rruff
Explorer
It's based on max psi.
Yes.
Toyo load and inflation table. https://www.toyotires.com/media/3729/application_of_load_inflation_tables_20200723.pdf
What truck/camper combo won't shake apart off road, i.e. Dalton Hwy?
- Thread starter 84FLH
- Start date
It's based on max psi.
Yes.
Toyo load and inflation table. https://www.toyotires.com/media/3729/application_of_load_inflation_tables_20200723.pdf
Everyone;
Still reading your responses but wanted to say I greatly appreciate everyone's time and effort in answering my questions. Never owned a camper or RV before except the pack on my back, so everything you tell me is new and useful information.
While I've owned a few pickup trucks, I never bothered to learn about payload, GVWR, or any aspects of off road usage. Tire ratings, suspension components relationships to each other (i.e. which shocks with which springs with which UCA) are all brand new to me. I'm already working on truck questions for my next post.
Thanks again. I continue to read your responses.
Still reading your responses but wanted to say I greatly appreciate everyone's time and effort in answering my questions. Never owned a camper or RV before except the pack on my back, so everything you tell me is new and useful information.
While I've owned a few pickup trucks, I never bothered to learn about payload, GVWR, or any aspects of off road usage. Tire ratings, suspension components relationships to each other (i.e. which shocks with which springs with which UCA) are all brand new to me. I'm already working on truck questions for my next post.
Thanks again. I continue to read your responses.
@84FLH I have similar plans as you, except that I'm not quite retirement age yet. I ended up going with a small "off road" trailer for several reasons. One, if you're planning to set up camp in one spot for a while, you can leave your camp set up while you drive your truck to different trailheads (or anywhere else) and explore. You have less indoor space, but actually more living space in total once you set up awnings and the outdoor enclosure room. Plus I have my entire truck to carry gear. Unless you get a really large camper, I don't know how people have the space to carry their stuff when doing long trips (I'm thinking something like a FWC - there is hardly any storage space).
The second is that I bought an F150 (1/2 ton truck) assuming it would be fine to carry a slide in camper and after I owned it realized I'd be over GVWR with anything more than a shell-type camper (especially since I have the 5.5' bed). So if you do want a truck camper, definitely get a 3/4 ton or 1 ton (250/2500 or 350/3500).
The trailer I have is small and maneuverable. It's composite with an aluminum exoskeleton and it's very well built. It would probably outlast my truck on extended rough roads. You do have to be careful about going way down a very narrow road and getting into a pickle if you need to turn around and cannot. Although that can happen with a large truck/camper combo as well.
I'm going to add a 180 degree awning with walls to the other side. So I have a ton of living space if needed in extended bad weather. Although I have to admit, it would be nice sometimes to be completely "indoors" when making dinner or making coffee when it's really nasty outside. On the other hand, this forces me to be outdoors which is the whole point. If I was planning to live in this setup for the rest of my live (as opposed to 6 months or a year) I think a van would be the better way to go (or truck/camper).
If you're planning to move from place to place every day, then this is far from an ideal setup. A van or truck camper would be better. But if you want to set up somewhere for a week at a time and explore, then I think there is a lot to be said for a trailer. If I had to do it over again and money were no issue, maybe I would get an F250/350 and a slide in camper or maybe a sprinter van. We'll see.
With respect to guns and Canada, you can take something like a shotgun or rifle with you through Canada if you're on your way to Alaska and fill out the proper paperwork. You can also have a gun shop in Montana ship your firearms to Alaska and you can pick them up there.
Like you, I used to do a ton of backpacking (thru hiked the PCT in 2004). Now I like to have an enclosed place to sleep (especially in grizz country) with a comfortable mattress and do long day hikes instead. FYI, this summer I plan to do an extended trip through WY, MT, and ID. The summer after that, through BC and up to the Arctic circle. I would have no qualms about taking this setup on the Dalton or Dempster Hwy.
The second is that I bought an F150 (1/2 ton truck) assuming it would be fine to carry a slide in camper and after I owned it realized I'd be over GVWR with anything more than a shell-type camper (especially since I have the 5.5' bed). So if you do want a truck camper, definitely get a 3/4 ton or 1 ton (250/2500 or 350/3500).
