rruff
Explorer
When you lay it out and look at clearance, I bet you could add some length if you want to... another foot easy, if you angle it up... maybe even if you keep it flat.
Trucks with well over 4000# payload...
- Thread starter WindFromTheWest
- Start date
When you lay it out and look at clearance, I bet you could add some length if you want to... another foot easy, if you angle it up... maybe even if you keep it flat.
rruff
Explorer
Yep, well forward. If you take the rear seats out you can put a lot of heavy stuff in there.
I've been indecisive for... 4 years now? Bought the truck, thinking it would be a "light" build for two... started building the camper, then finally added up weights and realized I'd be way over GVWR! looked into getting a 1 ton but was deterred by the price and availability... decided to stick with the Tundra and target axle ratings. Then did a total camper redesign; tossing what I'd already built. Then my wife bailed suddenly (wasn't this her idea?) and everything was more than I needed... so looked at midsize trucks and starting over again. Decided to keep going with what I had... at least I'll save a little weight going solo. Currently dithering on how to mount the camper to the flexy frame... and on it goes...
WindFromTheWest
New member
Oh I did have it planned to have one 20lb propane tank in the overhang off the back, but the water tank will be between both axles, as well as the batteries
WindFromTheWest
New member
I'm starting to lean towards grabbing that CCLB cummins with the aisin trans.. I worry if I don't decide on a vehicle ASAP then it could be ages before I find one, and my house goes on the market in 16 days. And that particular dodge should have a decent resale value if I decide to go a different direction in a couple years. I'm planning on seeing how it drives and potentially adding air bags or helper springs, rear sway bar etc.
Tex68w
Beach Bum
My only concern is the wheel base on that truck, it's long. That said, you could easily resale that truck if it's not right for you since the Aisin and Ho are sought after. The Aisin shifts kinda hash and slow but it's built for pulling heavy loads so keep that in mind when test driving it.
WindFromTheWest
New member
I did test drive it and didn't notice anything that wasn't smooth, the diesel was nice and quiet, and I thought it had good maneuverability, but I am far from a truck girl so all I know is "this is nice".
It's definitely a long wheel base and that limits me for trails and parking, but any extra storage (back seat) or extra length in my overall build will benefit me in the long run I think. Worst case I sell the truck and stick the camper on something smaller, or sell the combo and build a different rig, it's all a big learning opportunity about what I actually need in life
GeorgeHayduke
Active member
My favorite line about the HO motor/Aisin combo is that it "pulls like a train, shifts like a bus"
.I think a long wheelbase just comes with the territory of a 9' camper. Logging and wildland fire trucks are even bigger and they manage to get around just fine. All the cameras and parking sensors on new trucks really help and if you throw some 37s on it the breakover angle won't be so bad.
Please keep in mind that building a "camper" is a matter of choosing what you want/need and accepting that there are consequences. For example, a pop-top camper can be easier to fit under obstacles on and off road, but, have less insulation and require set up time in snow and rain compared to a fixed-wall camper. It might fit in a parking garage, but, it has more moving parts than a fixed-wall camper.
Make a cardboard camper floor with cardboard cabinets to see how a small space will feel. Cheap, easy, and effective to try.
Make sure to order the snow-plow/camper option for the heavier duty springs and for the swaybar, especially for SRW.
An east/west cabover bed is likely easier to get in an out of for one person (and the cabover section will be shorter), but a north/south cabover bed is likely easier to get in an out of bed for a couple (at least for the person who would have been climbing over someone in an east/west bed orientation).
It would be easy to make the camper 8' wide to match the width of a DRW truck. Lots of room compared to a narrower camper, but unable to fit down the same tight trail a SRW F-350 could.
A flatbed pushes the floor higher in the air than a pickup truck bed, but can make better use of the space where the "useless sheet metal" of a pickup truck would be. You are a welder, so, you might consider making a "non-flatbed" that has wheel wells. This would allow you to keep the camper center of gravity as low as possible. You could also build external-entrance boxes under the camper/bed.
You could make a slide-in camper with an insulated and heated basement for water tanks and batteries. Start the main floor just above the pickup bedrails. Doing so makes it easy to have lots of headroom in the cabover because the main cabin roof is so high in the air. Although the slide-in wastes some space, it does allow for easy swap to another truck if need be. (Keep in mind that pickup bed dimensions vary on manufacturers and year of make.)
You and your dog might be able to make use of a pass-through by removing the rear window and sealing your camper to your cab with a bellows of some kind.
