F550 Upfitting cost estimates?
I am in the very early stages of considering buying an F550 chassis cab truck and outfitting it to carry my truck camper. I have an older Lance camper I have modified/customized to be exactly what...
Forum Discussion
Well, I kinda been looking at the same thing, and here are some things to consider…
If the underside of your camper has a drop-down overhang in the back, this overhang will impact how far you’ll be able to forward position the camper atop the flatbed (varies per bed length)…This may result in a sizable gap between the campers front bulkhead and the flatbeds ‘headache bar’…(possible extra storage…).
Once you get the camper aboard the flat bed, the front swing-out jacks will need to swing in to their travel position…This may be adversely impacted if the camper (assuming a drop-down) cannot go most of the way forward…Flatbed width will play a roll here, meaning narrower is better - angled front bed corners can help…Tie-down points can be easily improvised, say, inside the steak-bed receptacles…
Review bed offerings critically, as some that may appear suitable are actually for chassis mount 3500’s & 350’s (pick ups) having different chassis widths than true work trucks such as 4500’s, 5500’s or 550’s…
On a 550 or 5500, a steel bed can actually be an attribute to help buffer an unloaded uber stiff ride…
The two popular bed types are a fully skirted type with integral built-in boxes and ICC rear, or a traditional flatbed with side mounted boxes, with or without a full ICC skirted rear…Rear hitch size options can vary…
Allow somewheres between $1500 and $2000 (and a full day) for bed installation which includes electrical (lights, F&R 7 pins, camera’s, etc…), mud-flaps (if non-skirted), and fuel neck(s) extension-relocation…
Hope this helps…
3 tons
If the underside of your camper has a drop-down overhang in the back, this overhang will impact how far you’ll be able to forward position the camper atop the flatbed (varies per bed length)…This may result in a sizable gap between the campers front bulkhead and the flatbeds ‘headache bar’…(possible extra storage…).
Once you get the camper aboard the flat bed, the front swing-out jacks will need to swing in to their travel position…This may be adversely impacted if the camper (assuming a drop-down) cannot go most of the way forward…Flatbed width will play a roll here, meaning narrower is better - angled front bed corners can help…Tie-down points can be easily improvised, say, inside the steak-bed receptacles…
Review bed offerings critically, as some that may appear suitable are actually for chassis mount 3500’s & 350’s (pick ups) having different chassis widths than true work trucks such as 4500’s, 5500’s or 550’s…
On a 550 or 5500, a steel bed can actually be an attribute to help buffer an unloaded uber stiff ride…
The two popular bed types are a fully skirted type with integral built-in boxes and ICC rear, or a traditional flatbed with side mounted boxes, with or without a full ICC skirted rear…Rear hitch size options can vary…
Allow somewheres between $1500 and $2000 (and a full day) for bed installation which includes electrical (lights, F&R 7 pins, camera’s, etc…), mud-flaps (if non-skirted), and fuel neck(s) extension-relocation…
Hope this helps…
3 tons
