My (our) Ultimate Truck Camper Body Build
Let me start by saying that I wouldn’t have built this without my wife’s blessings. This is something I’ve wanted to build for a few years, and she was on board with it from the start of the thoughts...
Forum Discussion
ticki2 asked earlier what the body weighs, the 7 boxes, doors, shelving and hardware shipped at 850lbs, all 14 gauge boxes and 13 gauge doors.
All the steel for the framing, floor (.125), headache rack, step bumper, tubing for tie-downs.....I should just say pretty much 95% of the steel came in at 1,100 lbs.
The truck weighs out at 11,400 now with 75 gallons of fuel, the wife and I and a couple
hundred pounds of “stuff” in the body.
Your going to have to turn your head for a couple of these pics...
One of the companies I do work for is a metal shop.....that’s where all the steel came from, anyway, he bent this up for the rear step and bumper.
The step tread is 10” but the rise in the pic is 20”. Well, after looking at this and thinking about curb departure and such, I cut the rise down to 16” and frenched in the reg. plate,
Cut and boxed the corners of the rear step too,
Time to stiffen it up and also make a receiver out of it.
I liked the look of the frenched in plate so I did the taillights also
The rack is 3/16” wall by 2”x6”. I cut the angles to match the contour of the cab and
Dr. Z welded it together.
I was able to find someone that made the boxes for the taillights and rack lighting instead of fabing them up ourselves.
Stainless fenders were next... not cheap BTW, so we could cut the skirting to match the arch.
The front and rear box supports were cut and welded up. For those wondering, the white color on the steel is zinc oxide spray for welding. That went on before the boxes were welded to the supports for rust prevention between the channel and boxes.
Time to cut the steel for the bed corners and skirts
Floor went in next, cutouts for the bed tie downs and spare tire well were made and welded up.
When this goes to the body shop, we, and the body shop needed a way to move it around.
I had some 750lb casters in the shop so I welded them up with some 2” tubing and incorporated them into the camper tie-down receivers.
I put the backup camera above the plate and gave it a little eyebrow for protection.
Welding up the bottom of the floor to the channels
The list is getting shorter...
Holes were drilled in the four corners and under the rear lighting as well as the headache rack for the marker lights
More to come...
All the steel for the framing, floor (.125), headache rack, step bumper, tubing for tie-downs.....I should just say pretty much 95% of the steel came in at 1,100 lbs.
The truck weighs out at 11,400 now with 75 gallons of fuel, the wife and I and a couple
hundred pounds of “stuff” in the body.
Your going to have to turn your head for a couple of these pics...
One of the companies I do work for is a metal shop.....that’s where all the steel came from, anyway, he bent this up for the rear step and bumper.
The step tread is 10” but the rise in the pic is 20”. Well, after looking at this and thinking about curb departure and such, I cut the rise down to 16” and frenched in the reg. plate,
Cut and boxed the corners of the rear step too,
Time to stiffen it up and also make a receiver out of it.
I liked the look of the frenched in plate so I did the taillights also
The rack is 3/16” wall by 2”x6”. I cut the angles to match the contour of the cab and
Dr. Z welded it together.
I was able to find someone that made the boxes for the taillights and rack lighting instead of fabing them up ourselves.
Stainless fenders were next... not cheap BTW, so we could cut the skirting to match the arch.
The front and rear box supports were cut and welded up. For those wondering, the white color on the steel is zinc oxide spray for welding. That went on before the boxes were welded to the supports for rust prevention between the channel and boxes.
Time to cut the steel for the bed corners and skirts
Floor went in next, cutouts for the bed tie downs and spare tire well were made and welded up.
When this goes to the body shop, we, and the body shop needed a way to move it around.
I had some 750lb casters in the shop so I welded them up with some 2” tubing and incorporated them into the camper tie-down receivers.
I put the backup camera above the plate and gave it a little eyebrow for protection.
Welding up the bottom of the floor to the channels
The list is getting shorter...
Holes were drilled in the four corners and under the rear lighting as well as the headache rack for the marker lights
More to come...
