Adding toolboxes to the sides

Thanks for the advice, definitely going to get a 350 then since I want a 4x4 this time(my current F250 is rear wheel drive). I know they make srw F350 but you make a good point about the width of the camper, most likely not going to get something that narrow. I'm thinking a flatbed sounds like the way to go, more versatile. I don't plan to do a whole lot to boost the engine, I'm not worried about driving fast, especially in other countries. I think that's a worthwhile trade off for the storage space personally, especially with two kids, a wife, and a dog. Who knows maybe I'll go with a Tacoma and a popup though(however the wife has to be happy).

Getting an F350 doesn’t mean it has to be a dually, they made single rear wheel F350s.
The F250 is just as capable with a few simple upgrades you’ll be doing anyway, it has the same rear axle, frame, etc.
However, you don’t want a four wheel drive F250 of that vintage because they have that awful-steering, tire-wearing twin I beam front axle setup. If you’re getting a four wheel drive, get an F350, it has the very superior solid-axle front end.

It’s ridiculous to get a single rear wheel truck on the basis of it being narrower. The camper is going to be as wide as a dually anyway, you gain nothing and you lose a lot of capacity and stability. A flatbed or service body will be as wide as the camper too.
(They did make special narrow ones but if you’re carrying a camper and want boxes, one of those won’t do.)

If you’re still concerned about that, be aware that duallies that were originally built as a cab & chassis have a narrower rear axle and the track width isn’t as wide as on trucks that came with pickup beds on them. That’s because the inside tire couldn’t be moved inboard on pickups without also moving the pickup-bed wheel wells inboard - and then nothing would fit in them like campers or the proverbial 4x8 sheets of plywood.
That’s not an issue with flatbeds and service bodies. The rear axle is narrower and inside tire is further inboard and the outside one isn’t as far outboard.

The 7.3 doesn’t have to be a “low output” motor. There are all sorts of things you can do to up the power and retain reliability. It’s more expensive to do it right and keep or improve reliability at the same time but still way cheaper than a new or newer truck that has a million electronic ways to leave you stranded in the middle of nowhere with no way to get it going.

The others who have posted so far are right - those “service bodies”, the ones with all the storage boxes built in, are HEAVY. Especially when those boxes get full of stuff.
They also almost always leak and get a little damp inside.
But they absolutely rock for space. With the exception of a few that were originally built for campers, it will take a little cutting and welding to modify one to accept most campers. The inside bed width between the tool boxes, toward the rear, needs to be widened on at least one side.

With a service body or flatbed, they’re also right, you’ll end up quite a bit taller.
Bad for stability and getting in and out.

The other truck to consider is a ‘94-‘98 Dodge with a 12 valve Cummins and either a manual transmission or a $5000 fully performance-built automatic. Super reliable, zero electronics. But getting harder to find in low-mile nice shape.

The earlier model Ford and Dodge diesel pickups - if in really nice shape - are commanding pretty high prices. The old “it’s a 20 year old pickup, it isn’t worth much” way of thinking is out the window. They’re in high demand because of their simplicity, something you can’t get in a newer model. Simplicity IS reliability.

How is your Polish , Czarkowski?
My friends did such trip from California to Ecuador while driving RAV4.
Their baby was 1 year old at the time.
But regardless young age they are avid travelers.
http://www.pelikanochomik.com/
Good luck figuring out right camper for such trip.
BTW in forum archives you will find trip reports (can't bring the handle to my memory) by Canadian member, who frequent Mexico.
He had small camper and was pulling utility trailer behind.
Not my kind of luxury, but worked for him.

I have a fifth wheel I travel in the US. I want something for driving the Pan American highway. That's the entire reason I talking about this. I already did Baja with my fifth wheel. Yes some of the roads were narrow, I've been on worse, unfortunately. That's part of the reason I'd like something smaller.

The Pan American highway handles 18 wheelers so I think it could handle a dually if needed. In fact I know it could and would certainly be better than my 35 ft fifth wheel. I'd like something smaller than my fifth wheel but comfortable enough to spend months at a time in it. I know people have done it in school busses, so a truck camper should be a piece of cake compared to that. I want to drive to Argentina and back over the course of a few years. No vehicle is perfect for something like that.

The only thing that would be against buying dually might be planed trip to Mexico.
I've been down Baja with bus conversion and driving on the highways where your both side mirrors hang over the lines and shoulder is 4" wide takes some nerves.
But why bend backwards on proven idea when in US the width is not a problem?

I'm not completely against the idea of a dually, I'd just like to avoid it if at all possible. Something in the middle of that I'd say(I'm going to try to get my wife in the absolute smallest thing I can, with two young kids...), certainly no slides. I really want a hard side anyways. Like I said if those giant expedition vehicles can make it down the pan american than so can a dually truck camper. People do it in anything from a two wheel drive car to school buses to 18 wheelers. So I can't go everywhere a Land Cruiser with a tent can go, big deal, I need my family to be comfortable. There'll be plenty to see, just as there is plenty to see in my 35 ft fifth wheel.

Also thanks for the info on the flatbed and the standard utility body thing(we're going to have some type of bathroom for sure), that's really usefully information for me.

I've been down this road twice now; it's more complicated than it seems. What camper are you talking about? An 8' pop-up, a 12' triple slide, or something in between.
A flatbed with bolt on tool boxes is far easier to configure for the camper you choose and then reconfigure if you ever change campers.
If you get a fairly "standard" utility body with doors and compartments know that NO CAMPER with a bathroom will fit without modifying the bed.
Until I sold it, I had an 11' camper with no basement and no slides on an aluminum flatbed on a Chevy 3500 dually. It weighed about 13,000 pounds. Unless you want a very basic camper and truck with no options and pack very light I would be looking at a dually truck.
Pop-up campers aren't necessarily lighter than hardside units of the same size. The extra reinforcement and the lift mechanism counteract a lot of the supposed weight savings. Also, pop-ups have no upper cabinets inside so much less storage.

Well others manage it, I'm sure I can too. Thanks for the advice though. I've seen plenty of truck camper builds with side toolboxes, therefore it's possible. Maybe I should just give up and drop 200k on something already built for me I guess.

A 48x18x18 steel tool box weighs about 100 lbs. That makes 400 additional pounds taken from your payload. Unless you are going with a DRW or with more expensive aluminum boxes, you will eat up all your payload with none left to carry additional items in those empty boxes.

We've been in and out of California for the past three years(best pay in the country is in the central valley), that sounds like my ideal truck, lol. I am not only willing to travel but basically spend my life on the road these days. They really are one of the greatest small diesels ever put in a truck.

I got ya. I want a decent size freshwater tank (the bigger the better) in whatever I get because that's what limits our camping. I'm considering converting it to a composting toilet, heard a lot of good things about them. Otherwise our black tank may become our new problem... The one in our fifth wheel is huge, we could go weeks but can't go more than maybe two weeks at the max without freshwater.