New Expedition Camper - Overland Explorer
- Thread starter HowardH
- Start date
Just read about your truck and it is very similar to what we run (- the camper was doing some research and came up with yours)
How do you like your camper?
Do you sleep with four people often?
We are planning a 6-12 month trip and our trying to sort out a new or keep what we have setup.
We run the same tires and have gotten about 40,000 km out of a set (on second set now) got 65,000 on another truck with the stock continental both truck tow almost everyday at max gcwr (37500 lbs)
Going to order the crossfire tire system where did you get it? I did a bit of searching a few years ago and only came up with an auto system that cost 6k.
I have 4:88 gears and get about 31 litres per 100k (almost 12 mpg) at average weight 22,000 lbs truck and trailer
How do you find the storage in your camper?
In ours we have a lot of storage but the sleeping sucks we. I also can’t stand up in the camper without being hunched over
Trying to decide on what to do for suspension thinking the same just redo rear springs and change the shocks
I have a 2” front spacer in and I like the ride with the camper could be just a bit softer and get rid of the over loads was thinking of taking a few leafs out of the spring pack and putting a airbag in to gain the extra lift but still be soft or just go full air ride but may not work well with such a tall heavy truck. (‘I had a 2006 3500 with air bags in it and the truck swayed really bad with the camper had a 1999 2500 rode like a dream with the camper but mechanical over loads. Have had both and want to make good better.
Have you had many rocks wedged in the tires yet?
Last winter we had lots of snow and I aired the tires down and parked the truck in deep snow and the snow froze the inside two tires beads got popped off and got destroyed going down the hyw the next day which sucked b/c these tires are Special order here. Have had a few flats with them make sure you have two jacks with you unless you have a rim puller to get the rims off the truck (have had a heck of a time trying to get them off found that using a jack works good)
How do you like your camper?
Do you sleep with four people often?
We are planning a 6-12 month trip and our trying to sort out a new or keep what we have setup.
We run the same tires and have gotten about 40,000 km out of a set (on second set now) got 65,000 on another truck with the stock continental both truck tow almost everyday at max gcwr (37500 lbs)
Going to order the crossfire tire system where did you get it? I did a bit of searching a few years ago and only came up with an auto system that cost 6k.
I have 4:88 gears and get about 31 litres per 100k (almost 12 mpg) at average weight 22,000 lbs truck and trailer
How do you find the storage in your camper?
In ours we have a lot of storage but the sleeping sucks we. I also can’t stand up in the camper without being hunched over
Trying to decide on what to do for suspension thinking the same just redo rear springs and change the shocks
I have a 2” front spacer in and I like the ride with the camper could be just a bit softer and get rid of the over loads was thinking of taking a few leafs out of the spring pack and putting a airbag in to gain the extra lift but still be soft or just go full air ride but may not work well with such a tall heavy truck. (‘I had a 2006 3500 with air bags in it and the truck swayed really bad with the camper had a 1999 2500 rode like a dream with the camper but mechanical over loads. Have had both and want to make good better.
Have you had many rocks wedged in the tires yet?
Last winter we had lots of snow and I aired the tires down and parked the truck in deep snow and the snow froze the inside two tires beads got popped off and got destroyed going down the hyw the next day which sucked b/c these tires are Special order here. Have had a few flats with them make sure you have two jacks with you unless you have a rim puller to get the rims off the truck (have had a heck of a time trying to get them off found that using a jack works good)Easyshell, I have been busy and just saw your post. I will attempt to answer.
I love my camper, its fantastic. I have only a couple times slept with four people. It handles four just fine.
I got the crossfire from Donley Enterprises, eddonley@twinvalley.net You must predecide your tire pressure because the crossfire come set at a specific pressure.
I have no idea how you get 12mpg, I don't get that with just the camper. When towing my boat 8600lbs for an all up weight of about 24,000 lbs it drops to around 9mpg.
Storage is the campers Achilles heel. It is very limited in storage. I have the pass-through under the dinette that is taken up by the outdoor kitchen. I have storage for smaller items in the under flatbed boxes. However for example there is no place to store a generator, ice chest, or fold up awning.
I am satisfied with the ride. Its a heavy duty truck but on maintained surfaces I can't complain.
I have had one rock lodged in the duels. The more I drive it the more convinced I become that it's much ado about nothing.
No flats yet. No rim puller. With the tires I am within capacity running singles in the rear. I see it as I have two spares stored on the rear axle. I do carry a bottle jack, a high powered battery powered Milwaukee impact wrench and a torque wrench. The 19.5 Toyos are extremely tough. Getting flats isn't something I worry about.
I love my camper, its fantastic. I have only a couple times slept with four people. It handles four just fine.
I got the crossfire from Donley Enterprises, eddonley@twinvalley.net You must predecide your tire pressure because the crossfire come set at a specific pressure.
I have no idea how you get 12mpg, I don't get that with just the camper. When towing my boat 8600lbs for an all up weight of about 24,000 lbs it drops to around 9mpg.
Storage is the campers Achilles heel. It is very limited in storage. I have the pass-through under the dinette that is taken up by the outdoor kitchen. I have storage for smaller items in the under flatbed boxes. However for example there is no place to store a generator, ice chest, or fold up awning.
I am satisfied with the ride. Its a heavy duty truck but on maintained surfaces I can't complain.
I have had one rock lodged in the duels. The more I drive it the more convinced I become that it's much ado about nothing.
