Truck Camper Adventure announces the 2021 Adventure Rally

[Mundo4x4Casa]

Strega,
It looks like you will have a lot of Bundutec company on the Rally runs.
The Hemi on a 3500 is one i was looking at for our new truck until i read the specs and reviews on the new Ford 7.3 gas 10 speed auto F-350.
Long story short, you will see Jeanie and I with the 2020 F-350 under our 2020 N*Laredo SC at the Rally.
jefe

 

[Lance990]

I have a Ram 3500 with a 2000 pound camper. Fully loaded, I am just over 10k pounds. Some of the big campers (Mammoth for example) have a dry weight close to 5000 pounds or more so ideally, they should be on something bigger than a one ton dually. In my travels, I have seen and assisted a few of the big dually campers on trails that IMHO they should have probably not ventured onto. In most cases, it was their width and height, not weight that got them in trouble.

I've never owned a dually and never will. But based on many conversations with dually owners, they love the extra stability it provides but hate the maintenance and expense of dually wheels. That me be why many people are converting dually trucks to SRW.

I am not the organizer of the rally so any questions as to why he is not allowing DRW trucks should be directed at him. That said, I was on the drive last year and the way those dually equipped rigs went down the trail was pretty unsettling. And the owner of the rig with the inside flat did not feel comfortable changing it so he had to crawl the last few miles, holding everyone up.

I have a pretty capable rig but would never attempt the Rubicon trail. Same logic should apply to some trails with DRW.

Exactly. My DRW truck with just a topper on the bed will go anywhere it can fit and is just as capable with out a big truck camper on the bed as any other truck. I suspect the problem with the flat tire was with not airing down. Having 80 PSI in a tire to support a 5,000 lbs camper leaves very little capability for the tire to conform to the terrain and thus prevent flats on sharp objects. Inherently, there is nothing adverse about taking a DRW truck off-road but throw a heavy camper in the back and you are asking for problems. My Lance 990 has an 11 ft 3 inch floor length so the departure angle is atrocious. Without the camper, it is not bad. A Dana 80 LSD in the rear and a Dana Super 60 up front and you have a very capable combination. Throw an e-locker in the front and you'd be very good off road.

I have looked into converting mine to SRW but it is impossible to do unless you want to go to 19.5" rims and that is out of the question. A company called 1st Attack Engineering makes a 20" rim for bush trucks but that leaves very little sidewall for airing down AND it does not make the rear axle any less wide. The tire still stick out to the edge of the dually fender. I can remove the dually adapter on the front axle and I would have an 8x170 bolt pattern (Ford SRW) or I could remove the outer dual and the dually fenders and it would be a SRW truck but the rear wheel bearings won't last with that extreme offset and only one wheel. The only way to do it right would be to swap out the DRW axle for a SRW axle. The Sterling 10.5" is a pretty good axle but the Dana 80 is better. It is all a trade-off. I am reluctant to get rid of my DRW because I have it dialed in right now. As I get closer to retirement, I may start using the heavy Lance a lot more. But for now, I am really enjoying using it as a micro RV.

 

[Lance990]

Strega,
It looks like you will have a lot of Bundutec company on the Rally runs.
The Hemi on a 3500 is one i was looking at for our new truck until i read the specs and reviews on the new Ford 7.3 gas 10 speed auto F-350.
Long story short, you will see Jeanie and I with the 2020 F-350 under our 2020 N*Laredo SC at the Rally.
jefe

Jeff,

That is awesome! I have the V10 (which it replaced) but I miss driving a V8. I was very interested in the Tremor package but it only comes in the crew cab version (boo!). The V10 is a solid motor and will probably outlive me. Fuel mileage is not great with the V10 and 4.30 gears but it isn't likely to be much better with the 7.3L. I am really trying to downsize these days so I don't really need a 1-ton or 3/4 ton with a big V8. My monster V10 is reliable, solid and paid for.

How are you liking the new truck?

 

[Regcabguy]

Strega,
It looks like you will have a lot of Bundutec company on the Rally runs.
The Hemi on a 3500 is one i was looking at for our new truck until i read the specs and reviews on the new Ford 7.3 gas 10 speed auto F-350.
Long story short, you will see Jeanie and I with the 2020 F-350 under our 2020 N*Laredo SC at the Rally.
jefe

That's a wise move as all three forums have numerous posts on the failures of the new Bosch injection pumps. The new Four Wheeler newsletter has an article on the history of issues with Fords 6.7. That would be the last diesel I'd consider on the list. Maybe this will open. http://assets.trucktrend.com/upload...roke-engine-problems.jpg?width=660&height=495

 

[Lance990]

He did not deflate like most of us down to a less bone jarring ride and rode those dualies hard. It was simply the wrong application of a wonderful rig.

That is what I suspected. Do you think it would have been different (other than the tracking issues) in an unloaded dually? Due to lower ground pressure I could probably air down quite a bit unloaded without any rubbing. I really wish someone made a 17" 8x200 single wheel with zero offset that was 10-11" wide. A truck that can be a DRW or SRW would be a great truck to own!

