Jack's 2007 Chevy Build

[Mundo4x4Casa]

Jack, I like your choices, all of them. Your fine pictures were very revealing on what a great package this has turned out to be. The idea was to make a bulletproof camper on a bulletproof truck platform, which will survive in 3rd world countries over any road surface, season, or weather and it looks like you have done just that. I'm not worried a bit about the, 'period of adjustment' with the rig. With something this specialized, all encompassing, and outside the box, there are bound to be small and large glitches; basically annoyances that rear their ugly heads. I'm still happy with the 315x75R16 Cooper AT3's.
On a personal note, I had a total reverse shoulder replacement 4 weeks ago (love all those titanium parts) and can finally ditch the immobilizer and get on with the 11 more months of P.T. The sports medicine man said I was a great candidate for this procedure. I won't be hoisting myself up into the camper anytime soon, but dream of the day we leave on our 4 month, around the US, clockwise road trip, staying within 200 miles of the borders and oceans and camping ON every beach that will allow vehicles, staying at campgrounds, and occasionally city stealth: Sept. 1st to New Year's day.
Bravo, Jack, you da man, especially in this era when all men are worthless.
jefe

 

[IdaSHO]

Guess its been a while since I checked on this thread.

Looks awesome Jack! You should be very happy with the new setup!

 

[locrwln]

Jack, I like your choices, all of them. Your fine pictures were very revealing on what a great package this has turned out to be. The idea was to make a bulletproof camper on a bulletproof truck platform, which will survive in 3rd world countries over any road surface, season, or weather and it looks like you have done just that. I'm not worried a bit about the, 'period of adjustment' with the rig. With something this specialized, all encompassing, and outside the box, there are bound to be small and large glitches; basically annoyances that rear their ugly heads. I'm still happy with the 315x75R16 Cooper AT3's.
On a personal note, I had a total reverse shoulder replacement 4 weeks ago (love all those titanium parts) and can finally ditch the immobilizer and get on with the 11 more months of P.T. The sports medicine man said I was a great candidate for this procedure. I won't be hoisting myself up into the camper anytime soon, but dream of the day we leave on our 4 month, around the US, clockwise road trip, staying within 200 miles of the borders and oceans and camping ON every beach that will allow vehicles, staying at campgrounds, and occasionally city stealth: Sept. 1st to New Year's day.
Bravo, Jack, you da man, especially in this era when all men are worthless.
jefe

Thank you very much. I appreciate it and am glad that my goal and focus is seen by others. Like you, I have built a lot of vehicles over the years and they all require some "honeymoon" time after the build and I am going through that now. Nothing major and it did great on the 3800 mile round trip, but just have to finish dialing everything in. It's time for an oil and fuel filter as well as a drain/refill of the T-case and power steering. That should have the truck as ready as I can.

Glad to hear that you still like the AT3's. Buying tires is a very stressful decision for me as I probably overthink them too much. These gave me almost everything I was looking for. I would have liked the ST Maxx to be made in this size/load rating, but I also covered a lot of miles in Nitto Terra Grapplers, which have an even milder tread, so I'm sure these will serve me well. I really like the load rating and 60k tread wear rating.

Good luck on the recovery. When people tell you shoulder surgery and recovery is no joke, they are not kidding. I have been told that it will take a full year before I am fully recovered. I am done with the PT portion and I can lift within reason at this point, but I am probably at 70% after 5 months post surgery.

Sounds like a great trip! Safe and fun travels. Looking forward to your updates.

I don't know about that, but I appreciate the compliment.

Jack

 

[locrwln]

Guess its been a while since I checked on this thread.

Looks awesome Jack! You should be very happy with the new setup!

Yeah, I've been a little busy.

Thank you and I am. It's been fun and interesting figuring out where everything is going to live in the camper and truck.

Jack

 

[locrwln]

Last of the big changes done today.
Got the tires installed.

I was only able to take it on a short drive, but even my wife noticed that they are smoother and ride better than the ST Maxx's. By the way, the Ford steel rims and 285/75R17 ST Maxx's weighed 105lbs and the Ford forged aluminum and 285/75R18 Discoverer AT3 XLT weigh 85lbs. So that was a nice weight savings. I know I could tell the difference while moving them around and dismounting/mounting them.

Jack

 

[Pacific Northwest yetti]

Jack
She is Beautiful!!

