Holy Expedition truck!!!

[LandCruiserPhil]

I wheeled with Chris & Anne(owners of Campa) a couple of months ago and had a chance to go over the new cad drawings for the full size version. It will made of all aluminum verses the SS like the mini. It will be a drop in design and his setups are all modular so you can purchase it in parts. They manufacture everything down to the RRT in house. Very nice products indeed. The camp kitchen is my favorite, it took a beating on a dusty trail and was good as new at dinner time.

 

[heeltoe989]

I wheeled with Chris & Anne(owners of Campa) a couple of months ago and had a chance to go over the new cad drawings for the full size version. It will made of all aluminum verses the SS like the mini. It will be a drop in design and his setups are all modular so you can purchase it in parts. They manufacture everything down to the RRT in house. Very nice products indeed. The camp kitchen is my favorite, it took a beating on a dusty trail and was good as new at dinner time.

Very cool.

 

[4Rescue]

The thing I don't get about these kinds of build-ups is, why use a compact truck? It seems to me that the primary advantage of a compact truck over a full-size truck is that the compact is likely to be a bit more economical to run (i.e. better MPG.) Of course, by the time you load a thousand pounds worth of gear, jack the suspension up and put on big tires, you have lost the one advantage that the small truck offers because all of those things will cause your MPG to plummet.

I suppose a smaller "footprint" may allow you to go on more restricted trails but the difference in footprint size between an 05+ Taco and a full size Ford, Chevy, Dodge or Tundra seems minimal, at best.

So it seems to me that unless your purpose is just to show what you can do with a Tacoma, why not just use a full size truck, which is stronger, has a more powerful engine, superior payload, and is more rugged overall? I would think that something like a Ford or Dodge heavy duty truck with a diesel engine and solid front axle would probably be a much better expedition platform and probably consume about the same amount of fuel as this built up Taco.

Two things...

A) I don't think "fullsized" trucks are very readily available in SA like they are here in the states (unless the builders are from the states and I'm just out of wack)

B) One of the main concerns with Expedition trucks is durability and reliability... Two things Domestic full-sizes don't have. I'd say yes to a Tundra based build (but it wasn't out at the time these guy's started the build I don't belive) but I'd take a "compact/midsized" toyota over any 3500/350 Domestic any day. While the Diesel's are nice, that doesn't really help when everything else on your truck is falling appart...

And calling one of the big three "more rugged" than ANY Toy 4x4 is just plain wrong. I've seen 2wd 3.0 Auto Toyotas driven everyday with thousands of pounds of crap in the back, and then in the same day you can read about a Ford that puked a tranny after 10k... is that really what you want to call Rugged??

Hence the Totota... Plus, this can be marketed world wide seeing as the majority of the world uses these "smaller payload" truck as their heavy duty work trucks...

 

[Dave Bennett]

:bigbossHL: :rockon: :costumed-smiley-007

:drool: :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool:

 

[heeltoe989]

Two things...

A) I don't think "fullsized" trucks are very readily available in SA like they are here in the states (unless the builders are from the states and I'm just out of wack)

B) One of the main concerns with Expedition trucks is durability and reliability... Two things Domestic full-sizes don't have. I'd say yes to a Tundra based build (but it wasn't out at the time these guy's started the build I don't belive) but I'd take a "compact/midsized" toyota over any 3500/350 Domestic any day. While the Diesel's are nice, that doesn't really help when everything else on your truck is falling appart...

And calling one of the big three "more rugged" than ANY Toy 4x4 is just plain wrong. I've seen 2wd 3.0 Auto Toyotas driven everyday with thousands of pounds of crap in the back, and then in the same day you can read about a Ford that puked a tranny after 10k... is that really what you want to call Rugged??

Hence the Totota... Plus, this can be marketed world wide seeing as the majority of the world uses these "smaller payload" truck as their heavy duty work trucks...

I totally agree.

Another thing also to consider about full size trucks is they don't fit that well if all in ship containers because of the width if them, and if you take you truck to another country such as I am in a couple of years to Australia. My 06 double cab fits great in a container but my friends ford F350 doesn't. An older tundra might, but I haven't tried it.

Now I'm not sure if the truck in question would fit in a container, but by the looks of it it would ( without the roof top tent and case up top )

 

[4Rescue]

Two things...

A) I don't think "fullsized" trucks are very readily available in SA like they are here in the states (unless the builders are from the states and I'm just out of wack)

And it appears I am ot of whack, they are from the US, Oops...

 

[haven]

full size

You may have trouble fitting an F350 into a standard home garage, but it should fit without difficulty into a shipping container.

The standard shipping container has a door opening that's about 92 inches wide. The 2008 Ford F350 SRW is 80 inches wide without the mirrors. So the truck width should be no problem. Getting out of the shipping container after driving the truck inside is another story!

The standard shipping container's height is about 90 inches. The F350 4x4 is about 80 inches tall. Again, no problem.

