2020 Ford F250 on 37s - Expedition Truck Camper Build!

[cobro92]

I see the advantage of the custom leafs. Simple, reliable, and will give you all of the support you need. How does it drive unloaded? I imagine with the really stiff springs it would be bouncy as hell, but you’re probably not really driving this thing around unloaded, are you?


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[montypower]

Empty....It drives like an F350. Fairly stiff. But the leaf springs are much thinner so they are somewhat compliant (compared to F350). However, we have other vehicles to drive when not needing the truck. It's fairly rare for us to drive it empty. Either pulling the enclosed trailer or camper or camper and trailer.

Bit expensive rig to drive for grocery trips! And our car is more fun and twice the MPG with 260HP and manual transmission.

 

[cobro92]

Empty....It drives like an F350. Fairly stiff. But the leaf springs are much thinner so they are somewhat compliant (compared to F350). However, we have other vehicles to drive when not needing the truck. It's fairly rare for us to drive it empty. Either pulling the enclosed trailer or camper or camper and trailer.

Bit expensive rig to drive for grocery trips! And our car is more fun and twice the MPG with 260HP and manual transmission.

Agreed! Originally I was going to go with some progressive Thuren springs for my 3500 and add airbags to help with the sag, but ultimately I guess if the plan is to carry a camper with it, why not just build some springs that can carry it. My partner and I also have a second car for around town duties so it makes sense to just build the rig with a purpose instead of trying to make it a jack of all trades. Thanks for your help here.


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[montypower]

In this episode we make our snow storm escape! Overnight we received an additional 4-6” of snow making the route even more challenging. There were plenty of fallen and down trees to remove and some tight squeezes for our big camper to get through.

Thankfully, the dewalt pole saw continued to perform well and helped clear many trees from the path. Driving a tall camper like ours can be a challenge but you can’t beat the comfort of sleeping inside and enjoying the winter wonderland.

What a great adventure! Appreciate everyone who followed along…

 

[mk216v]

HAHA - Yep! That's my advice... At least a winch weight is down low. Shovel #1. So universal and low weight.

I still want to try the Maxxis Razr AT tires. That might be the next set... I like the General ATx but not sure about the sidewalls. Getting back into some snowflake tires would be nice.

So far... it's a tree removal winch! Truck is a great anchor. Although we did pull ourselves out in the snow (previous video) when it was caught up on logs.

Just throwing the tree strap up around a branch. No winchline blanket. Synthetic line doesn't store potential energy like steel cable. And it's light weight. So really not an issue like with steel. I still try to not stand in front of it in case something happened.

Scangauge monitor items: coolant temp, transmission temp, GPH (gallons per hour - fuel consumption), battery voltage

I guess the fancier model Super Duty truck with digital dash... you can use Forscan to modify the display gauges to show numeric readings. That would do the same thing. But our truck has the old school instrument cluster (how I like it).

Still no answer from Maxxis on the 3ply sidewall confirmation. I'll have to call them again and try to get through to technical.
Snowflake rated if possible is nice, or just get real winter tires to be safe.
Ah, synthetic line on your winch, I missed that--good to hear.
I'll add the gauge mod in with other Forscan mods, thx for the heads up!

 

[tacollie]

Did you have any issue mounting the ATS stabilizer? Fox says you need a custom mount on leveled trucks.

 

[montypower]

Did you have any issue mounting the ATS stabilizer? Fox says you need a custom mount on leveled trucks.

No issues mounting. I'm still running the stabilizer. I've been talking with Fox since September. They have been looking into building a 1-1.5" drop mount for the frame side. You need to make sure the mounting angle on the drag link allows for full steering and suspension motion without binding. Simple rotation adjustment on drag link clamp for the stabilizer.

the stabilizer has a bit too much angle which reduces the effectiveness of the stabilizer. We have adjuster set ~ 12 and it is very noticeable (even with the less ideal angle). I was going to build a custom mount but might wait for Fox to release something. It is sweet to have a stabilizer that functions similar to 2. And it is located up high vs the low axle mount units.

We don't have room for axle mount tie rod style stabilizer with the hydro ram.

 

[Superduty]

Is the stabilizer still necessary with the hydro ram? What are the benefits? Are there any drawbacks?

some people say the road manners get a little weird with a hydro ram installed for street use? Any thoughts or comments on that?

Was this an off-the-shelf hydro ram or did PSC make something special for this application?

Do you have a video detailing the custom mount for the hydro ram?

Thank you again for detailing all this information on this thread and on your YouTube, it's very helpful.

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[tacollie]

No issues mounting. I'm still running the stabilizer. I've been talking with Fox since September. They have been looking into building a 1-1.5" drop mount for the frame side. You need to make sure the mounting angle on the drag link allows for full steering and suspension motion without binding. Simple rotation adjustment on drag link clamp for the stabilizer.

the stabilizer has a bit too much angle which reduces the effectiveness of the stabilizer. We have adjuster set ~ 12 and it is very noticeable (even with the less ideal angle). I was going to build a custom mount but might wait for Fox to release something. It is sweet to have a stabilizer that functions similar to 2. And it is located up high vs the low axle mount units.

We don't have room for axle mount tie rod style stabilizer with the hydro ram.

Thanks for the feedback. My ATS is sitting at my buddies shop. I'm not going to install it until my Fox DSCs show up from Accutune which will be at least 6 weeks if not longer. That gives me a little bit of time to overthink it?

 

[montypower]

No, the steering stabilizer isn't necessary with hydo. We already had purchased the stabilizer and really liked the steering feel it offers. Without it, the steering ram gives the steering a rather light feel and somewhat numb on center feel. Guess it would be personal preference.

You notice it slightly slows the steering. So not ideal for autocross racing. But I think it doesn't hinder normal truck type driving. Even hitting "roundabout" overspeed hasn't been an issue.

Using standard PSC setup. Only custom part was the axle mount. This actually took some time to the mounting location worked out. So it has clearance and range in the full suspension and turning range from bump stop to full droop. We pulled the front shocks and springs to verify.

I don't have a video on the hydro ram install. I can get some pictures to help...

 

[montypower]

Here's some pictures of the hydro ram mount. You'll want to fully cycle the suspension and steering to get the tie rod camp angle correct. While it appears to have plenty of clearance... at full compression clearance is really tight!

 

[montypower]

Did you have any issue mounting the ATS stabilizer? Fox says you need a custom mount on leveled trucks.

Just got an update from FOX. They are in process with designing/building a drop mount. No ETA on it. Will wait and see what they come up with.

 

[Ninelitetrip]

How was Quartzsite?

 

[montypower]

How was Quartzsite?

Rather windy and overrun with RVs. Not our type of destination! It was fun hanging out with the other campers tho.

 

[Superduty]

Shock Mount Chop Mod:

For those interested in more rear axle clearance. Here's some close up pictures of what chopped factory shock mounts look like with replacement tabs welded on. Easily gained 2" ground clearance!

Keep in mind you'll need to ensure shock length works (at full compression) and either change shock or lower bump stop.

Are the shock tabs 3/16 thick? Is the hole in the tab metric or SAE? Same as OEM hole or do the Fox shocks use an SAE bolt?