Dodge Ram 5500 motorhome

[mk216v]

Ward, i've done the Canada/Alaska trip in both Aug and Sept

STRONGLY suggest the month of September, cool enough for no bugs, fall colors are changing, dark enough for aurora (i got it almost every night of my trip), crowds are mostly gone everywhere, etc.....

Lots of pics from my last trip on my IG: @campermccampface

I will be doing a very similar trip this year as well, around the same time, in the 5500

Great info. <thumbup>
5500 will be ready by Sept '20? Sweet, can't wait to see!

 

[RAM5500 CAMPERTHING]

Great info. <thumbup>
5500 will be ready by Sept '20? Sweet, can't wait to see!

Well... Yes and No...

I am doing it all myself from scratch. So it will be"ready" (enough) for the trip, but no where near "complete"

As long as i have a dry place to sleep, and a small fridge, the rest can be dealt with at a later date

 

[RAM5500 CAMPERTHING]

Healeyjet,

From what I’ve heard May-October is prime and stay as long as you can. That said, here’s a really good video explaining, from Alaskan overlanders’ perspective, 30 mistakes folks make when visiting their state.


Enjoy,

Bill


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I've been through Yukon/Alaska 2x, and agree with every word of this!

 

[Healeyjet]

Down in south Texas and having a blast. Headed west at the end of the month.
here is the Cruiser in front of the Spacex Hopper two days ago in Boca Chica TX

 

[mk216v]

Down in south Texas and having a blast. Headed west at the end of the month.
here is the Cruiser in front of the Spacex Hopper two days ago in Boca Chica TX

Now THAT is ART!

 

[Doug_B]

Saw your rig at COTA today. Very nice! Hope you’re enjoying Texas’ “winter”.

 

[Healeyjet]

Saw your rig at COTA today. Very nice! Hope you’re enjoying Texas’ “winter”.

View attachment 569541

We sure are!! Off to Big Bend tomorrow.
Ward

 

[mxpatriot]

Found you on instagram and while a back and loved the build. Just found this thread and read all 58 pages in one sitting and saved a bunch of pictures for idea towards a build I will be starting in the next few year. I am looking at doing a similar size camper body, but with the back 4' feet dedicated to "toy hauler" duty for mountain bikes, dirt bikes, etc.

Couple of questions for you:

- What spacers are you running front/rear? Are you happy with the track width?
- How is the camper body mounted to the frame, as far as accounting for frame flex goes?
- You've been exposed to plenty of composite sided campers I am sure, what are you thoughts on the all aluminum build vs composite panels?

 

[gringoinloscabos]

Saw your rig at COTA today. Very nice! Hope you’re enjoying Texas’ “winter”.

View attachment 569541

That snorkel is incredible. May I ask where you sourced it from, please?

 

[Rebellion]

gringoinloscabos for the snorkel checkout: https://www.aev-conversions.com/product/ram-raised-air-intake-system/

 

[wolrah]

Wow, just marathoned this entire thread over the course of the day, you have possibly the closest to what I'd like to build that I've seen so far. I haven't seen anyone else yet with a cut in to the roof to make their passthrough more step through than crawl through, and that's a key feature I'd like to have in my own build if it ever happens.

About that, how has it been holding up for you? How much of a shift do you actually get when doing something like your ditch drive video? Is the opening wide enough to comfortably climb up and down or would you widen it if you were to do it again?

Great build one way or another, I'm glad I discovered this on a Saturday so it's less of a thing that reading the thread has kept me up until 3 AM...

 

[Healeyjet]

Found you on instagram and while a back and loved the build. Just found this thread and read all 58 pages in one sitting and saved a bunch of pictures for idea towards a build I will be starting in the next few year. I am looking at doing a similar size camper body, but with the back 4' feet dedicated to "toy hauler" duty for mountain bikes, dirt bikes, etc.

Couple of questions for you:

- What spacers are you running front/rear? Are you happy with the track width?
- How is the camper body mounted to the frame, as far as accounting for frame flex goes?
- You've been exposed to plenty of composite sided campers I am sure, what are you thoughts on the all aluminum build vs composite panels?

The only "spacers" we are running are the mounting adapters from Hutchinson. I love the track width, nice and stable but not to wide.
Camper is u-bolted to the frame. No three point mount or anything like that.
There are a lot of this same box running around that are 40 years old. I guess we will see in 40 years if the composite campers are still in use. I think the composites are a great idea especially for the DIY person. I didn't have the skil set to DIY one in a reasonable amount of time so we went this route.
Ward

 

[Healeyjet]

That snorkel is incredible. May I ask where you sourced it from, please?

It is from AEV American Expedition Vehicles.
Ward

 

[Healeyjet]

Wow, just marathoned this entire thread over the course of the day, you have possibly the closest to what I'd like to build that I've seen so far. I haven't seen anyone else yet with a cut in to the roof to make their passthrough more step through than crawl through, and that's a key feature I'd like to have in my own build if it ever happens.

About that, how has it been holding up for you? How much of a shift do you actually get when doing something like your ditch drive video? Is the opening wide enough to comfortably climb up and down or would you widen it if you were to do it again?

Great build one way or another, I'm glad I discovered this on a Saturday so it's less of a thing that reading the thread has kept me up until 3 AM...

When we go through a ditch like the videos the camper moves about three inches. Due to the rubber gasket between the cab and the box there is no issue with the box changing shape. The RAM frame is quite stiff and the aluminum box is incredibly strong allowing the suspension to do most of the work.

Our passthrough is very wide. I am 56 years old and am 6'5" tall and 270 lbs. Not small or skinny by any stretch and I go through it with ease in both directions. The camper is designed with the main floor bed so we can use it well into our 70's.
As for the camper holding up it is doing great. We have put over 70,000 miles on it in the four years we have had it on the road. We have slept in it over 400 nights and it has taken us to places we would have never seen and met people from all across the USA. We replaced the rear axle late this summer after a bearing went on us and caused a bunch of damage. Luckily the wheel stayed on and no one was hurt.

Ward

 

[Victorian]

The only "spacers" we are running are the mounting adapters from Hutchinson. I love the track width, nice and stable but not to wide.
Camper is u-bolted to the frame. No three point mount or anything like that.
There are a lot of this same box running around that are 40 years old. I guess we will see in 40 years if the composite campers are still in use. I think the composites are a great idea especially for the DIY person. I didn't have the skil set to DIY one in a reasonable amount of time so we went this route.
Ward

Your box is very stiff especially with all the metal interior. Your articulation is coming from the suspension. Nothing wrong with that as long as you are not going through some crazy off-roading. Our composite bodies that are in use as commercial trucks are fixed to the main frame through a NONarticulating subframe also. What you have is not wrong or right, it's a compromise. I believe when ITB was building yours, the terminology of an articulating subframe and the benefits of it where not known to them. Only when we started working with them, they looked into it.
Rule of thumb: if you go off roading and you want your camper to last you should get an articulating subframe.