A 2021 F-350 Crew Cab Long Bed (CCLB) has a 48 gallon fuel tank versus the 34 or 29 gallon tanks the other F-350 pickpups have.
A DRW will give you the most stability, allow you to build 8' wide without overhang, and have the most payload. I think a 2021 F-350 4x4 DRW CCLB, with the right options, has a payload of about 6,600 pounds.
Pickup truck frame bed mounts vary from. Manufacturer/year/model/bed-length can all change things. Chassis truck frames are designed with two straight rails to make it easier to move a bed/box from one truck to another.
Many DRW trucks have been used in snow and mud, and many still are.
For a bobbed-back idea or two, see the camper photo at:
Idacamper2.0 Color change, please let me know your thoughts.
Thanks guys The wife thinks I should make the round vent cover into a rising moon..... :ROFLMAO: But even with my OCD, no way I bothering with the vents any further. They fit the bill, and are designed with function in mind. They are both stainless, and I could have left then as they were...
expeditionportal.com
Even several of those propane tanks won't be an issue on the camper you are describing.
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WindFromTheWest
New member
Firstly I want to thank every one of you kind folks who have been helping me the last few days, I really appreciate it.Please keep in mind that building a "camper" is a matter of choosing what you want/need and accepting that there are consequences. For example, a pop-top camper can be easier to fit under obstacles on and off road, but, have less insulation and require set up time in snow and rain compared to a fixed-wall camper. It might fit in a parking garage, but, it has more moving parts than a fixed-wall camper.
Make a cardboard camper floor with cardboard cabinets to see how a small space will feel. Cheap, easy, and effective to try.
Make sure to order the snow-plow/camper option for the heavier duty springs and for the swaybar, especially for SRW.
An east/west cabover bed is likely easier to get in an out of for one person (and the cabover section will be shorter), but a north/south cabover bed is likely easier to get in an out of bed for a couple (at least for the person who would have been climbing over someone in an east/west bed orientation).
It would be easy to make the camper 8' wide to match the width of a DRW truck. Lots of room compared to a narrower camper, but unable to fit down the same tight trail a SRW F-350 could.
A flatbed pushes the floor higher in the air than a pickup truck bed, but can make better use of the space where the "useless sheet metal" of a pickup truck would be. You are a welder, so, you might consider making a "non-flatbed" that has wheel wells. This would allow you to keep the camper center of gravity as low as possible. You could also build external-entrance boxes under the camper/bed.
You could make a slide-in camper with an insulated and heated basement for water tanks and batteries. Start the main floor just above the pickup bedrails. Doing so makes it easy to have lots of headroom in the cabover because the main cabin roof is so high in the air. Although the slide-in wastes some space, it does allow for easy swap to another truck if need be. (Keep in mind that pickup bed dimensions vary on manufacturers and year of make.)
You and your dog might be able to make use of a pass-through by removing the rear window and sealing your camper to your cab with a bellows of some kind.
A 2021 F-350 Crew Cab Long Bed (CCLB) has a 48 gallon fuel tank versus the 34 or 29 gallon tanks the other F-350 pickpups have.
A DRW will give you the most stability, allow you to build 8' wide without overhang, and have the most payload. I think a 2021 F-350 4x4 DRW CCLB, with the right options, has a payload of about 6,600 pounds.
Pickup truck frame bed mounts vary from. Manufacturer/year/model/bed-length can all change things. Chassis truck frames are designed with two straight rails to make it easier to move a bed/box from one truck to another.
Many DRW trucks have been used in snow and mud, and many still are.
For a bobbed-back idea or two, see the camper photo at:
Idacamper2.0 Color change, please let me know your thoughts.
Thanks guys The wife thinks I should make the round vent cover into a rising moon..... :ROFLMAO: But even with my OCD, no way I bothering with the vents any further. They fit the bill, and are designed with function in mind. They are both stainless, and I could have left then as they were...
Even several of those propane tanks won't be an issue on the camper you are describing.
I wanted to build a pop-up camper so badly, but I couldn't figure out a good way to have solid sides, without sacrificing too much storage (overhead cabinets etc) and without losing too much insulation since I plan on living full time in the rig. Or how to lift the roof with solar panels etc on top. So for simplicity's sake I have opted for full solid style.
