Goal: Construct a true flatbed camper with cabover, no slideouts but full 8 foot floor width inside. This will mount on a 2006 Isuzu NRR truck with a GVWR of 19,500 pounds and a current dry weight of 8700 pounds. The truck has a 20 foot flatbed that is 8 feet wide. The camper will take up 11 feet of the flatbed and the remaining area will be home to a future garage for our toys. We will install a hitch so we can pull our 17 foot Montgomery sailboat (trailer + boat is about 2200 pounds). The camper and garage will be removeable so the flatbed can be used for other purposes, or in case the truck needs extensive shop repairs down the road. Or if we are in Alaska and want to go pick up 3 cords of firewood or something :-)
Here is a picture of the truck with some important dimensions:
![[image]](http://i1051.photobucket.com/albums/s435/IGBT/IsuzuNNR1.jpg)
* This post was edited 02/20/13 02:06pm by Jfet *
Most of the steel is 0.065 gauge but I used 0.120 for the corner vertical 1x2
The total weight as drawn is 580.8 lbs
3749" of 1x1 1/16" 258.3 lbs
2067" of 1x2 1/16" 218.7 lbs
426" of 1x2 1/8" 80 lbs
197.25" of 1" round 1/8" 18.5 lbs
75" of 2" wide 1/8" plate 5.3 lbs
![[image]](http://i1051.photobucket.com/albums/s435/IGBT/steelframe.jpg)
* This post was edited 02/20/13 02:06pm by Jfet *
'11 Ram 3500 Cummins
'12 Cameo 34SB3
Practiced for a few days (have a tig/stick welder, so not totally new, but the MIG is hot glue gun easy!) and have started producing *ok* welds....good enough for government work (at least at the state level).
(Ignore the silicon in the weld, that is evidently normal for MIG)
![[image]](http://i1051.photobucket.com/albums/s435/IGBT/weldclean2.jpg)
* This post was edited 02/20/13 02:07pm by Jfet *
Oh, and I bought 8 camper jacks at Camping World, then welded supports to four of them. These greatly aided in getting the base frame dead nuts level..and we cut the members to 1/64" accuracy...insane...the temperature of the garage probably makes it contract more than that on a cold day.
![[image]](http://i1051.photobucket.com/albums/s435/IGBT/jacks.jpg)
![[image]](http://i1051.photobucket.com/albums/s435/IGBT/baseframe.jpg)
* This post was edited 02/20/13 02:08pm by Jfet *
2017 Chevy 3500HD SRW Crew LTZ
4x4,Duramax, Allison.
2017 Jayco North Point 381DLQS
Previous: 2000 Travel Supreme
2005 Newmar Kountry Star
2008 Mobile Suites 36TK3
Ordered a Norcold N641.3R 3 way 6.3cuft fridge, Atwood Everest Star 7920 II furnace, Atwood 6 gallon gas/electric/DSI water heater, stainless steel range hood, and some hatches and vent covers for those. Will need this stuff to figure out how to frame the walls. Will need other stuff too obviously, but searching for good deals takes time.
I am stuck on the camper jacks...leaning toward the Rieco-Titan 4 pc electric with wireless remote, 36 inch travel, 2500pounds/6000pounds for around $1800 at Dyers...but have read a couple of posts that the electronics are garbage...
Jeff,Julie,Amber,Brandon,and Casey and Winston ( our 5 year old Golden ) and Bruno the Pug. We now have an English Cream, white Golden Retriever as well.
2015 Keystone Montana Mountaineer 356TBF
2005 Chevy duramax dually
Randu wrote:
Neat concept. I'm hitting "subscribe" so I can watch this thread and follow your progress.Just keep adding to this thread so its easy to track. Randu
Neat concept. I'm hitting "subscribe" so I can watch this thread and follow your progress.Just keep adding to this thread so its easy to track. Randu
X2
I've had thought's of building a TC someday too. It will be interesting watching your progress.
I've looked at your drawings and was hoping you could comment on camper placement and weight distribution of the final placement of your TC and garage space on the truck. I see you have over 10,000 lbs of GVW left to work with but if you don't balance that over the rear axle I wonder if you will severely over load the front axle. I wonder if that Isuzu motor is taking up most of your front axles weight capacity much like my diesel engine takes up almost all my trucks front axle weight capacity. So basically I was just curious if the TC was going up against the cab because most of the weight will be forward of the rear axle or will it be mounted more rearward? Thanks and good luck with your awesome project!
insp1505 wrote:
X2
I've had thought's of building a TC someday too. It will be interesting watching your progress.
I've looked at your drawings and was hoping you could comment on camper placement and weight distribution of the final placement of your TC and garage space on the truck. I see you have over 10,000 lbs of GVW left to work with but if you don't balance that over the rear axle I wonder if you will severely over load the front axle. I wonder if that Isuzu motor is taking up most of your front axles weight capacity much like my diesel engine takes up almost all my trucks front axle weight capacity. So basically I was just curious if the TC was going up against the cab because most of the weight will be forward of the rear axle or will it be mounted more rearward? Thanks and good luck with your awesome project!
Randu wrote:
Neat concept. I'm hitting "subscribe" so I can watch this thread and follow your progress.Just keep adding to this thread so its easy to track. Randu
Neat concept. I'm hitting "subscribe" so I can watch this thread and follow your progress.Just keep adding to this thread so its easy to track. Randu
X2
I've had thought's of building a TC someday too. It will be interesting watching your progress.
I've looked at your drawings and was hoping you could comment on camper placement and weight distribution of the final placement of your TC and garage space on the truck. I see you have over 10,000 lbs of GVW left to work with but if you don't balance that over the rear axle I wonder if you will severely over load the front axle. I wonder if that Isuzu motor is taking up most of your front axles weight capacity much like my diesel engine takes up almost all my trucks front axle weight capacity. So basically I was just curious if the TC was going up against the cab because most of the weight will be forward of the rear axle or will it be mounted more rearward? Thanks and good luck with your awesome project!
This is heavy on my mind, and I am constantly arguing with my wife about shifting as much weight to the back of the camper. We have the fresh and gray water tanks, batteries all at the very back of the camper closer to the rear wheels. I am also going to put some storage boxes under the flatbed behind the rear wheels that will hold heavy items like the camper jacks, extra water in jugs, possibly extra propane, etc.
From the truck data sheet and my calculations, it looks like the front axle is carrying about 5000 pounds right now and is rated for 6850 IIRC. I need to drive on some scales again real soon and get separate weights for the front and rear axles, as I stupidly only did a total weight for the registration when I first got the truck. There are some drastic things I could do, like cut off the steel headache rack from the flatbed to gain another 100 to 200 pounds for the front axle, but I am holding out on that.
If the camper sits midway between the front and rear axles on the flatbed, and if the weight of the camper is skewed toward the rear, then the 1850 pounds I have left on the front axle might just squeak by. The garage pod and all of the stuff in it are going to sit either directly over or well behind the rear axle, which will cause the front axle to lift. The 250 pound tounge weight of the sailboat will also lift a smidgen off the front axle.
But yes, I am concerned....but it is not a deal killer yet.