Allysonoverland
Active member
Hi friends! It’s been a while. I see some of you have already found the news through other channels - but I finally have my camper! 😍🥳 A lot has happened to get here - and I am way behind on this thread, so I will do my best to catch you up.
First, let’s talk about my new flatbed - which is from Summit Expedition Trucks.
After selling my house and packing up a 6x12 U-Haul trailer, I drove 2,400 miles from Tulsa, OK > Salt Lake City, UT to drop everything I owned in a storage unit > on to Newbrook, Alberta, Canada to get my flatbed!
I decided to make the drive to pick it up simply because of the ongoing tariff situation. When I asked about tariffs, SET had told me IF I had any issues at the border, they’d split the cost with me (spoiler alert: I didn’t have to pay any tariffs😃)
Plus, Ralf at SET is probably one of the most personable people I’ve ever worked with. After originally having planned to get my bed from a different company - and things getting off schedule due to said Tariffs - SET came to the rescue!
Their lead times were only a few months out, they were willing to do a headache rack delete for me - and they came in a few thousand $$ less than my original plan. Over all, I will say that my experience with SET has been overwhelmingly positive.
While they had my truck, I felt like they went above and beyond:
Here’s some pics of the bed install process -
Before:
During:
After:
This flat bed is the biggest bed SET had ever made to date, measuring at 92” W and 108” L. I would estimate it weighs close to 950 lbs..
___
Now, you may be wondering how the bed is mounted..
In a previous post, I had mentioned that I’d determined my frame on my pickup was stiffer than a cab chassis, and that since I was only doing a 9 ft bed, I wasn’t going to do any special mounting.
However, after some conversations with Cascadia (where the box is from), it was determined some type of bushing mount system would still be a safer choice to alleviate possible stress off the camper. I am just a Forum / YouTube University student, not expert - so I obliged with the manufacturer's recommendations to protect my new home
This mounting type is not something SET normally does - so I am thankful they were willing to communicate with Cascadia and figure out a solution!
Here’s what the mounting looks like:
As I mentioned, this type of mounting is new for SET. And we did run into a problem within 2 weeks of having the camper loaded on the truck.
Keep in mind as I explain this - the way my camper is designed keeps the bulk of the weight between the axles. More on this later, but in the front 24” of my rig alone I have my AC, hydronic heat, 54 gallons of water (thats 500 lbs alone), pumps, all my plumbing and ducting, half my 26g gray tank, a large fridge and a convection oven. Thats a lot of weight!
So, it is unfortunate that in order to mount the flatbed this way, the front beam mounting points have to be pushed out further (left to right) than the other 3 support beams across the bed.
That means that the heaviest load area in my camper (the front) is also the only place the load is landing interior of the mounting points.
As a visual example --- where yellow is the lever fulcrum. Red is the lever arm. Purple is the load location.
VS everywhere else on the flatbed, the mounting points are closer together and the camper load is directly above the mounting points. There is no lever because the load is directly over the fulcrum:
Ultimately, this design actually resulted in a sag of the front beam within a few days of having the camper loaded. You may have noticed it in my drawing above, but here it is again:
To their credit, SET immediately began fabricating a stronger bracket out of steel for the front portion of my camper, and is paying an installer near me to fix it ASAP. Here is the new steel beam before powder coat:
View attachment steel beam.jpeg
I do feel it is important to share this lesson for anyone trying to replicate this build design, using bushings, etc!
The steel beam with likely add 20 lbs or so.
Other than that unfortunate situation - there are only a couple other minor hiccups with this bed (and thats if i’m being super nit picky) -
Despite the few hiccups along the way, I am so happy with this purchase. I have TONS of storage with this bed, I still have the high tech sensor functionality features of the Platinum trim, and it's definitely a good looking flatbed. I always get a lot of questions about it at the gas station!
Most importantly, I am extremely grateful for the customer service and SET’s determination to make things right. Prompt and easy communication is hard to come by in this industry. And I know for a fact that many manufacturers would not stand by their product in the way SET has. I would 1000% still recommend them to the next person!
First, let’s talk about my new flatbed - which is from Summit Expedition Trucks.
After selling my house and packing up a 6x12 U-Haul trailer, I drove 2,400 miles from Tulsa, OK > Salt Lake City, UT to drop everything I owned in a storage unit > on to Newbrook, Alberta, Canada to get my flatbed!
I decided to make the drive to pick it up simply because of the ongoing tariff situation. When I asked about tariffs, SET had told me IF I had any issues at the border, they’d split the cost with me (spoiler alert: I didn’t have to pay any tariffs😃)
Plus, Ralf at SET is probably one of the most personable people I’ve ever worked with. After originally having planned to get my bed from a different company - and things getting off schedule due to said Tariffs - SET came to the rescue!
