Road trip/ off road expedition across the US

Just bought a 96 2.3 5spd 2wd single cab short bed one owner with 75,000 miles.

I am going to start the build within the next couple weeks, starting to order parts right now lol. I am building it for a road trip / off road expedition across the USA for about 6 months or longer. I will be living in the truck for most of the trip.

To start the build i am building a platform out of wood in the bed over the wheel wells it will be similar to what you have seen before with a pull out center and separate compartments in front and behind the wheel wells the one in front will span across the truck. It already has an aluminum topper on it but i am debating on going with a fiberglass one just have to weigh the pros and cons (input accepted) i know the aluminum one is lighter which is very important to me.
I am going to build a custom set of aluminum tool boxes 4 inches deep 18 inches high and 6 feet long. it is hard to describe but these will be mounted on a hinge along the inside of the bedrail. when parked i will be able to unhook the topper and pick up one side of it hinge the toolbox up and set the top back down on top of it, then do the same on the other side. everything will get clamped down. i will make filler panels for the front and rear. i don't plan on driving the truck in this configuration too much but i think it would be ok up to 45 or so and it will give me plenty of head room when camping in the back.

I am planning on leaving the engine alone maybe a cold air intake other than that just all new belts hoses and a full tune up. i will be pulling the tranny and having a shop swap a 4x4 tail shaft and housing in it. i am planning on running a 1354 tcase.

swapping in an early bronco dana 44 and 9 inch already have them but have to re-gear them 5.13 or 5.38 all new balljoints sealed and bearings using duff coil buckets, radius arms, and high steer kit with early bronco coils. probably running skyjacker leaf springs in the rear for simplicity and reliability. front and rear are already disk brakes but i have no parking brake on the rear and since i will be spending a lot of time in the mountains i think i might have to upgrade.

planning on running 35x12.50r15 general tire grabbers on 10" wide steel wheels.


things i need advice on: exhaust i want it as quiet as possible but flow better than stock, what kind of cat and mufflers are you 2.3 guys running?

I am from florida so i know nothing about rock climbing and don't plan on going down any crazy trails but would like to check out moab and some other places along the way. will the 2.48 to one t-case be low enough?

there is a ton of other stuff i will need advice on but its getting late and my brain is getting foggy i will be posting pictures of the build and trip along the way, who knows maybe i will be able to do some wheeling with some of y'all.

This is awesome. Are you confident that engine will give you the power to pull all that weight over the Rockies? Especially with the bigger tires? Just asking because I'm curious myself. I'm subscribing to this, and am very much looking forward to hearing about this build! I have the 3.0...I'm not crazy about the ~150 horsepower and gearing.


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The engine is no power house thats for sure... but it does ok when you get the rpm's up.i hope to keep the load down around 750 lbs... I'm sure I will be over that by the time I'm done packing but i will sort out what i don't use along the way. i don't plan on using the highways very much going to stick to the off road routes like the trans american trail and others so i won't be in any hurry and i think ill have enough gear reduction even with the stock case to get up anything that comes along except for some extreme rock climbing trails.