Shortbusadventure's Tiger Motorhome build
- Thread starter shortbusadventure
- Start date
Scott Brady
Founder
They just rolled into Prescott. We are heading to the Raven. . .
T.Low
Expedition Leader
No doubt. Can't get enough of that rig.
Which KTM is that and what is the other bike?
Are you satisfied with the mototote? I may need a two bike carrier. For a single, I'm very satisifed with my AMC-400. http://www.discountramps.com/motorcycle-carrier.htm
Thanks
tiresmokindad
New member
I really love the color of your rides! I think it looks neat and nice! 
shortbusadventure
Adventurer
Big shout out and Thanks to Scott and Jeremy at Overland Journal for help on the rig. Love the Raven! That beer was mighty fine.
The moto's are: my wifes Yamaha 05' XT225 and my 08' KTM 690 Enduro
The MotoTote rack was custom modified by using two single carriers beefed up heavily to load onto three 2" hitches. MotoTote is supposed to be releasing a dual carrier in the near future.
A few shots of the rig and bikes for those with the itch.
Charleston Mtn, Nevada
Leaving Zion National Park
Northern Arizona
Lake Powell, AZ
Working on custom pinstriping near Sedona
Camp spot outside Sedona
View from Robbers Roost
KTM in Zion
Wifey on her Yamaha outside Zion
-Kevin
The moto's are: my wifes Yamaha 05' XT225 and my 08' KTM 690 Enduro
The MotoTote rack was custom modified by using two single carriers beefed up heavily to load onto three 2" hitches. MotoTote is supposed to be releasing a dual carrier in the near future.
A few shots of the rig and bikes for those with the itch.
Charleston Mtn, Nevada
Leaving Zion National Park
Northern Arizona
Lake Powell, AZ
Working on custom pinstriping near Sedona
Camp spot outside Sedona
View from Robbers Roost
KTM in Zion
Wifey on her Yamaha outside Zion
-Kevin
shortbusadventure
Adventurer
I can say that our full timing and offroading has it's toll on the rig. There I'd little stuff that comes loose, separates or outright breaks. It is all easily fixable, and usually better solutions present themselves. Provan has been very helpful, and the owner has expresses his appreciation of our testing and input to improve the product.
We love the layout and features. If we could make any changes, it would be to lengthen the cab over to orient the bed front to back. It would give us more room, storage, and no climbing over one another to get out of bed. We also are looking to have more fresh water storage. We have a few ideas of how to achieve this, but we will manage for now.
-Kevin
shortbusadventure
Adventurer
Linky to a day in Colorado:
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=44553
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=44553
shortbusadventure
Adventurer
A few pics
A pic of the roof now that it is full of Solar Panels. With the addition of a 100 watt panel, and a new controller, our charging system is much more capable.
The second shot shows the moto carrier sitting higher as a result of the rear leaf spring pack being rebuilt. Skips Spring Service in Las Vegas does great work, and I would highly recommend them:
www.skipsspringservice.com
The last shot was taken in Monument Valley, Arizona. I just like the pic.
Cheers,
Kevin
A pic of the roof now that it is full of Solar Panels. With the addition of a 100 watt panel, and a new controller, our charging system is much more capable.
The second shot shows the moto carrier sitting higher as a result of the rear leaf spring pack being rebuilt. Skips Spring Service in Las Vegas does great work, and I would highly recommend them:
www.skipsspringservice.com
The last shot was taken in Monument Valley, Arizona. I just like the pic.
Cheers,
Kevin
shortbusadventure
Adventurer
Our solar array totals 370 watts. We have four group 31 Gel batteries for our house bank. We run a MT60 Combi Engel cooler and Novacool fridge. We have a few inverters, including a 2k watt to run the microwave. Laptop charging, cameras, and other stuff. We are full time in the rig, so I like to have a surplus.
-Kevin
mountainsoul
Adventurer
This has to be one of my favorite rigs on ExPo right now. Absolutely love it. Perfect size. Well built. Thoughtfully equipped. And I really like the Tiger floor plan. Enjoy!
Ford Prefect
Expedition Leader
Thanks for sharing your build Shortbus.
Super nice looking camper. I think I would need 6'7 interior room (I am 6'5), but other than that I love it! Thanks also for the interior photos, I'll be darned if I can find any good ones online. (Maybe I just can not figure out how to navigate their site.)
Anyhow, super nice truck. Wish I could get my wife to ride a bike like that too.
How do you make out with the solar? (I do not know enough about solar to understand the numbers you gave above.) Does it cover all of your needs, or what percentage do you get out of them?
Thanks
Super nice looking camper. I think I would need 6'7 interior room (I am 6'5), but other than that I love it! Thanks also for the interior photos, I'll be darned if I can find any good ones online. (Maybe I just can not figure out how to navigate their site.)
Anyhow, super nice truck. Wish I could get my wife to ride a bike like that too.
How do you make out with the solar? (I do not know enough about solar to understand the numbers you gave above.) Does it cover all of your needs, or what percentage do you get out of them?
Thanks
Last edited:
Larry
Bigassgas Explorer
Man, your Tiger really turned out great Kevin! I never really paid much attention to Tiger’s until now. I am very envious and have a new rig to dream about!
I am a GM guy too and know these trucks very well…in some respects too well. I served my automotive industry boot camp time in Detroit working in GM tech assist and the Silverado brand team prior to moving to the field. In fact, a few years ago I was the service rep that handled Transwest GMC where you bought the truck. Good folks.
You already handled many of the GM IFS weak links with your suspension upgrades but here are a couple things you may consider doing to the truck in time….