Their lead times were only a few months out, they were willing to do a headache rack delete for me - and they came in a few thousand $$ less than my original plan. Over all, I will say that my experience with SET has been overwhelmingly positive.
While they had my truck, I felt like they went above and beyond:
- They gave me (and my dog) a loaner car so I wouldn’t be without transport while they had my truck for 4 days.
- Topped off my oil (I had a leak at the time)
- Added DEF
- Topped off my fuel
- Sent updated pictures / videos everyday and communicated throughout
- Always answered the phone / texted me back in a timely manner before, during and after the sale.
- Gave me a completion date, an install timeline, and delivered on it exactly as they promised
- Notified me that I had some rear airbags from the previous owner that I didn’t even know about - (they took the compressor though) - so aired those up for me too. Good surprise!
Here’s some pics of the bed install process -
Before:
During:
After:
This flat bed is the biggest bed SET had ever made to date, measuring at 92” W and 108” L. I would estimate it weighs close to 950 lbs..
___
Now, you may be wondering how the bed is mounted..
In a previous post, I had mentioned that I’d determined my frame on my pickup was stiffer than a cab chassis, and that since I was only doing a 9 ft bed, I wasn’t going to do any special mounting.
However, after some conversations with Cascadia (where the box is from), it was determined some type of bushing mount system would still be a safer choice to alleviate possible stress off the camper. I am just a Forum / YouTube University student, not expert - so I obliged with the manufacturer's recommendations to protect my new home
This mounting type is not something SET normally does - so I am thankful they were willing to communicate with Cascadia and figure out a solution!
Here’s what the mounting looks like:
As I mentioned, this type of mounting is new for SET. And we did run into a problem within 2 weeks of having the camper loaded on the truck.
Keep in mind as I explain this - the way my camper is designed keeps the bulk of the weight between the axles. More on this later, but in the front 24” of my rig alone I have my AC, hydronic heat, 54 gallons of water (thats 500 lbs alone), pumps, all my plumbing and ducting, half my 26g gray tank, a large fridge and a convection oven. Thats a lot of weight!
So, it is unfortunate that in order to mount the flatbed this way, the front beam mounting points have to be pushed out further (left to right) than the other 3 support beams across the bed.
That means that the heaviest load area in my camper (the front) is also the only place the load is landing interior of the mounting points.
As a visual example --- where yellow is the lever fulcrum. Red is the lever arm. Purple is the load location.
VS everywhere else on the flatbed, the mounting points are closer together and the camper load is directly above the mounting points. There is no lever because the load is directly over the fulcrum:
Ultimately, this design actually resulted in a sag of the front beam within a few days of having the camper loaded. You may have noticed it in my drawing above, but here it is again:
To their credit, SET immediately began fabricating a stronger bracket out of steel for the front portion of my camper, and is paying an installer near me to fix it ASAP. Here is the new steel beam before powder coat:
View attachment steel beam.jpeg
I do feel it is important to share this lesson for anyone trying to replicate this build design, using bushings, etc!
The steel beam with likely add 20 lbs or so.
Other than that unfortunate situation - there are only a couple other minor hiccups with this bed (and thats if i’m being super nit picky) -
- Blind spot assist is a bit more sensitive now. Sometimes the light indicators on my mirrors go off on the highway with no one next to me. I am assuming it’s picking up street signs or fence posts but am unsure. I never rely on those anyways, so this doesn’t bother me much.
- Occasionally, the reverse parking aids show as unavailable when backing up. I’d say this happens about 5% of the time, Most of the time everything is fine. When I mentioned it to SET, they kindly offered to order me a new wiring harness to see if it fixes the issue. However, I declined. If it really starts to bother me down the road, I will buy one myself.
- Because I asked for the head ache rack delete, there was hardly any space for my DEF and Diesel fill ports between the cab and camper. This is why most companies do not even offer head ache rack deletes. SET worked their magic to make this fit for me, but it didn’t come without a bit of a compromise. if I want to fill my DEF with a pump instead of a jug - I have to use this funnel. Pump won’t fit in there - space is too tight. Definitely worth the sacrifice to me.
Despite the few hiccups along the way, I am so happy with this purchase. I have TONS of storage with this bed, I still have the high tech sensor functionality features of the Platinum trim, and it's definitely a good looking flatbed. I always get a lot of questions about it at the gas station!
Most importantly, I am extremely grateful for the customer service and SET’s determination to make things right. Prompt and easy communication is hard to come by in this industry. And I know for a fact that many manufacturers would not stand by their product in the way SET has. I would 1000% still recommend them to the next person!
Last edited:
