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 and designs.
We had a 2008 3500 DRW Cummins and 2008 AF 1140 which we’ve had since new.
We’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 body’s, service body’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 they’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 “early retired” 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, 60”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 “stuff” 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 16” boxes as I wanted the body width to stay narrower for the camper “wings” in the rear and not interfere with tie-downs.
Started with 1x3 oak, 2x4x1/4 wall on the chassis, and 3” 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 I’m using the truck
for things other than traveling with the TC.
Curb and road sides coming together.
More to come...
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 and designs.
We had a 2008 3500 DRW Cummins and 2008 AF 1140 which we’ve had since new.
We’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 body’s, service body’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 they’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 “early retired” 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, 60”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 “stuff” 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 16” boxes as I wanted the body width to stay narrower for the camper “wings” in the rear and not interfere with tie-downs.
Started with 1x3 oak, 2x4x1/4 wall on the chassis, and 3” 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 I’m using the truck
for things other than traveling with the TC.
Curb and road sides coming together.
More to come...
Thank you jimh425
mike/kellie, Already taken care of that, polished stainless and I punched a 2” dimple die around the
marking lights...
Mellow, the air compressor is in the lower front curbside box.
It’s an Extremeaire 1/2 hp 12vdc industrial compressor, 25’ cord-reel, 3 gallon air tank under the rear pass floor, and of course the ever so obnoxious train horns.
I put a 750 watt inverter in there to keep by tool batts charged up.
When I ordered the truck I added the PTO package with it. I was planning on putting a generator/compressor off of it. After I finished throwing up blood on the price I decided
against it and went with this style compressor.
mike/kellie, Already taken care of that, polished stainless and I punched a 2” dimple die around the
marking lights...
Mellow, the air compressor is in the lower front curbside box.
It’s an Extremeaire 1/2 hp 12vdc industrial compressor, 25’ cord-reel, 3 gallon air tank under the rear pass floor, and of course the ever so obnoxious train horns.
I put a 750 watt inverter in there to keep by tool batts charged up.
When I ordered the truck I added the PTO package with it. I was planning on putting a generator/compressor off of it. After I finished throwing up blood on the price I decided
against it and went with this style compressor.
Are you wanting more? Almost done.....
We loaded it back on the truck to take it to the body shop so they could see what they
we’re going to be up against and to color match.
Full bead blast, sealer/primer, body work the welds and seams, Linex in the bed, and on the top of the boxes, as well as inside the fenders. Gladiator undercoating, light gray paint for the box interiors and the three stage color on the exterior.
I originally wanted the Linex underneath the body, but the shop said the gladiator was better suited for all the cracks and crevasses during it’s application as it comes from a smaller nozzle.... nice stuff BTW.
They were up for the challenge, just had a few little odds and ends to finish up and they were getting it in a weeks time.
Needed weep holes inside the light boxes and some welds cleaned up.
Loading it up for the body shop, doors, shelving, and fenders.
I went to see how they were progressing during the stages and grabbed some pics..
After a few weeks and no problems it was time to go pick it up.
After I finished all the wiring it was time to put it on the truck for the last time.
I was itching to get it outside to see how the paint matched up..,.perfect!
Time to put the hinges, doors and hardware on.
Fuel filler necks, gasketing between the skirts and the fenders, shelving, upfitter switching for the interior box lighting, rear rack lighting and air compressor.
That’s about it.
Just need to wait a bit more for the states to open up so we can put it to use.
Thanks for the kind comments guys, if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask and I’ll be happy to answer them.
Stay safe and be well,
Rick and Kim
We loaded it back on the truck to take it to the body shop so they could see what they
we’re going to be up against and to color match.
Full bead blast, sealer/primer, body work the welds and seams, Linex in the bed, and on the top of the boxes, as well as inside the fenders. Gladiator undercoating, light gray paint for the box interiors and the three stage color on the exterior.
I originally wanted the Linex underneath the body, but the shop said the gladiator was better suited for all the cracks and crevasses during it’s application as it comes from a smaller nozzle.... nice stuff BTW.
They were up for the challenge, just had a few little odds and ends to finish up and they were getting it in a weeks time.
Needed weep holes inside the light boxes and some welds cleaned up.
Loading it up for the body shop, doors, shelving, and fenders.
I went to see how they were progressing during the stages and grabbed some pics..
After a few weeks and no problems it was time to go pick it up.
After I finished all the wiring it was time to put it on the truck for the last time.
I was itching to get it outside to see how the paint matched up..,.perfect!
Time to put the hinges, doors and hardware on.
Fuel filler necks, gasketing between the skirts and the fenders, shelving, upfitter switching for the interior box lighting, rear rack lighting and air compressor.
That’s about it.
Just need to wait a bit more for the states to open up so we can put it to use.
Thanks for the kind comments guys, if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask and I’ll be happy to answer them.
Stay safe and be well,
Rick and Kim
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...
