HandyRandy
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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 I want. We love it and will not replace it. I can shop for the truck and understand the range of prices for what I am looking at. There are lots of upfitter sites on the web, but I am just beginning to put a wish list and budget together so I am not even close to asking for quotes. Required: A custom flatbed with storage boxes and tie downs. Preferably aluminum for weight reduction and corrosion resistance. Wish list: Oversize single rear wheel conversion with the necessary suspension mods. For example: https://www.buckstopinc.com/single-wheel-conversions.html Extra fuel capacity On board air compressor Can anyone provide ballpark costs for the bed and the mods I listed? Any recommendations for suppliers? Thanks,3.8KViews0likes12CommentsRe: Who’s still using a 7.3 diesel truck
Still have 2 7.3s - both 1999. Bought the F250 in 2000. It has 249,000 and (except for the transmission) has needed little more than routine service. I bought it for a Hallmark pop-up. I added pillar gauges, 4" exhaust, ham radio, Ford AIS Intake. In 2011 I upgraded to a Lance 1030 and the F250 wasn't quite enough truck. I found a 1999 F350 DRW manual transmission and have put ~75,000 on it. It has required typical service - alternator, glow plugs, rear pinion seal, transfer case motor and vacuum motor on the auto trans ESOF F250 - but the engine has been bomb proof. Since I already knew the truck I did the same upgrades plus a DIY exhaust brake. Do I "love" them? Not really, but they are paid for, run great, do what I need them to do and I know them inside and out. If someone wanted to give me a $70,000 truck, I wouldn't turn them down, but I don't covet a new truck enough to pay the $. I'll run the now 22 year old 7.3s until it doesn't make sense.568Views0likes0CommentsBlowout Adapter
It's that time of year again. It's supposed to be below freezing all day on Thursday. I needed blow out my daughter's truck camper, but it is not parked within hose length of my compressor so I needed to use an air tank. I have a blowout adapter with a Schader valve, but I've never had any luck with Schrader quick (dis)connects. They never seem to stay on without leaking air and I was alone for the project so no one to hold the air hose on the valve. I have a bunch of air hose fittings and found an Orbit male hose repair part that worked perfectly. I tapped it with a 1/4" NPT tap. The threads weren't deep, but good enough for the air hose connector to bite in. I sealed the threads with JB Weld. The O-ring was to keep the JB Weld from oozing out before it set up. I can't easily post the picture I took, but the Orbit part number is 106787 "5/8 Male Hose Mender". I found it at Home Depot. Worked like a champ. I got it totally blown out with only one air tank refill.1.5KViews0likes8CommentsRe: Travel advice - quick cross country trip
"Back onto 16 at Buffalo, Ten Sleep Canyon then possibly 20 and 26 down to Riverton and 26 / 287 to Jackson Lake. Tour Jackson / Yellowstone for a few days. This is a pretty drive, but the more northerly route over the Big Horns (Get off I90 at Ranchester. Take 14 to Burgess Junction then Alt 14 from Burgess Junction to Lovell) is spectacular. It is called the Medicine Wheel passage. It is a little steeper than Ten Sleep Canyon, but paved and smooth. Coming down the west side you feel like you are falling out of the sky. The Buffalo Bill museum in Cody is really worth your time, but plan on most of a day. Enjoy your trip.465Views0likes0CommentsRe: Question: Pop-Up vs Hard-side TC's (firsthand experience?)
One aspect I didn't see mentioned was a Pop-up's ability to carry stuff on top. With my Hallmark, we carried mountain bikes easily. It was low enough so clearance was a non-issue. We usually took them off before "popping", but didn't have to. Moving to a hard side side (140" to the top of the AC) we had to find another solution. Now they are either in a trailer or on top of the the towed Jeep.555Views0likes0CommentsRe: Yellowstone, '16
Lots of great advice about Yellowstone and the Tetons. You can go about anywhere with a TC FWIW - Lots of folks overnight at the Walmart in Cody. The museum in Cody is well worth the stop, but plan on most of a day to see it all. Their firearms collection beats the NRA museum in Virginia! Happy travels!398Views0likes0CommentsRe: Lance roof solar plug question
rwiegand wrote: 12 ga is fine for a trickle type battery maintainer, but apparently will be severely limiting if you're trying to charge your batteries. I was advised that the 150 watt panel I just installed needed 8 ga cables to work effectively. On my 2007 851 we fished new wires down to the battery compartment. Same problem, it seems, as trying to charge your house batteries on the wire in the trailer hitch circuit, that also needs to get bumped up to 8 ga to work well. +1 I have a 1030. I found the roof plug and even where it went inside. However, based on many comments like this one, when I installed ~300 Watts of panels, I ignored it and ran my own 10 ga wires down through the refrigerator vent. Good Luck606Views0likes0CommentsRe: Wiring from RV 7 way to Toad vehicles existing lights?
Quote ->My question is can I just mount another 7 way on the front of my Cherokee then run some wire back to my 7 way on the back of my jeep and splice it in? Or is there another way to do it. I don't really want to run portable lights if I don't have to. Not sure, but probably not. Here is what I did: I have a truck camper with the truck set up to tow trailers. I wanted to leave the 7 pin RV receptacle on the truck unchanged so I could tow a trailer or my '03 TJ interchangeably. After a lot of research I ended up with the Roadmaster Invisibrake and decided to buy a pre-made tail light wiring/diode kit. On my jeep it was just a matter of unplugging the connectors to the tail lights and plugging the Roadmaster wiring in series. The RM wiring has Green, Yellow, Brown and ground wires that ran to the front of the Jeep. I mounted a 7 Pin RV receptacle on the front of the Jeep and built a "jumper cable" with a 7 Pin RV Plug on each end to span the tow bar. I just connected the Tail Light Green, Yellow and Brown to the same function contacts through to the truck connector. My F350 "Towing Package" included a relay to isolate +12V so I ran this through the connector and a 20A fuse to keep the Jeep battery topped up - no diodes necessary. The Invisibrake was supposed to use the Brown (running lights) wire for power, but I decided to take it directly from the (now charged) Jeep battery through a switch. The Invisibrake is supposed to interpret both Green and Yellow wires hot together as a Brake signal, but I used the Brake signal (typically Blue wire) from the truck connector to activate the brakes. I called Roadmaster a couple times to ask questions and their tech support was great. One reply above suggested leaving your key in the Off position to avoid discharging your battery, but if you a flat towing, you obviously need to leave your steering wheel unlocked to let the front wheels track. Good luck.397Views0likes0Comments
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Prefer to camp in a travel trailer? You're not alone.Jul 12, 202544,042 Posts
