Essential Tools for on-road living?

I'm moving into my truck full time, and plan to explore isolated places. I'm trying to find the line between prepared and over prepared, and figured I'd see what y'all have to say about it.

I'm on the west coast, planning to head to Mexico for a while (please save your political comments for another time), and then Canada/Alaska for summer. My truck has a large camper, and will be loaded up. I don't have much skills or experience with car maintenance, but am willing and eager to learn.

I want to carry as little as possible in this regard. Mainly having the tools/materials to get me the extra distance if something goes wrong.

 

This will be quite the adventure in an older truck with limited experience working on vehicles. Step one for me would be getting the maintenance at 100%. Oil change, trans fluid drain and fill, differentials and transfer case. Air filter, plugs, MAF and TB cleaning etc. And of course, the timing belt and radiator. Then brakes, brake fluid flush, tires and check all the bulbs inside and out. I see your low mileage and hope that these items are being done despite it due to age. Before any major trips I would make a couple shake down runs mimicking what you’re planning to do with the truck, but within distance of safety and resources. I would also buy a manual or download the FSM so that you’re prepared should problems arise. There’s no way to be prepared for everything, but some easy stuff to carry with you and not bog you down is a small tool set with metric sockets, a ratchet and extensions. Pliers, crescent wrench, hammer, prybar and screw drivers. Tire pressure gauge and tire plug set with small portable compressor for airing tires up. I personally would not recommend someone with no experience or mechanical knowledge take an older vehicle into another country (albeit Mexico with the problems present in the south of California Cartel area of that country) with a language barrier and limited resources, but this is your adventure. Good luck.

 

Yep, that all sounds good. I would add a farm jack from harbor freight. And an oil filter housing socket. I did my oil the other day and was able to get the housing opened up without it, but it certainly would make things a lot easier for the little space it takes up. Also a spool of good wire, duct tape and zip ties. If you don't have a good multi-tool, get one. I recommend the Leatherman Wave and tool kit with extension. Extremely handy tool that is very versatile. Good luck! Any updates?
And now I just noticed how old this thread is......

 

I've had a hi lift/farm jack. I've switched back to using the bottle jack with an extender. Safer and it works perfectly fine for changing a tire. Doesn't take up any extra space. As far as tools:

Full set sockets and open end/ratcheting wrenches (1/2, 3/8 and 1/4") with extensions.
Cheater bar!
Very good oil filter wrench
If you're able, carry an impact gun.
Screw drivers and the tool to pull off/remove the plastic grommet push pins, or whatever they're called.
Portable compressor
Work gloves/duct tape and zip ties.
Electrical wire, connectors, and diagonals/wire stripper and electrical tape
portable jumper battery AND cables.
I also carry leather work gloves and welding sticks. Just never know.
Whenever I work on Toyotas (just replaced bumper with steel one), if there's extra screws, bolts, etc., I keep in a small pouch. Never know when they'll be handy
I have a hitch in my receiver that has a D ring in case I need to pull someone or be pulled out.
I also carry wood ramps made out of 2x10 lumber. I have two double pieces screwed together and a single piece, all about a foot long, with 45 degree angle cuts so I can use as ramps to level off at camp, stands/lifters for my bottle jack or as chocks, in case I have to work on the truck to keep it from rolling
At least two headlamps. if something happens, there's a good chance it happens at night and you'll need it to work on your truck.

 

Which bottle jack did you go with?

Anybody have recommendation for replacing the stock jack with something better that would still fit in the same location? I see Harbor Freight has a couple really heavy duty bottle jack options but haven't seen them in person. Would they fit?

 

Not much else will fit in the stock jack location. I've been using this for the last few years, won it in a raffle. Only thing it needs is a nice thick piece of wood to prevent it from sinking in soft ground.

$319 "The Sergeant" Off-Road Kit

https://www.amazon.com/The-Sergeant...1594156&mcid=d9af2a5cdd20341c95da0946e270cc89

The other thing I'd consider if you have room is the Harbor Freight off road floor jack. Do not buy a farm jack, there are no lift points on a stock Tundra to use it. They are very dangerous if you don't know how to use them safely, I've seen plenty of people get stitches from the handle slipping out of their hands.

