FAQ

The answer is truly something different to everyone. The best and simplest answer is Self Supported Vehicle Based Adventure Travel. It's a simple as that.

A good 4x4 vehicle and a sense of adventure is all you need to get started. It doesn't have to be the biggest, most overbuilt rig out there to get started. Just get out there and start your adventure. When you find the limits of your vehicle or decide what you think you need to adventure farther we can help with that.

That's a loaded question. Some will swear by Toyota or Jeep but depending on how rugged the terrain is you want to tackle you could get by with a 2wd van all the way up through a full sized truck pulling an offroad camper. For us here on the East Coast we tend to stay with the mid-sized SUVs or trucks like the Jeep, 4Runner or Tacoma. These vehicles do have the most aftermarket support which makes it easiest to build your overland rig without having to custom fabricate all of the pieces. We've built many of these and have a good working knowledge of what it takes to make them work out on the trail and around town for your double duty daily driver/trail rig setups.

Give us a call or fill out the contact us form and we'll be happy to start working on a plan. We like to start by talking about your plans for the vehicle and how you'll use it and what your overall budget is. Once we know what your big picture plan is we can help guide you through the process. It may be as simple as a leveling kit and new tires or a full on adventure vehicle with high quality, heavy duty suspension, armor and skid plates, dual batteries, storage drawer systems and a roof top tent. All at once in or in bite sized chunks we're here to get you where you need to be.

We do our best to schedule the your vehicle to be in the shop for the least amount of time possible. For most standard jobs like installing lift kits and tires the work can be completed in one to three days depending on the workflow of the shop and barring any unforeseen issues. If your project is a larger scale custom overland build it could be weeks or even months to get completed. We are a small shop and there are sometimes unforeseen delays from one vehicle to the next that may delay the completion of your vehicle but we will keep you informed of any delays along the way.

We strongly discourage customers from bringing their own parts in for an install. Will we do it? Maybe, maybe not. It depends what the parts are. Some parts aren't up to our quality standards and we won't install them regardless of who provides them. In most cases we will charge a higher labor rate to compensate for the loss of parts sales. We also will not warranty any customer supplied parts. If there's an issue with something other than our installation it will be 100% your responsibility to take care of any warranty issues that may arise. If there's an issue during install of parts we sell we will do everything in our power to fix the problem as soon as possible. If they are customer supplied we will charge for time spent correcting the issue and the job will get set aside until we can fit it back into the schedule at our convenience. Why do we charge higher labor rates on customer supplied parts? Simply put, like any store you purchase goods from, we make part of our income on selling parts. Just like your household, we have bills to pay to keep the business running and part of that money comes from what we earn on parts sales. If that's taken away it's like someone in your household working all week and not getting paid. Eventually you'll run out of money unless that money is replaced.

The important thing to consider here is that we are an installation shop, not a repair shop. For this reason, many older model vehicles have become harder and harder to find after market overland equipment for. Because of this we've focused our efforts on newer vehicles with better support for parts and accessories. Currently Trailtec 4x4 welcomes late model (2005+ with some exceptions) Jeeps, Toyota Trucks & SUV's, Lexus SUV's and mid to full size trucks (Colorado's, F-150's, Ram 1500's etc). All other vehicles, if you are planning to overland, please give us a call so we can discuss the possibilities. We like cool, oddball vehicles as much as the next person but they are generally best suited for DIY builds as there will be very little support from aftermarket companies and most parts will need to be adapted from other vehicles or custom built. Not wanting to have the same 4Runner, Tacoma etc as everyone else is great but chances are you won't have many choices in parts for that rig if there are any at all.