It seems to me that today's "mid-size" pickups like the current Tacoma and the Dodge Dakota are as large as late-1990's full-size pickups. Today's full-size trucks are massively large, especially considering their carrying capacity. Bring back the compact truck!

Chip Haven

 

[heeltoe989]

You may have trouble fitting an F350 into a standard home garage, but it should fit without difficulty into a shipping container.

The standard shipping container has a door opening that's about 92 inches wide. The 2008 Ford F350 SRW is 80 inches wide without the mirrors. So the truck width should be no problem. Getting out of the shipping container after driving the truck inside is another story!

The standard shipping container's height is about 90 inches. The F350 4x4 is about 80 inches tall. Again, no problem.

It seems to me that today's "mid-size" pickups like the current Tacoma and the Dodge Dakota are as large as late-1990's full-size pickups. Today's full-size trucks are massively large, especially considering their carrying capacity. Bring back the compact truck!

Chip Haven

It looks like it would be a tight fit for sure, adding a even mild lift 3" 4" and tires would get you pretty close to the roof. You wouldn't be able to have any racks on a canopy you'd even have to watch what type of canopy you wanted if any.

 

[4Rescue]

It seems to me that today's "mid-size" pickups like the current Tacoma and the Dodge Dakota are as large as late-1990's full-size pickups. Today's full-size trucks are massively large, especially considering their carrying capacity. Bring back the compact truck!

Chip Haven

Yeah, literaly every single review of every single new car or model re-do, the first lines on the page are something akin to how said vehicle has "grown" in wheelbase and overall width...

First off, Vehicles don't grow, they are not plants, and second off, are there any smaller rigs replacing them??? Not in this country...

Kind of Lame IMO. Toyota used to make small trail-rig worthy trucks, Ford is getting ready to dump the Ranger, and like you said, the Colorado and Dakota arenearly the size of 80/90's full-sizes... We need small vehicles to make a comeback. Life hasn't changed much in the last hundred years, if I didn't need to take it with me then I still don't need to take it with me now...

 

[heeltoe989]

Yeah, literaly every single review of every single new car or model re-do, the first lines on the page are something akin to how said vehicle has "grown" in wheelbase and overall width...

First off, Vehicles don't grow, they are not plants, and second off, are there any smaller rigs replacing them??? Not in this country...

Kind of Lame IMO. Toyota used to make small trail-rig worthy trucks, Ford is getting ready to dump the Ranger, and like you said, the Colorado and Dakota arenearly the size of 80/90's full-sizes... We need small vehicles to make a comeback. Life hasn't changed much in the last hundred years, if I didn't need to take it with me then I still don't need to take it with me now...

I agree, I have friends that have full size truck as there daily driver and they have no use for a truck at all. In my case I didn't need a full size truck and I don't really fit that well in smaller trucks, like the previous gen Tacoma. I'm glad the Tacoma got bigger cause it fits my family and lifestyle to a T. I haven't found a truck that works harder for work and play and hasn't miss a beat. Trucks like the Colorado are too small in every dimension for me and my family.

I can see your point, but I love the fact that the Tacoma got bigger. I've always wanted a Tacoma but couldn't because they where too small for me. 05+ Gen is the perfect size for me. :wings:

 

[kcowyo]

You may have trouble fitting an F350 into a standard home garage, but it should fit without difficulty into a shipping container.

The standard shipping container has a door opening that's about 92 inches wide. The 2008 Ford F350 SRW is 80 inches wide without the mirrors. So the truck width should be no problem. Getting out of the shipping container after driving the truck inside is another story!

The standard shipping container's height is about 90 inches. The F350 4x4 is about 80 inches tall. Again, no problem.

Chip Haven

And didn't Mark/OutbacKamper ship his F350 with a FWC on the back to Australia from Canada?

The only detriment I've seen with a full size on the trail vs. a mid size is sometimes on an incline seeing over the hood of a full size is like trying to see over Kansas. When on the trail in a fullsize you just kind of accept that you're going to get some brush pinstriping. I've seen Goodtimes do some tough trails in his ol' Dodge w/ a Cummins.

On topic, the Campa truck is a neat concept but I've never liked that giant RTT they use. Aesthetically it just isn't as pleasing as the rest of the module they designed. But definitely a neat concept.

 

[Nullifier]

The problem I see with this vehicle and the one built by Adventure Trailers at the request of a customer is that they are dedicated expedition rigs. Wouldn't it be more practical to build the camping equipment as a removable module that would sit on a flatbed? Then you could use the truck during the week for work, and on the weekends for camping.Chip Haven

The main difference between the way the campa and the adventure system work is that the adventure unit is bolted to the chassis. The campa unit is sitting on top of a flat bed. You can unlatch the kitchen box and main bin to allow use as a normal pick up. The fender boxes stay on but they work as the equal to bed sides. This process takes about 20 minutes to convert. So there you go the campa is as you describe.