2020 Ram 5500 DIY Composite Panel Camper Build Thread

[mk216v]

Magical Things can happen when people ignore the regurgitated out of date tech via Instagram and the Overland Marketing Machine and go into every aspect of their build with an open mind thinking what’s the best way to do X, Y, and or Z ?

Wait until you see the next trick I have up my sleeve sir ?

#shavedtiresdontmatter

Speaking of which, I do have a vintage OverlandMarketingMachine, the PSP100, serial #183, for sale if anyone is interested. I'll throw in a free OverlandBound patch with purchase! LMAOOOOO

#dogpizzaovensrule

Back to your MegaRad build....

 

[WanderingBison]

Thanks.

Yeah, will document for sure. The way my friend did it on his boat was slick, just like a computer network cabinet. I’ll try to snap a pic next time I’m over there.

will take up a similar “footprint” as my single 300ah since I can stack these.

Looking forward to seeing you put this battery set together.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[wfv56]

That battery could be a straight up game changer! Thanks

 

[ITTOG]

Has anyone tried boat engine bay heaters? They come on at 40 and turn off around 50, around those temps. I have the one below on my boat and have never had any issues with my engine or the three batteries in there.

 

[LJinLA]

Thanks for the kind words.

The white material in between is HDPE.

All the other stuff is detailed in my videos (maybe you missed it? lol).

As for being pleased with the design, attachment method, and what i would do different:

• Rear bumper should NOT be one piece with the subframe (i place blame on the builder for this, as i brought it up several times). It functionally works fine and is safe, but they should not be one piece.
• Camper attachment is great, and functions as it should
• Going back in time, i would of paid more attention to builders design and where he was putting all of the cross supports on the subframe. This has made things quite a pain in the ass routing the furnace, gray water exit, etc... I am very limited on space under there. (I take majority of the blame on this flaw).

Other than that, so far, quite happy with all aspects of it

Thanks for the HDPE clarification. Well, nowhere in this thread and your videos is any mention made of anything having been placed between the bottom of the camper and the subframe - so I take your answer to mean "no." I thought of asking, though, just in case something was put in there without being detailed...
I completely agree with you: rear bumper should NOT be one piece with the subframe - it should be properly attached to the the truck's frame instead. If someone hits your rear bumper as it currently is, or force is otherwise applied to it, the resultant stress will be on the subframe and its attachment points to the truck's frame, and it definitely should not be so.
Thanks so much for your feedback and, by the way, I believe the two EG4 batteries for 800AH are a marvelous addition to the build.
Please keep on going and updating this thread - it's all very much appreciated!

 

[LJinLA]

....SNIP

• Camper attachment is great, and functions as it should

....SNIP

Oh, one more detail to ask about... What type of bolts did you use for attaching the camper to the subframe and what kind of extra support did you provide to the attachment points inside the camper (large washers, a thickening of the floor in those areas, etc.)? Do you have any pictures of the attachment points inside the camper that you would like to share here? I am very glad for you that everything works as it should, and that is why I'd like to learn more about these specific details that made this endeavor a successful one.

 

[motorman]

800 AH at that price point and quality is a game changer indeed
very interested to see what happens to the battery SOC w/ your loads
will consider integrating these into my design as im about to begin the purchase of all things electrical

 

[RAM5500 CAMPERTHING]

Thanks for the HDPE clarification. Well, nowhere in this thread and your videos is any mention made of anything having been placed between the bottom of the camper and the subframe - so I take your answer to mean "no." I thought of asking, though, just in case something was put in there without being detailed...
I completely agree with you: rear bumper should NOT be one piece with the subframe - it should be properly attached to the the truck's frame instead. If someone hits your rear bumper as it currently is, or force is otherwise applied to it, the resultant stress will be on the subframe and its attachment points to the truck's frame, and it definitely should not be so.
Thanks so much for your feedback and, by the way, I believe the two EG4 batteries for 800AH are a marvelous addition to the build.
Please keep on going and updating this thread - it's all very much appreciated!

Well, the Bumper is 100% safely attached to the trucks frame and will withstand a pretty massive impact. But the fact its not removable makes installing the rear winch 10x harder, and the real fuel pump inaccessible.

The camper to subframe mount is 100% covered. Basically 6" aluminum disks about 1/2" thick to get everything to flush up evenly since subframe builder didnt take the extrusion thickness into account.

 

[RAM5500 CAMPERTHING]

Oh, one more detail to ask about... What type of bolts did you use for attaching the camper to the subframe and what kind of extra support did you provide to the attachment points inside the camper (large washers, a thickening of the floor in those areas, etc.)? Do you have any pictures of the attachment points inside the camper that you would like to share here? I am very glad for you that everything works as it should, and that is why I'd like to learn more about these specific details that made this endeavor a successful one.

Grade 8 of course. Underside of floor has steel slats in the assembly and i drilled and tapped them to mount the camper. This is 100% covered in the videos, and on Total Composites website, so i'm not going to keep going over this!

 

[RAM5500 CAMPERTHING]

800 AH at that price point and quality is a game changer indeed
very interested to see what happens to the battery SOC w/ your loads
will consider integrating these into my design as im about to begin the purchase of all things electrical

Thanks. As of now with 300ah i have only drawn it below 50% a handful of times, but i am mindful of my usage.

This will now be close to triple the capacity, so i dont think i'll ever get under 50% again. But will have it if i need to

 

[motorman]

Thanks. As of now with 300ah i have only drawn it below 50% a handful of times, but i am mindful of my usage.

This will now be close to triple the capacity, so i dont think i'll ever get under 50% again. But will have it if i need to

exactly and with the SOC remaining very high you will extend the life cycle of the batteries
they will probably age out before wear out

 

[LJinLA]

@RAM5500 CAMPERTHING

Thanks for your clarifications!

 

[mk216v]

Well, the Bumper is 100% safely attached to the trucks frame and will withstand a pretty massive impact. But the fact its not removable makes installing the rear winch 10x harder, and the real fuel pump inaccessible.

Wait, what?!? Back up homie(no pun intended, but that was slick)....A rear winch? PUHLEASSE! This is about as silly as shaving a new tire to fit it in the spare tire well.

 

[RAM5500 CAMPERTHING]

Has anyone tried boat engine bay heaters? They come on at 40 and turn off around 50, around those temps. I have the one below on my boat and have never had any issues with my engine or the three batteries in there.

No, but thats pretty dang cool.

But those duties will be handled by my Espar

 

[RAM5500 CAMPERTHING]

Wait, what?!? Back up homie(no pun intended, but that was slick)....A rear winch? PUHLEASSE! This is about as silly as shaving a new tire to fit it in the spare tire well.

Well...

Again, shut off your Overland Marketing Machine sir...

When traveling solo (which most of mine is) if you get stuck, chances are awfully dang high you dont want to continue forward. So a front winch would just be a cool bumper decoration at that point.

In my 20 years of off road shenanigans, i have ONLY used my front winch to extract others, almost always backwards. The handful of times i did get stuck and needed extraction, i also had to go backwards.

I almost look at a rear winch as more important than a front for my needs (dont ask why i didnt do that first, hahahaha).

I primarily see the front winch as a tool to extract others, falling trees on the trail, etc... But rear winch is for extracting myself, so i can get to the Taco shop.

A rear winch would be nice on your truck, but unfortunately, you'll have a bunch of cut down melted rubber down there instead [inset kissy face]

Maybe the snow legend @java will chime in about times hes had to extract from snow, i am guessing he went backwards.