By Ourselves, For Ourselves: Part 6

SHTF Vehicles

My apologies for taking so long to get this up and out. If you are new to the series or need a refresher, you should go here and read up.

In the previous set of posts we have covered getting your home ready for public unrest either due to a natural disaster or a terrorist type attack. We assumed that things weren’t too bad; power grid down, hospitals not functioning, no water or gas for your home or car and maybe some roving gangs of thugs. Basically, you can probably just hunker down for a couple weeks, covering your home base and providing for your family until things improve.

Now I’m switching it up on you.

This essay will take into consideration the possibility that something so bad has happened that you need to leave your home base (i.e.: flooding, a dirty bomb, etc.) and you need transportation to get to your back up location. You do have a back up location, right? Never mind, we’ll get into those in the next essay.

This is such a vast topic, with many opinions of how to do it right that I couldn’t cover this one all by myself and had to call for backup. Rivrdog has lent a hand with this subject at his preparedness site, Paratus. After you’re done here, I suggest you take a little trip and go read his essay. He and I may have minor, almost cosmetic, differences of opinion with this topic, but all in all I think we see eye to eye.

I have a back up location that is quite rural. In fact, you should probably have a capable 4×4 to get to it. So I will be taking the position of four-wheel drive being a necessity for a SHTF vehicle.

My quals for a capable 4WD SHTF vehicle are as follows:

1. Reliability

This is the vehicle that will be saving the collective asses of you and your family. You will want something common and easy to find parts for/fix. If you aren’t that mechanically inclined, ask around. While there are plenty of opinions, there are real and actual facts about reliability and the numbers of available engines. General Motors still produces close to 800 350cid engines a week which means that not only is there still a demand for those motors, it also means that parts will be easier to find.

You should also look for a vehicle with fewer electronic pieces. Fuel injection, anti-lock brakes and even electronic ignition are nice to have for everyday use, but if you’re going to be without repair facilities and whatnot for a month or so, having a reliable carburetor and a standard braking system would be one less thing to worry about and fewer parts you will have to bring with you , so you may want to start in the early to mid-80’s and work your way backward to find a suitable vehicle

Yes, I did say parts you brought along. Spare belts, hoses, clamps are essential. You may also think about buying parts like alternators and water pumps, items that are cheap and easy to find when things are quiet and just stow them in the box you have your MacGuyver tool kit in. KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) is the motto for reliability. Try to make it so that you could fix whatever with a screwdriver, a paperclip and a pair of panty hose if necessary.

One other item that I find essential in a SHTF vehicle is a manual transmission. Not only will it probably save you on gas, but if your starter decides to die, you can compression start the vehicle. Also, if the clutch goes out, you can always power shift to keep your forward progress going until repairs can be made.

2. Cargo capacity

You are leaving your home base and are taking everything you have stored and then some with you and heading for wherever. You want a large cargo area for all that stuff, plus the extra fuel and water. Also think about how many people you are taking with you. While they don’t need to sit on an actual seat, they will need to stow themselves somewhere.

Now, this cargo space should also be fully enclosed. An open truck bed will work, but you will need to keep things inside the vehicle and dry. A net or tarp works OK, a canopy works better, but an enclosed vehicle like an SUV or van would probably work best.

Think about what you have, what you want to take with you and calculate how much space you’ll need after making your decision.

3. Miserly fuel usage

Your supply of pushwater will be little to none very shortly after whatever has happened that is causing you to leave your home is done. In fact, by the time you load your vehicle, you will probably have passed the window for refueling. You want to use as little of it at a time as you can so as to extend your range. You could fabricate a new, larger fuel tank for your vehicle previous to the SHTF, but that can get quite expensive. You could also bring portable cans/jugs of gas with you, but you will need to store that somewhere in the meantime. You know your storage options, do what you think is best.

Whatever you do, you want as many miles per gallon as possible from you vehicle. Gas or diesel are your choices for fuel and you should think about your local supply when making your decision. If you live in an urban area, you’ll probably need petrol, whereas if you live in the deep burbs or rural areas, your access to diesel may be better.

Now that we have our qualifiers down, we can now go looking for our vehicle.

Nearly any reliable cargo carrying vehicle can serve this purpose; anything from a mini-van or your everyday compact truck to a Maxivan or an old school suburban. But I am anal retentive as hell when it comes to things on wheels and don’t mind owning multiple specific purpose vehicles instead of one or two half assed multi-purpose ones. You may have different circumstances, so just take this as a primer for selection.

Once you have done your math about the amount of cargo you plan on carrying, you can decide what size vehicle you need. You can then factor in your reliability and fuel consumption ideals to come up with what you need to buy if you already haven’t.

As I have said, I am personally working off the premise that 4WD is a necessity. You may have different thoughts on the subject. If your SHTF backup location is a favorite campground or the home of a friend or relative, you might not need off road capabilities.

