Dodge Ram 5500 motorhome
- Thread starter Healeyjet
- Start date
VanIsle_Greg
I think I need a bigger truck!
What a big beautiful beast this is. I agree that the front shot looks awesome...always my favorite view of a vehicle. Great job all around. Teething pains are to be expected with a complicated unit like this. It looks like top notch construction and components, so once worked out I am certain you will have a wonderful vehicle.
So nice.
So nice.
pappawheely
Autonomous4X4
I added the shots of your truck to my inspiration file. :bowdown:
Healeyjet
Explorer
Thanks guys.
As with every project the details at the end take a fair bit of time. We are up against an issue with the location and size of the grey tank. What is the smallest size grey tank you guys could live with in an RV? Keep in mind our plan is for this to be a mobile living space for up to two to three months at a time.
Ward
As with every project the details at the end take a fair bit of time. We are up against an issue with the location and size of the grey tank. What is the smallest size grey tank you guys could live with in an RV? Keep in mind our plan is for this to be a mobile living space for up to two to three months at a time.
Ward
Photomike
White Turtle Adventures & Photography
Remember that grey can be dumped at a number of spots easily unlike black. Many people on public land in the US and Canada run the grey hose away from the vehicle to drain when camped (dishes, hand washing, brushing teeth). At campgrounds can easily be dumped at the beginning of each day and doing so will leave you more room for days that you cannot dump.
Only issue is if you are using the shower, that could be a big problem as the water fills fast.
I have a small grey (I think it is 10 gallon but not 100% sure) and after a couple times maxing out because I tried pushing it I now dump every day when available and for those days that I cannot I can coast through them - since I started to do that I have never had an issue. Have gone a couple days with no problem with me and my son.
Only issue is if you are using the shower, that could be a big problem as the water fills fast.
I have a small grey (I think it is 10 gallon but not 100% sure) and after a couple times maxing out because I tried pushing it I now dump every day when available and for those days that I cannot I can coast through them - since I started to do that I have never had an issue. Have gone a couple days with no problem with me and my son.
Half the fresh water tank size.
Darwin
Explorer
I have 14 gallon grey tank, I think it is too small for my use, but that is because I find myself staying in an urban environment and that makes dumping the grey water more of an issue. A larger tank would allow me to extend the times I would have to find a place to dump the grey. The issue is I need a shower before work and that uses a fair amount of water. If did a higher percentage of remote camping and didn't have to work it would be less of an issue.
Healeyjet
Explorer
Right now we have a 30 gallon grey tank. The issue comes in when we realized that the grey tank was built "around" the air suspension control box that we need to have access to. Right now there is just no way to access the control box so we either need to find a new home for the air suspension compressor, air dryer and controls or shrink the size of the grey tank. I am not thrilled about shrinking the grey tank but don't want to take up any more compartment space with "systems". I am thinking that the battery compartment right behind the driver's front corner may end up being the new home for the air control box.
I think it will fit in here up in the top right hand corner area.
Mark (Jeep) and I discussed possibly moving the batteries to the rear compartment to move some weight off the front axle but we are going to wait and see how it rides once the air system is all up and running with the correct shocks mounted as well as some water in the tanks etc.. Kelderman is making new top shock mounts for us as the old ones were too short and didn't allow for any shock travel as the shocks were in a permanently "bottomed out" position. Made for an interesting ride home. We actually broke off the top shock mount on the driver's side three hours from home.
Luckily the great guys at Denhan Chrysler in Lloydminster, AB worked late and got us all fixed up so we could make the trip safely back to Saskatoon. The truck was riding fine but I always do a circle check when we stop and luckily discovered the broken mount.
As well, the the King shocks for the rear of the camper, the bottom bushing is too small so we are waiting on King to send out replacements.
So here it sits in the driveway. Luckily Mark (Jeep) added manual fills to the air bags so we could get home so that is what we are running on now until ITB decides what to do about the air system box. I am waiting on Kelderman to see if they have a harness extension we can use to relocate the components and eliminate the box altogether. We'll see!
Other than that we have slept in it two nights now and it works very nice. The flow inside and the space we allotted for everything seems to be working out nice. The "fit and finish" of the camper is excellent. We just have to figure out some of these smaller details and we will be off and camping.
Ward
I think it will fit in here up in the top right hand corner area.
Mark (Jeep) and I discussed possibly moving the batteries to the rear compartment to move some weight off the front axle but we are going to wait and see how it rides once the air system is all up and running with the correct shocks mounted as well as some water in the tanks etc.. Kelderman is making new top shock mounts for us as the old ones were too short and didn't allow for any shock travel as the shocks were in a permanently "bottomed out" position. Made for an interesting ride home. We actually broke off the top shock mount on the driver's side three hours from home.
Luckily the great guys at Denhan Chrysler in Lloydminster, AB worked late and got us all fixed up so we could make the trip safely back to Saskatoon. The truck was riding fine but I always do a circle check when we stop and luckily discovered the broken mount.
As well, the the King shocks for the rear of the camper, the bottom bushing is too small so we are waiting on King to send out replacements.
So here it sits in the driveway. Luckily Mark (Jeep) added manual fills to the air bags so we could get home so that is what we are running on now until ITB decides what to do about the air system box. I am waiting on Kelderman to see if they have a harness extension we can use to relocate the components and eliminate the box altogether. We'll see!
Other than that we have slept in it two nights now and it works very nice. The flow inside and the space we allotted for everything seems to be working out nice. The "fit and finish" of the camper is excellent. We just have to figure out some of these smaller details and we will be off and camping.
Ward
thethePete
Explorer
^ It's a pretty basic harness, they should be able to just extend wires. When I did the install for my customer I ditched their industrial looking switch box for the master power and dump and rewired everything so I could mount it cleanly in the stock dash. My set up didn't have anything too fancy for controllers though, just a dump switch and master power, everything else was run in the pneumatic system for the leveling system. I mounted my compressor in front of the rear crossmember, right above/behind the axle (barely clears at full bump, but there's a safe amount of space), and the air tanks went in the stock spare tire location. Just a thought for possible mounting locations. The compressor box is a little tight to get to there, but it's very well protected and is still accessable for service.
VanIsle_Greg
I think I need a bigger truck!
Our travel trailer has a fairly large fresh tank (60 gal) so it has a 30 gal black and a 30 gal grey. Generally this was what we saw in all the trailers and motor-homes we looked at. Agreed with what Photomike said, many places are ok to dump your grey water, especially if you are using environmentally friendly soaps and so on. We use all biodegradable soaps when camping, so I used to simply run a hose into the bush and it is all good.
I keep the grey water until it is full now to assist in flushing the black tank mung out of the drains.
Sux that there were some teething pains, but I guess that is to be expected with such a massive big build. Man, it looks amazing!
I keep the grey water until it is full now to assist in flushing the black tank mung out of the drains.
Sux that there were some teething pains, but I guess that is to be expected with such a massive big build. Man, it looks amazing!
IdaSHO
IDACAMPER
Just sized up my grey tank at 100l. I was planning on 400l of water, though currently sitting at 240l after I moved stuff around inside. Will add the other water outside later.
I think you're in good hands getting the kinks ironed out. Better to find out now than getting stuck somewhere without the help
Joe
I think you're in good hands getting the kinks ironed out. Better to find out now than getting stuck somewhere without the help
Joe