The trailer I have is small and maneuverable. It's composite with an aluminum exoskeleton and it's very well built. It would probably outlast my truck on extended rough roads. You do have to be careful about going way down a very narrow road and getting into a pickle if you need to turn around and cannot. Although that can happen with a large truck/camper combo as well.
I'm going to add a 180 degree awning with walls to the other side. So I have a ton of living space if needed in extended bad weather. Although I have to admit, it would be nice sometimes to be completely "indoors" when making dinner or making coffee when it's really nasty outside. On the other hand, this forces me to be outdoors which is the whole point. If I was planning to live in this setup for the rest of my live (as opposed to 6 months or a year) I think a van would be the better way to go (or truck/camper).
If you're planning to move from place to place every day, then this is far from an ideal setup. A van or truck camper would be better. But if you want to set up somewhere for a week at a time and explore, then I think there is a lot to be said for a trailer. If I had to do it over again and money were no issue, maybe I would get an F250/350 and a slide in camper or maybe a sprinter van. We'll see.
With respect to guns and Canada, you can take something like a shotgun or rifle with you through Canada if you're on your way to Alaska and fill out the proper paperwork. You can also have a gun shop in Montana ship your firearms to Alaska and you can pick them up there.
Like you, I used to do a ton of backpacking (thru hiked the PCT in 2004). Now I like to have an enclosed place to sleep (especially in grizz country) with a comfortable mattress and do long day hikes instead. FYI, this summer I plan to do an extended trip through WY, MT, and ID. The summer after that, through BC and up to the Arctic circle. I would have no qualms about taking this setup on the Dalton or Dempster Hwy.
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rruff
Explorer
Knowing how you want to live is important!... what you "need" and what you "miss". Tough to nail down also, until you get some experience. I'm in awe of the elaborate and sophisticated rigs that many people build, but that isn't for me. I've found I don't miss "all the luxuries of home", and actually prefer not to have them. I like simple... and being outside as much as possible. I avoid temperature extremes, snow, mud, etc, which is pretty easy to do in the West. Even going to Alaska in summer, the weather should be fine.
Things I didn't need or miss in 13 years of year round practice... toilet, shower, heat, refrigerator, cooler, stove, standing room, 4wd, locker, decent ground clearance... although these last 4 are kinda nice! Being able to sit up straight in the back is the sweet spot IMO. I was trying to accommodate a woman with the rig I'm currently building, but for solo use I would have bought one of those 2wd Frontiers that you could get new for $18k before covid, install a regear, locker, mild lift, better shocks, bigger tires... and make a shell tall enough to sit in, and it would have been fine.
The "tall enough to sit in" camper that I lived in for 8 years. Had a cab-height canopy before that.
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Keep Cardboard Aided Design in mind. Use cardboard/sheets/etc to build mockups. Walls, ceiling, door-height, door-width, etc. Measurements on paper can be quite useful, but actually standing, sitting, sleeping and stepping/climbing in (and out) of a mockup can be useful in determining how much space you want and how much you need.
A truck, Jeep, or van, without a trailer, can be much easier to back up 500 yards on a tight trail, turn around in tight spaces, and park in cities, than the same rig towing a trailer.
The square drop I have (shown in the pics - it's a Boreas XT) has enough room for me to sit up straight inside (sitting on the bed, there is no indoors space other than the bed), has an outdoor (heated) shower, 12V cooler, stove, sink, 30-something gallon water tank, and propane heat. So it actually has everything you get in a fancier setup except the toilet. But since I have the pickup bed available, I can carry a portapotty if I want and transport it in the back of the pickup where it's "safe". I can use the shower enclosure as a toilet room.
It works for me and my gf plus a dog (dog sleeps in the cab of the truck) although I'm not sure if it would work for the two of us long term - although that would also be the case for a truck camper or van.
There are downsides, as someone stated above its a lot harder to back up a long way down a dirt road if you need to turn around, it's not as easy to find parking in town, and sometimes you arrive in camp tired and the weather is bad and you just want to be inside while you make dinner and get ready for bed. There is no perfect system unless you have unlimited budget and/or can build it yourself.
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You nailed it here! All the blueprints in the world can't tell you if the space your body (and kitchen, and toilet, and gear, and "stuff") will be occupying is a space that'll work and that you like being in.
