Seeking Opinions on Refridgerators and Truck Suspensions

[takesiteasy]

FWIW, we have the D-rated BFG AT tires on our 2011 Tacoma and are very happy with them- both with the camper on and off. The improvement over the stock tires was quite noticeable. We have an ATC shell camper and the stock suspension with the added rear spring TSB. We generally travel light and even so we are usually near the GVWR for the truck. Having said that, the truck handles the weight just fine with good acceleration and comfortable braking performance. I may yet upgrade the springs but I am waiting to get a little more experience with varied conditions to know what I want. We are just back from nearly a month-long 5000 mile camping trip across the country with a wide variety of road conditions, including off-road and we have no complaints with the truck (other than the gas mileage which everyone who has the Tacoma wishes was better).

 

[steelhead]

Thanks Jonathan and takeiteasy for this last round of feedback - really appreciate your input. There is just so much information and varying opinions on WTW and ExpeditionPortal that it gets hard to understand if there are issues with the configuration we want. Your setups are similar so it helps to know what is working for you. Thanks again.

 

[JHanson]

Steelhead - what, you're tired of my opinions already?

 

[steelhead]

Quite the opposite Jonathan.

Being totally new to this type of recreation, I have a bazillion questions and probably a bazillion more that I have not thought of yet. Just trying to work through the big items first so we get the truck and camper configuration right as neither are trivial expenditures. As with most outdoor recreation equipment, the pop up world seems to be loaded with trade-offs and compromises so it is really helpful to have access to those of you with experience with similar setups to what we are considering. You can be sure this will not be the last question I pose to the forum.

Cheers!

steelhead

 

[JHanson]

I agree - you could talk yourself into or out of virtually any truck, camper, or ancillary piece of equipment in the world depending on whose individual "expertise" you listened to. You have to learn to separate the anecdotal chaff (I bought a Tacoma and it was a piece of junk; Chevy rules" - or, "I bought a Chevy and it was a piece of junk; Toyota rules") from the genuinely useful experiences of others.

 

[jha6av8r]

I know when we started researching we started with TC and ran then gamut from pop-up trailers, trailers, hard side campers, to vans. I thought from the beginning we wanted a pop-up TC and that's what we came back too. The forums and comments from everyone helped solidify that decision. They also helped adjust our final configuration making us think through how we really planned on using it. Like you said you just have to sort through through the different biases.