Odyssey 4x4
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Posts posted by Odyssey 4x4
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Just thought I'd throw this photo on here to keep this thread alive even though I've been so busy. The Odyssey build is excelling rapidly. Here you can see completed custom upper and lower cabinets. Upper cabinets are all flush inlay doors, lowers are custom as well. All wood has been painted and faces covered with formica. You can also see the custom mahogany counter tops I made, as well as the flush inlay closet door.
I also just ordered the RecPro retractable bathroom door which should be here this Friday and mostly finish up that side of the camper! I'll be getting a new series of build videos together soon.
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I did fail to make it up pikes peak in my 22re Escaper! That was the sketchiest experience I had in a toy home, but also my fault for trying.
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2 hours ago, WME said:
Comvee all grown up...https://www.mecum.com/lots/SC0521-462039/1972-chevrolet-c30-custom-camper/ 😁
Don’t tell anyone but I’ve always wanted to do a low rider toyhome that lays frame on airbags.
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Like I previously mentioned, the leaf pack on the odyssey is probably the biggest I’ve seen on a toy home as well as 89 Toyota pickup, looks like the RV company did this one right. I also put Bilsteins in the rear and a heavy duty sway bar. If I see need, I’ll add some airbags down the line for comfort and leveling.
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1 hour ago, Scott iv said:
Something to be said about driver awareness owning one of these motorhomes. Awareness of the mechanical shortcomings including small brake system considering the weight of the machine, notorious lack of power, and an ability to expect the unexpected considering the age of the machine. AAA and very large space cushions between vehicles is how I roll. Hope for the best but plan for ... We get there, have fun, and do get decent gas mileage along the way.
100%, also a member of the top tier AAA RV membership club, luckily ive never had to use it on the RV, but the reassurance is nice knowing the cost of an RV tow. I drive my RVs the same way I drive my motorcycle, calculating every single car that could cut you off or slam their breaks, etc. it’s called the, “everyone on the road wants to kill me” game, I’ve done okay so far!
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Hey it’s the duo themselves!! Of course you still creep, the Toyota family is a solid one 😆
thanks for the kind words and sorry to hear about Luna 💕
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So just out of curiosity, you’re sticking with the bound for nowhere sunrader being over 10,000 pounds?
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32 minutes ago, Scott iv said:
Love it! Cycle is on before the windows are in.
Priorities right?!
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I agree with Linda, if anything they likely weighed less than when they started. Like she said, it was all about mechanical issues and not knowing their rig themselves. They’ve since moved to a brand new tundra with a 4 wheel pop up camper, I don’t think the work required for the old
Toyota was their cup of tea and losing their rear wheel was the final straw (understandable). The odyssey is newer, much heavier duty (not just the v6, but also bigger brakes, a stronger built more modern differential/ rear end, and a massive aftermarket rear leaf pack).
Bound for nowhere wanted a ready to go reliable rig with minimal maintenance. We all know these 20+ year old (mine is 30 years old and not my first toy home) machines require all kinds of work and maintenance. I do all my own maintenance and mechanical work including building engines from the crankshaft up, so keeping the rig going is just another part of being it’s owner and an accepted duty.
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10 minutes ago, Scott iv said:
The cabinet looks great. Hopefully you get the machine on the road soon! Taking your hobby to the next level. Hope you have another motorcycle carrier on board. I'm still using mine derived from your Escaper design.
you mean like this? 😁I built a hd hitch into the rear bumper build and still managed to be lighter than the original rear bumper that was on this thing!
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12 minutes ago, Totem said:
The build I refereed to in this forum was literally exactly like yours.. same truck everything, except it was a sunrader - and very recently done I might add except they even used lightweight materials.
They literally did an amazing job. No complaints from me on how it looked. They even had replaced the lead batteries with LifePO4...
for some strange reason they did all that and when they went to drive it it was no bueno. I am hoping to see yours outperform theirs and am fully rooting for you.
I respect your choice of road preferences also, similar to my stile also. I can count on 1 finger how many times mine has been on a turnpike.
That said, getting it weighed (assuming its drivable presently) and hitting the local scales is still advisable periodically on builds like this and its where they went wrong.
I kept thinking to myself as they added this, added that, used ply, and how great it was looking... hmm theres 8 lbs theres 20 lbs etc.