It is 100% my plan to make the camper right on the frame rails with wheel wells built into the floor, any advantage I can get in keeping my center of gravity low, I will take. I also considered long skinny storage hidden in the floor between the wheels for fishing rods/rifles etc.
a Pass-thru I feel is a must, as a solo woman just for safety's sake, the dodge I'm looking at also has remote start so I could be fired up and driving away in no time.
that Bobbed back in the link is exactly what I was thinking, I would move my door as far back as possible before the "slope", when you walk in the door, my closet would be built into about the first four feet on your left. But I think you're right; I'm gonna make a life size layout on the floor and see how I feel about it.
As much as I would love a DRW F-350, it sounds like I'd be waiting ages to get one, and time is kind of running out
Tex68w
Beach Bum
You wouldn't notice the difference without driving a standard output with the 68RFE back to back, then it would become apparent. Go and drive a Ford with the 10-speed after that and then it would become extremely apparent.
Just a couple observations.
If you're doing a pass through it isn't going to be easy to just change trucks, if that one isn't working for you.
Also, you'll likely need to pull a trailer hunting. How would you get an animal out of the bush with the rig you are planning to build?
A moose or elk can fill up the back of an 8' truck bed pretty quick.
I built my camper removable so that I can drop the camper in the bush and still use the truck to haul stuff out and go back for the camper later
If you're doing a pass through it isn't going to be easy to just change trucks, if that one isn't working for you.
Also, you'll likely need to pull a trailer hunting. How would you get an animal out of the bush with the rig you are planning to build?
A moose or elk can fill up the back of an 8' truck bed pretty quick.
I built my camper removable so that I can drop the camper in the bush and still use the truck to haul stuff out and go back for the camper later
I think a fixed-wall hard-sided camper is a very good choice for what you want. I will, however, include 3 links with photographs of hard-walled popup non-cabover Alaskan Campers that might give you ideas/solutions for a popup camper. The Alaskan Campers have lifting mechanisms on the interior.
An Ultimate Alaskan Camper Rig
Carl Isner went all out designing his new off-road ready Alaskan and Ram 5500.
www.truckcampermagazine.com
Living Large in an Alaskan Mini - Truck Camper Magazine
Alaskan Mini owner, Guy Tokunaga, takes his hard-side pop-up camper all over the American West.
www.truckcampermagazine.com
Unimog Meets Alaskan - Truck Camper Magazine
What happens when a 1988 Mercedes Unimog truck takes on a 1971 Alaskan Camper? It goes off-road and on the Jeep trails.
www.truckcampermagazine.com
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Fixed-wall hard-sided campers do allow for tall cabinets and easier sealing/insulating.
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Your dog may also be able to make use of a pass-through.
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Rear doors tend to collect the most dirt/mud/... but do allow easy access to everything in a "galley kitchen cabinet" setup, especially with an 8' width on a DRW. (I know you are feeling pressed for time regarding obtaining a DRW.) Use a flip-down shower stall that hides a swing-out composting toilet (with buckets you can swap out hung on the back of the rig).
A bobbed back allows for a good departure angle. Moving the door to the side does change access to cabinets. Consider two side doors opposite of each other just in front of the bobbed back. Use the entire back for storage of lighter item all the way to the ceiling, or, put your kitchen there with a window or two and a vent fan. Enjoy the open space. Have screen doors so you can open both side doors and have a nice cross ventilation in pleasant weather.
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Consider buying a two axle utility trailer and building a well sealed wood-box camper on it. Live out of it until you build your truck-based camper. Then sell the utility trailer camper.
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The 2017+ F-350 pickups have stiffer frames than 2017+ F-350 chassis cab trucks, the springs on the pickup truck are better for your needs, and they come as completed vehicles, but, you might want to check what is needed to register and insure a chassis cab truck in Canada. It will probably be easier for you to design a camper for the straight rails of a chassis cab rather than the bed mounts of a pickup truck. There are different frame lengths available depending on the cab type and whether F-350, F-450, or F-550. This could allow you to to build a 10 foot (or longer) camper in front of the bumper (or even longer with an overhanging bob in the back).
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Let us know how your cardboard mockup is working.
WindFromTheWest
New member
I was thinking I will put the window/pass-thru in the camper portion, and then if the truck is a good fit down the road I will change out the back of the truck, or just squeeze thru the back window of the truck haha
My dad and I have a converted utility trailer we use for hunting, but it doesn't have a shower or anything, so I would just have the camper for my own ammenities and use the utility trailer for any animals, like we did with our moose a couple years back.