C5500 TopKick 4x4 Crew Cab Build

[Riptide]

Well, regarding white and dirt...

Frankly, I've always been amazed how white seems to "hide" dirt. As in, I didn't realize just how dirty something was until I washed it.

The bottom part is what's going to get the most dirty. I would think grey would hide that better than black.

However...

I think the sand and black would look better, if all else were equal.

 

[Photomike]

I like anything besides white. If you do stay white add a graphic to the sides to break up the look.

 

[Ford Prefect]

Yeah, my white jeep hides the dirt REALLY well.

The black car I rented last month, it was like there was a spotlight on the dirt.

Beyond that I would Most Certainly go with the Sand color choice. You could still keep the gray and thus the awnings as well. It would look nice. Just take that door as an example, the gray and sand does not look bad together.

Sand on top, Gray on the bottom, and black under would be my vote. Whatever you do, I would go Sand for sure. It also blends into the road better on the highway. Less attention would seem a nice thing for my money.

The only concern I see with the sand color choice is this question. If you paint the camper Sand, do you then have to paint the body of the truck Sand as well? Again this brings you into more $$$.

 

[That One Guy]

I say paint it sand. It will look really good, and the heat gain should be minimal. Just comes down to money.

 

[pods8]

Truck jacks: Looks like you built your own jacks there?


Color: For my camper I had considered sand or light grey as color options that would be easy on the heat adsorption, hide grime decently, and not be as boring as white. I'm leaning towards light grey because I think it goes with more stuff and wouldn't really have issue putting a light grey camper on most any color truck (color matching isn't something I plan to do). I think sand is more limited in meshing with other colors. In my case I think sand is more at home for a desert rig, which isn't the main nitch for mine, but would be for yours...

 

[NeverEnough]

Truck jacks: Looks like you built your own jacks there?

The motor heads and jack tubes were custom from Reico Titan. Great guys to work with. I needed a 30" travel stroke with a 24" drop leg in a naked assembly that we could weld onto the mounting assembly we built. Reico also provided the motor heads for the roof-top actuators that move the slide-out room.

Only 4 opinions on the color? Getting down to the wire, leaning towards the sand.....

 

[herm]

go with the sand. it will look great.

 

[pods8]

The motor heads and jack tubes were custom from Reico Titan. Great guys to work with. I needed a 30" travel stroke with a 24" drop leg in a naked assembly that we could weld onto the mounting assembly we built.

Interesting, how'd the custom jacks compare costwise to production jacks, similar or notably more costly?

I'm curious because a standard camper jack is far taller than I need/want with my flatbed build (I'd have to mount fairly low on the jack tube to still be able to lower the camper down). A drop leg jack would be ideal to me, the trailer tongue versions a just a tad short for what I'd want I think (and build quality is suspect). Basically I'd like to lift the camper to ~45" and be able to lower it down to ~6-12". Is the requirement for the drop leg ~6" less than the travel stroke? If so I'd probably like something in the 24" stroke & 18" drop leg range...

 

[LowTech]

Colors

We went w/ a sand type of color on the top w/ two darker colors below. Don't really like straight lines, so we had this done.

 

[NeverEnough]

We went w/ a sand type of color on the top w/ two darker colors below. Don't really like straight lines, so we had this done.

Very nice and very helpful.

So once the artistic analysis was finished, I put together cost analysys of changing my plans. While I prefer the sand over the white, it would cost me at least another 5K to do it right. At this point in the project, I'd rather put that into my primary suspension upgrades and look at changing the exterior color scheme in the future. I'm already way over budget and was a little shocked at the quotes to paint the cab of the truck :Wow1: Thanks for the input, however. To make the white no so boring, I'll probably apply a partial wrap since I've got a friend that can do it for cost.

Interesting, how'd the custom jacks compare costwise to production jacks, similar or notably more costly?

I'm curious because a standard camper jack is far taller than I need/want with my flatbed build (I'd have to mount fairly low on the jack tube to still be able to lower the camper down). A drop leg jack would be ideal to me, the trailer tongue versions a just a tad short for what I'd want I think (and build quality is suspect). Basically I'd like to lift the camper to ~45" and be able to lower it down to ~6-12".

Custom=$$$, now and forever. Keep in mind the drop leg's purpose is to allow for a higher mount position- it doesn't add to the stroke. I needed a long travel stroke because my subframe is not a flat bed and I have a big truck. The bottom of my camper has to be a minimum of 54" off the ground before I can back the subframe underneath.

Off the truck, I can't get my box lower than 26" off the ground. That's not a problem because of the stout nature of the jacks. Standard round tube jacks/mounts, like I have on my trailer, have a lot more sway. But since the trailer is almost a flatbed I only have to clear 7" for the wheel wells), I was able to mount the jacks so I can lower the body to just a few inches off the ground, making it nice and stable. There are also jack stabilizers available to reduce sway when needed.

