JohnnyU's Crawler-Hauler "Build" Thread

[wahlstrom1]

Just gonna pull off the camper for truck haulin duties, and use it for camping/quadding?

Deer-hoof wheels = 5 on 4.5" BP...? How many lb axles and does it have brakes?

Camper might be a bit heavy loaded up with gear/water etc and a quad on it.

 

[JohnnyU]

Just gonna pull off the camper for truck haulin duties, and use it for camping/quadding?

Deer-hoof wheels = 5 on 4.5" BP...? How many lb axles and does it have brakes?

Camper might be a bit heavy loaded up with gear/water etc and a quad on it.

They're 3500# axles for now (with brakes), which I'm not super happy with, but it gets the job done and was the right price. I can easily swap axles later.

That's exactly what I'm thinking, use the trailer with camper for ATVing, as that's 90% of what our trips would be, then pull it when I wanted to take the truck somewhere. I don't think the truck would fit with a sleeper up front anyway, so I'd need to pull that or stretch the trailer to use both.

 

[JohnnyU]

I wouldn't mind having an ambulance.

Now before you laugh, think about this....

These squads can be had with a turbo diesel, dually rear on a F350 or better chassis. Think of all the space you could convert to a camper and the towing ability.

It had crossed my mind, but I already have the turbo diesel tow rig and trailer, so that's kind of a moot point. I was eying a 32' tandem dual GN trailer that would have let me do about anything I wanted, but it was 5X the cost, and almost 3X the empty weight.

 

[wahlstrom1]

Ah, if they're 3500lb's I wouldn't worry. If the truck doesn't fit with the sleeper then I'd do the camper just for room and keeping the wife happy while camping. A lot more ammenities and nicer all around.

 

[JohnnyU]

Ah, if they're 3500lb's I wouldn't worry. If the truck doesn't fit with the sleeper then I'd do the camper just for room and keeping the wife happy while camping. A lot more ammenities and nicer all around.

I'm usually by myself on ATV trips, unless I pick up a SxS. I would like to do that in the next couple of years, but for now, I realy only have to worry about me on those kind of trips. My wife is more of a cabin camper, or at least we typically stay in a cabin when we go up to Door County, Wi, or similar.

I'm just thinking that this would be a nice upgrade for myself, of course, I'll need approval from my CFO...

 

[88_Eddie]

if it's just you i'd find a camper shell in decent shape and throw a air mattress in the bed to sleep.

when i go on trips by myself, i take a single person aero bed. i can inflate/deflate it with an inverter i have in the car and if i fold the seats down, it fits perfect.

 

[JohnnyU]

if it's just you i'd find a camper shell in decent shape and throw a air mattress in the bed to sleep.

when i go on trips by myself, i take a single person aero bed. i can inflate/deflate it with an inverter i have in the car and if i fold the seats down, it fits perfect.

Only issue there is that the trailer prevents that being that it's a Gooseneck....
That, and I wouldn't want to have to clear all the gear out of the truck bed to sleep. I'd rather sleep in a tent than a topper without much ventilation. Sounds hot. The sleeper will have an HVAC system when finished.


If I didn't have some sweet camping gear, I'd do something similar, but I'm mainly looking for thermally-adjusted comfort, and additional dry storage for camping gear. Air matresses suck, it's all about the air pads.
http://cascadedesigns.com/therm-a-rest/mattresses/camp-and-comfort/basecamp/product

 

[88_Eddie]

yeah, i guess that would be difficult with a hitch in the back. i'm at work, i'm not thinking.

i crack all the windows in my EX, i usually go to the mountains, so it's pretty pleasant at night.

 

[Explorin94]

Will the front of the camper fit over the goose neck? If so I would jump on it depending on the price of the camper. Then agin you could make it work too. The biggest part of that too is how in thee h. e. double hockey sticks are you going to load and unload the camper? The trailer is wider than a normal truck bed so the stilts won't work. That is unless some Johnny Engineering came into play? Plus you could get or make some storage boxes to put under the side voids of the camper top (would make it more stable). Also look into loading the 4 wheeler or SxS from the side of the trailer.

 

[JohnnyU]

Will the front of the camper fit over the goose neck? If so I would jump on it depending on the price of the camper. Then agin you could make it work too. The biggest part of that too is how in thee h. e. double hockey sticks are you going to load and unload the camper? The trailer is wider than a normal truck bed so the stilts won't work. That is unless some Johnny Engineering came into play? Plus you could get or make some storage boxes to put under the side voids of the camper top (would make it more stable). Also look into loading the 4 wheeler or SxS from the side of the trailer.

I don't know what the floor-to-overhang distance is, but that was my intention. I would probably have to build a sub floor platform to raise it up over the neck. There would definitely be some Johnny Engineering involved in loading/unloading the camper.

I'm thinking about heading back down my original path of the short-depth sleeper as just a climate-controlled sleeping quarters.

 

[88_Eddie]

an HVAC system would be cool. you should look into throwing some solar panels on the roof for power. oh and you could put a gravity fed water tank on there too. oh and machine gun bunker

 

[JohnnyU]

So I found this on the Chicago Craigslist, this might have potential....

 

[88_Eddie]

that from a semi?

 

[wahlstrom1]

Yes sir, it's a low top sleeper.

 

[JohnnyU]

Seller says its from a Peterbilt, it looks to be about 60" deep. I have to call the guy back and get some more information.