 

[::Squish::]

Sooo anyway, about the rally, we had a good time last year, heres hoping that COVID is under control after the flu and holidays take their toll.
we are looking forward to this.

 

[Mundo4x4Casa]

As of Saturday evening, the Truck Camper Adventure Quartzsite Rally has 82 rigs signed up with 7 on the Camino del Diablo waiting list.
So if you haven't moved to sign up, you still can but it's doubtful that you will be on the hard core Diablo run.
jefe
Last year's Dirty Dozen lined up to hit the trail:

 

[STREGA]

Wow 82 rigs is impressive Jefe, what is the cap for the 2021 event? Missed this years event because I wasn’t aware of it until it was already filled up(IIRC it was capped at about 40 rigs I almost drove down to Quartzite just to do a drive by).
I just counted 6 Bundutec campers on the list ? it will be fun to see that many in one place, I think the most I have seen at one time is 3 at Overland Expo West a couple years ago.

Anyway looking forward to meeting you and checking out your new truck and camper as well as all the other attendees.

 

[STREGA]

I thought you were selling your rig? Glad to see you didnt have to.

Due to some health issues I was having I put it up for sale. Had a lot of bites but no one pulled the trigger for one reason or another, with the way RV’s are selling this year it would probably sell now. I’am doing better health wise now but not back 100 percent and never will be most likely. I have a hard time getting in and out of the pop-up because of the small door opening but I can do it. I may try to sell it again in the future but for now I need the truck, may consider just selling the pop-up only but not until after the rally in Quartzite. Plan to check out all the hard side campers at the rally and get real world opinions on different brands.

 

[mangymarmot]

Here's another pic of the 2020 crew before entering onto the Bradshaw Trail.

 

[STREGA]

Well I'am out of this event due to the fact that I no longer have a camper I have traded in the truck/camper for a 2020 Powerwagon, not sure what direction we will head in as far as a camping rig goes with the PW. This should open up a spot on the trail run for somebody else, I will let the TCA guys know about my cancellation.

 

[RyanPartridge]

Last Friday I spotted a little caravan of truck campers on the 10 East heading towards Quartzite about an hour away. Must've been ya'll...
Looking forward to the event reports!

 

[montypower]

As of Saturday evening, the Truck Camper Adventure Quartzsite Rally has 82 rigs signed up with 7 on the Camino del Diablo waiting list.
So if you haven't moved to sign up, you still can but it's doubtful that you will be on the hard core Diablo run.
jefe
Last year's Dirty Dozen lined up to hit the trail:

Met lots of great folks. It was fun to chat. Bit less off road type oriented rigs than I expected.

Yet everyone.... including yourself bailed out. We ran the route SOLO. Nothing challenging about it. But sure did have some cool stuff near the Yuma end to explore like the gold mine. It was a bit bumpy but nothing a stock truck couldn't drive. The Ajo end was boring and not much scenic value or places to explore. Traffic was fairly high - lots of ATV people, border patrol, military and tourists. Plus, 2 border patrol base stations. Not exactly a remote route!

Still a cool historic road to drive and fun watching the Border Patrol pick up runners.

Thanks Mike for putting it together!

 

[Mundo4x4Casa]

We arrived en caravan with my brother John and his lovely wife Krys in their '99 Ford 7.3L diesel 6 speed manual/'03 9.5 OUTFITTER; my son Matt and his fetching bride, Summer in their like new '01 Lance 845 on my '01 Cummins H.O. 6 speed manual; and Jeanie and I in our '20 Ford F-350 7.3L Godzilla/ '20 Northstar Laredo on Friday afternoon. With almost everyone in our party still gainfully employed, the timing of the rally was a cluster. Our party arrived just in time for me to deliver my spiel: GAS or DIESEL: CONSIDERATIONS to about 60 listeners. Matt won the grand prize at the raffle: $2K worth of Lithium Ion batteries. We were having a great time until Mello Mike, the entrepreneur of TCA, announced to our party that the Feds would not allow a permit for the trail run for 20 truck campers. Because of Covid, six at at time they could countenance. That would mean they stalled long enough to tell him the day before the Rally was to commence. That would mean 6 starting Monday; 6 starting Tuesday; 6 or so starting Wednesday.
With that knowledge, we pow-wowed and decided to find another venue instead of waiting until Wednesday to start on El Camino del Diablo. No way we would take someone else's spot for the trail. I don't know what happened after we left except what Montepower has divulged above.
We decided to do the Bradshaw trail as only Jeanie and I had done it before. All of us aired down. We explored several hard core side trails and exited via the gas line road before the real ugly part at the end with endless anchor pulling woops. That was tough on the TC's: lots of Rockin' and Rollin axle twisting Woops. We finally wound up in a remote, sandy section of Box Canyon with the best, most secluded and windless part of the entire trip. We had incessant winds for most of the week. They get old after a few days.
On the Bradshaw we found this arroyo in a rare out of the wind spot: