DIY Roamer/Flatbed Build

[tuckn2s]

So ive finally decided to post a build page for my f550, after being asked quite often for more info and pictures so.. here it goes

Lets start from the beginning... sorta.. Ive had truck campers in the past but ill start with the last one or two, actually even before that, I converted a 8.5x24 car hauler to have living quarters and haul my rock crawler(which is the prime reason for the camping rigs






The trailer worked out great, and also served as storage for the buggy when not being use, which was a huge plus. But I ended up deciding to build a new buggy, a little bit bigger so it would no longer fit

The truck is a 2000 F350 I bought back in 2019? I think, just a 2wd, 7.3 powerstroke, I converted it from a SRW to a DRW and did a 3/5 lowering kit with some 24" wheels




Let's back track a touch further to 2017? 2018? hell I don't remember, but I built this international, it was my first crawler hauler setup, one of the cooler ones, but a touch excessive





This is what it started as..




I used the international for about 2 years, had a couple other setups in the mean time, but im never usually satisfied with anything so sold them all and moved on to the next

Back to the f350.. ended up picking up a lance 480 that was in fairly decent shape in spring 2022, made some interior updates, used it for the year, it served the purpose but yet again, still wasn't totally happy with it



And yes, the lowered truck handled it quite well



Grossed right around 20k, pulled pretty well. I would've like 4.10 gears vs the 3.73 tho, however the truck was far from stock

 

[tuckn2s]

Went on a trip out west and saw a lot of cool overland style camper rigs so I decided I wanted to take it up a notch, the lowered truck wasn't cutting it anymore so come fall 2022 I decided to change the truck up a bit

So the plan was to 4wd swap the truck using 05+ f550 axles and run super singles with mpt81 and then it snowballed into doing air suspension front and rear

Picked up a set of MRAP aluminum wheels from a buddy



painted them black with steelit



Pulled the bed off






picked up a plasma table



started fabing up a rear 4 link setup





front air bags





air tank mounted on passenger frame rail

 

[tuckn2s]

Accuser E level for air management system



Ride height sensors



Carrier bearing drop/relocation bracket





Figured it was time for new battery cable ends also





ended up doing a 08-10 front end conversion as well, had the fenders and hood vinyl wrapped black

 

[tuckn2s]

found a set of running boards on marketplace





boxing the rear of the frame before it was extended



buddy stopped over and I threw him a price and he sold me this 12' flat bed









Centramic wheel balancers

 

[tuckn2s]

Fox steering stabilizer



Exhaust



3 different height settings not he Accuair



Trucks about done at this point,




And now we get to the good stuff, I posted some pictures of the truck on a Facebook and a guy Matt commented, "Boy do I have the camper for you" well I said, ok ill bite, I sent him a message and he shot me over a few pictures,

 

[tuckn2s]

So I said well ********, im interested, little did I know he was only about 1.5 hours from me... so I took a ride out to go see it a few days later, and it was perfect on the outside, and happed to be a perfect fit for the flatbed I just installed, the inside not so much for me. He had 3 young kids, so the inside was setup with bunks which used up a lot of space. no big deal, nothing some time and effort can't fit, so we made a deal,


In short, this was an ambulance body that was heavily modified, many of the exterior doors were welded up, the floor was lowered which gave it a 7' interior height, the cab was added off the front to fit a large bed, all aluminum framed and sheeted with fiberglass









So now a few weeks have gone by since I went and looked at it and took a ride back up there to make sure it fit on the 7.3

He pulled it out with his King ranch F550 6.4



He built a set of fork pockets in the side to load/unload it



Little bit of trimming and it fit like a glove



Exciting day!

 

[tuckn2s]

Made a pit stop on the way home, happened to see my old international





Stopped at the scales on the way homr



OUCH! the camper weighed in around 5500 LBS, a lot heavier then we were both expecting, while the f350 had the axles and suspension to handle it, it was still just a f350 frame, which left me uneasy feeling, we'll circle back to this later


Anyways... got it home. started tearing it apart rather quickly







fixed a leak in the roof, ran some wires for solar



changed some exterior lights to LED



picked up a set of camper jacks, made some quick mounting plates

 

[tuckn2s]

Flush mount electrical plugs





picked up a cheap awning off marketplace for 150





GF did some painting in the bed area





Took it fort a trip up to Killington VT



And at this point I realized I really would prefer a bigger truck considering I was 5000 over the GVWR technically.and it was always in the back of my head over ever bump that the truck would end up like a dodge and the frame would say its had enough, was it likely? maybe not, but did I want to be thousands of miles from home and find out? definitely not

So... truck went up for sale, sold in a few hours, and I delivered it to the new owner in Florida from CT

last photo of the old girl



Before I sold it, I sent Matt a message (he built the camper) and I said hey bud, so I need a bigger truck... you have a bigger truck... see what im getting at? long story short he gave me a price, I haggled it, we made a deal. went to grab it when I got back from florida

So now I own a legit F550, which happened to be setup nearly identical to my f350, super singles, stazwork wheels, 11' flat bed, BUT no air ride, which is ok, that's planned for the future



Details on the new rig, 08 F550 King Ranch, no they never came factory this way, the entire interior was swapped to a king ranch, interior, door panels, seats, headliner, everything, which was awesome

yes its the 6.4, but, its a fresh motor top to bottom, with every update and notorious issue resolved, studded, deleted, new fuel system, rocker, everything,

first things first, mate the 2 back together like they were never even seperated

 

[tuckn2s]

Made some quick snowboard mounts before the next quick trip north



Another trip up to VT









New radio with apple car play






Very Nice how the camper comes off in under 5 minutes to have a truck again

 

[carleton]

Holy cow! That is quite the build, I wish I had the patience to keep all those projects going!

 

[marret]

Yeah, quite the journey. Nice to have the skills amd equipment to make the vision happen. Well done.

 

[ITTOG]

Awesome work. What did you put in the spot the bunks were?

 

[tuckn2s]

Awesome work. What did you put in the spot the bunks were?

Still have more pictures to post. But haven’t got to that part yet. The back wall will be a full closet. Upper side will be doors. Bottom will be 8 drawers. 4 and 4 split down the middle

 

[tuckn2s]

Put in a 6 gallon boat tank rather then the 1 gallon tank that came with the diesel heater, got tired of topping it off daily, now it'll run for days before fill up

There's also an air compressor wired in here that I can fill up the tires with or run an air tool when needed



The fridge was in an odd spot, but I couldn't really do all that much with it since most of the wiring running up to the ceiling is behind these walls.

so I at least moved it to face where the kitchen will be rather then in the door way






Then I decided the 25 gallon water tank was way to small for anything more then a weekend trip.. which meant cutting out a lot of shiz to fit a bigger one..



75 gallons should do the trick..


also cut out the entrance to the bedroom and make it about 10" wider








moved the diesel heater into this location

 

[tuckn2s]

The water tank location is doing double duty, its a bench for eating, a step for us and the dogs to jump up into bed, and

grabbed a few solar panels, 750 watts





New bumper came in





led strip under the awning




And that's about where it sits today, I don't get a lot of time to work on it, so plug a way here and there when time comes up