RAM5500 CAMPERTHING
OG Portal Member #183
#waitingforphotoshoot
2019 F350 6.2L 4WD build thread; HPI flatbed, ATO AterraXL composite camper, Carli/King, 37s, 4.88s, etc
- Thread starter mk216v
- Start date
#waitingforphotoshoot
mog
Kodiak Buckaroo
You would think the guy that has serial number 001 would have a bunch of supermodels on speed-dial ready at a moment's notice.
RAM5500 CAMPERTHING
OG Portal Member #183
mk216v
Der Chef der Fahrzeuge
LOL, you guys crack me up. You know me and Sprinter vans.
Sorry for the delay for posting a few beginner pics, life has been more than complicated lately. Here we go;
Thx for the nice words on the OEM-level fit. Worked hard on that with ATO and HPI, and HPI knocked it out of the park. I'm also now appreciating HPI's edge (seen in last pic) off the sides of the flatbed deck, as this can be used to mount entry stairs (still working on those), widgets, a cold drink at camp, etc.
I'll get some interior pics when I can. First impressions are hugely positive. I'm persnickety for detail and looking behind the scenes I see high quality USA craftmanship. Pride in workmanship is very evident, they thought about so many more details even as my camper was being built; like how now all Aterra's come with a king bed, the extra cushions stored up on the bed are velcroed together so they don't fly off the bed mid-flight, and those cushions can now make for turning the dinette into a lounge area and/or a single bed for 1 thinner person. So nice to be 6' and stand wherever you want without bending over and ducking. Lighter/brighter than expected, the TernOverland windows are a treat. 65deg here the other day, I had the 2 clerestory windows in vent position along with the big rear dinette window, blackout shades drawn on the other 2 dinette windows. In the late afternoon with the truck cab locked up, it was stuffy in there, yet the camper was cool as a cucumber; ahhhhh! I think we're going to have more storage than we need, but we'll see. Original plan was a custom roof rack ahead of the cabover, for 2 Zarges boxes, maybe storage directly under the cab for my FrontRunner stainless table. But I simply may not need the Zarges and I could figure out another smaller table, so I'd be #posingoverlanderhard by having 2 empty Zarges boxes.
One immediate change needed (nothx Lagun) is that since Lagun offers no extendable table arm(lame; they only have 1 product, with only an optional taller table leg? I wasn't aware until now), the dinette table isn't able to swing to the driver side dinette seat, which would open up the toilet area. Currently to have any sort of room when using the Wrappon toilet (unless you want to ******** with your elbows on the dinette table), we'd need to remove the dinette table from the Lagun mount, put the table on the cabover bed. So, in quick brainstorming, instead of finding a custom extendable table arm (searching the interwebz multiple ways didn't net anything), the easiest solution will be to re-mount the Lagun setup to the driver side of the dinette area. This will orient the table more to the driver dinette seat, freeing up space on the passenger side where the toilet is.
That brings up the awning. I'm with you Kevin, the mounting looks out of place, however I understand why it has to be do. Of course it can't be mounted to the pagoda roof, and it needs to clear the entry door, so options are very limited. I'd prefer a 270deg awning for better coverage, but an awning would have to be mounted so high off the ground (like it is now), that there's no easy way to manually open/unfurl/wrap such a 270deg around the camper...the Fiamma 45S allows the long crank handle (neatly stowed to the right of interior camper entry) to use used. I am concerned about tree limbs wrapping themselves around the awning/fore mount bracket, so I'm going to look at possibly having some sort of deflector shield att'd to the forward bracket and hopefully that would push branches away vs have them tangled up in the awning/mounts.
So, some of the peanut gallery is probably also wondering about my wheel/tire decision (it's currently on 33" Blizzak winters and OEM Ford 18" steelies). Well.....scale weights show that I should be well under 7000lbs RAW, so I feel comfortable moving forward with fitting the 37x12.5R17 Yokohama Geolandar X-AT's on the Method MR703's, based again off of this info from post #137;
"Since I want to focus on 12.5"W for myself due to Carli's recommendation, and the 37x13.5x18 is worst case for me, let's compare these 3 only;
37x12.5x17 D/124;
25____30___35___________40____45___50psi
2150_2470_2755(C/116)_3005_3250_3525(D/124)lbs
37x13.5x18 E/128?;
25____30___35____________40___45____50_____________55___60____65psi
2150_2470_2755(C/116?)_3005_3250_3525(D/124?)_3675_3820_3970(E/128?)lbs
37x12.5x18 E/128;
25____30___35___________40___45____50____________55___60____65psi
2095_2395_2680(C/115)_2915_3150_3415(D/123)_3590_3795_3970(E/128)lbs
IF the 37x13.5x18 data in this link(https://tirepressure.org/flotation-tire-load-inflation-chart) is valid, then both the 37x12.5x17 D/124 and 37x13.5x18 E/128 allow more load than the 37x12.5x18 E/128.
As well, the 37x12.5x17 D/124 and 37x13.5x18 E/128 offer the same load capacity up to 50psi.
ONLY after 50psi does the 37x13.5x18 E/128 offer more than 3525/lbs per tire capacity; 3675lbs at 55psi, 3820lbs at 60psi, and 3970lbs at 65psi.
So if my actual corner weight is ~3000lbs (so I have ~15% buffer room), then either the 37x12.5x17 D/124 and 37x13.5x18 E/128 should work well for my use case."
Here are my current axle weights as seen in the first picture here;
Current 4800lbs FAW**
**note that I didn’t have a passenger nor our 2 dogs in the truck, so this will add ~270lbs = ~5070lbs FAW.
Current 5450lbs RAW*
*note that rear didn’t have 320lbs of water, nor 200lbs of HighwayProducts under-bed boxes, nor ~500-600lbs of gear in boxes and camper and 37” wheels/tires….so rear loaded up would come to ~6470-6570lbs RAW.
= future ~11,700lbs total GVW.
So, let's say 6500lbs RAW vs the 7050lbs spec for the 17" tire. That's only 8% buffer; half of the 15% buffer discussed. Since I already own this 17" wheel/tire set, and I have confidence in Peter's experience, I'm going to run these 17"s for now and see how they do. If I have consistent tire issues, then I'll sell the set and get the Innov8 wheels and hopefully a 37x13.5"Wx18 wouldn't cause clearance issues. But I'm hoping the 17s will treat me right.
In the big push for the magazine shoot (now postponed to October due to others' schedules), I had the Carli susp installed as you know. Well, those shocks are tuned for a general tune. Now that I have the camper on and have my axle weights, the shocks/reservoirs need to come back off, sent to Carli for a re-tune, then re-installed.
As well, I've ordered the upgraded (XXHD; 6500lbs RAW) Carli/Deaver leafs, which are 2-3months out. Since the leaf springs are so easily accessible now, that means I have to wait for HPI to install my 4 underbed Gladiator boxes until after the leafs. Live and learn.
Any questions, feel free to ask.
More pics as we go along...
Last edited:
RAM5500 CAMPERTHING
OG Portal Member #183
Explorerinil
Observer
How do you like he morimoto?
mk216v
Der Chef der Fahrzeuge
Thanks all.
Morimoto XB LED headlights;
--excellent quality (I've been impressed with everything I've purchased from theretrofitsource)
--fantastically bright output and beam pattern on the road with no oncoming drivers flashing me (the factory halogens are poor output)
--I'm not the greatest fan of how "jewel'y" the DRL's look when off, but at the time they only had white. Now they have amber and I think I would have preferred that look...which leads me to...
--crappy that now there's no easy way to turn off the DRL's, even with headlight switch to 0, DRL's disabled in the driver display and via Forscan. Via TRS;
But overall, I'd go with the Morimoto's again without hesitation, unless I was ordering a new truck and I'd go with the Tremor LED's.
Camper weight; jury is out yet as I want to get a weight from a second scale before I post data.
Morimoto XB LED headlights;
--excellent quality (I've been impressed with everything I've purchased from theretrofitsource)
--fantastically bright output and beam pattern on the road with no oncoming drivers flashing me (the factory halogens are poor output)
--I'm not the greatest fan of how "jewel'y" the DRL's look when off, but at the time they only had white. Now they have amber and I think I would have preferred that look...which leads me to...
--crappy that now there's no easy way to turn off the DRL's, even with headlight switch to 0, DRL's disabled in the driver display and via Forscan. Via TRS;
So, I'll need to wire in a separate switch.
But overall, I'd go with the Morimoto's again without hesitation, unless I was ordering a new truck and I'd go with the Tremor LED's.
Camper weight; jury is out yet as I want to get a weight from a second scale before I post data.
Last edited:
Explorerinil
Observer
What are the tremor leds? The tremor package does not include led headlights.
mk216v
Der Chef der Fahrzeuge
I swear some other threads were talking about the new Tremor LED's. I've seen them on Tremor's and other new F-SD's(they're the lights with the bright ass lower lights shining in your mirrors when a truck is passing you).
I just did a quick Googles search and it appears it might be Lariat, Black Appearance Package LED's?
RAM5500 CAMPERTHING
OG Portal Member #183
I believe Morimoto makes the halogen/LED conversion harnesses too and that’s what I used on my Tundra to convert from the “poverty pack” halogens to the 2018+ OEM LEDs.
Their harnesses were top notch and totally plug and play.
Maybe if the persnicketyness kicks in you could just swap some OEM LEDs in there?
I found my toyota OEM ones on eBay for considerably less than dealer cost and brand new in box.
eBay is Also where I got the new OEM lights for the truck I’m currently looking at in my driveway mocking me
Their harnesses were top notch and totally plug and play.
Maybe if the persnicketyness kicks in you could just swap some OEM LEDs in there?
I found my toyota OEM ones on eBay for considerably less than dealer cost and brand new in box.
eBay is Also where I got the new OEM lights for the truck I’m currently looking at in my driveway mocking me
mk216v
Der Chef der Fahrzeuge
Ah, good info.
Someone on the Ford forum sent me this link, for any of you other Fordies out there; https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1517743-complete-how-to-halogen-to-led-heads-and-tails.html
No OEM LED's for me. Would require front bumper removal, and probably a few thousand bucks of parts costs. You'll just have to turn and look away when you see my truck, as I know you loathe the jewel LED's.
Your RAM lights are kewl.
Carry on....
Someone on the Ford forum sent me this link, for any of you other Fordies out there; https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1517743-complete-how-to-halogen-to-led-heads-and-tails.html
No OEM LED's for me. Would require front bumper removal, and probably a few thousand bucks of parts costs. You'll just have to turn and look away when you see my truck, as I know you loathe the jewel LED's.
Your RAM lights are kewl.
Carry on....