The Dirt Sherpa Build

[GCecchetto]

Did you ever get the 1" taper figured out? Have you ever considered tapered roof insulation? They use it in commercial flat roof applications. The metal structure will be flat, then they add tapered insulation between the metal and the rubber membrane to get the water to run to the drains. I've never tried to buy it for personal use, but your local commercial roofer might have an extra piece or two.

Great looking project!

Hello;

Yes I have, I'm 35 years into a commercial construction career, so very familiar with tapered insulation. I have two things going on, one is the taper, but I also have a much larger gap than I would like since the RAM bed is so shallow compared to the Tundras. The camper actually sits correctly in the bed, the taper is the varying dept of the RAM bed, so rather than shimming the camper, I've been more focused on finding a use for the gap, like storing traction mats, that will basically hide the taper in the gap.

Thanks

 

[lindy74]

Man, such an impressive feat you have completed. It is exactly what I hope to accomplish, well if I can accomplish 50% of what you have created I would be ecstatic. Thank you for sharing this journey you have taken, I hope to be able to apply some of it to my endeavor!

Many thanks!

 

[GCecchetto]

Man, such an impressive feat you have completed. It is exactly what I hope to accomplish, well if I can accomplish 50% of what you have created I would be ecstatic. Thank you for sharing this journey you have taken, I hope to be able to apply some of it to my endeavor!

Many thanks!

Thanks........I hope it is a help to others crazy enough to take on a build like this. You have to be a little nuts for sure. Good luck with your endeavor.

 

[GCecchetto]

Well, thought I would revive the thread. I've been mostly adventure touring on the KTM, in fact August 25th I head out with some buddy's for a month on the road to do the Idaho BDR, and then up into Canad to ride as much of the BC section of the TCAT as we can before heading back down through Washington and Oregon to home. I do currently have the camper on the truck, and have been working on some small stuff. I've been pretty busy prepping the 1190 for the trip as it has 16,000 miles on it now so it was time for it's first valve adjust. Anyway I'm planning to make what I hope will be a final push on the camper to get the interior completed this year. Just need to build out the kitchenette side to put a fork in it. The Ram hasn't been the most reliable, so i keep toying with the idea of buying a new truck. Been thinking about a 2006 Chevy C4500 Kodiak 4X4. Would be nice to have less electronics and no diesel emissions crap to deal with. If I do that though, I'll be in for a flatbed camper build and the Sherpa would have to be sold. Working hard to talk myself into keeping the Ram though.

Things that have been going on; Started the installation of my 2m/440 radio in the Ram, also did the cabin filter mod. Found out my Ram has two radiators, and the plastic Y in the upper radiator house is prone to failure, mine was cracked and leaking, so I just installed the Blackmarket Performance billet aluminum Y. Did a trans service and installed a Mag-Hytec trans pan. Had a new set of tires installed, went with Maxxis Razr MT's because they were the only 10 ply E rated 37X12.50 I could find. I've also started fabrication of a rear bumper swing a way carrier for a 37" spare and a storage box, like a Sportsmobile, to get a bunch of stuff like outside stove, camp chairs, tools, and camper steps out of the camper. On the back side it will have a fold down table for the outside camp kitchen. Also started the process for getting the cab over bed foam upholstered to match the dinette.

I would like to get out a couple of times with my son on weekend trips before the motorcycle trip, but we'll see how it goes. He's starting college soon, so time is limited. This thread has a lot more build photos than trip photos, and I never posted any from the last trip, so I tried to uploaded a few for eye candy, but the forum is being finicky today. Anyway, pics to come as I make the final push.

 

[Noobtacular]

Camper looks incredible. Nice build.

 

[Motafinga]

As a guy also into motos, why don't don't you bring a dirt bike and go ride trails using the rig as a base camp? Personally that was my main motivation for building my rig and I love it. It might rekindle the enthusiasm to get out in it. Nice work btw!
I see you're in the bay area as well as me, lots of amazing stuff in Cali

 

[GCecchetto]

Camper looks incredible. Nice build.

Thanks

 

[GCecchetto]

As a guy also into motos, why don't don't you bring a dirt bike and go ride trails using the rig as a base camp? Personally that was my main motivation for building my rig and I love it. It might rekindle the enthusiasm to get out in it. Nice work btw!
I see you're in the bay area as well as me, lots of amazing stuff in Cali

The dirt bike thing is complicated by my wife and her adamant persistence that our son has nothing to do with motorcycles. Pisses me off.

 

[ericvs]

Such an awesome build thread! Glad you resurrected it.

I found out about these guys and their modular flatbed. Might work great for your rig/camper combo:

https://sherptek.com/overview/

They have integrated camper tie downs too so you can ditch the turnbuckles, plus you can add storage boxes so you can get rid of the 'Aisle pile' in the camper.

Keep up the good work!

 

[stargaze]

that's really pretty slick. can't wait to see the final product. lot's of welding, not sure I'd have the patience...

