Oh boy. -NOW a build thread

[deminimis]

Tackhead, I missed your second question. The FB is 136" at the center. It has a beveled back, so the center (main supporting structure is 136", the sides bevel to approx 130" (minus 1' once you take into account the front bevel which is 1'). In the pic, I have the camper a little over 1' from the front. This will change slightly (suspect I'll be about 2" more forward once I build the new cradle and use a piece of rubber conveyer belt for the front bumper instead of the 2+" Vestil Dock Bumper I put on there a while back). The 1' space to the front is for spare tire storage. Having a pair of 6" deep wheel wells fab'd so I can drop 6" of the wheels through the flatbed so I don't lose significant rear view vision (not that that matters when the camper in on, but for other times). The camper will also sit 1/2" lower to the flatbed than it sits now once I fab the cradle. As it sits now, the COG is well north of the rear axle and the majority of the camper is supported by the bed. Since my cab clearance is good (not too big, not too small), when I drop the camper 1/2" lower, I can afford to raise the flatbed 1". That 1" would provide a little better cab roof protection from the headache rack when using the truck for non-camp duties, and the bed would line up a bit nicer with the cab.

 

[deminimis]

Finished rerouting the abs drain pipe to exit further back (otherwise it would have been crushed by the flatbed). Discovered approx 2' of additional storage space in the basement behind a wall (thought the black tank was right behind the wall, but it was a couple of feet further back). the wall is not structural, so I'll move it and gain the space.

The truck. Installed the winch bumper, winch (16.5ti) and led lights (PIAA LP560). No pic of the finished result, but below is a pic before the lights and the finishing up of the winch. Ran into a couple of problems. First, I made connectors so I could run my LED driving lights via the factory harness (factory driving lights were halogen). Oddly enough, the lights will kick off as if they are overwhelming the circuit. I can't believe that's the issue as the LEDs should have a lower draw..by a lot. Not sure what's gong on there. I may end up wiring them through one of the upfitter switches, but I'd rather not. Other issue is a bigger one. The headlight guards interfere with the low beams...significantly. Stupid, really. Buckstop really dropped the ball when it came to this. There is plenty of room to accommodate the headlight guards and not interfere with the headlights. At least the whole guard is bolt-on, so worst case scenario is I run without a guard (which is not why I went this route). We'll see if they make it right or not.

Headlight issue is pretty obvious:

 

[deminimis]

Fab'd a pair of drop through spare wheel wells over the weekend and Monday (ran out of shielding gas as soon as I started tacking the parts together and no local welding shops are open on Saturdays...the usual deal for me).

This way I can mount two spares up against the headache rack in the wasted spare, they won't hit the headache rack light housings and I won't lose any rear vision when the camper is off. Ordered up eight pairs of M35 cargo bed springs and a whole bunch of hockey pucks for when I get time to redo the bed mounting system (probably won't have time to get it done in time for our next Baja trip, but we'll be staying on the road this time). Raising the bed 1" from its current height in the process.

 

[Darwin]

Are you worried about not having USLD in Baja?

 

[deminimis]

Not overly. We have 77 gal tanks for that reason. For a short period (2 tanks at most), we'll be fine. Word is there's ULSD in Baja Norte. I've never seen it myself, but other Baja types swear it's there. So, if that's the case, it will be even less of a concern as we'll fill before we cross into Sur and not really planning on driving our rig around once we arrive where we're going.

 

[deminimis]

Finally bought a Hypertherm plasma cutter. A life of using cutoff wheels and Sawzall are behind me. Figured with the spare well cutouts, removing current flatbed mounts and cutting away some of the rear flatbed skirt so I can install a SuperHitch, it was time for a new tool.

 

[ripperj]

I need a plasma cutter to, I sold off my welding gear last year, it was overkill for what I need and took up too much room. Just picked up a Fabricator 181, neat little mig, tig, stick machine
Have fun with the Hypertherm , don't get too carried away

 

[deminimis]

I little more test fitting. When done reworking the flatbed and camper base, the camper will be between 1/2"-3/4" higher than it sits now. Looks to be a good fit (even through it was a crooked pic).

Lockpick arrived this week. Still waiting on front and rear cameras to arrive.
I'm still waiting on the damn grill guard that doesn't block the projector beam headlights.

 

[deminimis]

Hopefully the flatbed you have won't have the high mounted tail lamps on it at the back of the cab - those crazy things will reflect off the back of the camper at night and get really annoying while driving.

Holy smokes. I was moving the combo around last night. When those led backup lights on the headache rack reflect off the camper, it's like a bomb is going off in the cab. When it's just the driving lights reflecting off the camper, the cab has a nice red glow inside (makes you want to put on some fusion jazz -boom chicka wow wow). I was going to try and get fancy and use one of the upfitter switches to turn all the headache rack lights off, but I'll probably just go low tech and use duct tape and cover them up when I'm hauling the camper. I could unplug them, but I'm already getting the occasional bulb out message due to the low draw of the leds (in fact, I'm adding another incandescent license plate light to hopefully deal with the occasional bulb out message).

 

[deminimis]

I need a plasma cutter to, I sold off my welding gear last year, it was overkill for what I need and took up too much room. Just picked up a Fabricator 181, neat little mig, tig, stick machine
Have fun with the Hypertherm , don't get too carried away

I'd like to get a tig someday, but my good ol' trusty Lincoln buzz box and miller mig handle most everything I do (although it seems I spend more time unjamming the spool gun when welding alumn than I do welding).

 

[Capt Eddie]

Nerf steps, front mud flaps, propane box and door cut down so not to interferr with the flat bed. First test fit of the camper on the new truck.

A cat eye bolt installed in one of the holes of your swing out bracket. Then install a plate or directly mounted to the bed just above the round clearance light. This gets the anchor out of the way of your boxes.

 

[deminimis]

I need a plasma cutter to, I sold off my welding gear last year, it was overkill for what I need and took up too much room. Just picked up a Fabricator 181, neat little mig, tig, stick machine
Have fun with the Hypertherm , don't get too carried away

Unless you have a child that needs life saving surgery that is not covered by insurance and your finances are tapped as a result, run, don't walk, to your nearest welding shop and get a plasma cutter. How I survived this long without one is beyond me. Greatest invention ever.

 

[trackhead]

So what's the advantage of a Fuso over your rig that has probably more comfortable seating, way more HP/torque, etc? Why is the Fuso platform so popular? The GVWR is higher, but what else?

I'm asking you because I imagine you thought about all of the above..........and I'd like to have a setup similar to yours, but with a slightly smaller camper.

 

[deminimis]

Funny you should ask. I'm not disparaging Fuso's by any means, but they just didn't pencil out for me. First, and perhaps things have changed, you could not get a crew 4x4 in the US. A crew cab was key for us (as is 4x4). Thus, it's the aftermarket world to make a Fuso crew into a 4x4. I checked the prices on that once, and whoa daddy! Second, this bad boy comes in with a 19,500 GVWR. Many of the Fusos I looked at were less (in the 16k range). I assume Fuso has a 19,500 GVWR Class 5 rig, but I don't recall seeing one when I was looking before. Fusos (crew cab) aren't always the easiest thing to find when shopping for one (not a huge deal, but a deal). The Ram's frame is 50k PSI, whereas Fuso's are 50K+, if I recall (so Fuso gets the nod there, though not a big difference). More creature comforts with the Ram (depending on packages). Finally, I need something other than a single purpose rig. Hard for me to imagine driving a Canter to pick up kids at school, grab some milk at Safeway, or drive to work for that matter. I've done all this and more with the Ram (heck even took one kid and her date to dinner before their school dance -No, I did not mount my shotgun in a rack in the truck for that....but I thought about it). In other words, the Ram could be, theoretically, a daily driver. When I feel like driving in luxury, I take the Ram (much more fun than my daily driver Corolla). I'd never do that with a Fuso. I also recall when looking at Fusos before that the power and mileage where not something that would make me go that route based solely on those factors (I can't recall exactly, and it doesn't really matter, but I recall thinking the Fuso was light in the shorts, but that wasn't reflected in the mileage). That said, my de-tuned and urea drinking Ram gets pretty poor mileage right now. Once broken in, and off the Winter diesel, I hope to see some improvement. Once the warranty expires, then it will really sing. Another factor is aftermarket. Although there is never enough, there is plenty of aftermarket stuff for the Ram. Fuso? There's some, but not nearly as much. Finally (although I'm guessing I could come up with some more things if pressed), if I need a fuel filter, oil filter, whatever, I'm going to find it down at the local Napa. Perhaps Fuso service parts are readily available, but I'm guessing Ram goodies are easier to find here. Not driving to Patagonia or through Africa, so no concerns about Ram parts availability. I guess that's it in a nutshell.

 

[trackhead]

Thanks for the summary.

We currently use our truck camper about 8-10 nights per month with our three year old, and might upgrade next year (maybe) to something a little bigger. Easy to justify it because we have so much free time and travel for work/live nomadic more or less.