Me with a trailer is like watching Lucy and Ethel working the conveyor belt in the candy factory.
Hi Steve;
Looks like a stout trailer. Me trying to back up with a trailer is like the cat chasing the laser.
I hear ya on the "stuff storage" space. I'll have sold my home, put my old Harley and a few other things in storage, and will be living in my camper/RV/whatever for up to a year. Who knows, maybe I'll like it so much I'll never buy that cabin in the mountains.
So I need room for some of my own stuff. Tools, to start with. Sockets, wrenches, etc. Standard automotive stuff. Then there's the hatchet, axe, backpacking gear, bow saw, sleeping pads (summer, winter), bags (Western Mountaineering and Feathered Friends; best I ever used), mountaineering boots (Sportiva Spantik), hiking boots, Crocs, sandals. Clothes. The list has to be made and pared down.
Like rruff so well said below, I have to decide between stuff I need and stuff I want. So size of camper is gonna have to be figured in there somehow.
I don't know enough about trucks and campers to know what I'm doing. Folks here are giving me info about both and I'm thankful for their willingness to share their hard earned and expensively paid for knowledge.
Just the info on tire ply and various PSI affects on contact patch is amazing and very useful. I hope to learn more about gear ratios and what one does that the other doesn't. And suspension lifts.
And, do I want a Tundra? Tacoma? F250? 2500? What weight/size camper is best for each of those trucks? I don't know but folks here know. So I'll be asking and listening.
Hoping your plans come together splendidly. You sure have enough time to plan well. But start now. Before you know it retirement will be here.
Of course. Ask about truck campers instead of camper vans, and this happens. Then again, I don't know enough about these to know what to ask. Although I did email the seller yesterday asking who did the 4wd conversion, what T-case is used, what front/rear diffs and gear ratios in each.
$39k is within my range but seems high for a 1995 Econoline; not E250 or E350.
$39k is within my range but seems high for a 1995 Econoline; not E250 or E350.
snohomish co rvs - by owner - craigslist
snohomish co rvs - by owner - craigslist
seattle.craigslist.org
Forget about a Tacoma and Tundra (or any mid size or full size 1/2 ton truck), they won't have the payload/GVWR to handle a camper that is large enough to live in full time. You'll see people who do it, but they either have a shell camper or something like an OVRLND camper or they're overwieght.
Peter_n_Margaret
Adventurer
My advise is make your best guess at what suits you ASAP, buy a second hand one and get on the road.
Don't spend all of your budget because your choice (whatever it was) won't be exactly what you want and you will need to sell it and buy another one, at least once more or probably twice.
There is NOTHING like real experience to sort out your priorities.
That is just the way it is.
Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 motorhome
Don't spend all of your budget because your choice (whatever it was) won't be exactly what you want and you will need to sell it and buy another one, at least once more or probably twice.
There is NOTHING like real experience to sort out your priorities.
That is just the way it is.
Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 motorhome
Sound advice as always, Peter n Margaret. Thank you.
You have a good point. My plan, so to speak, was to buy the vehicle closer to my retirement. But if something that checks most of the boxes comes along, I guess it's better to buy it than wait for something better that may never appear.
That may not be so easy. If a rig appears that's what I want/need (and I don't know what I need yet) and within my budget, buying it may be right action. Trying to sell a rig I've decided isn't what I want/need means I might have to sell at big loss, or wait a long time to get my asking price.
The older I get, the more I look for the Easy button. Not always possible or always the right choice. But, well, it's easy.
Great advice. Thank you.
You have a good point. My plan, so to speak, was to buy the vehicle closer to my retirement. But if something that checks most of the boxes comes along, I guess it's better to buy it than wait for something better that may never appear.
That may not be so easy. If a rig appears that's what I want/need (and I don't know what I need yet) and within my budget, buying it may be right action. Trying to sell a rig I've decided isn't what I want/need means I might have to sell at big loss, or wait a long time to get my asking price.
The older I get, the more I look for the Easy button. Not always possible or always the right choice. But, well, it's easy.
Great advice. Thank you.
What type of camper do you carry on your truck?
Thank you.
... I'm a bit shorter than you are, and I'm not interested in any of the commercial truck-campers/motorhomes/travel-trailers/etc that I have seen. I barely fit in to the 98 Jeep Wrangler TJ I had. Any smaller, and I wouldn't have bought it. I don't fit in the newer Jeep Wranglers. My head is pushed in to the hardtops, among other issues, such as being unable to see the road. I suggest you consider building your own "camper" that you can cook, shower, and "restroom" in while the camper is heated to your liking. Keep it simple and cheap. Make it out of wood, plywood, and rigid-foam insulation with lots of construction adhesive. Make a box with a connected cabover "box", and build your shelving/cabinets floor to ceiling as part of the structural system. Use portable water jugs and waste jugs, or install tanks. Make a composting toilet, or use a toilet with a removable cassette. Heat water on a stove and pour it into a garden sprayer for your shower, or install a hot water-heater and a shower-head. Build a flip-down shower-stall, with a lip across the opening (on the side with the hinges) to keep any remaining water from leaking when the shower-stall is flipped up.
Keeping it simple will keep your costs down. Put your money in to a reliable 350/3500 "one ton" truck (or bigger).
Look at @IdaSHO 's camper construction. It is more complicated than I am suggesting for you, but well worth looking at.
From one of my posts in another thread:
A while back, I designed and built a small camper trailer to tow behind my Jeep. 45 degree angle at the back for departure angle. Same size rims and tires as on my Jeep. Same track-width. Torsion axle stubs. I welded up my frame with a receiver hitch front and rear on the trailer. Pintle ring inserted in to the front receiver on the trailer. Pintle hook in the rear receiver on my Jeep. Tongue long enough that combined with the pintle hook-ring setup, I could turn with the tongue more than 90 degrees from straight ahead towing, without Jeep body to trailer body contact. The trailer body was built out of 2x laid flat and 3/8" plywood, with 3/4" plywood floor. Silicone on every joint and sheetrock screws. No insulation or interior sheathing, so very easy to see how all the joints held up. I painted the outside with Rustoleum white metal paint. I towed it across the US. It spent a lot of time in the Pacific Northwest rain (and some snow), but had no leaks when I sold it 5 years later.
I "glued and screwed" every bit of the perimeter, on every panel, to something solid. The "glue" did the sealing and the screws pulled the panels tight and clamped them until the "glue" cured. I was careful to avoid pushing all of the "glue" out of the joints.
I painted multiple coats of Rustoleum metal paint (white) and let the ACX plywood soak up all it could, especially the edges. It was just ACX plywood from the store with the cheap orange buckets.
The camper trailer was easy and cheap to build and seal.
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rruff
Explorer
What do you want/need? Do you like simplicity? Didn't you say you were a backpacker?
You might be surprised how little you actually need. I was. But you have to know yourself! If you like being in nature, and avoid inclement weather seasons, you might be happy without all the typical amenities. Even if price is no object, simple, small, and light have real benefits. Poop outside and use one of those folding seats with a bag for emergencies. Piss in a bottle at night. Use a sunshower or heat water on a portable stove. Wash dishes outside. Cook outside. Make it so you can get to and pull things out the back of your rig easily. Take out the rear seat if it's a pickup and use that for storage also. Use plastic bins and simple wood tables/structure for storage. Get some good coats, pants, sleeping bags, and blankets so you'll be comfortable on cold nights. A little propane latern can warm a decently insulated box 20F or more. Something for shade in the desert... I use the camper itself and the rear hatch serves as an awning. Drink wine or hard liquor (if you drink), eat food that doesn't require refrigeration for at least a week (there is a lot), treat yourself to a nice meal (or 3) in town when you go. Use a portable solar panel with a long cord and one of those decent power stations with LiFePo4 batteries... for led lights, phone, and a laptop.
If you want a van, a newer (with more gears) E series 2wd is a good bet IMO. Those 4wd conversions are overpriced. Add a regear and locker, bigger tires, small lift. You'll be able to go anywhere a sensible person should in their "house". Ground clearance is the main thing. If you want standup height, a topper is easy to build. Or get a good pickup and build or buy a box for the back. I built that setup in the pic on post #71 in 2 weeks (solo) in a friend's garage with minimal tools. Yes, I can work fast when I'm motivated!
I absolutely love waking up to the sunrise on a cold calm morning... the sun warming my body... the critters coming alive... no other humans for miles. Make some coffee and wander around, checking out the neighborhood.