Earthroamer review by experienced travelers

[haven]

Here's a thought-provoking review of the Earthroamer by experienced overland travelers.

Rob and Nina Blackwell are Australian ex-pats who live in the Seattle area. In 2009 and 2010, they drove a Provan Tiger CX diesel down the Pan-American highway and back, a total of about 60,000 miles. In 2011, they decided to purchase a used Earthroamer. The review shares their experiences and observations from 5 months of ER ownership.

http://www.whiteacorn.com/articles/er-review/

Thanks to forum member diplostrat for mentioning the link.

 

[howell_jd]

Great review!

Rob and Nina are a wonderful couple - and what a sense of humor too! Nina kept us in stitches for certain! Their insights are very accurate and reflecting their modesty, understated. I feel very fortunate indeed to have had the pleasure of meeting them in person. What great stories and experiences they have to share. Thank you Rob and Nina!

Your American friend (in an Australian's American truck),
Jonathan

 

[dzzz]

Very interesting. I'm surprised at the ride differences compared to a tiger. I bet they can improve the ride without spending $20K.

 

[Overland Hadley]

Thanks for posting the link.

Interesting read, especially this part.

The ideal expedition vehicle
From the above discussion you would not be surprised to know that I think a strong camper shell (almost certainly composite construction), mounted using a 3 point mounting system, onto a 1-ton pickup, with an all up weight of 11,000-12,000 lbs would be a nearly ideal expedition vehicle. Unfortunately no body (including Provan, ER or GXV) is making one. Business opportunity anyone?

ER is coming out with some new models, I wonder if one will fill this market.

 

[Christian P.]

Awesome couple indeed.

 

[haven]

My take on the review: Earthroamer camper excellent, Ford execrable.

The number of repairs needed is a condemnation of the quality of the Ford F550. This is supposed to be a commercial quality vehicle. And the length of time that Ford needed to make repairs is unacceptable. Does anyone know if this Earthroamer was still under Ford's warranty?

I thought Rob Blackwell was the soul of discretion when describing his vehicle's problems. I would have been shouting my displeasure from the rooftops.

 

[haven]

"a strong camper shell (almost certainly composite construction), mounted using a 3 point mounting system, onto a 1-ton pickup, with an all up weight of 11,000-12,000 lbs would be a nearly ideal expedition vehicle."

Two Australian companies, EarthCruiser Overland Vehicles http://www.earthcruiser.com.au/ and All Terrain Warriors http://www.allterrainwarriors.com.au/ make this sort of vehicle. The chassis is the Fuso FG with revised suspension, making for a comfortable ride. Since the Blackwells are returning to Australia at some point, I would think either would be a good choice for them. However, neither has the creature comforts of the EarthCruiser, and that seemed to be a big part of the decision to move away from the Tiger CX camper.

EarthCruiser was talking about offering a USA-legal version, but I haven't heard anything lately. I think they may be waiting for Fuso to introduce their new 3.0L Canter model in USA this Fall.

 

[DiploStrat]

Ford Diesel Quality

This is a hot topic. You may remember that I posted about this a while back. The feed back that I got was the big reason that I did not buy a used Tiger with a Ford 350 base. Although the miles were low, the previous owner had already blown a radiator.

The chatter I hear is that Ford made some bad choices in the way that they installed the Navistar Diesel; the same engine enjoying a fine reputation in International trucks.

Rumor has it that you need to use a different antifreeze and to install a Navistar coolant filter as well. I would stress that this is hearsay on my part. The conventional chatter is that Ford did a poor job with the emission controls and that they tend to take down the engine. This certainly appears to have been the issue with Jon Howell's Earthroamer and its long sojourn in Mongolia. But I would ask him how he fixed the problems because, as far as I can read, it can be done and these engines can be made reliable. Certainly he has not been complaining.

 

[charlieaarons]

Two Australian companies, EarthCruiser Overland Vehicles http://www.earthcruiser.com.au/ and All Terrain Warriors http://www.allterrainwarriors.com.au/ make this sort of vehicle. The chassis is the Fuso FG with revised suspension, making for a comfortable ride. Since the Blackwells are returning to Australia at some point, I would think either would be a good choice for them. However, neither has the creature comforts of the EarthCruiser, and that seemed to be a big part of the decision to move away from the Tiger CX camper.

.

Also Amesz Design in the Perth area, which might be the logical choice for someone living in WA:
http://www.amesz.com.au/

Forgive me for missing something, but I didn't see direct criticism of the Ford F550 in the ER critique link, though I'm well aware of Ford's drivetrain problems. Which makes me dubious of Gary Westcott's recent claim that "the American pickup is still the best vehicle choice for worldwide overlanding"
Incidentally, knock on wood and all that, but the only chassis problem I've had in 22000 mi since leaving home to Australia is a balky air pressure sensor which caused no secondary problems and cured itself before replacements arrived. No problems attributable to corrugated dirt roads (which we've been on a lot) like tires, leaky axle seals, brake or U-joint or suspension problems. Engine (sans EGR) has been flawless.

Charlie

 

[westyss]

I dont understand the statement:
"a strong camper shell (almost certainly composite construction), mounted using a 3 point mounting system, onto a 1-ton pickup, with an all up weight of 11,000-12,000 lbs would be a nearly ideal expedition vehicle."

just seems to set up for an overloaded vehicle, 1 ton is not enough! most people are going to overload it, the base vehicle needs to be rated higher than 1 ton, no??

 

[haven]

These days, the "1 ton" pickup with single rear wheels has a GVWR of 12,000 to 13,000 lbs, and a cargo capacity of 3500 - 4000 lbs. But nobody wants to call them "2 ton pickups!"

The Mitsubishi Fuso Canter FG 4x4 chassis I mentioned above has a GVWR of 14,000 lbs, and a cargo capacity of 8,000 lbs using the stock suspension. Modifying the suspension to give longer wheel travel and a more supple ride reduces the cargo capacity somewhat.

 

[rblackwell]

I need to add a second, follow up, chapter to my article.

The issues with the truck have been fixed by Ford under warranty - seems to be running fine now.

I finished up leaving the vehicle in Denver with the ER folks so they could take it their local dealer who knows about ERs and 6.4PSD. Bill and his team at ER were very helpful.
We also took out an extended warranty - would recommend that for all 6.0 6.4 PSD owners.

With a few more miles on it the vehicles fuel consumption has improved a little bit 11mpg interstate.

Its taken me a while to get used to the way the Ford works - its a higher revving engine than the Duramax (and the gearing is different). 2000 rpm at 60 mpg Ford 1500 RPM at 60 mph Duramax.

You might get a LOL from the next bit of information and poor planning.
After buying the ER in April (when we thought we would be traveling in North America for the next 2 or 3 years), we decided in June that we wanted to under another extended journey - Russia to Europe, back to South America thence Australia.

We reluctantly decided that the ER camper (which my wife and I both love) on a Ford was not the vehicle for such a trip. I agonized for some time about a Dodge/Cummins as a base vehicle after all Cummins are now being put into Russian Kamaz trucks (see http://www.wikinvest.com/stock/Cummins_(CMI)/Manufacturing_Entities) and farm equipment - so engine service might be ok in that part of the world. But I did not really want to deal with both a DPF and DEF.

I was eventually convinced that a Mercedes vehicle was the "best" base vehicle - see Jim Rogers book "the Adventure Capitalist" for an interesting discussion of why Mercedes is the right vehicle for a world trip (http://www.4x4abc.com/JimRogers/ and that I wanted one pre 2006. I looked at a 1017 but they seemed too old and few are available in the US. Then I had an opportunity to buy a US registered 2003 Unimog U500 with VarioPilot which will allow me to import it into Australia permanently as a RHD vehicle. I will post more about the build up of the U500 on my website (and a little bit here) as the story continues to unfolds

 

[charlieaarons]

Congratulations on the U500.
I am thinking about eventually having VarioPilot retrofitted on my U500 by the only people with the skills to do it: either one of the dedicated (in Germany) Unimog dealers, Hellgeth, or the MB factory. Perhaps you could have EAS retrofitted into yours. It is really nice for city driving or any driving for that matter except on either very bad roads or driving up steep windy roads. That's what the "M/A" switch is there for.
I don't believe yours has EGR but if it does I'd recommend having a 3/8" or 1/2" steel plate built using the gasket as a template and blocking it off. Leave the valve wired in and secured to prevent error messages and limp-home mode, and connect the afferent and efferent coolant lines together with a pipe plug crammed in somewhere to block "short-circuit" coolant flow.
I too would like to register my vehicle in WA sometimes, perhaps.

Charlie

 

[dzzz]

Ah, took me a minute to realize rblackwell wrote the ER review. Well, the U500 will certainly feel different from a Ford based vehicle. It attracts a lot of attention, but so does an ER. Looking forward to seeing the new camper, which I assume is being built by GVX.

 

[doug720]

As a Ford owner, I had my vehicle in for a recall service recently. While walking through the shop area to pick-up my vehicle I noticed a Ford F-450 with the cab lifted off the chassis on a special lift. Curious, I asked the tech what was up, he stated..."You must lift the cab to work on the engine!" Wow!

The tech said lifting the cab is the only way to access many components of the engine! Ford dealers have special lifts just for this purpose.

The tech told me that if the truck is out of warranty, the cost to lift and reinstall the cab is around $1500.00 plus the cost of parts and fluids. The electronics, cooling, AC, heating, steering, transmission and other systems must be disconnected to remove the cab. I asked about special bodies, they must be removed prior to lifting the cab!

Ya, you tell me how that works for you with a EarthRoamer on the back or in off the beaten path location?

My LandCruiser is a mechanical diesel, one wire to make it run. These electronic diesels are way too complicated for international use.

IMHO, you must have DEEP pockets to afford to use one of these chassis out of the USA. I'm a Ford guy and drive a diesel every day, but this does not work for me. How about you?

If I was buying a new truck today, remember I've only had Ford diesels for 21 years, I'm not sure it would be a diesel, no matter who made it.

I think the U500 is the way to go.

Doug