2012 Frontier Pro4x CC expedition/overland type build

[shultzie]

Group buy was 10% off. Congrats on the new truck, I'm loving mine.



I'll post some stock pics too. I'm looking forward to checking out your build as well. Did you start a thread yet?

I haven't started one yet but I'm still in the planning on what I want for my 5 month camping trip this summer in Colorado then I will go ahead and do one. I have read good reviews about the CVT that's the route I will go if I do a RTT but leaning toward a sleeping platform in the bed. Good luck. I'm sure you will be happy with any of your choices.

 

[projected]

I haven't started one yet but I'm still in the planning on what I want for my 5 month camping trip this summer in Colorado then I will go ahead and do one. I have read good reviews about the CVT that's the route I will go if I do a RTT but leaning toward a sleeping platform in the bed. Good luck. I'm sure you will be happy with any of your choices.

I see that you have a 5ft bed like I do. I used to always sleep in the back of my 6ft bed 04 Taco w/ snugtop, I'm only 5'9" but I'm thinking that the 5ft bed won't work so well. I guess sleeping diagonal is a possibility if alone but I will usually be with my gf.

What are your thoughts about sleeping in the 5ft bed?

Your 5 month trip sounds great, maybe I'll see you in CO this summer....

 

[projected]

As far as tents go, have a look at Cascadia Vehicle Tents (CVT).

CVT is based in Bend, OR and makes its tents there. I can attest to the high quality and great features. I recently got a CVT Mount Shasta (slightly bigger than the Featherlite) and it is awesome. Very heavy duty and durable. Best part is the price! The Mount Bachelor is only $950.

I've read great things about both of those tents as well. Just throwing out another option.

I second the CVT tents are really nice! Also, your lift is. Going to be prefect for what you look like you are doing! I can't wait to see what you do with the truck. The only advise I can offer is be careful of over loading your truck. Not that it can't bear all the weight but that once you load it up its gonna take twice as much skinny pedal to push up and over things. I have seen this all to often in moab and a few other trips.

I would hazard to guess with skids rockers and cap would you be a perfect candidate for hd leaf packs. Might as well just do it once.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone, the CVT tents look really nice.

I received the tracking number for the lift yesterday. Looks like I'll have it by Friday so hopefully I can install this weekend.

 

[Mo4130]

God speed!!!

 

[shultzie]

I see that you have a 5ft bed like I do. I used to always sleep in the back of my 6ft bed 04 Taco w/ snugtop, I'm only 5'9" but I'm thinking that the 5ft bed won't work so well. I guess sleeping diagonal is a possibility if alone but I will usually be with my gf.

What are your thoughts about sleeping in the 5ft bed?

Your 5 month trip sounds great, maybe I'll see you in CO this summer....

Yeah sleeping diagonal was my plan and it will just be myself but don't know how it will work. I need something that I can setup and down quickly. I will be working every day. Plus the Colorado winds can suck at times and don't know how a RTT will work. Have you decided on which tent your going with? Ill be around the Salida area from mid May to October with plenty of homebrew!

 

[justbecause]

@projected do you have any posts about the finch in the back of the frontier? That seems like a good bit of weight for our truck I'd like to talk to someone about their experience before I invest any more time looking at a camper as an option.

 

[projected]

@projected do you have any posts about the finch in the back of the frontier? That seems like a good bit of weight for our truck I'd like to talk to someone about their experience before I invest any more time looking at a camper as an option.

I don't think I have any posts regarding my Finch. I can answer any questions you have if you would like to PM me. With the proper rear suspension setup the Finch worked very well in our Frontier. I was worried about max capacities like many others but there is no such thing as a Tacoma or Frontier with a four wheel camper in the back that is not way over payload and rear axle capacity. The same goes for 98% of 1/2 tons that you see with slide in campers, every Tundra and Titan will be over and only a small percentage of the American 1/2 tons will barely be within the limits and only if they have some sort of high payload package. Not that this makes being overweight alright, but it does show that 1000's are doing it and surviving just fine.

PM me with specifics, our Frontier worked great with the Finch even off road, and that was my priority and when choosing this setup. We did some fairly difficult trails with the Finch installed like Lockhart Basin, Elephant Canyon Loop in Needles (2/3 of the loop, skipped the squeeze due to roof width), and many other known/popular CO trails in the San Juan's and elsewhere. I did bolt the camper to my bed with four 3/8" grade 8 bolts and some brackets that I made, this was scary to do but turned out perfect and provided the piece of mind I needed to take the truck/camper on 1000's of miles of off road. My first experience with turn buckles was not confidence inspiring as they loosened often (tons of washboard and 4wd roads) and if they failed it would be a huge issue.

 

[bob280zx]

I would hazard to guess with skids rockers and cap would you be a perfect candidate for hd leaf packs. Might as well just do it once.

This is good advice.

With the exception of a roof top tent, your truck will equipped similarly to mine. But I do tow a camper so the hitch weight probably approximates that of the tent. I installed a md OME leaf pack and am now in the process of adding the leaf to make an hd.

 

[Mo4130]

This is good advice.

With the exception of a roof top tent, your truck will equipped similarly to mine. But I do tow a camper so the hitch weight probably approximates that of the tent. I installed a md OME leaf pack and am now in the process of adding the leaf to make an hd.

The biggest thing to consider when towing a trailer is ensuring that the raider sits as level as possible. Tounge weight is approximately 10% your towing capacity so for the fronty it’s roughly 600.

Where people get into trouble is they don’t take the time ensure their trailer is level so you can absolutely overload tounge capacity on a 2000lb load if it’s nose heavy vs properly setting up a 5000lb trailer with only 300-400 lb tounge weight.

 

[projected]

This is good advice.

With the exception of a roof top tent, your truck will equipped similarly to mine. But I do tow a camper so the hitch weight probably approximates that of the tent. I installed a md OME leaf pack and am now in the process of adding the leaf to make an hd.

I am not good at posting on forums so many things have changed since this post began. Currently I am Titan swapped with a Titan M205 diff and ARB front locker, as well as regeared to 3.73's. For the rear I started with an OME medium pack for my topper/roof top tent combo. For that combo the medium pack was too soft once loaded with camping gear and water, as mentioned by others the HD pack is the correct starting point. Once I installed my four wheel camper finch I added 2 add a leafs which is the HD with one AAL. This was pretty good for the 1300 lbs in my bed. Now that I sold my Finch I need to remove one AAL as my truck with a topper currently drives like a 1 ton truck in relation to rear spring stiffness. No plans for another RTT.

My lifting started with Nisstec but the Radflos he sold me made so much noise I took them off and Chris really didn't want to hear anything negative about what he sold. Every other coilover/spacer/whatever Chris sold me didn't live up to his promises either. He doesn't seem to know anything other than what he reads on forums. From there I have only bought from PRG and Greg really knows his stuff. Everything Greg told me worked exactly as he described, Chris at Nisstech on the other hand, struggles to repeat what he has read and heard about how things should work, and gets hurt if his regurgitated information does not pan out as promised. Which it never did.