As for hand tools, a decent set of metric sockets. The only sizes you'll need are 10, 12, 14, 17, 19 and 21. Those are the most common sizes. You should be able to get by with a 3/8 set. Add a good breaker bar to the set and a can of PB Blaster for those stubborn bolts. Open ended wrenches with a ratcheting end are also very useful, just don't use the ratcheting end to loosen anything, loosen with the open end then switch to the ratcheting side. The ratcheting ends don't like to be stressed out that much, I've ruined a few 14mm's thinking they could handle it.
A good set of locking pliers, an extending magnet for reaching those nuts or bolts you drop into the abyss, headlamp, small pen light for those tight areas.
Probably the best thing to do is research, find out what the common failures are on your truck and learn how to fix it, carry those spare parts with you. Download "how to" videos from youtube because when something goes wrong you'll be in the middle of nowhere with no cell signal.
The list of things I'd carry for something like this would be quite large. I've travelled the country towing my car trailer competing in rock crawling comps and rec wheeling. I've had mishaps that took 8 hours to fix and things as simple as adding air to a low tire.

 

I still have the OEM one with a bottle jack extender. Typically, when I'm camping, I carry a few pieces of 2x10" "ramps" to use for leveling out my truck at a camp site. So if needed, I could use one or two of those under the bottle jack with the extender. I don't think I would actually need the wood pieces. With the extender, I can reach my frame rails to lift the truck.

 

EDIT: I should have looked at your avatar. Super reliable truck. Camper, make sure you have imporved security to the camper door key system. I believe that as soon as you go away from help, it's best to be able to return to help.
So don't carry a bunch of tools that really just add weight that you don't know how to use. Decent bottle jack, a tire plug
repair kit. Get a ruined tire, and waste 3 - 4 plugs figuring out how it works. I'm a strong advocate of air compressor.
Sitting on the side of the road with a flat spare makes my brain hurt and I've seen it many times.
Leave the maintenance to professionals, not 5 min oil changes places. You are driving alot, so you will have to stop in
a small town or city and find a shop that can service your vehicle. See if they will let you look at the bottom of your truck
when its on the hoist, get them to point out all your grease points so you can see their condition. Keep an eye under
the hood. Daily lift the hood, check the oil, open the rad cap check the fluid level, check the reservoir. Coolant is weird
shit, it expands and contracts and you have to learn where your engine sits with it. Don't panic over a seep leak around
a gasket, but get a experienced eye to voice an opinion.
On this forum I'd bet if you stopped and posted 'I am HERE', can someone recommend a shop I'd bet you would get some
decent answers.
Baseline the truck. oils, engine and diffs and cases should all be changed to new before you start and intervals noted.
Tires new to start, keep an eye on front pattern wear. An alignment should be done the same time new tires installed.
Tire pressure should be monitored, and I should have added that to daily under the hood checks, tires too!
Do this stuff and you will learn as you go. If you see something, take as good a pic as possible.
I've left spare alternators and starters at home in boxes, labelled. That way if someone is home, I can say
'Here's an address, ship that alternator' - no scrambling in some small town in the boonies looking for parts.
Go camp and wait for courier.
That's all I got for now.
@Nick244 next spring when you cross into Canada on the west coast pm me. I live on Vancouver Island, betting it will be part of your journey. I can pass on local intel.

 

I haven't needed any other tools and it's a bit lighter than the bag of scattered tools I was using before.

 

I would highly recommend the tire patch kit/portable compressor. I would also invest in decent tools. Long/short screw drivers, SAE and metric wrenches and sockets (3/8 and 1/2 with several extensions), cheater or breaker bar, some extra wire, wire crimps and extra fuses. I'd also consider replacing the larger hoses off your radiator and save the old ones as spares, along with a small bag of extra hose clamps, duct tape, and a portable battery jumper that will jump an engine larger than the one you have. Consider a small jackery or power source and portable 100w panel. This is in addition to whatever jack you are going to carry.