pappawheely
Autonomous4X4
Since I am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel, I decided to start a build thread. I am a design engineer, writer and motorsports photographer. Fed up with cubicle life, I decided to become more of a freelancer and build a vehicle capable of extended off-road travel and boondocking. I want to travel from race to race and have a mobile office with all the comforts of home. As long as I have an internet connection, I can work from almost anywhere. A 1992 F-350 4X4 crewcab became the foundation for my rig. It has a 460 gas motor and 5-speed manual transmission. The truck had only 120K miles on it and was in good overall condition. A bonus was the Warn M10000 winch and classic Warn bumper already mounted.
I have learned plenty during this project so far; my first attempt at living quarters was a Caribou 11k. If I was going to be spending a lot of time off the grid, I wanted to be comfortable. It did not take more than a few miles on the road home from purchasing the camper to figure out I had made a mistake. The over 4K pound camper was making the F-350 groan and creak as I went down the road. I knew it would not work where I was headed; live and learn.
My next purchase was a 1988 4Wheel Camper Keystone. I had been scouring the normal sources for months looking for a fullsize pop-up at a price that was in my budget. I found this one 90 miles away and drove down on a weeknight to purchase it. The Keystone is light and strong at the same time. It can go anywhere the truck can but the downside is it doesn't have an inside shower. One of my criteria is being self contained.
I wanted a durable, lightweight box that was big enough to be comfortable regardless of the weather. After doing tons of research on this site and others, I figured I would have to build my own. Then by chance I saw Uhaul trucks for sale on craigslist. Their box's were exactly the size and construction I was looking for. The '97 F-350's that they came on also had some parts I could use on my truck like the 38 gallon rear tank. The best thing was, I could get the entire truck for next to nothing.
This thread will no doubt wander as I go into detail on the truck and camper build but I promise to share my thought processes, discoveries and failures too.
I have learned plenty during this project so far; my first attempt at living quarters was a Caribou 11k. If I was going to be spending a lot of time off the grid, I wanted to be comfortable. It did not take more than a few miles on the road home from purchasing the camper to figure out I had made a mistake. The over 4K pound camper was making the F-350 groan and creak as I went down the road. I knew it would not work where I was headed; live and learn.
My next purchase was a 1988 4Wheel Camper Keystone. I had been scouring the normal sources for months looking for a fullsize pop-up at a price that was in my budget. I found this one 90 miles away and drove down on a weeknight to purchase it. The Keystone is light and strong at the same time. It can go anywhere the truck can but the downside is it doesn't have an inside shower. One of my criteria is being self contained.
I wanted a durable, lightweight box that was big enough to be comfortable regardless of the weather. After doing tons of research on this site and others, I figured I would have to build my own. Then by chance I saw Uhaul trucks for sale on craigslist. Their box's were exactly the size and construction I was looking for. The '97 F-350's that they came on also had some parts I could use on my truck like the 38 gallon rear tank. The best thing was, I could get the entire truck for next to nothing.
This thread will no doubt wander as I go into detail on the truck and camper build but I promise to share my thought processes, discoveries and failures too.
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