
Also, you could locally buy extra plastic jerrycan of fuel, which you immediately fill in the tank when possible, and then throw it away (not in nature of course).
- Thread starter
- #96
Basically plateau Ukok is the most remote area of the Altai mountains, you can with a lot of gas get 250 miles around border with Kazakhstan without any gas station. There are some places where local people live and not sure if it would be possible to buy gas from them. On my last trip I averaged about 11.5 mpg and off-road it was about 8 mpg.
Jorge
Jorge
- Thread starter
- #97
Most of the guys in Europe with 1FZ-FE went to LPG but I am not sure where I would put the tank , the place where was the reserve is occupied by the water tank. I would probably have to rethink if that would be an option .
Jorge
Jorge
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Jorge - Great description of your journey and experiences! Can you share a little bit about why you opted for Gordigear (its not too popular here in the US) and in hindsight, how has it held up or rather, would you do it any differently?
- Thread starter
- #99
Hi,
I chosen Gordigear based on the reviews and their reputation. I was not looking too much what is popular in US but was browsing the Australian four wheel forums all the time and everybody was very happy with those tents. The tent is really good, I had some issues with the shipper and the first tent came damaged. Then I had problems with the zipper and had to order a new zipper for the tent cover. I purchased a big sleeping bag for all four of us (two adults + two kids) and the tent was not easy to zip. Changed this by changing the location of the zips in Russia.
The tent was strong enough to hold in very strong mountain winds during winter storm in Mongolia when whole car was shaking from side to side. I don't have idea how strong the wind was in terms of MPH/KPH but that was little worrying. The tent just hold and nothing was loose or broken.
The tent is the best in its price range I would say .
What I would invest a bit more is the seats, driving so long distance on the original seats is not very comfortable. At the end I had terrible headache which lasted for more then month and even went to get the MRI scan - all just because of original seats.
@Jorgito I think you could reconfigure the bracket we built for the water tank. If the tank could go more to the DS you might be able to get a reserve fuel tank in next to it. It wouldn't have to be a Toyota tank, something in the 15 - 20 gallon range + what you carry on the rear bumper would get you a lot more range.
Idea # 2 would be to do what I will eventually have to do, build a trailer. Of course then you will have to consider a re-gear in order to keep the power up.
As for your seats, best upgrade I've done to my 80 was the WRX seats. I don't know if you tried them out when you were over. If I had to do again I would probably put in something leather with the seat heaters.
Idea # 2 would be to do what I will eventually have to do, build a trailer. Of course then you will have to consider a re-gear in order to keep the power up.
As for your seats, best upgrade I've done to my 80 was the WRX seats. I don't know if you tried them out when you were over. If I had to do again I would probably put in something leather with the seat heaters.