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My advice is to look around for a truck and camper combo for sale that has already been shaken down by the owner. I see these locally all the time. The only woe is to cast your net very wide and be patient. This cuts out a lot of 'build' time where you must go through the dredded period of...

Old School, We need more perimeters on how far off road you are going to get; how much clearance you need and number of passengers. Overlanding has a lot of romantic connotations but none that pertain to everyone. My idea of Overlanding, and I don't even like the term, is long term, self...

Henderson, after reviewing your informative vid on traction aids for cross axle conditions, I would add some fringy items to your fine piece. *One is the softness and articulation (aka; range of motion) of your springs whether leaf or coil. *Another is the weight or lack of in each situation...

BC, not only does the Lance 650 not fit your long bed, it will ONLY fit a 5.5 foot or shorter bed truck. This model had everything I wanted as a replacement for my 165-S. I emailed the factory hot line and the answer was no, it won't fit on my 6.5 foot bed. It all has to do with the position of...

Livin, Alex made a 3-month tour of N. America a couple years ago and posted a kind of 'on-the-road' diary of his travels. He has made separate trips to AK with trip reports. Maybe he will post a link to his page. Our rig and Jeanie in AK after 200 miles of gravel road in 2003: I put mud flaps...

Livindadream, Nice synopsis of your operating mode with the 815. We all have to find out what works for us and others' real world experience has a lot to do with it. Alex (c.traveler2) is no newcomer to XTC-ing. That's Extreme Truck Camper. He has done a lot of innovative engineering on his Ford...

Todd, it depends on the vehicle weight and wheelbase. On short, light rigs, of which i've had many, a full Detroit has a large learning curve on ice and snow: when engaged and under load it tries to oversteer in a curve causing handling problems. When letting up on the stupid pedal, it goes into...

I've had a lot of traction aids on 13-4WD rigs over time from a handful of Trac Locs (aka: trash loc) with some messaged; to lunch box lockers; to full Detroit Lockers; to Power Loks (cone shaped clutches under a hefty preload); to full ARB air lockers; to manual cog locker; to modern Jeep...

My recommendation, and since I have one, is the same footprint Lance that Alex is talking about. Wait! I just noticed you have a long bed (8 foot) so that lets out what Alex and I both run with short beds. These are the least tall; narrowest; lightest full service hardside campers that can go on...

Dave, i hear you. I bought these aftermarket D rings at a heavy truck equipment place and the salesperson assured me that with a competent weld job, even though it's a butt weld was certainly stronger than my Warn winch bumper's attachment strategy. In other words, the winch attachment will fail...

You have more tilt available than you think, especially with all the heaviness near the bottom; a pop up; heavy drivetrain. I've been to the edge, and sometimes over the edge: Sometimes the lean was too far causing this: 20 years ago I dislocated my shoulder here on the Little Sluice...

Low Sky, I'll have to agree about the shackle "Look" so infectious with overlanders. Fortunately, nothing i do with my truck camper set up is for the "look". In my time as a hard core rock crawler I cannot count the number of times we tried to recover someone who had no recovery points at all...

Some further musings on frame flex. 17 years ago I bought a new Dodge extra cab short bed (139 inch wheelbase, 6-1/2 foot bed) 2500 4WD Cummins H.O. 6 speed manual because it checked all my engine and drivetrain boxes and would fit down the descending corkscrew driveway to the subterranean...

I'm with Metcalf on this. I've used a lot of D rings, I mean shackles of all sizes over the decades and never had a problem. The cement mixer, 26K pound rated D rings welded to the front of my winch carrier are way over kill compared to the rather weak Warn winch carrier attachment hardware to...

Good idea. Grey is an even better urban camo. It disappears after sundown. jefe

I like everything about this rig, especially the traveling mode with nothing hanging outside the van. This is a good candidate for layovering on long trips. This is what we look like when pulling over for the night between two big white simis in an industrial zone. White is like urban camo. jefe

Good and unusual traveling van story and pix. We live in Nevada City and have done the Hwy 50 to CO trip quite a few times, laying over just off 50 or 70, but never in the depths of winter. Do you have a porta potty? Does the rig have sufficient insulation for 0-f degrees? How does the Espar do...

My take is you need more floatation, not sand ladders. Sand ladders are just 'make work' and the 'in' look for overlanders that follow the UK paradigm, and a security blanket for folks that don't have a lot of experience driving on sand. I've never needed sand ladders and keep lowering the...

That's sad to hear. At least, over time the G-56 will be harder to steal. I'm still liking my NV-5600, although they are a real anachronism now. 18 years and 176K miles and it's still hanging in there. What's the secret to its success? Cast iron, baby. No deflection here. 360 pounds dripping...

If you have the cab clearance, a 3/8 inch thick, sticky, fluted rubber bed mat is enough. The thick ones above will allow compression and expansion, rocking of the TC body, side to side on curves or undulating road surfaces and possibly in the arc of hitting your cab. Also, to contain the beast...