First, being you will be running a lot of dirt/gravel roads you may want to consider having the lower portion of the doors Rhino lined, Line-X’d…whatever as the GMT900 trucks have a design flaw where the door edge runs parallel to the road surface without any road debris protection and will without a doubt get chipped all to hell then will rust badly if you do any driving where corrosive road deicers are used. Even alkali fields in the desert are enough to eat the doors up. It looks like the nerf bar may shield some of the road debris but I would still recommend a nice spray on liner to protect them. Other manufacturers roll their door edges under so the road surface will be parallel to a flat surface on the door rather than an edge. Edges chip and rust much quicker than a flat surface not to mention the frozen shut doors when ice builds up around the door seal in the winter.
I have been complaining about these doors since the first GMT900 CAD drawings appeared around 2005. Poor design in my opinion especially for people that live in the Eastern and Midwestern road salt throwing states. I guarantee you there will be rust holes in the door bottoms within 5 years on these trucks in the salt belt.
Crew cab Silverado Front door
View of rear door with front door open
Second, being you will be taking this rig places where 4wd is a necessity and a survival tool, I would recommend keeping a spare 4wd rotary dash switch and encoder motor that mounts on the tcase. Having a transfercase control module in your spare part bin would be a bonus as well but they are over $700 through service parts. The reality is the electric shift 4wd system is not reliable. If you keep this truck for many years I would recommend swapping in the NVG261HD manual shift transfercase out of a Work Truck package HD truck and ditch the electric shift all together. I went out of my way to steer clear of electric shift on both of my HD’s but got stuck with it on two Tahoe’s. Both Tahoe’s have had issues where 4wd would not work when it was needed the most, which is the same problems we dealt with 10 years ago when I was on GM techline. This is not just a GM issue, this is an industry wide issue. Manufacturers have taken a very simple system and over complicated it for the sake of building trucks for people that should be driving cars. Right now the only way to get a manual shift 4wd in GM, Dodge or Ford truck is in their lowest option group work trucks.
Third, if you take the truck to Mexico I would NOT recommend using non-ULSD. Pack as much fuel as you can. It is a very expensive proposition to replace injectors and injection pump as well as deal with DPF issues. With a 100,000 mile warranty I doubt you would want to add an “Off-road” DPF delete exhaust kit just yet. A set of injectors and labor alone will set you back close to $4000 if not covered by a warranty. I would not take my chances running non-ULSD. Heck, the manufacturers can't even keep the trucks here in the US running on ULSD for more than a 100,000 miles without a major fuel system warranty repair. Prolly 80,000 miles for the Ford guys.
Just throwing ideas at you.
Again, love the Tiger!
I am a GM guy too and know these trucks very well…in some respects too well. I served my automotive industry boot camp time in Detroit working in GM tech assist and the Silverado brand team prior to moving to the field. In fact, a few years ago I was the service rep that handled Transwest GMC where you bought the truck. Good folks.
You already handled many of the GM IFS weak links with your suspension upgrades but here are a couple things you may consider doing to the truck in time….
First, being you will be running a lot of dirt/gravel roads you may want to consider having the lower portion of the doors Rhino lined, Line-X’d…whatever as the GMT900 trucks have a design flaw where the door edge runs parallel to the road surface without any road debris protection and will without a doubt get chipped all to hell then will rust badly if you do any driving where corrosive road deicers are used. Even alkali fields in the desert are enough to eat the doors up. It looks like the nerf bar may shield some of the road debris but I would still recommend a nice spray on liner to protect them. Other manufacturers roll their door edges under so the road surface will be parallel to a flat surface on the door rather than an edge. Edges chip and rust much quicker than a flat surface not to mention the frozen shut doors when ice builds up around the door seal in the winter.
I have been complaining about these doors since the first GMT900 CAD drawings appeared around 2005. Poor design in my opinion especially for people that live in the Eastern and Midwestern road salt throwing states. I guarantee you there will be rust holes in the door bottoms within 5 years on these trucks in the salt belt.
Crew cab Silverado Front door
View of rear door with front door open
Second, being you will be taking this rig places where 4wd is a necessity and a survival tool, I would recommend keeping a spare 4wd rotary dash switch and encoder motor that mounts on the tcase. Having a transfercase control module in your spare part bin would be a bonus as well but they are over $700 through service parts. The reality is the electric shift 4wd system is not reliable. If you keep this truck for many years I would recommend swapping in the NVG261HD manual shift transfercase out of a Work Truck package HD truck and ditch the electric shift all together. I went out of my way to steer clear of electric shift on both of my HD’s but got stuck with it on two Tahoe’s. Both Tahoe’s have had issues where 4wd would not work when it was needed the most, which is the same problems we dealt with 10 years ago when I was on GM techline. This is not just a GM issue, this is an industry wide issue. Manufacturers have taken a very simple system and over complicated it for the sake of building trucks for people that should be driving cars. Right now the only way to get a manual shift 4wd in GM, Dodge or Ford truck is in their lowest option group work trucks.
Third, if you take the truck to Mexico I would NOT recommend using non-ULSD. Pack as much fuel as you can. It is a very expensive proposition to replace injectors and injection pump as well as deal with DPF issues. With a 100,000 mile warranty I doubt you would want to add an “Off-road” DPF delete exhaust kit just yet. A set of injectors and labor alone will set you back close to $4000 if not covered by a warranty. I would not take my chances running non-ULSD. Heck, the manufacturers can't even keep the trucks here in the US running on ULSD for more than a 100,000 miles without a major fuel system warranty repair. Prolly 80,000 miles for the Ford guys.
Just throwing ideas at you.
Again, love the Tiger!