JayGarlido
Member
New to the forums here. My 2006 Six Pac D650 sitting on a 1999 F250 7.3 powerstroke.
Post Pics of Your Hard Side Camper!
- Thread starter greg mgm
- Start date
We sold our F350 with Northern Lite and I've been building this over the summer:
...still a lot to do but it is coming together.
Quite clear you have way too much free time on your hands.
Looks awesome. Did you build the slideouts?
Netherlands? Sweden? Norway? Iceland?Here is my new camper.View attachment 715844
Tony Shelton
New member
It's called "Toshab1". Thats the Hebrew word for "Sojourner". That's what we do. We Soujourn.
It's a never ending project.
Currently:
2017 F-550 with CM flatbed
Fox 2.5 all around. Sulastic Shackles on the back.
Front Sway bar delete
Weight loss with Pusher pipes, intake, Fleece Cheetah turbo and custom tune
Continental 335/80/20 w/DBL supersingle Wheels (bead balanced)
External Tpms
120v higher volume compressor onboard.
1600ah Lifepo4 on the bed pigtails to the batteries in the camper (400ah - total 2000ah.
200amp service panel with multiple 30 amp service to power up to two other campers in the group.
1500w rooftop solar
12v charging from alternator (2)
Welder onboard
Blue ox jeep tow setup
16,500 front Warn Winch
Camper
2016 Eagle Cap 1200 Triple Slide
400ah Battleborns wired to run everything except AC and Coffee maker.(those run off the truck bank)
Cali King bed
Remote monitored camera system w/9 cameras all around
Permanently installed rooftop Starlink
Cell Booster
9000btu Mini Split AC with heat pump
Factory furnace that can be directed to only the truck battery bank, or to supplement cabin heat.
Ventless blue flame propane heater
Diesel heater (spare for emergencies)
Custom additional windows.
66 gallons onboard water
35/35 black and gray tanks with 16 gallon emergency poop tow.
Gray water filtration
Water filtration
Bidet.....handheld. It works.
Microwave/Convection Instantpot, Keurig, Blackstone
4 standard propane tanks.
(Everything can run without propane except for the tanked water heater and the fire pit. We kept propane because we use the firepit a LOT)
It has the same ground clearance as an Earthroamer, with the same approach angle and a better departure angle.
Camper weighs 7000 lbs.
Total wet weight for a month or two out is 19,700lbs
Height 13' 4"
We can go indefinitely without plugging into shore power. 5 days with limited or no sun while running the AC at least 6 hrs per day. With summer sun the AC can run all day and recoup every morning with solar.
We've crawled rocks, shelves, sand, mud, run interstates, washboard roads, and steeply banked Baja 1000 tracked roads. Most of our heavy cargo is low so we've been able to survive a max side tilt of 22 degrees on the Jeep tilt app and 19 degrees on the Ford dash tilt monitor.
Have never gotten stuck, so far. But have pulled a lot of people out.
It's an ongoing thing. Plan to install a custom designed water filtration system and cut some steel off the bed and shed some other weight to install an extra water tank and an additional underbody black tank that will both run empty most of the time but will allow us to stay out 21-28 days without coming in. Currently we are at 10-14 days. Also trying to figure out a lightweight campsite leveling solution.
Anyway, a lot of the inspiration for this came from this forum. Thank you!!
It's a never ending project.
Currently:
2017 F-550 with CM flatbed
Fox 2.5 all around. Sulastic Shackles on the back.
Front Sway bar delete
Weight loss with Pusher pipes, intake, Fleece Cheetah turbo and custom tune
Continental 335/80/20 w/DBL supersingle Wheels (bead balanced)
External Tpms
120v higher volume compressor onboard.
1600ah Lifepo4 on the bed pigtails to the batteries in the camper (400ah - total 2000ah.
200amp service panel with multiple 30 amp service to power up to two other campers in the group.
1500w rooftop solar
12v charging from alternator (2)
Welder onboard
Blue ox jeep tow setup
16,500 front Warn Winch
Camper
2016 Eagle Cap 1200 Triple Slide
400ah Battleborns wired to run everything except AC and Coffee maker.(those run off the truck bank)
Cali King bed
Remote monitored camera system w/9 cameras all around
Permanently installed rooftop Starlink
Cell Booster
9000btu Mini Split AC with heat pump
Factory furnace that can be directed to only the truck battery bank, or to supplement cabin heat.
Ventless blue flame propane heater
Diesel heater (spare for emergencies)
Custom additional windows.
66 gallons onboard water
35/35 black and gray tanks with 16 gallon emergency poop tow.
Gray water filtration
Water filtration
Bidet.....handheld. It works.
Microwave/Convection Instantpot, Keurig, Blackstone
4 standard propane tanks.
(Everything can run without propane except for the tanked water heater and the fire pit. We kept propane because we use the firepit a LOT)
It has the same ground clearance as an Earthroamer, with the same approach angle and a better departure angle.
Camper weighs 7000 lbs.
Total wet weight for a month or two out is 19,700lbs
Height 13' 4"
We can go indefinitely without plugging into shore power. 5 days with limited or no sun while running the AC at least 6 hrs per day. With summer sun the AC can run all day and recoup every morning with solar.
We've crawled rocks, shelves, sand, mud, run interstates, washboard roads, and steeply banked Baja 1000 tracked roads. Most of our heavy cargo is low so we've been able to survive a max side tilt of 22 degrees on the Jeep tilt app and 19 degrees on the Ford dash tilt monitor.
Have never gotten stuck, so far. But have pulled a lot of people out.
It's an ongoing thing. Plan to install a custom designed water filtration system and cut some steel off the bed and shed some other weight to install an extra water tank and an additional underbody black tank that will both run empty most of the time but will allow us to stay out 21-28 days without coming in. Currently we are at 10-14 days. Also trying to figure out a lightweight campsite leveling solution.
Anyway, a lot of the inspiration for this came from this forum. Thank you!!
Attachments
Beautiful setup!! Do you find it hard to maneuver such a big rig around town?
How well does it drive on the highway? Do you feel the wind pretty bad?
Do you find you are pretty limited on where you can go with such a large rig?
You have one heck of an impressive rig!
Thanks for sharing
Tony Shelton
New member
It drives like any F550 but much softer and smoother than a dually.
We removed the front sway bar for articulation and can't really even tell its gone on the highway.
It's easy around town and I even prefer it to the jeep when just running errands in town .
It's great on the highway, but I keep it at 68 mph because of the tire limits. Sometimes short bursts up to 75-80 to pass trucks.
The nice thing about the tires is that we can ride in the truck lane on really bad highways like I-40 in Arizona and they just roll right over the potholes with no issue.
I don't feel the wind as much on this one as I did on an Arctic Fox on SRW.
I don't feel limited much other than height. We are at 13'4", which is not much of a problem in the US, but can be an issue in Mexico.
We carry a plastic pole to check height ahead of the truck if it is iffy. Sometimes I mount that pole on the bumper if we are going through Mexican towns so I can just drive slow and have a visual indicator. (looking for a better solution for that)
For forests we have a pole saw that gets used occasionally.
Here's some night time offroad butt pucker stuff. The doors act as an extra catch for the camper if it tilts far on the tiedowns, so it's pretty solid offroad.
https://youtube.com/shorts/_hXT5tweN7M?feature=share
We removed the front sway bar for articulation and can't really even tell its gone on the highway.
It's easy around town and I even prefer it to the jeep when just running errands in town .
It's great on the highway, but I keep it at 68 mph because of the tire limits. Sometimes short bursts up to 75-80 to pass trucks.
The nice thing about the tires is that we can ride in the truck lane on really bad highways like I-40 in Arizona and they just roll right over the potholes with no issue.
I don't feel the wind as much on this one as I did on an Arctic Fox on SRW.
I don't feel limited much other than height. We are at 13'4", which is not much of a problem in the US, but can be an issue in Mexico.
We carry a plastic pole to check height ahead of the truck if it is iffy. Sometimes I mount that pole on the bumper if we are going through Mexican towns so I can just drive slow and have a visual indicator. (looking for a better solution for that)
For forests we have a pole saw that gets used occasionally.
Here's some night time offroad butt pucker stuff. The doors act as an extra catch for the camper if it tilts far on the tiedowns, so it's pretty solid offroad.
https://youtube.com/shorts/_hXT5tweN7M?feature=share
How about the slide-outs? While these are great for extra space, I don't think I've ever seen them on commercial "overlanding" truck campers (e.g. OEV, AT Overland, even EarthRoamer). Presumably this is because they can be unreliable on extended overlanding trips, or they're perceived to be? I'm curious about your experience.
Last edited:
Darwin
Explorer
Do you happen to know how much weight is on the rear axle fully loaded? It seems like you could be over the weight rating of the tires? I also did the sway bar delete, makes a huge difference.
Tony Shelton
New member
We have the same problems with slideouts that everyone has with them. Most of the minor problems we had were due to bad design by the manufacturer. We've fixed all that now and don't have any issues. It doesn't appear that we have any more problems than people who never take them offroad.
We live in it full time. I can't imagine being comfortable without the slides. We have 200 square feet of living space. The new ER has 171 square ft. The slides really make a difference for us.
Tony Shelton
New member
Do you happen to know how much weight is on the rear axle fully loaded? It seems like you could be over the weight rating of the tires? I also did the sway bar delete, makes a huge difference.
Rear axle is 13,180. We are still under the rate rating of the tires....barely. Will probably move up to 365/80 when these wear out for more cushion.
What problems do you now have (type, frequency, expense)?
Tony Shelton
New member
From the factory the EC 1200 did not put the roller to support the kitchen slide in the right place. It causes the kitchen to bounce when not extended. Fixed that ourselves for $1200. We've had two motors go out. They can be had aftermarket for about $150 each. replaced them and keep two spares on board all the time. Otherwise zero issues.