 

[spacer]

Wait... so it hasn't 'sploded yet... killing MILLIONS??? Wow... who'da'thunk!

Nice rig, man. I have a 2004 Burb with 210,000 miles on the clock so far, and still solid.

 

[1stDeuce]

Looks great Jack!! Just curious if you know if it'll fit in a container for shipping around the Panama Canal... OR can you ship RORO for that trip now?

It's funny that the size tire you wanted isn't made in an ST/Maxx but is in AT/3 and the size I want isn't made in AT/3 but is in the Maxx... I do like the AT/3's we have on the wife's Rodeo and on my baby dump truck now... Great tires, and plenty stout without being too heavy...

Hope you enjoy your "honeymoon".

 

[locrwln]

Jack
She is Beautiful!!

Thank you!

Jack

 

[locrwln]

Wait... so it hasn't 'sploded yet... killing MILLIONS??? Wow... who'da'thunk!

Nice rig, man. I have a 2004 Burb with 210,000 miles on the clock so far, and still solid.

Thank you for the compliments. Both of my In-Laws have GMT800's with over 200k that are still running strong and trouble free.

Jack

 

[Pacific Northwest yetti]

mine is 250k going strong.

It should fit in a high cube-

• 
  INSIDE LENGTH: 12.024 m
• INSIDE WIDTH: 2.350 m
• INSIDE HEIGHT: 2.697 m
• DOOR WIDTH: 2.340 m
• DOOR HEIGHT: 2.597 m
• CAPACITY: 76 m3
• TARE WEIGHT: 4020 Kgs
• MAX CARGO WEIGHT: 26460 Kgs

https://www.searates.com/reference/equipment/3/

just a little over 7.5 feet wide, and 8.84 feet tall.

 

[locrwln]

Looks great Jack!! Just curious if you know if it'll fit in a container for shipping around the Panama Canal... OR can you ship RORO for that trip now?

It's funny that the size tire you wanted isn't made in an ST/Maxx but is in AT/3 and the size I want isn't made in AT/3 but is in the Maxx... I do like the AT/3's we have on the wife's Rodeo and on my baby dump truck now... Great tires, and plenty stout without being too heavy...

Hope you enjoy your "honeymoon".

Thank you. And no container for me. When I was in the design phase for my own build, being able to put it in a "high cube" container, was one of my criteria. Unfortunately, that ship sailed... A high cube container door opening is 8'3.75" tall and I ended up at 9'3" (112") tall. I talked to a swiss couple who had a hardwall camper on a 70 series about shipping and they actually remove the camper portion and load each component into the container (yeah, he spends several hours separating and re-joining everything at the port). I thought about doing that with this setup and was going to pack the lifting jacks with me to do the same thing, but after talking with the Wescott's and a couple of other people who RORO; RORO it is. It's a little more expensive to ship RORO, but I think separating the two components is a crap ton of work and isn't worth the hassle. RORO is available for the CA to SA.

I agree. I even called Cooper to see if something was in the works for the ST Maxx, but they said nothing is in the pipeline for an ST Maxx in this size (of course, we'll see the announcement any day now...). So far, I am liking them and I hope they serve me well.

Me too, we are looking forward to getting it out and trying it.

Jack

 

[locrwln]

mine is 250k going strong.

It should fit in a high cube-

• 
  INSIDE LENGTH: 12.024 m
• INSIDE WIDTH: 2.350 m
• INSIDE HEIGHT: 2.697 m
• DOOR WIDTH: 2.340 m
• DOOR HEIGHT: 2.597 m
• CAPACITY: 76 m3
• TARE WEIGHT: 4020 Kgs
• MAX CARGO WEIGHT: 26460 Kgs

https://www.searates.com/reference/equipment/3/

just a little over 7.5 feet wide, and 8.84 feet tall.

I saw your brother's acrobatic/contortionist efforts to get out of the truck once it's in the container, not sure I want to do that.

Jack

 

[Pacific Northwest yetti]

I saw your brother's acrobatic/contortionist efforts to get out of the truck once it's in the container, not sure I want to do that.

Jack

haha right!?!? I dont know if I physically could- he is smaller than I am, im at 220ibs and 5ft 9in.

RoRO will work fine im sure! Will you be doing any type of thread, or blog for the trip?

 

[NORDFORD]

I just read your whole thread and all I can say is WOW. Great choices, great details, great pics. I’m jealous.