 

[GCecchetto]

Howdy Folks;

Back again! Just finished a month long 4600 mile trip with about 1400 of that off road on my KTM 1190 Adv R, and am now thinking about what next years trip will be. I'm thinking the Dalton highway to Prudhoe Bay is most likely next up. If my son isn't doing summer school and can join me, we'll take the Sherpa, if he is, It will be another bike trip with a buddy. So, that said, in the event the Sherpa will be used I would like to finish the interior and correct some things I didn't get right. I'm also thinking about selling the Sherpa and building the gen 2 version as a flatbed camper for a RAM 5500. So either way, I need to finish the Sherpa.

One of my major fails with this build was the early plan to reuse the old FWC roof and soft wall. If I had been smart, as soon as I decided to rebuild the lower camper, I would have abandoned the old roof and soft wall and built the new camper with a full queen size cabover. In addition, when I built the current cabover bed with the slide out, I didn't think to cut opposing 45 degree angles on the cabover bottom and slide out so the slide out would ride up over the bottom of the cabover when you push the slide out section back. With the square cut edges, that are all wrapped with carpet now, when you pull the slide out portion of the bed out and it drops down to align with the bottom of the cabover, you have to reach under and lift it up to be able to slide it back out of the way. It's a giant pain in the ass. So, one fix I need to make is resolving this issue so the bed slide out is easy to deal with. I have some thoughts as to how I can achieve this, but I'm curious if any of you folks are aware of a track assembly or glide designed to have two sections like this where the upper section would pull out and drop down flush to the lower section, and then easily ride back up over the lower section when pushed back? My searches aren't finding anything, but it's tough when you have no idea what you're looking for is called.

Thanks

 

[bill harr]

Gald I was following and got an alert on your post. On lifting the front of the slide. What about a nautilus type cam with a roller or a Teflon slide on top? If you could run a small shaft across a single pull would work if not two cord that would meet in the middle of the slide. Pulling the cord would move the cam and raise the pullout, quick push and you are done.

 

[GCecchetto]

Gald I was following and got an alert on your post. On lifting the front of the slide. What about a nautilus type cam with a roller or a Teflon slide on top? If you could run a small shaft across a single pull would work if not two cord that would meet in the middle of the slide. Pulling the cord would move the cam and raise the pullout, quick push and you are done.

Thanks for the idea Bill. If I'm unable to find the track assembly I'm looking for, I have a plan for how to achieve the ease of use I'm after. I'll have to remove the carpet from the slide out section and then recover it after the modifications are made, but that isn't the end of the world. I've learned soooo much through the process of building this camper that I would really like to build another one so I could implement all of the things I've learned. That said, I really don't want to build another camper, but that might not stop me either.

 

[GCecchetto]

One of the issues I wanted to resolve with the Sherpa was the effort needed to lift the roof. The rear wasn't too bad, but the front due to how far back you have to lift it from since the bed has to be out when the roof is down, was a pain in the ass. Some time ago I ordered some heavier lift struts from Suspa. As it turned out, the struts I ordered for the front had too much lift, but the 80# struts I ordered for the rear were perfect front and rear, so I ordered a second set of 80# struts. In addition, when I originally mounted the 60# struts, the engineering part of my brain was apparently on vacation. I originally mounted the front struts so the bottom of the strut was at the top of the lower cabover. The result of this was the struts in a position when the roof was down that offered very little help in lifting the roof until it was up a ways and the struts more vertical. It's been bugging me since I mounted them, but I didn't want the to move them and have to plug the old holes with screws, and essentially advertise I had my head somewhere it shouldn't have been when I originally mounted them. Well......I've been married twice, so everyone knows my head is somewhere it shouldn't be, so I finally moved the bottom mounting point down to the bottom of the cabover, which has mad a huge improvement in the ease of lifting the roof. Of course, once I decided to do it, I just wanted to get it done, so rather than buying a sharp bit to drill the holes, I used and dull bit, and it wondered, so now I have to live with a bracket being out of level. Oh well, I won't care when my son and I are on our way to Prudhoe bay next summer.

 

[GCecchetto]

Well, it's time to finally get the Sherpa finished. I've been treating it like a red headed step child since I started traveling on my KTM 1190R, but it does need to get finished, so it might as well be now. The effort lately has been on the truck, and I'm now the better part of the way through the AEV Prospector XL upgrade, just need to do the re-gear and ARB air lockers. "Just" probably isn't the right word for that effort. I also reworked the front tie downs for the camper and they now in the floor of the bed through the reinfored beam at the front of the bed. I machined aluminum spacers that fit inside the beam with the bolt through them so that the bead and beam below work together to take the load. In the bed I'm using Wichard SS lifting eyes for the connection to the camper. I have an ARB twin air compressor I need to install and plumb into my air bag system, and I've started on a custom swing away spare tire carrier for the rear that will have a fold down stainless steel counter for my outdoor stove and have my 1 gallon propane tank integrated into it. Will most likely do LED lighting for the cook area as well. So, it will be a while before I actually start on the Sherpa, but I'm working that direction.

Here are some photos of the truck's current state. I must say I'm impressed with this setup. Running 40's on only 3" of lift and having zero rub lock to lock is impressive. It is a very involved process though and definitely not for the faint of heart.