Expedition worthy R-Pod?

Now that we have a new-to-us 2012 177 HRE in the driveway, my mind starts to thinking about mods. I love the idea of putting in stuff like new stainless drawer pulls, or a tough marine grade  sine wave inverter/charger/transfer switch, or a custom fabbed tongue rack for our two all mountain bicycles. But....

I want to able to tow to hard scrabble places like Toroweap.

I'm curious if anyone here has gone about toughening up their R-Pod? Some things that come to mind would be leaf springs and shocks, bigger tires, maybe an upgraded hub to match the tow vehicle wheels, bolts/lock nuts to replace places where wood screws were used to fasten the slide, screwing and gluing the cabinet joinery, bracing heavy items like rooftop AC, fridge, etc.

My "expedition" vehicle background pre-R-Pod was about Burning man. I still own a 1973 International Kurbmaster that has been converted to a livable adventure vehicle. It's too rough and tumble for comfortable day to day use. Too tight space wise as well. And too prone to 41 year old hard-to-find part failures to rely on these days for a multi-week long camping trip into the desert on washboard and rocky roads.

Our sweet little 177



How we'll be towing it around. 2000 Toyota 4Runner SR5, 5 speed manual tranny. 100K miles. Owned since new. Still in need of airlift in rear springs and E2 weight distribution hitch.




I want to make the R-Pod as tough as this bad boy below.

By the beach in Santa Cruz. Early on. 1973 Kurbmaster. Formerly a bread truck for a school district in the LA desert. Aluminum body by Olson/Grumman. Steel 1.5 ton truck chassis by International. Custom paint.



Time to start welding.




Sierra gas stop en route to Burning Man.



About to set-up camp - a 6 hour ordeal, but when complete, we had a 30x30 bar space, with curtains and carpeting, hammocks and a dance-worthy floor space. The quadracycle was perfect for the flat playa surface, but not much else.



The finished camp, prior to the actual event opening up to the general public (one of the benefits of being mayor of a large village at Burningman) next step, insert friends for breakfast dancing and bloody marys



Detail of the shade space... If you can't bring along neon, well, you aren't doing it right. :)



Comfortable interior space that was dust free, well insulated, and hip to boot.

Tank pod.  Looks good!

This is gonna be a long term project indeed. Especially since we're new to trailering, and have some basics to get right first. Thanks to techntrek for moving this thread to an area that makes more sense!

As for basics, I got the airbags installed and took these shots of the 4runner with the 177 in tow. We also towed the rig up to a local upholstery shop to get custom cushions made. We're using a charcoal gray Sunbrella fabric that will work with lots of color options.

My wife is going to make some custom curtains for the pod as well. She's going to use curtain tracks top and bottom, with snaps for the curtains. The upper track will hide behind the valances (which will be recovered along with all other trim to match the cushions) and the lower track will be hidden by the curtains' length.

So far we've changed out all the inner filament bulbs to LED, we've hung a bunch of IKEA stainless kitchen rods with hooks. We don't have a microwave/convection oven so we've put some stainless sliding drawers in the open hole. We've also replaced all draw pulls and the shower door with stainless too. Next up will be finding a new kitchen faucet is stainless. Not critical but desired would be the stainless version of the cooktop and a stainless sink as well.

Sunbrella fabric swatches


The truck is looking way better with the airbags. E2 hitch is supped to arrive today.

Originally posted by techntrek Definitely need pics once the interior mods are done, sounds like it will look really nice.

Originally posted by bodie55 Love to know your source when you find a stainless sink/countertop.  We would really like to upgrade - guessing a bar sink would work for now. Like your desert set up!  So what was behind the cardboard wall?  My guess  was some type of WC/bathing area...