Hard Side Truck Camper Ideas

[Kstills]

Greetings, my first post and hopefully it’s in the right spot.
A brief biography, I’m close to retirement and my wife and I want to travel in an RV, which we’ve more or less decided to be a Host TC. We feel it gives us the best blend of mobility and comfort, as we’ll be full timing for a few years.
I’ve read enough here and on other forums to understand that a big TC is not a good option for anything more than improved BLM/Nat Forest roads, and truth be told I don’t have the experience to drive anything worse than those.
However, I’ve been giving some thought to improvements for the rig and wanted to get some thoughts or see if anybody has tried this in the past.
From what I’ve read so far, one of the biggest problems driving unimproved roads with these things is the transfer of the flex from the truck bed onto the tie down points of the TC. There are other issues, but this is the one I’ve been thinking about. I’ve seen that one of the posters here suggests loosening the tie downs for smaller campers, and that gave me this idea. Would it be possible to use either an air bladder or an ‘air shock’ system to reduce the amount of flex that gets from the truck to the TC? When diving on rough roads, you would disconnect the regular tie downs, activate the air bladder system which would be in the bed of the truck to dampen the side to side motion of the TC without stressing any one hard point. You could also use some kind of smaller progressive rate spring system to minimize vertical motion of the TC, and to keep it from getting too much side to side motion if the road deteriorates.
This would require agood deal of modification to the truck, but since we’re looking at a purpose built rig anyway, that isn’t a real problem for us.

 

[Overdrive]

I'm not seeing how an air bladder system (unless the camper was totally riding on air) would work since the movement you want to control or plan for is a twisting motion, not a side-to-side.

 

[Kstills]

If the air bladders are running the length of the truck bed, that would minimize the effect of that twisting motion, no?

 

[Overdrive]

I suppose that would work, but I wouldn't trust a camper riding on air for anything over say 15 mph. As one example, FWC does not want/allow anything between the camper bottom and the bed such as a drop-in plastic liner--too squishy to make for a solid mount (higher speeds/paved roads.) A spray-in liner is OK, though. The air bags you have in mind would have to be under the camper at all times, right?? but deflated until you hit slow, rough roads.? You'd lose the "solidness" of your mount for paved roads.

Have you looked at the spring mount systems some are using?

 

[rruff]

From what I’ve read so far, one of the biggest problems driving unimproved roads with these things is the transfer of the flex from the truck bed onto the tie down points of the TC.

Looks like Hosts are all >4,000 lb, so I'm guessing you need a 550/5500 level truck? If that is the case then they all have flexy frames AFAIK. However if a 350/3500 level would suffice, the newer models all have quite stiff frames.

Typically for a 550/5500 people have a flatbed or other custom bed built and then use a spring system to allow the frame to flex independently. Ram5500 has a good build thread that shows this. If you do that you can probably go any place an Earthroamer can.

 

[rruff]

Just looked up the axle ratings on a SRW F350. 7230 lb rear and 5990 lb front, for 13,220 lb total. Note that you need to buy the F350 with a bed to get the stiff fully boxed frame. The cab-chassis models have a flexy open-C frame. I haven't looked at other brands, but I think they are similar.

Note that there is no free lunch here, rather tradeoffs. To get good articulation offroad with that stiff frame you'll need a rear suspension with many thin leaves that can twist more easily. And also ditch the swaybars! Check out montypower's threads to see how he set up his F250. In that case it will do very well offroad, but it won't feel so planted on the highway. For your use the flexible 2 ton truck with the spring system between the frame and subframe is probably a better approach.

Getting back to your original air bladder system, it seems like it would be tough to make that work well. The bladders would be a very bouncy spring; you'd also need damping components... and a way to lock it all down. Seems complicated unless you do that sort of design for a living.

 

[Kstills]

Ruff,
I was not aware of the spring system for the flatbeds, I’ll have to check that out. You are correct on the Host requirement, folks put them on 450s but I personally would not go smaller than a 550/5500. That is in the Earthroamer class.

 

[Kstills]

Btw, I’m getting a 503 error, server unavailable when I click on a sub forum, the only way I can view a thread is if it’s highlighted in the sub forum. Is there a way to contact the admins?

 

[Overdrive]

^^ I was getting the same error.

This thread is quite long, but some good info. You'll see the springs were talking about in post #412.

2020 Ram 5500 DIY Composite Panel Camper Build Thread

I have the same steps on my camper. They work great. I would consider a guard to protect the steps from debris off rear tire. Also, can you post more pictures of your sub frame and mounts. Glad to hear! Yeah, the rear fenders i am designing will incorporate a guard to protect the steps from...

expeditionportal.com

 

[Kstills]

Overdrive, much appreciated. I did start that thread, but it’s a monster. I’ll finish it now.

 

[Chuck1]

Btw, I’m getting a 503 error, server unavailable when I click on a sub forum, the only way I can view a thread is if it’s highlighted in the sub forum. Is there a way to contact the admins?

The server brain farts sometimes, just wait a min a refresh, that should fix it, i think its running wide open and cant handle the load with 1000+ people here

 

[rruff]

I was not aware of the spring system for the flatbeds.

Ya that seems most typical, else a 3 or 4 point pivoting subframe.

Here is a good example of how a stiff framed vehicle handles technical terrain (Peter_n_Margaret on ExPo). The entire vehicle acts like a solid unit except for the suspension.


And here is one with a flexible frame and a pivoting or spring mounted subframe. It looks like it's fixed in the rear and the front of the subframe moves.

 

[Kstills]

i made it through most of 5500s build thread, and it seems like what he’s done for vertical support is what I’m proposing for horizontal support. He installed Keldeman air bags to support his truck and camper build, and if they are robust enough to handle the vertical motion of all that weight I would assume they could be fabbed to handle the horizontal movement also.
I‘m suggesting this for slide in campers, where the camper will not be fastened to the truck like his. All of his suspension mods could be incorporated, but the slide in will still need more ability to travel in the truck by design. I believe that if that travel can be dampened prior to the tie downs becoming fully engaged (and potentially ripping the tie down points off the camper) these rigs might have greater freedom to explore rougher terrain, within reason.
What am I missing?

 

[Kstills]

^^ I was getting the same error.

This thread is quite long, but some good info. You'll see the springs were talking about in post #412.

2020 Ram 5500 DIY Composite Panel Camper Build Thread

I have the same steps on my camper. They work great. I would consider a guard to protect the steps from debris off rear tire. Also, can you post more pictures of your sub frame and mounts. Glad to hear! Yeah, the rear fenders i am designing will incorporate a guard to protect the steps from...

expeditionportal.com

Overdrive,
are those springs isolating the frame from the camper bed? That is pretty slick if so.

 

[rruff]

i made it through most of 5500s build thread, and it seems like what he’s done for vertical support is what I’m proposing for horizontal support. He installed Keldeman air bags to support his truck and camper build, and if they are robust enough to handle the vertical motion of all that weight I would assume they could be fabbed to handle the horizontal movement also.

Then you need steel linkages and shock absorbers as well as the airbags. Complex system.

He has the subframe resting on and constrained by the frame rails most of the time. The springs are so the subframe can remain planar (lifting off the main frame) when the main frame twists. This probably isn't a great system for high speeds on challenging terrain, but it works great for low speeds when you get crossed up.