cancel
Showing results forย 
Search instead forย 
Did you mean:ย 

My (our) Ultimate Truck Camper Body Build

RICKIM
Explorer III
Explorer III
Let me start by saying that I wouldnโ€™t have built this without my wifeโ€™s blessings.
This is something Iโ€™ve wanted to build for a few years, and she was on board with it from the start of the thoughts and designs.
We had a 2008 3500 DRW Cummins and 2008 AF 1140 which weโ€™ve had since new.

Weโ€™re avid travelers and had put over 125,000 enjoyable miles of fun with the truck and TC. The truck handled it fine but we wanted something with more capacity and piece of mind.
We had upgraded our TC with the same exact AF 1140, only 11 years newer, so
with the larger tanks and new do-dads the new TC had, the longer trips, and more toys we wanted to bring with us, we felt we should start the process for a bigger truck and body.

Now, I looked at flatbeds, flat beds with boxes, aluminum bodyโ€™s, service bodyโ€™s, etc.
I called Douglass Truck Body as we liked that style TC bed, as well as two other builders for a cost on what we were looking for, but they were going to need the truck and camper for a minimum of two months.
That was not going to be an option as we live on the east coast and theyโ€™re on the west coast, and she was NOT going to have the new truck and new camper out of her sight for that long.

I brought the subject up with a recently โ€œearly retiredโ€ certified submarine welder friend of ours who wanted something to do so I asked him if he was willing to work with some designs and ideas I had put down on paper, cad, and pictures.
He was on board with the welding and fabing part, now, to make it happen.

I special ordered a RAM 5500, C&C, 60โ€CA, 4WD, Cummins, Aisin, 19,500 GVW Laramie with all the fixins....Figured this will be the last truck (hopefully) for quite some time so after 9 weeks this is what showed up:






As soon as the truck was in my hands I started ordering all the โ€œstuffโ€ I had in planning.
I found a company from Alabama that would custom make any box, doors, handles, and metal gauges I was looking for.
I needed 16โ€ boxes as I wanted the body width to stay narrower for the camper โ€œwingsโ€ in the rear and not interfere with tie-downs.
Started with 1x3 oak, 2x4x1/4 wall on the chassis, and 3โ€ channel for the cross members.




I incorporated the bed and camper tie-downs to the chassis.
I also put recessed pocket tie-downs in the bed for hold downs when Iโ€™m using the truck
for things other than traveling with the TC.













Curb and road sides coming together.





More to come...
2018 AF1140DB, 400W solar, Trimetric, Lifeline GPL-31XTโ€™s, rear deck,
2019 5500 Ram Crew, DRW, 6.7L-CTD, Custom TC bed, on board air, Front Rack
48 REPLIES 48

zb39
Explorer
Explorer
WOW, That is AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NICE WORK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2017 Host mammoth, sold
49 states, 41 National Parks, 7 Provinces
2019 2 door Rubicon 6 spd.
2019 Berkshire XLT 45B
2022 Host Cascade
2021 Ram 5500 Air ride

TCdude
Explorer
Explorer
Amazing!! I'm currently doing a utility body swap and custom work on my rig. Lots of planning, not enough movement. I dont have the wife buy in that you did so I have to move fast and I'm clogging up the garage good. One of the many items on my list of to-dos is to determine how I will arrange/organize the items in the 6 boxes. for example 1 box is for my batteries, electric upgrades ect, 1 box is for plumming, hoses, RV items, 1 box is for outdoor games/chairs ect, 1 box is being designed as a fold out outdoor kitchen and 1 box of course will be the tool box. Any chance you could give us some pics or description on how your organized your utility box systems. Thanks for your time.
02 GMC 3500 Auto DRW RWD 4.10
2003 Lance 1130 - ROTTEN and Gone
1997 Bigfoot 10.6

RICKIM
Explorer III
Explorer III
PastorCharlie, thank you.
The camper doesnโ€™t have to be removed from the truck, just raised up enough to pull the tire out from in front of the TCs bulkhead.....lets just hope it doesnโ€™t ever come to that.

Rick
2018 AF1140DB, 400W solar, Trimetric, Lifeline GPL-31XTโ€™s, rear deck,
2019 5500 Ram Crew, DRW, 6.7L-CTD, Custom TC bed, on board air, Front Rack

PastorCharlie
Explorer
Explorer
Great Work.. professional quality.

Is access to the spare tire blocked by the camper? Will camper have to be removed on side of road to change tire?

GoinThisAway
Explorer
Explorer
Now that y'all worked out all the kinks on that one, can I get one in silver :B
2008 Dodge 3500 DRW 4x4
2008 Bigfoot 25C10.4
Torklift/Fastguns/Hellwig/StableLoads

bwlyon
Explorer
Explorer
Iโ€™m sure you have already decided on where to put the spare, but I canโ€™t tell based on the pictures. So, donโ€™t forget to make spot for the spare tire! Looks great! Whoops! Disregard, I looked a little closer. That is an awesome build!

RICKIM
Explorer III
Explorer III
Cewillis, thank you for the compliment. If you want to read all my chicken scratch and renderings Ill be happy to show it all to you.
Stay safe
Rick
2018 AF1140DB, 400W solar, Trimetric, Lifeline GPL-31XTโ€™s, rear deck,
2019 5500 Ram Crew, DRW, 6.7L-CTD, Custom TC bed, on board air, Front Rack

cewillis
Explorer
Explorer
Outstanding work, and beautiful result. But for full credit, you have to show your design work. (or not, it's the result that counts)
Cal

RICKIM
Explorer III
Explorer III
Thanks for the kind words everyone.....
When we get back to exploring again Iโ€™ll shoot some picks of it in action.
Rick
2018 AF1140DB, 400W solar, Trimetric, Lifeline GPL-31XTโ€™s, rear deck,
2019 5500 Ram Crew, DRW, 6.7L-CTD, Custom TC bed, on board air, Front Rack

silverbullet555
Explorer
Explorer
Holy ****. That's amazing.
1995 Northland Grizzly 860. 2355 lbs of purple goodness! Sold
2005 Lance 845 - Baby Bertha
2007 Chevy Silverado 2500HD Classic CC SB 4WD
Torklift mounts
Torklift superhitch
Hellwig swaybar and 3500lb helper springs
2002 Cobalt 226 "Baby Blue"

dblr
Explorer
Explorer
Impressive is the only word I could add to all the other compliments!!!!!
2017 River Stone Legacy 38MB
2001 Kenworth T2000
2009 Smart on the deck.

joerg68
Nomad III
Nomad III
Ultimate Build, indeed! Very nice work, and a beautiful result. I wish you get many happy years of travel out of this. Congratulations!
2014 Ford F350 XLT 6.2 SCLB + 2017 Northstar Arrow

RICKIM
Explorer III
Explorer III
AnEv942,

The tie-down โ€œflagsโ€ were cut on the same premise on the tork-lift style. I still use my original fast-guns to tie the camper down. My originals on my 08 worked well with my fast-guns so I mimicked them. Just used 2โ€x1/4โ€ wall tubing instead of 1-1/4โ€ (I think thatโ€™s the size they use)
The spare tire will stop forward motion, it sits in a well in the bed under the rack 11โ€ off the front wall.

The in-board rack lights are high output LED and are switched by one of the auxiliary up-fitter switches in the cab. The outboard lights are brake, running and reverse and can not be switched.
2018 AF1140DB, 400W solar, Trimetric, Lifeline GPL-31XTโ€™s, rear deck,
2019 5500 Ram Crew, DRW, 6.7L-CTD, Custom TC bed, on board air, Front Rack

NRALIFR
Explorer
Explorer
Bwaaaaaa!!!



Whaaa!!!



Sniff



Dang it, thatโ€™s the purtiest thing (besides a girl) Iโ€™ve ever seen

:):)
2001 Lance 1121 on a 2016 F450 โ€˜Scuse me while I whinge.
And for all you Scooby-Doo and Yosemite Sam typesโ€ฆโ€ฆโ€ฆ..Letโ€™s Go Brandon!!!

AnEv942
Nomad
Nomad
Dang! That is just a pleasure to admire.
I noted the, what appear, similar to torklift tie downs and also in different orientation in some of the pics- what is there purpose? Was curious about the rack, obviously clears and assuming the spare lives there but what stops forward camper movement. Can you disable rack lights?
01 Ford F250 4x4 DRW Diesel, 01 Elkhorn 9U
Our camper projects page http://www.ourelkhorn.itgo.com