F-700 4x4 Camper

[turbobrick]

Really, really nice work sir. The truck and fab are inspiring.

[junkrunner]

Nice looking rig! I dream through your pics... Get it done!!

[billy bones]

Originally Posted by Rocky

And THANKS BILLYBONES for the steering wheel, brand new and in the box was awesome, especially considering it can't be bought from Ford anymore. That cleaned up the dash and interior a lot.

Glad to see it being put to good use!

Stop by if you are ever in NY

[Rocky]

Thanks for the comments.....wait.....is this Pirate 4x4...........where's all the cheap shots for using a 15k winch on a medium duty truck!

[gutt_72]

Get a bigger winch!!

Have you considered the LED headlight offerings from JW speaker? Starting to see quite a few of them on anything oilfield related.

[Elwenil]

I considered it, but since it's a Ford I figured even if it did get stuck and you manage to get it out it will still break down about a 1/2 mile down the road. ;D

Seriously though, unless you sink some serious coin into a PTO setup and maybe a winch off a military truck, I don't think any commercially available winch is going to pull that thing out once it's stuck so I didn't think much about it being used for self recovery. Personally, I'd have a hydro PTO setup and swipe the winch off a military 5 ton truck and mount that on the front. I think even if you double lined that Warn, you are still probably not going to get that much done if that rig gets hung up good.

[Rocky]

Never really thought about LED headlights, the ones I've tried sucked in comparison to the Hellas. Maybe they have gotten better in the last year.

There really isn't any Ford left to break down in this thing, the wiring is about the most dangerous Ford thing left, and a 12v Cummins will run all day long without wire, so I'm pretty safe. I have a whole hydraulic set up just sitting around but the weight alone is brutal and I know it's always better to have it and not need it but the term "living brain" goes a long long way so the winch is something I really shouldn't need. If I do, hopefully I was smart enough not to get in past any point of non recovery. I'm kind of curious to see what this thing tips the scales at, the camper weighed in at 4860 lbs on a set of race car scales when I raised it to put the frame isolator in. I'm thinking around 16 000 lbs, pool anyone?

[JESSE_at_TLT]

Originally Posted by Rocky

I'm kind of curious to see what this thing tips the scales at, the camper weighed in at 4860 lbs on a set of race car scales when I raised it to put the frame isolator in. I'm thinking around 16 000 lbs, pool anyone?

less than mine

[Elwenil]

Unfortunately I think all the 20k-30k lbs winches are mechanical or hydraulic PTO driven. Warn's Olympus 22 and 25 are rated at 22k and 25k lbs respectively, but knowing Warn's habit of fudging their ratings and/or supplying a winch rated for "Y" with wire rope only rated for "X", I'm not sure I would trust them to be that powerful. Still, electric would be lighter and easier to install, but ungodly expensive. Personally, I don't think I would trust a commercially available planetary winch but the only electric worm drive winches still available are the Ramsey's and I think they only go to about 12k lbs. Which is why I suggested a surplus military truck winch. Cheap, powerful and you can afford some overkill. Still, like you said before, your brain is you best weapon against getting stuck. Even with a winch capable of pulling the rig out, there is no telling if you will have a proper anchor to winch to. A better solution may be a good supply of cribbing and a couple good jacks and shovels.

[Rocky]

Yep, an anchor could be a bitch to find, the D-8 you'd need would most likely negate the need for a winch too.

[ISDTBower]

I have a military PTO winch on my F700 with 3/4" cable. I haven't used it in 20 years.....and don't plan to either. I always thought it would be Kewl to lift the front end with it to grease the hubs.

[jrs503]

Amazing build and fab skills! speechless..

[Rocky]

Got a ton of final truck wiring done, what a lot of work. There is something to be said about buying a new truck! Oh well, I shouldn't have to look at it again. Here is a shot of the LED's working.

[Master-Pull]

This truck is awesome, I hope you never have to sell it! It looks like one of the campers that cost hundreds of thousands to buy.

-Alex

[ben2go]

Mack Daddy no I mean Ford Daddy.


Ok,my internet humor is way off more than usual.

[DakarNick]

Originally Posted by Rocky

I joined just to ask you one question. But first, awesome job! It is a work of art.

My question. I've always loved tracked vehicles. So, what is the vehicle in this pic? I love the suspension! Maybe a muskeg firefighting vehicle? It looks laid out similar to a snow cat but I've never seen suspension quite like that.

Keep up the good work, Nick

[Rocky]

Those belong to an exploration company, they use them in the north country, deep snow and very cold conditions, they seem quite happy to use those rather than snowmobiles.

[PureSilver]

I can't wait to see this thing running a proper holiday - is that on the cards?

Originally Posted by JESSE_at_TLT

less than mine

There's a yo mama joke in there somewhere.

[Rocky]

Originally Posted by PureSilver

I can't wait to see this thing running a proper holiday - is that on the cards?



There's a yo mama joke in there somewhere.

No shit, that's funny!

I'm working on some substantial holiday time, something that lines up with the kids school holiday schedule. This rig is part of it.

[Rocky]

Got some mirrors on, cheap aftermarket stainless. Not as pretty as the original F-350 mirrors but far more useful, and much smaller than the "west coast" mirrors. I hate those things with a passion! Installed a couple of Rigid dually's with the mirror and wired them up to the factory power mirror circuit so I can control each one independently from the drivers door switch. I am having a stainless trim plate cut to cover the original mirror holes and provide a grommetted power entry for the lights.

[MR4WD]

Lookin good Mark! Get that thing on the road!

[Rocky]

I'm trying, might be ready for a shakedown run by summers end, the small stuff on the truck is consuming a ton of time, wiring everything properly was a big job considering the cab was attached to a 7.3 pooperstroke and I don't like leaving tons of unusable wiring just laying around so most of the excess has been completely removed. I still have wiring, plumbing, and some interior trim on the camper as well as 2 more custom storage boxes for the area under the camper. But...I finally had it with trying to tie down a bunch of stuff to a flatbed trailer and stuff all our gear for a weekends riding into my truck which is a crew cab long box and there is just not enough room for a family of 4, so I bought my new trailer, a little sooner than planned but it was planned regardless, the local trailer dealer gave me a killer deal on a high quality trailer which alleviated the pain of paying early. We enjoyed having a secure way of hauling our bikes and a nice private dry change room, hang-out, where it really didn't matter how dirty our boots were, will give the kids a great big place to play when the weather sucks too.

[89breaker]

^ You going to lift it? Sounds crazy but not as crazy as dragging the tail end.

[Rocky]

Originally Posted by 89breaker

^ You going to lift it? Sounds crazy but not as crazy as dragging the tail end.

Nope, has to work with all my trucks. I'm not taking the trailer down any trails, thats what the bikes are for, I have a M101 trailer that I will rig up just for the big truck to haul some extra gear and a couple of bikes. The big trailer will fit 3 bikes and my Jeep for the longer road type trips.

[Rocky]

The weekend was spent cleaning, ripped out the interior, Spray 9 and a pressure washer were my friends, wife was too, can't take all the credit, I wish she knew how much I appreciate help on this thing, it's a lot of fun when the family can spend time on it with me. Got the carpet and interior nice and clean, got a set of Lariat leather power front seats from a 2007 Super Duty because the original front seat was sagged out. The fit was really close, 2 of the bolt holes lined up but the seats were a bit to close together so I plasma cut a couple of 3/8 thick relocation brackets, powder coated them and mounted the front seats. The power seat wiring shared some of the same wire colours from 1996 to 2007, odd for a Ford I thought. While the interior was gutted I threw a set of Kenwood speakers in all the factory locations and picked up a high output deck with usb input, I was amazed at how much car audio has come down in price over the years, it almost made me buy more but it's not really needed. The clean up and new seats made another big visual impact and feels a lot closer to being done, a few air controls for the T/case, park brake, and dump valve on the rear suspension and the truck part is done, all the stuff is plumbed up to the bulkheads in the cab so an evening should take care of that.