 

[pods8]

Very nice and very helpful.
Custom=$$$, now and forever. Keep in mind the drop leg's purpose is to allow for a higher mount position- it doesn't add to the stroke. I needed a long travel stroke because my subframe is not a flat bed and I have a big truck. The bottom of my camper has to be a minimum of 54" off the ground before I can back the subframe underneath.

Off the truck, I can't get my box lower than 26" off the ground. That's not a problem because of the stout nature of the jacks. Standard round tube jacks/mounts, like I have on my trailer, have a lot more sway. But since the trailer is almost a flatbed I only have to clear 7" for the wheel wells), I was able to mount the jacks so I can lower the body to just a few inches off the ground, making it nice and stable. There are also jack stabilizers available to reduce sway when needed.

Yeah I was figuring that would be the case.

The drop leg can be used as part of the stroke with the understanding that you'll have to pause the lift or lower to drop/retract it and run the jacks back the other way to get back in position.

I don't need much of a stroke to lift the camper off my truck, just a couple inches but what I do desire is to be able to lower the camper down fairly low to the ground to set onto a dolly, etc. Plus running a camper down low will reduce the moment arm/sway as well. If I used a typical camper jack I'd have to mount them with ~10" sticking below the camper to still reach the ground but also allow it to be lowered down and since my jack brackets would be in the first foot of the camper I'd be mounting on the jack tube in the 12-24" from the bottom range. Which would be silly and also put the cranks fairly high up in the air.

So I had though a shorter stroke jack with a drop leg would be a nicer fit aesthetically, functionally, and in terms of bulk/weight if I ever wanted to toss them into the camper to take along.

 

[DT75FLH]

First off Great build.

I know you are keeping the color white.
If you change the color consider this. I just put up a large metal shop and since I live near Las Vegas I wanted the most solar reflectivity (SR).
In a low slope (less than 2/12 pitch) I was going to use white for roof/building. My home and Garage are a sand/tan color. it was interesting to note that the bright white color had a SR of .60, the polar white SR was .63 and the ivory was .62. there was very little difference between the 3.
in a steep slope application (greater than a 2/12 pitch or a side wall application SRI) the bright white was .72, polar white .76, ivory .75.
plain white in low slope was .54 and steep slope was .64.
I ordered the side walls in a ivory color, and in my application it looks close enough to the sand color that it matches the house. I would think there is very little heat penalty from the sand color and it would look great. I have the pdf file (above notes) from my building if needed.

 

[NeverEnough]

BiIG DAY!

First off Great build.

Thanks, DT75FLH. And thanks for the reflective quants. At some point I'll probably paint the entire rig again and your experience provides real world confirmation of some of the research I've done.

So today was one of those milestone days. I actually backed my truck into the shop, lowered the camper onto the subframe, and drove away!!!!! It didn't fall off. It didn't make funny noises, or wobble back and forth, crack, etc.

Granted, this was not an off road test. I just needed to transport the camper from my brother's shop to the paint shop, and the most practical way to do that was on the subframe built to carry it. Adding some weight to my truck really smoothed out the ride (I'd only tried that before I removed the original service body when I put a couple of tons of sand on it). And I was extremely pleased to see the spring mounts do their job when driving through some very deep gutters. The cab and body go their own way, but there's no sway or rebound. I'm still about 2,300lbs lighter than I'll be fully loaded (875lbs of water, 480lbs of batteries, 410lbs of roof crap, plus another 600lbs of food, luggage, etc.) but almost all of that will be under the floor and in front of the axles.

And it was finally good to see the rig's final dimensions in real life:

The roof components should be done at the powder coat shop tomorrow, and the camper's coating will be cured enough by Monday to drive it back to the shop. Then we can put it all back together, pop in the windows and doors, and trim out the inside. I just may get to try this thing out in Southern Utah before the ground freezes!

 

[NeverEnough]

The drop leg can be used as part of the stroke with the understanding that you'll have to pause the lift or lower to drop/retract it and run the jacks back the other way to get back in position.

I don't need much of a stroke to lift the camper off my truck, just a couple inches but what I do desire is to be able to lower the camper down fairly low to the ground to set onto a dolly, etc. Plus running a camper down low will reduce the moment arm/sway as well.

We've done the "pause" drill frequently to get the camper onto dollies in the shop. It's a pain, but not to bad if you'v got horses or jacks handy and at the proper height. As for sway, I get very little even 24" above the ground (but my tubes are 2.5" square). If it becomes an issue I'll build some stabilizers.

Unfortunately, I don't believe there is a standard jack that meets your specs. PM me if you want me to put you in touch with the guys at RT. They'll build whatever you want, but it takes time, engineering, and $$$.

 

[DiploStrat]

As they say in the Navy ...

Bravo Zulu!

Well done; looks wonderful. :Wow1: