Turning my tow rig into an expedition camper

Our old camper was destroyed when one of the jacks failed. So we stripped it of all the appliances, and goods on the interior and planned to build a tough off- road camper that would take a beating and be more roomy than a traditional slide in camper. I also wanted the camper to be removable so that the truck can be used for other things.

I have to get this camper all put together before Easter Jeep Safari. So I have only a few weeks. This truck tows a trailer with our Dodge T-Rex 6x6, or pulls our Jeep behind it. The Truck is a GMC 5500 4x4. I first built a custom winch bumper for it and put in new exhaust.

Now I took it up to my buddy's shop in Idaho: Casper Customs. Cory the owner builds ultimate 4x4's and extreme rock buggies. You may have seen some of his work in TTC.

Well, this would be the first camper for Cory and I. But I new that we could do it.


First i built a winch bumper for the truck. Here is the truck as Cory's shop in Idaho.

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Next we laid out the fram as I had designed it.


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Here is Cory starting to weld up the frame.

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Here is the frame coming together:

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Now piecing and cross memebers:

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Greg

Make RME Rockcrawling Again!
Admin
Sounds like a potential new side business, Stan! Building custom expedition-style campers! ;)

The camper looks great, much better than a pop-up or tent!
 

turbosniper1

6x6x6 / Commando
Considering you could probably fir your Samurai in this camper... It would have to be seriously scaled down!! Nothing against a Samurai, those can fit in places I couldn't even sneeze into!!!
 

airmanwilliams

Well-Known Member
Location
Provo, Utah
I need to track him down but a guy inn sandy is doing one and I saaw an old on of his on espeditionportal.net it was very cheaply made first but then he is going back now to redo it all and make it way nicer.

the first picture below is his first design and the next ones are a revision of what he will change too. here is a link to his thread http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=53577
 

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airmanwilliams

Well-Known Member
Location
Provo, Utah
That is cool Sami-camper. YOu could camp way back in the woods where nobody can find you.

yup I found the guy and will call him when I get back to utah to see how it works out for him then if it works out well and if I can get some help from some guys with mad skills then I will look for a cheap samurai I can cut the backend off of and do this. A toyota axle swap will be a must as well as a yj or chevy leaf spring swap.

Im really hoping I can get this done and have a nice small camper than can get absolutely anywhere. I really like that big one you guys made. I must have read past it but how many beds are in it?
 

sprueitt

sprueitt Dodge T-Rex 6x6
yup I found the guy and will call him when I get back to utah to see how it works out for him then if it works out well and if I can get some help from some guys with mad skills then I will look for a cheap samurai I can cut the backend off of and do this. A toyota axle swap will be a must as well as a yj or chevy leaf spring swap.

Im really hoping I can get this done and have a nice small camper than can get absolutely anywhere. I really like that big one you guys made. I must have read past it but how many beds are in it?


Sleeps 5 comfortable and 6 in a pinch.
 
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