Don't get me wrong the rig is great and I am sure it will all work out; but sanity checking a build on something like this can save k9 lives and money.
Beefy brakes or no, if your rig comes in at 8900 lbs the only beef about it will be replaced by having to stock cheetos in the cabinets instead of steak in the freezer, which is an awesome add on btw love that low volt fridge; super curious on that and am considering it also.
Agreed, the little weights add up quickly in materials. I’m curious if the build you’re referencing is the sunrader built by “bound for nowhere” that they sold soon after due to mechanical issues they didn’t want to tackle. If so, that was a whole different story with their issues and rear axle swap.
The Dometic fridge is great and they have been tested true by the overland community. I’ve only used mine in my house as of now but it kicks butt and my beer is nice and cold. Low power draw, able to handle getting banged around off-road trucks, etc. I also like the idea of the top opening lid so you don’t lose all the “cold” when opening the door. As well as all the groceries inside from driving around!
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1 hour ago, Totem said:
I'll be the guy that says this looks awesome but asks - has it been weighed>?
A trip to the scales fully loaded with your entire crew in, gear and full resources is in order.
I have been asking this more and more as my family grows (in weight and age) and I watch the GVWR start to look like the national debt.
It all makes sense the minute the guy in the merge lane decides "yeah I am gonna make you brake hard" as your rig is so loaded its incapable of revving past the jerk in oncoming combat maneuvers.
I have also been asking it as we have seen amazing 4x4 builds in this forum that fail to even be drivable after insane amounts of effort and money invested in them but hey they got the video for youtube and the subscribers to cover the new Mercedes based winnabago afterwards.
I have also noticed I love traveling without my family from the performance perspective. I typically can go faster and brake much better without the 4 ipads, phones, charges, matching outfits that range from sahara hot to siberia cold rated and the other 250 lbs of other family grabbed miscellaneous gear thats literally so useless and is packed in places it often isnt found until we shut the thing down for the winter. Most recent trip driving to go to fish camp on the Maumee I had road combat ensue when a star studded millennial whom was glued to their phone watching a ticktok video decided they didnt need to speed up on merge and was left to engage extreme defensive braking as well as evasive action.
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my comment is because I always focus in on the materials being used. No one is using balsa and ultra lightweight cabinetry, fascia and finish as they should and as the OEMs did in the 80s. Linda mentioned the entire accompaniment of factory gear was supposedly 200 lbs for OEM water heater, stove and fridge. To me even that is too heavy when one considers the insanity of a 53 lbs full mini oven, a fridge that takes up 20% of the camper and the fact there are tankless propane water heaters that heat on demand and weigh in at less than 5 lbs now. cutting that all out will allow for more finish but the minute I see 8 layer marine grade ply, ovens and fridges I start to think man, how fast can I stop on the road>?
In the event of an unlikely crash everything you have will be coming up into your backside or imploding into the crew of the back.. methinks balsa would feel better.
of course weight is always a consideration! Has it been weighed and loaded? Considering the build Is not complete, no. We shedded weight in multiple areas (the odyssey came with a huge refrigerator OEM that I scrapped, we scrapped multiple heavy doors (closet/ bathroom), multiple heavy old school batteries that will be replaced with significantly lighter lifepo4 batteries, and of course we added some weight in other areas for a stronger build. I’m hoping it should break about even with the weight that it was when purchased.
Will I be driving this off-road leaning at 45 degree hardcore trails? Of course not. I’ve had multiple RVs, multiple off-road vehicles we’ve built over the years, and many motorcycles (including country wide multiple month travels living off of them). I’m familiar with all types of driving. The 4x4 in this is simply reassurance for back service forest roads, snow, light mud, etc. Not to mention the cool factor and rarity of a factory 4x4 v6 toy home, if you know these rigs you know what I’m talking about. And If you think you’re taking this rig down a hardcore trail, you’re a fool.
Saying you’ve seen 4x4 builds in this forum that “fail to even be drivable” Is a pretty dramatic statement. I’ve seen several 4x4 toy homes do surprisingly well in off-road conditions being driven by folks I’d consider partly brave and partly crazy considering the roads they’ve done. If you’ve ever done any off-road driving, you know the advantage a 4x4 can give even going up a slight hill with some sand over a 2wd stock ride height vehicle. Not to mention the ground clearance provided by 4x4. Also, keep in mind that this is a factory built 4x4 truck, I did not convert this.
