Want info on this Kodiak with a Lance 1181

My headights suck - I want some of those....depending on your feedback. The headlights on Kodiaks are pretty poor, low beams nearly worthless.

If I needed some more clearance, Clarence, I'd be most likely to think about new springs from Deaver Spring in SoCal. I believe that was one of the goals for the springs they designed and sell for Kodiaks. How much space do you have between the jounce bumper/bump stop and the rear spring when just sitting?

Nice truck!

whoa!!! thats crazy…

I think I am going to have to lift the truck an inch or two, rear tires are too close to the bed rail in the rear, I'm sure it will sag as soon as I attach the Lance and transfer flow. I'll also be towing a rock crawler that should sag it a little more. I would hate to have to add air bag.

Probably a good move taking the company logo off the door.

After all, one does not want to end up like that poor plumbing contractor in Houston, Texas. After trading his work truck off last year (with company logo on the door) it seems the truck went to auction, and then has worked its way to Syria, where it is now seen, along with the plumbing company logo on the door, in ISIS terrorists Twitter and other accounts, hauling an anti-aircraft gun around in the box.

A little update on my build…

Finally installed the new wheel and tires (went with 265/70/19.5).

Removed the PO company name from the rear doors… Looks clean now.
J
ust received my new headlights (4x6 DOT approved LED headlights… high and low beam).

I should be getting the Lance 821 next weekend also installing a transfer flow 50 gallon tank

On a different note… Anyone install a OBA (York 210 compressor) on their truck? Thinking about doing this on my truck, seems pretty easy.

2BLAZERS wrote:
btggaphix are you guys do a blog on your travels?

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

Hey dude! Yes, we both remember camping right next to you and your family; we really enjoyed that camp out and especially your fun family next door to us.

I fully planned on doing a blog but life has been so hectic it was all we could do to get out of our house, get it rented and get on the road. So nothing yet but hopefully as things settle down I will get to it. Just getting back on Rv.net is a start. Perhaps I should do a first 90 days TR or something to get caught up....

It's been an interesting voyage so far with some ups and downs and some adjustments to expectations and realities. We'd done a lot of 'practice' of course but the real thing throws in surprises all the time. Living normally is tougher when your "house" has to be taken in for oil changes etc. Had to leave our 'toad' in South Carolina so our second transpo is two bicycles right now. Probably should have brought the dirt bike after out recent stop back to the house in Colorado.

I checked out your receiver setup when I was looking at my 5500. Luckily I was able to fit a SuperHitch to my truck and avoid custom fabrication. It did limit me in bed deck choices that did not have a rear skirt that would interfere. I like the fact that it does not add to my overall length when I remove the camper and SuperTruss.

Right now, I have a short bed Arctic Fox on my 9' deck. I was able to fit 7.5' of its bottom on deck before running into same things you have underneath. My cab is lower, so I did not have cab over clearance problems - I did have to use thick mats to clear my goose neck hardware.

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.

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.

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.

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.