Want info on this Kodiak with a Lance 1181

nomadictxn wrote:
Doesn't btggraphix own the Lance/Kodiak beast that went to Argentina?

Yes.

But his truck is a completely different truck than what the OP is asking about. It is a 4X4 and a flat bed that was cut to allow the Lance Camper to be farther forward and over the rear axle.

The Kodiak pictured is a 2X4 with a utility bed and low clearance.

If the OP is interested in Kodiaks, with a camper loaded, that would be a different question,IMHO. The OP seems to be interested in this specific truck & camper.


b

The Kodiak in that picture is not carryying a Lance 1181.

Hey guys, I can fill you in on both the history and specifics of the rig in the picture as well as my own combination. I really have a tough time posting via my cell phone but now that we live in our Lancr 1191/Chevy Kodiak combination I mostly read these days. This is one of those questions that begs me to post a number of pictures and fill in more than necessary perhaps....but I'll keep it short for the moment and forgive no pictures.

The rig above appeared here on Rv.net way back before I ever owned mine and I will have to go do a quick search in a minute because I think one of my very first long soapbox posts was about this rig. I even got an "amen" from a senior poster who believed in big trucks carrying big campers (and owned one of my favorite combos.). Anyway, the pictures appeared from pictures posted on Kelderman Suspensions web page, I think around 2005 or 2006 or so. Some years later I was referred to a Craig's List add for this very same camper being sold, and right down I76 from me in Colorado. This was now after I owned my rig but was thinking about air suspensions and this one had a Kelderman air system on it and it was owned by a friendly and talkative farmer. He hD it listed for awhile, and so I decided to make a trip out east driving our rig to go take a look at his.

I believe it was a 5500 with an older (late 90's?) rear door metal sided Lance. The 5500 has a 19,500 GVWR in 4x4 trim but can go up to 26K in 2x4 trim. Fred, are you seriously concerned about weight distribution? Tthese trucks are normally used for cranes, railroad trucks, tree trimming moving vans...tow trucks etc. Often these applications are ALL rear loads with little to nothing in the front. I digress.

Anyway, This older farmer put this rig together for his fishing trips, whereas his wife had a small Class C she took in her trips with her friends. It was built with fishing in mind....so he had a Honda 3000 on a sliding drawer that comes out from that space in front if the TC in one side, on the other side, also in a giant drawer, was a huge flash freezer that he could load full of huge fish and flash freeze. He could run the genny while driving down the road, controlled by the remote starter, and bring back a load of fish from BC or MT all the way back to CO without issue. He had a plan for what he wanted, got the utility body setup just so, and it worked very well for him though he was selling it. He was doing fewer fishing trips and wanted to unload it. I do not know if he sold it but I know he had it on the market for awhile. What you are looking at is a very customized rig built for specific purposes and for the right person it is perfect and for many it would be terrible. We were lucky to find something set up nearly perfectly for us.

The Front part of the Kelderman suspension he wasn't sure worked that well and was just an add-on bag like typical air bags between the spring and frame, but I did end up buying the rear setup and have been pleased with it.

I'd be happy to answer more specific questions about Kodiak/Topkicks carrying TCs, and certainly questions about mine if you have any. We are traveling full time in ours now after owning it around 6.5 years and maybe 375 nights or so in the camper. About 90 straight nights now. Prior to us owning the rig, it went to South America and back from Maryland (shipped by boat Panama to Peru)....120,000+ miles, 8 years, and around 900 nights if camping has been done in this 2005 Kodiak 4500 and 2006 Lance 1191. Yep, a Kodial/TopKick can work very well as a TC hauler, and our Lance 1191 has been a great camper!

My old rant from '05

Wow, been a long time. I haven't reread it, but I do consider it my first real impassioned post on rV.net and I guess I'm pleased that after years of researching and dreaming about setting a rig like this up, then buying one pre-matched......that it has ended up being just about everything we wanted it to be and is still the right fit for us after all these years and different types of trips, from weekend warrioring to full timing.

Wow, been a long time. I haven't reread it, but I do consider it my first real impassioned post on rV.net and I guess I'm pleased that after years of researching and dreaming about setting a rig like this up, then buying one pre-matched......that it has ended up being just about everything we wanted it to be and is still the right fit for us after all these years and different types of trips, from weekend warrioring to full timing

You have been an inspiration for some that want to go bigger than a one ton truck and carry a camper on a flatbed. Thanks.

I tend to agree that it is prudent to have plenty of truck when carrying cabover campers. I have owned three cabovers, all on sufficiently stout trucks to make the experience enjoyable.

btggaphix are you guys do a blog on your travels?

We saw you in Glacier a couple summers ago! Enjoy your travels!

btggraphix wrote:
My old rant from '05

Wow, been a long time. I haven't reread it, but I do consider it my first real impassioned post on rV.net and I guess I'm pleased that after years of researching and dreaming about setting a rig like this up, then buying one pre-matched......that it has ended up being just about everything we wanted it to be and is still the right fit for us after all these years and different types of trips, from weekend warrioring to full timing.

I hadn't read your "rant" before, but it follows my thinking when I selected the Ram 5500. We plan to upgrade to a larger TC in the future - But if plans change, we have plenty of other options with this truck.

btggrahix,

Details on the rig/camper pictured.

- Length of bed
- How was the Camper secured to the bed of the Kodiak?
- How much space is between the camper and the back of the cab
* Thinking about adding a transfer flow tank and extra water storage tank
- Does it have air bags or are air bags needed (trucks like its sagging a little)
- How stable is the rig (I've driven a Super C Kodiak and the rig swayed side to side a little too much)

Details on your rig

- Did you fab up the front bumper
- How big of a winch do you have
- what hitch extension do you use

Details on my rig

- 2004 C4500 2wd Crew Cab
- 13.6 foot flat bed with 5th wheel rails and a gooseneck hitch
- Increasing the tire size from the 225 to 265
- Air ride seats (thinking about air ride cab)
- Mild tune for towing only (EFI live)
- Secondary cooling system by Coolertowing.com (My LLY 2500HD overheats all the time)

Plans are to flat tow my trailer and rock crawler to the desert. I currently own a Lance 821 camper but I want to upgrade to either a 1131 or 1181.

Do you foresee any issue with my set/plans.

Thanks for you time i greatly appreciate it. I second what jmtandem said... You have been an inspiration.

Some quick answers....I expect to have wifi the next few nights so will try to get back on and add more.....but with that said:

Length of bed.....the space in front was basically the width of a Honda 3000 plus a little; you might look up the dimensions but Id guess 2.5 or 3 feet. So the bed was probably an 11 footer. I have pictures from when I visited, somewhere.....but not sure where at the moment.

I remember not liking his tie downs a whole lot for some reason but apparently they worked for him. You can see the fronts in the photo above and they go straight down to the bed (no angle at all).

Transfer flow is a great option but only with a 2WD. The comments above about limited range on a 40 gallon stock tank is a good one. I get anywhere from 6 to 10MPG primarily varying based on speed. At 62 I can get 10; at 72 I get more like 7+.

He had a Kelderman Rear Suspension that he really liked, and I ended up going the exact same route and have been really happy. The bag basically replaces the rear shackle but leaves the spring, creating something of a two-stage suspension that really does work. It softened up the big hits a lot on our rig. His front just had an airbag stuck between the spring and the frame and he questioned its value at all and I didn't even consider doing that.

Btw, we did not drive his so I do not know how it rode, but probably very similar to mine. Maybe even smoother on the highway without the front drive axle.

If I had my druthers (and lots of dough) I would replace my rear springs with fresh new ones with more arch from Deaver Springs in SoCal (mine have been seriously worked and should have been the stiffer ones like the 5500 haas. Plus I'd like to change to an eye type spring instead of a slipper, which would require another part from Kelderman to be changed. I'd also replace the fronts with Deaver Springs and new shocks all the way around. But having said that, I am still very happy with how ours rides. Very very little sway when semis go by or in heavy winds so I am very happy with it. I just know the springs are beat and the shocks are probably doing nothing by now. :)

Air bags not needed at all but I was concerned about beating the living crep out of the Lance and wanted to soften up the ride.

All 4x4 4500's are rated for 17500 and the 4x4 5500 is 19500 with the only difference the rear springs. I generally weigh around 18500 without my dirt bike on the hitch. And I am loaded nearly 100% of the time (again why I feel the springs are probably beat)

My rig...

The bumper and 16.5K Warn winch came together off a shelf. I have the receipts andc. Old look up the brand if you want. It's been good but the original owner wound the cable backwards (doh!) so the cable got a bit worn and the bumper which is mostly made of very stout steel has rusted through in front of the wheels where there is thin diamond plate and it gets road grime all the time. But it is a good setup, though heavy. 05 Kodiaks had a 7K front axle and the 06 had an 8K front (though couldn't figure out any difference in parts....). I roll with about 6500 on the front and 12K on the rear.

I have a hide a hitch gooseneck that is under the deck so no interference; you'll have to look at your fiver rails to decide. But note that for my Lance 1191it has to sit on about 3" of plywood (now changed to foam board) to clear the can. There are a number of ways you could claim that space for something like a water tank. You can also put water tank in front of the TC if you leave it auld back and you have a 13' deck.

Good move on cooling system. It is a known issue with all the Durmax's of that range. I have not had any problems but I am very very careful with that and since I went to a new aftermarket tranny (long painful story) it runs hitter than before so I have been thinking about other cooling options especially for the tranny. A couple of aux coolers in the bumper would be nice!

EFI tune probably a good idea. Check out the MDT forum on the dieselplace.com which has some really knowledgable Kodiak/TopKick guys and there are (or were) a couple of other dudes with TC's on them.

I don't really see any issues with your plans....I guess the main one will be the super long deck you have. If your camper sat at normal position you'd have about 5' in front of the camper. There are options, for example rear swing away jacks that would allow you to mount it much further forward but, the bottom of the TC would have to be totally FLAT and many/most are not. My Lance is not and would be major work to make it so. I highly highly recommend considering a side door model to make the entry point low but there's be no way to mount it all the way forward. But having said that, with that long bed of yours you'd just about be able to tuck the TC in behind the cab. Best bet for you might be a short and totally flat rear door TC mounted all the way forward and have a short deck behind on the flatbed. Maybe look at Capt. Eddys F450 threads from a ways back....seems like he sold it but had a nice flat bed setup.

Plenty of options out there. I think I still have the owner of this rigs phone number and if you want to chat sometime let me know. You might also do a serious dive through the old TC on a flatbed thread in the stickies. I was sorry it died but still a great source of ideas.

Thanks for the comments too guys, we all learn from each other. Jimandsue60 were certainly a big inspiration to me.

Oh yeah, towing. My rig was generally tall enough that I could actually use a really short wxtenaion in most cases. I used about a 20" or so for a long time and the actual ball sat underneath the camper. In the end I had a welder build what I would call a frame extension as it integrates in the Reese hitch but is the same width as the frame, is removable if necessary via a bunch of giant bolts. What that means is I use a short extension of maybe 14" but it is an over-under sort of thing where the upper tube is about 14" above the lower one so I can mount two Mtn Bikes or my dirt bike a over, and still flat tow our Jeep.

Another oddity is that the guy that set my rig up, actually cut off the very end of the frame and chopped off nearly a foot off the flatbed. He did that to keep the camper as far forward as possible. The frame actually extends out further than the flatbed deck does. Not sure if I would have done things exactly like he did but it worked. I might have chopped the deck, but would not likely have chopped the frame. Hell, I extended the frame for the towing for that matter!

I posted some pics of my new hitch setup a couple of years ago but it was on someone else's thread so it might be hard to find and there were also some original pictures from before I made those changes.