DIY Flatbed Truck Camper Idea

dogemuffins wrote:

Jfet wrote:
While good to think about things like roof material and such, you probably want to start by making a hand drawing with dimensions or if you use CAD, do a computer model. Figure out where you need to be on horizontal and vertical C.G. The truck body builder guide can help you determine acceptable C.G. for truck + cargo.

By the way the aluminum material is called "aluminum roof coil", ask for that and they will know what you are talking about. The thickness is 0.040" for what we bought. 0.4" would weigh more than your truck.

Whoops! Yeah, I meant 0.040 not 0.4. I don't know about all that math to figure out the center of gravity... I'm horrible at math... despite being a computer tech & web developer... people ask me all the time how I'm so bad with math... oh well!


Anyway, in some thread online I saw mention of a three-point mounting system. Two points (one on each side) in the front, and a third point in the center at the rear to allow for some bed flex. Maybe they are all onto something - I just can't imagine a metal flatbed "twisting" at all. I just don't want the thing to break apart when I hit a bump on the highway going 65mph+

I found this... also very well done: http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/tow-rigs-trailers/1111870-idashos-idacamper2-0-a.html

He chose to do a metal frame for the base and then wood for the rest. I'm starting to worry that a wood frame would fall apart the moment I go over a few big bumps. Another option is to build it straight onto the flatbed (by which I mean incorporating the flatbed into the frame rather than building the frame , and perhaps reinforce the flatbed (if neccessary) to prevent it from twisting.

jefe 4x4 wrote:
If you are going to do any hard-core off-roading with the proposed rig, where you get your axles twisted up, do skip over to Expedition Portal and search Steve Hackney for his long term skirmish with frame twisting and how he used a 3 point or 4 point pivoting sub frame on the back of his Isuzu C&C build. His thread about using a flat bed and a truck camper has had over 300,000 hits. I don't think we have one torsion sub-frame truck camper on this forum. I've written extensively on here about my attempt at living with the twist. If you do poor roads, you will, over time pull your camper apart, little by little.
jefe

No hardcore off-roading intended... base truck might not even be a 4x4. Poor roads, yes, though.

I see many delivery fiberglass box trucks around here mounted on one ton cutaway GM chassis,,
It might help you to go look under one of these and see how exactly its muonting system is set up if you plan to go that route..