Want info on this Kodiak with a Lance 1181

btggaphix are you guys do a blog on your travels?

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

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.

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.

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!

The Kodiak in that picture is not carryying 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

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

Trucks in this class are chassis cabs to which you get the bed added on and whatever else you need. Wherever you buy this type of truck they will know of local shops that do the modifications. This is where aluminum construction will cost more but can save a lot of weight and you avoid rust problems.

Check the fuel tank options from the factory and with aftermarket products. Getting 6-8 MPG you will burn through fuel quickly (and DEF as well) and fuel capacity is often more limited than you would expect as these trucks are meant for local use and not long distance travel.

Campers are designed to place the COG over the rear axle. So long as the camper is at the rear of the bed and you add storage and fuel tanks to the area in front of the camper and behind the cab you will have no trouble. These trucks will have a payload capacity of over 8,000 lbs. so you are not overloading them with a 6,000 lb. camper load by any stretch of the imagination. Even the F-450 chassis cab truck has a payload capacity of more than 8,000 lbs. though the truck also is DRW and uses 19.5 wheels.

I don't know if the owner of that camper and truck combination is on this website or not. I have not seen that camper picture posted before.

What I do not like is the distance between the rear tires and the truck body, it is to short and can rub if you bottom out. Also the distance between the center of gravity and rear axle is to short, or the camper center of gravity is to far rearward for my liking. While you are not going to lift the front tires off the ground with such a heavy truck, it would be more stable with the weight a little more forward, and because it looks like a custom truck body, why not make it so that you can get from the cab to the camper? Even being able to pass drinks back and forth would be handy, having the heated air flow into the camper is nice too!

But perhaps they purchased the flatbed truck without the camper, and installed everything to fit the current truck, rather than shorten the flatbed, and make it shorter overall? OR perhaps they wanted to carry a generator or something large in the space under the cabover - just behind the truck's cab?

Anyway it is not my "Ideal" set up, but if it works for them, go for it, it looks safe.

Fred.

The gross weight rating on that truck is at least 17,500 pounds. With no camper on it, it likely weighs 9500 pounds or so. That gives it at least 7500 pounds of camper capacity that is under tire, rim, and axle ratings. So what if it fits a little back from the cab? I like it!

Mine requires 8" wheel clearance to prevent interference when fully loaded on uneven terrain.