bcbigfoot
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Re: 2004 2500 series Bigfoot
I took a measurement on my built in Dec. 2004 25c9.6E. The camper is on the truck I can't be 100% sure but it appears to be 47" from the bottom of the camper to the bottom of the overhead (bottom of bed area). I have the 2005 brochure but that measurement is not given.455Views0likes0CommentsRe: Depth of Bigfoot factory mattress
covered wagon wrote: Don't get the springs mattress it's too cold because of the air space for the springs. The BigFoot and Northern Lite mattress maker is in Lethbridge Alberta. I had them make a new mattress for me that was all foam, no springs and its insulating very nicely from the cold. Those springs are teeth shattering shivers is all I can say. They also know the angle of the front to make it fit well. I also had them make it so it fits with no gaps on the sides, so no cold creeping from there either. Northern Lite had the Mattress short by 2 or so inches on each side. My new Mattress is also thicker at 6 inches thick. Let me know if you want the company name it's on the mattress zippered cover they put on. I forgot to say that I also would prefer a good quality solid foam mattress, I get by with the spring/foam mattress by adding a 2" good quality foam on top. Still enough room to open drawers and cabinets.676Views0likes0CommentsRe: Front Ends - Especially Dodge
Grit dog wrote: Camber is not adjustable on a 4wd 2002 Dodge HD. Nor is it adjustable on pretty much any 4wd solid front axle, with the exception of installing offset ball joints. I agree a lot of shops don't know what they're doing with truck front ends but there's a reason they told you camber wasn't adjustable. Caster is adjustable on Rams since the gen 2 trucks though. I have a two wheel drive like the OP, it's hard to find a shop that knows how to or are willing to put the extra effort into doing the camber/caster on two wheel drive trucks, at least it's that way around here.362Views0likes0CommentsRe: Front Ends - Especially Dodge
Where I live 99.8% of all trucks are 4x4, I had to go to 3 different shops before I found one that would believe me that the castor and camber could be adjusted, and even then they wouldn't adjust the camber or castor, they did adjust the toe in/out and managed to get steering wheel crooked. hmmm.362Views0likes0CommentsRe: Camper and Skiing
Thanks for looking that up bb_94401, I had no idea they made such a critter. But yeh at that price other alternatives look attrative, I've also tossed around the idea of the Platnum Cat http://www.ventedcatheater.com/ unfortunately I don't have a real good place to install it.706Views0likes0CommentsRe: Camper and Skiing
Great advice from bb-94401, I don't ski however I do alot of winter and spring fall boondocking. As bb-94401 pointed out keeping propane vaporizing at 10f and below at the rate my 30000 btu furnace uses can be a issue, I mostly solved this by getting rid of the auto change-over valve and just teeing the two tanks together, not a perfect solution if you run out of propane. I have played with the idea of warping the propane tanks in a battery warmer and powering them from the 1000 watt inverter installed in the camper. Safety issues are a concern, however I think back to when my Father would use a tiger torch to heat up propane tanks to keep the propane vaporizing in -40 weather in northern Saskatchewan, I'm such a wimp these days lol. The other problem was cold batteries, so I installed AGM batteries and opened up the batery box to cabin air temps.. I don't remeber exact numbers but your batteries lose 25% of thier amp hr cap. going from 70f down to 10f or 0f, since you should only use the top 50% of your battery cap. you really lose half of your available amp hrs. to cold batteries. Also batteries recharge very very slowly when cold. Warm batteries will recharge in 1/4 of the time, which means much less generator run time.706Views0likes0CommentsRe: Furnace fan and battery drain
I used to run 2 group 27 12v batteries but I found as the outside temps went down the colder the batteries became as they need to be vented to outside. As the temps drop the amount of amps hrs available from the batteries would also drop and at the same time the more the furnace needed to run in order to keep up to the colder temps. The other problem is a cold battery charges very slowly. I solved most of my issues by going to two group 31 AGM batteries and moved them into the heated side of the camper and insulating the outside battery compartment door. This has doubled the available amps, I can easily go two nights of 10f temps outside and 70f inside (I don't like sleeping in cold) Two hours of charging by generator or truck alternater each day and I can boondock till the propane runs out. I also have 4 guage cables from truck batteries and camper batteries.382Views0likes0CommentsRe: Front Ends - Especially Dodge
Grit dog wrote: Pretty sure herghopper is talking about a steering box brace. AFAIK this is only for 4wd trucks and it doesn’t help with bjs, rod ends etc. BD diesel has the steering stabilizers for 2wd, I have one on my 02 dodge dually. Here is a link to it https://www.dieselperformance.com/shop/product/1032002-bd-dodge-steering-box-stabilizer-2wd-ram-1994-2002-2500-3500-1994-2001-1500-599 I agree if there is any wear in the steering linkage or ball joints the steering stabilizer won't help much. The steering stabilizer help my truck when loaded with camper, it reduced wander in uneven pavement or bumps, well worth the money. I believe you can get stabilizers off ebay for 70$, I have heard they are OK but I have no personnel experience. At 180k miles my truck has all original steering components except for lower ball joints which the previous owner was conned into buying by a unscrupulous shop at 110k miles (long story) at the time I bought the truck. I recently checked steering components and they are still good, I'm going to keep a eye on the drivers top ball joint as it has a little bit of movement. The last 70k miles and 9 years have all been with the camper on. My truck has stock tires (55psi)and rims 235 85/16s tall narrow low pressure tires do absorb a lot of the road shock. Are all of your steering components getting greased each oil change? also how are the shocks? poor shocks will accelerate suspension wear. I have never heard that Dodge's 2wd front end is all that bad, unlike the 4wd with big tires.202Views0likes0CommentsRe: comparing Northern Lite and Bigfoot 25c 10.4
My 2005 9.6 2500 Bigfoot was advertised as having 1.5" insulation, this was not true as the entire roof has 1" expanded polystyrene. The roof layers are as follows 1) fibreglass, 2) 1/2" plywood, 3) 1" expanded polystyrene, 4) 3/8" plywood, 5) carpet. Much of the bottom floor isn't insulated and what is, was poorly placed 1" insulation. I don't know if the new campers are built this way oe not. The 30000 btu ducted furnace in the Bigfoot is nice to warm things up quickly but the downside is turboprop type noise, lots of amp draw, and when the temps get cold 0 degrees f and lower it can use propane faster than the 20lb bottle can let the liquid propane evaporate to gas, so the furnace doesn't make the full 30000 btu's this causes the furnace to run longer and use more battery power at temps that already have the batteries at a disadvantage. My Bigfoot, niether the propane or battery box were insulated and allow alot of cold air in. Also the bottom of the fridge had no insulation.522Views0likes0Comments
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