My current SHTF vehicle is my late model F150 4×2. It has made it into my SHTF location, but I wouldn’t want to try it more than once or twice more. Since the thing is nearly paid off, the Analog Wife has decided that I should get a vehicle to commute to work in so as to keep the miles down on it, and that is what led me to want to write about this topic. Sadly for her, I won’t picking up a compact commuter car.

I’m thinking of a more capable vehicle that can serve a utilitarian peacetime use, and also as my SHTF vehicle in other times. I previously covered this topic in a half-assed manner here

In that report I posted a pic of an early model Toyota 4Runner with the disclaimer “Special Forces guys use Blackhawks, horses and Toyotas to get around in Afghanistan. Enough said.�

Four wheel drive, reliable and easy to fix with bubble gum and aluminum cans, will hold almost as much as a compact truck with the back seat removed and the 4cyl gets 15mpg with carbs.

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Watch for it later this year, early next year.

Additional Stuff:

I’m not throwing the following additional ideas in to confuse you, just to give something more to think about; if you have fabrication skills or know well someone else who does, you can add onto your vehicle’s carrying capacity in various ways.

Hood and roof cargo racks; these are essentially open top steel mesh boxes that mount onto your hood and roof. You can find them for some vehicles, but you may need to have them fabbed up for older vehicles.

Think about the measurements of your SHTF vehicles roof and build a box frame that is 12-18 inches deep to put things that are able to survive getting wet or dirty up there. Same goes for your engine compartment hood, but remember that you’ll have to open the hood at some time for preventive maintenance and/or repairs, so it can’t bee too tall.

Items that you can possibly put in the racks include spare tires, water and fuel containers, camouflage netting, sealed food packages, etc.

In addition to the top of the vehicle, you have the front, back and sides; the front bumper is an oft forgot about area for carrying cargo, but during SHTF situations, things like running lights and license plates can be blocked. Same goes for the back. If you can secure it and still drive safely, latch it on.

The sides are tricky though. You really don’t want to be cutting holes in the sheet metal of your vehicle if you don’t have to, but if you get creative, you can think up a good number of ways to hang stuff. Like a rack that hooks onto the edge of the roof rack and ties down or, even better, latches in some way to the side of the vehicle.

You must remember though, that your vehicle can only carry so much weight safely. You may need to purchase and install overload springs on the vehicle.

Trailers are also an option, but be careful about them. You’ll want one with that has 13 or 14 inch rims at the very minimum and holds at least as much as a mid-size truck bed. But if you are heading to a place that is as rural as my SHTF spot is, they really aren’t that great of an idea.

Frivolous bits:

While I am requiring my 4wd vehicle to be capable, I am not going to build a ‘monster truck’. 35 inch tires may make trails easier to navigate, they generally aren’t a necessity. 31 or 32 inch models will work just fine without having to plug an after market lift kit onto the truck.

Also, once you feel that you have your SHTF vehicle ready, you might decide to go look for a decent scoot-around carriage, also called a ‘scout vehicle’. A scout vehicle will come in especially handy if your SHTF location is somewhat or utterly rural so that you can make exploratory outings to gather things and/or test the waters.

These items should be able to be attached to or towed by the main SHTF vehicle. They include bicycles, motorcycles or four wheeled ATV’s and my personal favorite, the buggy.

The Rangers and SEALs had a custom buggy called a Fast Attack Vehicle (FAV), now called a ‘Desert Patrol Vehicle’, that looked something like this

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While I would love to have that, I think the feds would want to talk to me about it. So since I am allergic to those conversations, I am willing to settle for something like this.

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Or this

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Of course, mine will have a bit more sheet metal, cargo capacity and flat paint color.

Being able to pull off a successful patrol, delaying action or tactical misdirection is always a good thing, but doing so in your main SHTF vehicle is not only dangerous to your mobility, but it means that you will probably have to unload it and reload it. In my opinion, not fun.

A smaller vehicle also means less fuel used while running around. If you do decide to bring along a gas powered light vehicle, it might not be a good idea to make you main vehicle a diesel. It only complicates things further.

Joining the pack:

You may have a neighbor, co-worker or friend or group of people who are likeminded about preparedness and who you wouldn’t mind spending trying times with. If so, put your heads together to see where you can save money, time and cargo space. While not always true, there is generally safety in numbers and having someone whom you can trust to watch your family’s collective backs is a relief.

A group of people with the same goal of survival and recovery is a strong unit.

Anway, that it is for this edition of For Ourselves, By Ourselves. Again, sorry for the long interval between essays, but time has been tight lately.

If you have any suggestions of things I may have forgotten here or elsewhere, feel free to leave them in the comments or email them to me so that I may addend. Same thing goes for suggestions for future topics.

Next time we’ll cover SHTF locations: How bad is it and where do you need to go.

Thanks for reading.