Flatbed and composite panel build on Dodge 2500
- Thread starter Jeep
- Start date
Cummins 8.3 with a Fuller 7 speed. I have been shopping for a front axle and t-case for it. The truck has 4:88 rear gears,air ride and air brakes. It was a hot- shot truck. My wife drives it pretty well. She drives school busses for a living. I think it will work pretty well for a base truck. The camper will be 22-24 feet long. We are working on floor plan options. I have plans for 2 slide outs. Both about 6x6. Was wondering if aluminum framing around them would be strong enough with the composite walls. We were going to use extruded aluminum tracks for the slides with nylon casters. Then also have 2-4 clamps on the inside to secure the slides in. I was also thinking of having 4 locator pins that have female seats to locate the slides into the wall when they are closed. We can cut them out of aluminum on the lathe then weld or bolt them in. Was also wondering
If I need a suspension for camper body. I will check the frame flex when the snow melts around here.
If I need a suspension for camper body. I will check the frame flex when the snow melts around here.
That should work out pretty good. If you do a good set of drawings you can insert framing for slide openings into the wall panel and then cap the opening once the hole is cut, plenty strong. I'd like to see what you have in mind for tracks and rollers, I used a very heavy duty tube in a tube with 32 ball bearings on my 650, and a UHMW strip 2" high. 3" wide, and 6' long across the bottom of the slide opening, has worked perfectly every time and we are always off road with it. It's important for the slide to seal tight and square when open or closed, and have some forgiveness in the opening so nothing gets sticky when deploying or retracting. My slide is 6' wide and extends a full 3'. You will need suspension for the camper, those chassis flex a lot.
You do real nice work. You have some cool ideas, I really like your truck camper. We tow our bikes all over the place too. We like to explore on them. They are a nice break from working on trucks all day. Did you put a built in gas tank for the bikes in your trailer?
Thanks for the pointers on my truck build.
Thanks for the pointers on my truck build.
Question for you. Is that a truck bed you built in your shop or is it a commercially available unit? If commercially available could you share who the manufacture is?
Thank you,
Healeyjet
Explorer
fdklr, it is a commercially available flat deck built in Mark's shop by his company Lite Industries in Red Deer Alberta. So I guess the answer is yes to both your questions. fdklr, if you are looking for a flat deck to purchase and you are in the USA, now would be a good time to shop in Canada as the US to CDN dollar conversion is very much in the US favour.
Ward
Ward
Thanks! We love our bikes, it's amazing how much motorcycles let you experience. I didn't put a permanent take in our trailer, a lot of the cross country races we do have fuel drops so we use 10 liter cans, easy size to store in racks, and easy mixing for the 2 strokes. One thing we found to is fuel goes stale really fast, if we are not using our bikes for a 2 week period we even drain the carbs and it helps keep the nice yellow varnish away.
Thanks Ward, that's the deal.
Truck is almost done, Toyo MT E rated 35's, custom rear spring packs with 6 leafs plus the lower, no more blocks, Pro Comp MX6 adjustable shocks all around, 2009+ steering linkage upgrade, new Moog ball joints, and a Pro Comp steering stabilizer with a nice beefy bracket that sits dead center under the from axle and makes a jack pad that actually lets you lift the truck nice and square. Just have to put the new lower cabinets on yet.
Designed and built these shock towers years ago, gives a lot more options for performance shocks when you ditch the pin style upper mount. Really lets you torture yourself installing a set of long travel gas shocks....especially when they have reservoirs.
Spring loaded camper tie down, can't over torque, can't fall off.
Full size spare underneath, I will make an extra inch of exhaust clearance and put a heat shield on the pipe. Nice that it is out of the way.
Side shot, truck sits an inch higher than it did before but that will level out with the camper on.
Designed and built these shock towers years ago, gives a lot more options for performance shocks when you ditch the pin style upper mount. Really lets you torture yourself installing a set of long travel gas shocks....especially when they have reservoirs.
Spring loaded camper tie down, can't over torque, can't fall off.
Full size spare underneath, I will make an extra inch of exhaust clearance and put a heat shield on the pipe. Nice that it is out of the way.
Side shot, truck sits an inch higher than it did before but that will level out with the camper on.
Yeah it's nice that it fits there, Ford Super Duty's will fit a 35 under the frame too, if I recall correctly we used to fit a 37 under the Ford, just had to loosen the exhaust clamps and give it a little twist.
pappawheely
Autonomous4X4
I got so caught up ogling your camper, I forgot how cool your truck was. :truck: