Anyone here using an XP Campers tray/flatbed?

[pugslyyy]

My concern for the higher deck height isn't so much in regards to real estate or aesthetics, it's more of a concern for the reduced COG and load stability when a camper is added, which is the only reason why we are considering such a setup in the first place.

The CG is going to be more related to the payload and the vehicle, vs. the tray elevating it a little bit, IMHO.

That said, the only reason to put on a flatbed (aluminum, steel, titanium, etc.) is because (IMHO)
1) the camper requires it, and/or
2) you want to use the vehicle with the camper off.

 

[ripperj]

Jack- that’s a real nice looking rig, the price for the bed seems reasonable compared to some of the other prices. That’s as shown?(all the boxes?)
Keith


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Inline6]

It is usually cheaper to use your labor over someone else's for sure! Run the numbers though, it may not be as big a difference as you think - Alu is just an expensive building material, and not a lot of people are equipped to weld it. Even if you have someone cut and bend the sheetmetal for the boxes for you there is a lot of welding to do there. Also, I know xpcamper uses a proprietary extrusion for their bed that was custom designed for the application, and suspect the Aussie companies do as well.

The math on building a bed has been done time and time again. Analysis Paralysis in simple terms. The bed is off now while I rebuild the suspension of the truck. SO thinking its time to just do it.

On the height topic, to get a completely flat bed, I need to be about 6" above the frame rails. That seems to be the height I see most beds built too. I could do 2" above the frame rails and then fenders at 6", but not a completely flat bed of course.

Other thing in mind is the cab over height required, trying to find some specification for that as well.

these guys make some interesting inexpensive trailers, http://www.martinswelding.com/home.html. Prices can be found on eBay.

Alos having a bit of a hard time finding the extruded aluminum for the bed. Found this:
http://www.heavyhaulertrailers.com/store/detail/extruded_aluminum_interlocking_plank_floor_5257
Anyone find any other sources?

 

[locrwln]

Jack- that’s a real nice looking rig, the price for the bed seems reasonable compared to some of the other prices. That’s as shown?(all the boxes?)
Keith


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Thank you and yes, that is as you see it. I added some stuff afterwards (inner fenders and Line-X on the top deck) but otherwise, it was complete.

Mine ended up approximately 2.5" above the factory bed floor level. Mine is lifted and with the springs I have, there is little to no chance that the tires will rub at full stuff. I have over ten inches of clearance between the top of the tire and the top of the inner fender well.

Jack

 

[HayStax]

The only reason for high deck height is to make room for the center drawer. You can build a flatbed that hugs the frame and is only a few inches above the factory bed. Slot your main rails so crossmembers run through them and tie into rub rails at exactly the depth of your decking then you have a flush low profile deck. Use extruded alu decking and gain some torsional strength there so can skip some crossmembers or use lighter material. Simple, just takes a lot more time than a typical stacked ladder bed build. Structural headache rack and tail plate triangulated the bed and it is bulletproof for no. Ore weight than you will haul on a pickup truck

 

[HayStax]

The math on building a bed has been done time and time again. Analysis Paralysis in simple terms. The bed is off now while I rebuild the suspension of the truck. SO thinking its time to just do it.

Alos having a bit of a hard time finding the extruded aluminum for the bed. Found this:
http://www.heavyhaulertrailers.com/store/detail/extruded_aluminum_interlocking_plank_floor_5257
Anyone find any other sources?

Truckline-sale.com, all metal supply, lots of hits on google search. We have some serrated stuff on our hay trailers. Might not be too user friendly for pickup

 

[lanceatm]

Deck height of the tray is primarily determined by wheel travel.

 

[con kso]

I have an XPTray on my 2017 F350 4x4 with Hawk FWC. The flatbed is really, really well built and I'm happy I went with them. Here are the reasons I would buy one again:

1. The quality of the work. All of the fasteners are counter sunk - every edge is beveled. You look at the thing closely and you can see all the care they put into building your flatbed. It looks more like a precision instrument than hay bale carrier.

2. Customizability- the only thing limiting your build is your wallet. Marc pretty much has done every mod that can be done to for an offroad flatbed. I don't think there's anything he won't do - where if you talk to other manufacturers some will say, "no we don't do that." in Marc's case he'd probably say, "Ok that will be a neat build" at least that's what he said to me every time I brought a new idea to him.

In my case - my two MUST HAVE mods for the stuff I like to do were: 6' long REAR slide out tray that could double as a work platform and hold my fly rods (disassembled) and short spinning gear - it had to be secure storage and as weather proof as possible. If you get a chance to compare the size of the rear trays on the flatbeds out there you'll see that the XP camper blows them all away. When it's in the out position the entire top is sealed with a stainless lid - it looks like an autopsy table. My second requirement was an extra thirty gallons of water storage in a "backpack" cabinet - Marc installed one very securely, the tank is baffled and has an integrated breathe tube. So you can see, almost anything is possible.

Oh yeah, I had him install a second refrigerator for me (50quart ARB) on the other side of the "backpack" box on ARB sliding drawer - that's the beer fridge- if I had to do it again, I wouldn't have supplied the ARB sliding mount - Marc can fabricate a better one that slides out much further.

3. The mounting system/clearance - if you look at an XP Tray there is tremendous clearance for articulation in the wheel wells. In addition the tray is mounted "dynamically" at four points - not bolted or welded in place. I'm a mild offroad guy (driving over sand beaches and on dirt roads with some light low speed work over washed out section of road) so I'm sure I have not taxed the mounting system much but it's good to know that the whole thing flexes with the frame rather than remain rigid - I think that's when welds and bolts break. The best thing is the wheel clearance. I looked at other trays and it seemed like some only had a couple inches for wheel clearance.

I'm in southern Baja right now with some sketch connectivity but I'll try to post up pics of my rig.

 

[con kso]

Hope these load up:

 

[Scoutman]

thanks for posting that @con kso
when you have better connection I'd love to see some more detailed shots of your tray.

 

[con kso]

 

[con kso]

Looks like they posted up! Gonna try to preempt some standard questions I get about my camper:

1. Q. "Why didn't you go with Cab and Chassis"? Answer: I wanted the spare stored under the camper - with a C and C you need to find a place for your spare tire. Right now I've got 285 70 R17 BFGs on it - almost the same size as the OEM tires so I can keep my OEM spare and it's out of the way underneath the truck. If you really want the "look" and decide to go with 37" tires etc. you will find that your COG is really high. Oh yeah, C and C config costs about the same as buying the truck with the bed.

2. Is your truck lifted? Front 2.5" level lift, back Deaver spring pack and airbags. Truck drives awesome with the new springs in rear. Airbags for me to level it out when I've got my dirt bike on the back.

3. Why not diesel? Reliability- check the engine configs on fleet trucks for municipalities not many diesels, cheaper maintenance, ease of repair in Baja (show me the mechanic who hasn't worked on a Ford pushrod engine), no DEF, sketch availability of ULSD in Baja, lighter on the sand, I don't pull anything, gas cheaper than diesel.

4. Gas mileage? A whopping 11.4 miles/gallon.... gasoline, yummy.

5. 4x4? Of course - with electronically locking rear diff.

6. Cost of camper? 37k

7. Cost of flatbed? 11k +/- but then I added extra back pack box, airbag install, ARB dual aircompressor with plumbing to both sides of the flatbed, custom water tank, ARB fridge slide install.... totall OTD with taxes to Peoples Republic of California - 18k ish.

8. Are you kidding me with how expensive all that stuff is? Nope not kidding - I've got no regrets - how often can you get EXACTLY what you want? Turning 50 in Dec. still time to be ************.

9. What would you do differently: As mentioned, let Mark fab a slide for ARB - maybe ask for wider boxes underneath (but that may have been a constraint imposed by the frame of the truck), coughed up a few more grand and had Marc mount the camper on one of his XPCamper subframes with integrated ladder - makes taking off the camper a 15 minute operation and the ladder is **************.

10. But do you really use the thing a lot? Truck was brand new in April '17 - it is only used for trips since I can walk to my job... 17k miles all camping in Montana or Southern Baja.

good luck with your build - do it right the first time and then use it 'til the wheels fall off.

 

[con kso]

 

[con kso]

 

[con kso]

Alum-Line here. Right around $6600 delivered to my door and built in Iowa. Yes it uses u-bolts to attach it to the truck, but most modern trucks have very little frame flex. SD's 1999-2016 still flex quite a bit, but otherwise, there is very little to worry about on that front. IMHO. Customized to fit my frame extension and specifications.

Looks more proportionate with the camper installed.

I found out after I got my bed that they will do a center rear under bed drawer.

Jack

Love the windows on those campers. Camper looks just right on that bed.