RAM5500 CAMPERTHING
OG Portal Member #183
I am most definitely interested in a set of arms also!!
CORE has been around a LONG time and very well known in the race community.
Another 2020 Ram 5500 Flatbed Camper Build
- Thread starter Brad_UT
- Start date
I am most definitely interested in a set of arms also!!
CORE has been around a LONG time and very well known in the race community.
frodotbaggins88
Active member
I looked into Core4X4 as well, they seem to make some solid products and very wide selection. I'm sure they will be able to get it done. I'm lucky to live 5 mins from a huge steel supplier and I can build 4130 arms for about $50-60 material cost for a set of 4 or mild steel even cheaper. If the arms had any sort of bends or special engineering I'd be waiting for someone else to build them for me but they're literally just straight tubes lol. I also decided to build the front air setup myself as well. I can't justify spending $1500 on the Kelderman just to cut it up and weld new shock brackets onto it to straighten it out.
If @RAM5500 CAMPERTHING knows where to source the 2" taller bags I could easily build a kit for them with the correct geometry. I think using taller bags is a better idea than making taller spacers.
RAM5500 CAMPERTHING
OG Portal Member #183
Ask and you shall receive sir:
I may be interested in a set of your brackets if ya get it all dialed in, if you’d be down to make 2 sets.
frodotbaggins88
Active member
Awesome thanks for the link dude. I am confident I can put together a better kit for this application than the stock height Kelderman kit. No knock against the Kelderman kit, it's just not designed for taller than stock height so not ideal here. I just have to wait for my truck to get here.
RAM5500 CAMPERTHING
OG Portal Member #183
my pleasure, that’s what this forum is for
as for the height, the “kit” would work perfectly fine with +4” or so if running somewhat normal size tires
issue arises when the axle is moved forward an inch and it all gets wonky and there’s no adjustment for it
Brad_UT
Well-known member
More interior stuff:
Footwell LED Lights:
The SLT trim package doesn't come with footwell lights, but it's a simple matter to add them. The wiring harness pigtails are already there under the dash and fully functional. They're taped up out of the way, so you just have to pull them down and connect the light of your choice. You can buy the factory lights which will plug right in and use the mounting points already cut into the dash. Or, you can get some LED strip lights and build your own. I found one I like on Amazon that comes on a roll and you just cut it to length and solder on your leads. It's a chip on board (COB) type of led strip which puts off a nice even light with no bright spots. They can get warm so I attach them to a strip of aluminum which doubles as the mounting plate. (the strips are adhesive backed) A 12" piece draws about 0.25A which shouldn't overload the factory wiring given it is so small. And the best part is they turn on/off and dim just like the dome light and overhead console lights. This is one of the easiest and coolest mods you can do in under an hour.
Pics show the pigtail on the passenger side under the dash. Connector wire colors are black (ground) and colored with stripe (+12V).
Footwell LED Lights:
The SLT trim package doesn't come with footwell lights, but it's a simple matter to add them. The wiring harness pigtails are already there under the dash and fully functional. They're taped up out of the way, so you just have to pull them down and connect the light of your choice. You can buy the factory lights which will plug right in and use the mounting points already cut into the dash. Or, you can get some LED strip lights and build your own. I found one I like on Amazon that comes on a roll and you just cut it to length and solder on your leads. It's a chip on board (COB) type of led strip which puts off a nice even light with no bright spots. They can get warm so I attach them to a strip of aluminum which doubles as the mounting plate. (the strips are adhesive backed) A 12" piece draws about 0.25A which shouldn't overload the factory wiring given it is so small. And the best part is they turn on/off and dim just like the dome light and overhead console lights. This is one of the easiest and coolest mods you can do in under an hour.
Pics show the pigtail on the passenger side under the dash. Connector wire colors are black (ground) and colored with stripe (+12V).
frodotbaggins88
Active member
Very clean work dude. Did you get the full airlift 3H kit?
Brad_UT
Well-known member
Thanks man! I went with the 3P, pressure control only kit. I know it's electronics and that brings reliability questions out in the wilderness, but it just does so much! Their one simple valve box takes the place of 8 individual valves and 5 pressure sensors and all that wiring. Seemed like a good trade off to me. I did design the air system so that if the 3P fails, I have a manual backup. I'll post those the air system schematics at some point.
frodotbaggins88
Active member
No worries I'm not one of those people that complain about having electronics in a vehicle lol. I plan on doing the 3H setup with auto-leveling. Finding a flat spot to camp is not always an option. My wife and I were full-time RV for almost 2 years and over 60k miles, I dreamed of the day I could press a button and have a level bed to sleep on lol.
Brad_UT
Well-known member
It's been a busy week here. I sold the Arctic Fox truck camper and got the custom aluminum bed ordered. It's been good working with AlumLine so far. Their lead time is estimated to be about 2 months and the price was about the same as a "standard" bed from a local dealer with me buying and installing the all the storage boxes myself. I figured he would take my drawings and then send me professionally drawn CAD versions for me to approve, but he said the drawings were good enough that he could just give them to the production folks in the shop. This makes me uneasy, but he assured me it will be built "according to the drawing."
I'll have to fabricate a spare tire mount to go behind the headache rack on the passenger side. There will be enough room between the spare tire and the top storage box for a 40gal water tank. Keeping that from freezing is still something I need to figure out. Some kind of poly tank that wouldn't get damaged from freezing would be ideal. Camper will have a diesel water heater/furnace so running one of those hot water loops through the tank could work too. If you have other ideas, let me know.
I'll have to fabricate a spare tire mount to go behind the headache rack on the passenger side. There will be enough room between the spare tire and the top storage box for a 40gal water tank. Keeping that from freezing is still something I need to figure out. Some kind of poly tank that wouldn't get damaged from freezing would be ideal. Camper will have a diesel water heater/furnace so running one of those hot water loops through the tank could work too. If you have other ideas, let me know.
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Brad_UT
Well-known member
I hear ya man. That was my idea too: adjust the bags to level the truck. My worry though is that the bags will be "spongy" and let the camper rock in the wind or or move around when you walk. Not sure if I'm gonna like that... Maybe with adjustable shocks, setting them to full stiff would help. Worst case, I'll put on some flip down jacks of some sort.
DirtWhiskey
Western Dirt Rat
Awesome layout. Almost exactly what I wanna do. Can you explain a little better where you want to put the water tank?
Brad_UT
Well-known member
There should be room for the water tank between the top storage box and the spare tire. It'll sit on top of the bed and stand up. Not long or wide, but pretty tall, like 10Wx27Lx32H. In pic below, blue is water tank, black is spare tire, and brown is firewood storage unless I think of something else to use it for.
Almost done with the interior. Found a generic shelf unit made for work vans that fits great behind the seats. It took some effort to get it mounted just right, but it's solid as a rock now. Used rivnuts across the top and made some brackets on the bottom to keep it from moving. It's off center a bit, but that's on purpose. It leaves just enough room behind the driver seat for a fire extinguisher.
Almost done with the interior. Found a generic shelf unit made for work vans that fits great behind the seats. It took some effort to get it mounted just right, but it's solid as a rock now. Used rivnuts across the top and made some brackets on the bottom to keep it from moving. It's off center a bit, but that's on purpose. It leaves just enough room behind the driver seat for a fire extinguisher.
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