And of course once again referring to weight and safety, these are super overloaded from every RV builder and the factory brakes are less than adequate. This is where the skill of the driver comes into play. Maintain your safe driving distances and stay vigilant. I don’t drive interstate when I travel in a toyhome (for obvious reasons), and I prefer the background travel and sight seeing regardless. This odyssey is built on the 4x4 v6 chassis which means the braking system is slightly beefier than the 4 cylinders, but a smart driver is still the best bet.
And no family here friend, just me and my pup! Thanks for the concern
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Wanting to bring the look of the odyssey to a modern style and higher quality than factory, we opted to give inlay upper cabinet doors a try. This was definitely a challenge since neither my dad nor I have ever really done cabinet work, let alone worked with fine tolerances in cabinetry. Anyways the first door is done (other than hardware and lift pistons), and we learned a lot. The remaining doors should go quicker now that we’ve got the rhythm down.
We sketched up what we thought were the best dimensions, and marked our sides. We used a paint can for the rounded edges 😂. We then plunge cut into the 3/4” with a circular saw and carefully went as close as we could to the beginning of each corner. The hardest part was getting our cut as small and as perfect as possible so that we could use the cutout door from the same piece of plywood as the cabinet face. The gap between door and face is 1/4” so one little mess up and you hurt your door and need more plywood! The rounded corners were then cut with a jig saw.
We then put the rough face in place and mounted the door with 3 upper hinges. This was probably the hardest part since the door had to be open to mount hinges the way we did it, and then lower the door to see where it ended up sitting. The hinges allow a small amount of vertical adjustment, but no left/ right. With a few tries and a little sanding we were happy with fit.
To match the interior of the rest of the RV, we finished the face and door with high quality Formica board.
Routed edges...
Final cleaning of edges with a small file and sandpaper.
If you look close enough about half way into the 3/4” ply you’ll see the routed cut in the wood where the vinyl trim locks into place. This cut was done prior to Formica gluing.
Vinyl edge trim used on door edge and cabinet face edge. We had to make sure to space the vinyl routed cut enough outward to let the edge trim slightly cover the edge of the Formica to prevent catching/ cracking in future.
Interior visible wood will be painted or have felt applied.
And finally, our door in place (minus hardware).
We even successfully kept the “grain” aligned for a nice professional looking finish.
And now only 4 more doors to go! There was 2 days of work into this first door since it was our “test and learning” door. Hopefully the next few go quicker! I’m definitely happy with how it came out.
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2 hours ago, twodog said:
I recently purchased a 92 Warrior that had been sitting and not started for several years. I drained old fuel and put in new fuel. Added a new battery, and it started right up. the problem is a dead miss on one of the cylinders. I haven't started pulling plug wires to find out which cylinder yet, bit I'm leaning toward a bad injector. It ran fine when it was parked. Any thoughts on this??
I’d change plugs and wires before injectors. Pull plugs one by one to find miss, then see if the missing cylinders plug is firing while out of the cylinder (leave plug wire on and ground side of plug to ground and look for spark, it will shock you if not careful.)
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2 hours ago, linda s said:
As you must already know your build has me somewhat light headed. Mood lighting is perfect.
I don't know if you've seen these yet.
Builders of the BCT | TruckHouse
Fully optioned one comes in at just under $400,000. Yours may not be molded composite but I would guess yours is worth somewhere between $100,000 and $200,000. Of course the value to you is priceless
Linda S
The truck house is certainly a thing of art! I appreciate your very kind price estimate on my Odyssey! We are trying to treat this rare factory 4x4 “right”, and also build a quality product for myself as well as the future owners. As far as what price I would ask for it upon time to sell, I have no idea!
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Work is always ongoing on the Odyssey! I wanted some indirect mood lighting for while at camp so I went with a set of Bluetooth rock lights and mounted under frame. They turn any color and are fully dimmable as well. I’m pretty happy with them! They even have a music strobe mode that plays with music off of your phone, and that should make some fun camp parties should they ever happen. They also make off-road night driving or backing into off-road campsite situations much easier.
We finished the overcab bed area off with 1/8” radius bending plywood which did what we wanted. Concerned with the thickness of the wood and strength, we opted to go ahead and fiberglass the entire overcab as well. There’s still some sanding to do and then it will get whatever final top layer we decide on over the glass.
I also decided to update the headlights to full LED and the difference of brightness is exactly what I wanted. I don’t care too much for the look of most aftermarket LED headlights, but these were the least tacky I could find. They put off a really nice white light like modern vehicles and have the sharp cutoff line. I had to install a new H4 wiring harness for the lights as well as a corrector module to keep my high beam dash light functional.
We are soon to be applying the filon skin and once that is on there is all kinds of work we can finish up, windows, water heater install, exterior compartment doors, etc. There has been a bunch of other work done (I’m really excited to show off the slide out stainless grill setup), and I’ll be getting some new videos together for the channel soon.
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7 hours ago, Cynxing said:
You could convert it to run on veggie oil since it's a diesel, thus saving on fuel money and reducing your carbon footprint. If you want to know more about how veggoil works and what the lifestyle is like go here. The National VegOil Board vlog and 6 part radio series.
What a way to ruin a unicorn of a vehicle
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8 hours ago, linda s said:
Anthony do you have a link for this Sunrader build? It looks so familiar but I just can't place it. Driving me nuts
Linda
I was following the sunrader build on Instagram but it appears he deleted that profile right before releasing the truckhouse brand. If you google image search “yotahome4x4” there are a few more pics sprinkled around the internet.
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Sweet! I recommend this forum to every toy home owner I meet! This place is a wealth of knowledge.
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7 minutes ago, linda s said:
Cost. You guys do know that an Earthroamer can come in at over a million dollars, right? An XP camper now called a Nimbl camper costs around the same as this Truckhouse. The best deal around for a nice 4x4 motorhome is the Tiger Provan which is around $140,000. There is a guy in Bend Or who makes campers on his own on Tacoma frames and he's pretty reasonable too at low 100,000's. I think he's a member here. Former Host camper employee.
So basic rule of thumb. If you want to drive an overlander in style, first sell your house
Linda S
Yes I do believe Anthony's Odyssey 4x4 is going to be worth well over a hundred thousand when he's done. Go Anthony
I’m honored that my build was even mentioned in comparison to this piece of art! I’ve been following the guy responsible for this build for years (or at least heavily involved in the team). If you guys haven’t seen his sunrader build, it’s absolutely immaculate.
His attention to detail and quality of work are truly next level.
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Some more progress photos, I haven't been able to document the work done the way I'd normally prefer, so these will have to do!
Overcab "bedroom" is about complete. 12V TV mounted on swivel mount to watch in bed or flip around to be visible from the rear of the camper. Custom power station for bedroom area also built with 115 and 12v socket/USB power outlets.
98% of formica wall paneling is up, stained counters and sink set in place, and trim work is beginning. Cabinets have been carpet lined as well.
We are about to do the exterior wood install on the overcab bend with a bendable plywood. Exterior filon will be installed soon as well.
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2 hours ago, WME said:
Looking good, you going camping next summer?
I'm hoping I'll have the camper done early 2021 time and money permitting!
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Still making lots of progress on the Odyssey! Here's a pic of the near completed overcab "bedroom". I still need to install a small 12v TV and power station.
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Anyone that has done any offroading (even in a 4x4), knows how debilitating an open differential is in almost any offroad condition. I'm really going all out with this build, and a locker is on the list of something I'd really like it to have. That doesn't mean i'm going to be tearing it up in Moab, but a locking rear diff completely changes offroad capability in even the most minor off offroad situations.
The 1990 Toyota Odyssey V6 4x4 that we call The Comvee (warning: long post with photos)
in Improvement and Do-It-Yourself Projects you have done to Share!
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it looks like a decent door. I went with it for the simplicity of it. It’s a nice looking option and only 6 pounds! My only concern is how transparent it may be but it’s not like the bathroom in my camper will be on public display lol.
https://www.recpro.com/rv-retractable-rolling-shower-door/?gclid=CjwKCAjwieuGBhAsEiwA1Ly_nVrpn2X9WTwZKidwfb6ay4FFJTlnsNNBbEg8ViHrtBLbTBdHmYihURoCR5MQAvD_BwE