No flats yet. No rim puller. With the tires I am within capacity running singles in the rear. I see it as I have two spares stored on the rear axle. I do carry a bottle jack, a high powered battery powered Milwaukee impact wrench and a torque wrench. The 19.5 Toyos are extremely tough. Getting flats isn't something I worry about.
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Returned from Overland Explorer yesterday. I had driven my camper up last weekend so Overland could have it for a couple of small issues and finalize some work I had put off until I could use the camper for a few months. I will post some pics tomorrow.
One thing we needed to get done was the fenders. When my camper was built my intention was to go with super singles. I have since decided to stick with duels. Therefore my fenders needed some modification. That is now done.
I had a couple of minor issues with the camper; a small leak on the fresh water and what turned out to be a bad temperature sensor on the inverter. Both promptly fixed at no cost to me.
Also added some tracking to secure items on the back of the camper. Pics to follow.
Leave for Alaska on the 10th.
One thing we needed to get done was the fenders. When my camper was built my intention was to go with super singles. I have since decided to stick with duels. Therefore my fenders needed some modification. That is now done.
I had a couple of minor issues with the camper; a small leak on the fresh water and what turned out to be a bad temperature sensor on the inverter. Both promptly fixed at no cost to me.
Also added some tracking to secure items on the back of the camper. Pics to follow.
Leave for Alaska on the 10th.
Update on the 265/70R19.5 tires. The fronts are showing abnormal wear on the sides. I think it's a combination of not perfectly balanced plus they are mounted on wheels that are too narrow for them.
I discussed with my local tire store and we agreed that I should just to run even less pressure in the fronts. I have dropped from 70 to 60 and that is where I will start my trip. I do carry an infrared temp gauge and will watch my temps. I can always add air. Sure ride smoother at 60 psi!!
I have been running the rears at 60 and they appear to be wearing even.
I discussed with my local tire store and we agreed that I should just to run even less pressure in the fronts. I have dropped from 70 to 60 and that is where I will start my trip. I do carry an infrared temp gauge and will watch my temps. I can always add air. Sure ride smoother at 60 psi!!
I have been running the rears at 60 and they appear to be wearing even.
java
Expedition Leader
From my online research the solid axle ford's eat the outsides of the front tires. (mine is doing it too) The dually front ends do it worse as they have a larger scrub radius.
Too high of pressure should result in more wear in the center, not the edges.
Shoot me a PM, I have the load/inflation table from toyo, you can find their recommend pressure for your axle weights.
Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
True, however I have been told that the too narrow rim is creating an exception, by squeezing out the center, and should be taken into consideration when evaluating the tire wear.
Fact is at 70 psi on a flat surface I could see daylight under the very edges of the tread, right where the wear is occuring.
Sigh, everything is a trade off.
java
Expedition Leader
Hang on, daylight?! And your still getting edge wear (where its not touching?). The pinch on them is definitely doing weird things.
EDIT: and I looked at the load table.... doesn't go that low of weight for your size! I would drop some more pressure.
java
Expedition Leader
OK went and dug back through all the pics.
Take a look at these.
Current rear pressure, no contact at the outside edge (on flat ground it appears)
And at 35psi rear (from earlier) edges are down.
Front should be similar, the loads on the tires are close.... I would say drop a bit more....
Take a look at these.
Current rear pressure, no contact at the outside edge (on flat ground it appears)
And at 35psi rear (from earlier) edges are down.
Front should be similar, the loads on the tires are close.... I would say drop a bit more....
I guess I should do my math a bit better 31 litres per 100 is about 8 miles per gallon....
I ran a the first set of Toyos on my truck and they wore fine front and rear and I ran them on factory rims (supposedly to narrow) I am on the second set now and I get all kinds of weird wear on the front first pic is drivers side noticed out side edge was wearing took truck into dealer to get alignment checked and ball joints
They said everything good they rotated the tires and said all is fine (looked like 2nd pic then) less than 5000 km later the tire is almost bald they say nothing wrong. It's the tires Pic 1
Then one day the truck starts changing lanes by itself and I take it in again and the front wheel bearing is toast. Cause of bad wear The second pic is the passenger side and it looks to be wearing fine just way faster than the rears though. This set of tires has about 20,000 km on them and one is done other 65% and rears look brand new I run my fronts at 65-70 psi and rears at 70 (most days I have 5000-6000 lbs of weight on it) and tow 30,000 lbs .
I have read that these (rams) have bad alignments from factory but I got good even wear on my first set but not the second the fronts have worn way faster than the rears this time
The only thing that I can think of the fronts not wearing the same this time is mabey the tires are from different batches of rubber???
I ran a the first set of Toyos on my truck and they wore fine front and rear and I ran them on factory rims (supposedly to narrow) I am on the second set now and I get all kinds of weird wear on the front first pic is drivers side noticed out side edge was wearing took truck into dealer to get alignment checked and ball joints
They said everything good they rotated the tires and said all is fine (looked like 2nd pic then) less than 5000 km later the tire is almost bald they say nothing wrong. It's the tires Pic 1
Then one day the truck starts changing lanes by itself and I take it in again and the front wheel bearing is toast. Cause of bad wear The second pic is the passenger side and it looks to be wearing fine just way faster than the rears though. This set of tires has about 20,000 km on them and one is done other 65% and rears look brand new I run my fronts at 65-70 psi and rears at 70 (most days I have 5000-6000 lbs of weight on it) and tow 30,000 lbs .
I have read that these (rams) have bad alignments from factory but I got good even wear on my first set but not the second the fronts have worn way faster than the rears this time
The only thing that I can think of the fronts not wearing the same this time is mabey the tires are from different batches of rubber???