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7' is plenty long. Better plan some flex into the mounting design. To spring load ubolts, just use junkyard semi truck valve springs. I saw one larger overlander with a couple extra mounts on his bed that were pinned. He removed those pins to go off road. I got a laugh out of some of the...

I doubt mounting matters with that goose truck. The box is only a few feet long! And metal. Be careful with long flatbeds. There's a reason home brewed flat beds cause frame failures exactly between the cab and bed. IIRC, my service body is hard mounted in just two spots forward, and...

Yep. That's what it looked like to me. Ohio plant isn't allowed to have beds.

Kentucky truck plant is boxed frames. 250, 350, 450 civvy models. Real work trucks come from the Sheffield Lake Ohio plant and all have C channel frames. 350, 450, 550, 650, 750. Only from the cab forward is boxed. It's possible that some of their small 350's there, are boxed frames...

Normally I call BS when transmissions fail. But little trucks get worked hard and wear out these things. At least you'll have a taco with a new axle and trans. With vehicles I buy new, I insist that MY transmission gets rebuilt. Don't swap my perfectly functional, but worn out, trans with...

Everything at my local dealer is $4000 below invoice. I'm going to try custom ordering something. XLT and lower is handy, because they don't get the fubar options like adaptive steering and moonroof. Ultimate tow camera package upgrades the dash screen on XLT's to same as Tremor. 4.30's are...

Turns out that a squirrel ate my wiring harness. Not warranty. Dooh! Now I have to trade the truck in, otherwise every elecronic gremlin is going to be blamed on that.

E450+ chassis cabs, aren't evil whale tail Econoline vans. Econolines are toast. That factory makes Super Duty chassis cab trucks now. My Ram has a 10' bed. Nearly all of my cargo is at, or forward of, the rear axle. My 8' F350 was filled wall to wall. So the Ram has far more weight...

There's techniques. It's not getting stuck that's a problem with those. Flip them over and you're completely done for. At least a month to dig a hole by hand to flop them back into, and it's easy to get crushed in the process. There's a giant 30,000#-ish winch under the chassis on many...

Global laws? Nobody seems to mind that Italian cars and motorcycles don't meet noise standards in almost any modern country. Wonder why? Sometimes conforming to everything.......ain't so great a game plan. ''Braap aaaaawwwwwn, awwwwwwwn, awwwwwn.'' I hope the defender is nice though.

Nobody wants to play with me?

A nicely appointed XLT, with the 360 camera tow thingy, which upgrades the dash to Tremor spec, is about $5000 less. That's not bad, I guess. I'm getting hung up on wanting a long bed though. I don't recall breakover angles being important on any recent trips.

Yep. Depending what I find. Trucks on lots, have lame gears, but discounts to make up for it. I'll leave the front diff alone for as long as I can hang onto the stock gear ratios. Finding a 4.30 truck on a lot would be perfect. When a Tremor XLT costs the same as STX diesel.......

Yeah, I'll be doing everything but the gears and locker myself. My BDS dealer can install the lift for nearly free. So cheap that it's not worth my time to do. But I've always felt it's best to wrench as much as possible ourselves, before overlanding anything. We really need to understand...

Yeah. Ford and Dodge kill us an just the little accent pieces that take the trucK up to XLT. It has the ''STX appearance package''. Would have to paint the grill and wheels black. $1000 easy, if I pull them and drop them off myself, loose. A long bed and 11,500# GVWR would open up camper...

The Tremor isn't looking like the greatest deal, as I'm checking pricing. A 7.3l, cc, lb, 3.73, XL is a full $10,000 less than a Tremor XLT. The Powerwagon effect. It might be better to build my own: $3000 front Yukon locker and 4.88 gears. $2500 BDS 4" lift, Fox 2.0's. $2500 37x13.5r18...

I prefer slightly compromised mud tires. For example would rather have Cooper stt's rather than Pitbull Rockers. For the real sticky stuff, claws or chains are required,

Defenders have been going everywhere, and been a staple of overlanding for a while. They ain't got jack for suspension travel and flex.

I drove clear across the state today with exact same load as previous truck. Cummins got only 2mpg better than the Ford 6.2l. Predictable. Fuel economy is a stupid reason to invest in a diesel fullsize unless DRW or bigger. Maybe there's a few guys that need extra range off road, but...

Wait until you get a $12,000 repair bill for one. Diesels suck at that. Heavy. In the case of the Dodge, less room for suspension travel. Noisy. Pull into my campground at night and we'll string you up. Picky with fuel. Bad fuel = bad repair bills. Heavy. Fuel water separator is a pita on...