Ultimate Guide to Building Your First Overlanding Rig
If you’re looking to build your first Overlanding rig, let me be the first to welcome you to your new journey to an exciting adventure that’s sure to bring you tons of fun moments and that’s sure to change your life for the better. Building your first Overlanding rig and figuring out where to start can be super challenging and honestly pretty frustrating due to the thousands of products on the market that seem super cool but may not be very functional. Starting as a beginner myself, I have spent hours upon hours researching the exact same question. From this research and personal experience, I’ve created the ultimate guide to building your first rig so you can get started as soon as possible.
The first modifications you should focus on when starting your build are tires, suspension, storage, and shelter, but there are also modifications you will need to make for your specific Overlanding style and locations you plan to visit. Making these decisions can be very difficult, but let’s get more in-depth to help make them easier.
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Planning Your Overland Build
Before starting your build journey, it’s super important to plan out the build. This will stop you from purchasing unnecessary products as well as help you follow a budget because building an Overlanding rig can get pretty expensive.
The first thing you should do to start off your plan is figure out exactly what you want your vehicle to do and where you plan on taking it. This ensures that you set a basic guideline for what you will need to modify and the specific modifications you may need to make.
If you aren’t exactly sure about some of the aspects of your build plan, don’t worry! Once you start going on more Overlanding trips you will start to realize more things that you need to change as well as how to dial in your setup to fit all of your needs. A great way to get a basic foundation for your plan is actually just going out and exploring. While doing this, try to focus on what exactly you need or things that you notice may need improvement.
Aesthetics vs. Functionality
There are tons of super cool products that you can buy, but to be honest, some of them may just look cool but don’t really serve a purpose to you and your setup. Making sure that whatever parts you decide to purchase actually serve a purpose will help you save some money to buy something that you will actually use.
I’m not here to criticize your build, because I even have modifications on my Tacoma that are just for looks. If you really like something and want to add it to your build, there is no one stopping you from doing so. Plus if you like the look of your vehicle it will make you actually want to use it, which practically makes it a “functional” modification.
Modify to Solve a Problem
If you look at other Overlander’s rigs (shameless plug for my Instagram) you will often see that they are constantly changing out some of their modifications.
While Overlanding, you will come across new obstacles and scenarios that will make you wish you had done something different with your build, this is completely natural and it’s fine to change out things on your rig (remember when I said Overlanding can get pretty expensive).
In order to actually be able to see where the problems are, you have to test out your setup. For example, if you just installed some new tires, the best thing to do would be to go out and find an area with things like mud, snow, ice, or anywhere else you see yourself Overlanding and see if your tires work the way you want them to.
Your First Modifications
Now it’s time for the fun part, actually getting to buy things. Although you may start looking up “Overland Modifications” and see the endless products that look awesome, there should be some basic modifications and gear you should start with before you start buying other things. I’ve compiled a list below of the first modifications that you should make to your rig before getting into the more advanced stuff. (The list isn’t in a particular order but the more you start Overlanding you will see exactly which comes first for you.
Tires
Having a good set of tires on your rig will make a world of difference on the trails. There are a ton of different tires with technology I really don’t understand (I’ll leave that to the professionals) but picking the type of tire is really up to you and where you plan on taking your rig.
A good first pick for tires is All-Terrain tires. These are made to be comfortable and quiet on the road without messing with your miles per gallon too much but also are made to perform great in offroad scenarios too.
If you’re looking for good All-Terrain tires, click here for my top four picks. (Opens in a new window)
Recovery
Often overlooked, recovery modifications and gear are essential especially if you are going to be doing some solo trips. While Overlanding you may find yourself in some situations where you may find yourself stuck and no matter what modifications you’ve made, you can’t seem to get out. This is where recovery gear comes into play.
Recovery gear includes things like traction boards, a winch, snatch blocks, tow straps, and so much more. We’ve actually already written an article covering recovery gear here if you’re looking for some of the gear I recommend.
Suspension
Having a good suspension that is able to take a significant beating to the different types of terrains you will encounter while Overlanding is very important.
When I talk about basic suspension, I’m mostly referring to upgrading things like your shocks and coils to new ones that are designed to specifically provide your vehicle with more capability to soak up things like bumps and dips while also making sure that they can handle it and not leave you stranded.
Another aspect of suspension is adding a lift. Adding a lift to your vehicle not only upgrades your shocks, struts, and coils but also provides more ground clearance so that you’re able to get over bigger obstacles and not ruin your vehicle’s body from dents, scratches, dings, and other “badges of honor” from the trails.
As I said earlier, you will be spending a lot of money, and suspension is usually the main culprit of that. Upgrading your vehicle’s suspension will cost you a bit if you decide to go with high-quality parts. That’s why I recommend doing it first so that you get the big stuff out of the way and then can later focus on other not as expensive gear and modifications.
I also mentioned that you can upgrade your vehicle to look cool, which in suspension terms, is most likely using spacers. If you plan on Overlanding, I recommend not going with spacers just because they are prone to breaking and putting more wear and tear on your vehicle’s suspension rather than just upgrading with shocks, struts, and coils.
Storage
Having your gear organized is very important especially when first building out your rig so that you have a specific place to put your new gear and modifications once you finally get them.
The ways of storing things will vary depending on which vehicle you have. An overall great modification to add to any vehicle to improve your storage are Molle Panels. These panels improve your storage capabilities by offering you more mounting points and places to tie down your gear inside and outside of your vehicle.
There are also countless ways to store your gear for free or that costs very little by just doing it yourself. Building things like drawers, shelves, or platforms inside your rig can double the amount of storage space you have. If you have a pickup truck, the Decked Drawer System is a great accessory to add to your truck bed that’s simple to install and provides a nice and neat organization system.
Shelter
Having some sort of shelter or sleeping location on your Overlanding rig is not only essential but is one of the things that it an “Overlanding” rig. There are tons of different options and places to sleep, so it all depends on which way you would like to go and what’s most comfortable and practical for you. Here are two of the most popular options for Overlanding:
Rooftop Tents
A rooftop tent is a tent that mounts to either the roof rack or bed rack of your vehicle and usually pops open into a full-sized tent in order to provide you with a sturdy and comfortable sleeping location. There are a lot of different rooftop tents on the market, if you want to learn more, check out our rooftop tent article here (opens in a new window).
Camper Shells
Camper shells are the tall bed covers that you see on the back of pickup trucks that are usually made out of fiberglass. These are used mainly for a more “stealth” option because if you are sleeping in them, people probably won’t know unlike seeing a rooftop tent opened on top of your rig. These usually do not offer as much headroom as a rooftop tent but make up for it in the sense of insulating qualities and the protected storage area they offer. These are also only for trucks since they are made to attach over the bed.
Lighting
Upgrading lighting allows you to be able to see further on the trails so that you can see everything you might be getting yourself into and it’s a great help if you are doing a lot setting up your campsite after dark.
One of the simplest upgrades you can do if your vehicle still has halogen bulbs is to upgrade to LED. This will greatly improve your visibility and honestly, I think looks better.
You can also add things like lightbars and ditch lights to further improve your visibility. Lightbars are shaped like a long bar that will usually shine a lot brighter and further than just your headlights. Ditch lights on the other hand are essentially the same thing, but attach to your hood and can be faced anywhere you need to light up the trails.
If you’re in the market for lighting or other vehicle mods, check out Cali Raised LED. Use code OVERLANDAHOLIC for 5% off!