Yeah, thought about that too...but would have to build custom locking cabinets for it, and figured this was way easier, and more sturdy. :-) You can add a service body to pretty much any truck...there's companies that will do it for you, locally, I"m sure. Look up "truck outfitters" or "service body installation" with your city name after it. You can even keep your factory bed safe at home in the case you ever want to install it again, or sell the truck.
Just ran across your video while I am brainstorming my 96' Dodge Cummins standard cab build. Been researching for about a month over countless platform options and for owning the truck already with a good investment in the running gear, the ideal vehicle has been in my backyard all along.. It would be great to talk to you about our builds sometime. Pan-America's 2019-2020.
Love this. I have a 1995 Chevy Cheyenne 1 ton 4WD dually (yes 4wd dually) 350 gas. Would love to do this and make a pass through to cab with the bucket seat conversion. It's geared low with those small dually tires though so gas mileage is 10mpg. The storage you gain with this is epic!
Yeah, the utility bed storage is our favorite part of this entire build, and one we would absolutely do again on the next build. It is so, *SO* nice to have easy access to stuff from the outside, rather than trying to toss it into the camper and find a place to store it, and it's secure. On the long, long build list, is to add pin-switches to each cabinet door, not only to add LED lights to, but also to trigger the alarm if any one door gets broken into.
Those look like the service bins we had on our older bucket trucks at Cox. They appear to work very well for storage for your rig. Looks like you will have a pretty nice set up. One day plan on doing some overlanding with the Mrs and the dog. Good luck & be safe.
Thanks, Pepe. The 7.3L is a great engine, but for International travel, the Cummins has more product/service/parts support, being the fact that this engine has been used in trucks, bulldozers, generators, pumps, and so on...all over the world, for a long, long time. We bought the Cummins engine, which happened to come packaged with a Dodge Ram around it, LOL. :-)
Awesome ! I have been assembling stuff to do a similar build. I've had the service body for two years already, just waiting for the right time to start my "project". That idea has been on my drawing board for a looong time. It was a bit of a search though to find a 6 foot body. I have an 03 CTD Ram 2500 4 door with a 6 foot bed. I shimmed a smaller pop up for a smaller truck in the bed for weight concideration to continue pretty moderate off roading with a camper on my back. It works and has held up really well. Like you mentioned, my camper and service body are older, I didn't pay much, so cutting and drilling won't make me nervous. I didn't realize that the first "Earth Roamers" were similar builds to yours with service bodies untill I started researching this. I was also using ideas from my teenage heros "The Turtle Expedition" folks , Gary and Monica Wescott, ( turtleexpedition.com/ ) who I got to meet, sit in their rig with them, and talk about the evolution of their trucks and campers. Anyway.......sweet start to a cool project. I'll be watch for updates. Good luck! [[[[ do you get out to Overland Expo west ?? ]]] My camper is now Olive Drab Green, but this is some of the the rougher trail conditions the lighter weight can get me through. Good luck on your journeys ! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-1nhQ_1-GKU0.html
Thanks for your time I'm getting ready to build the same thing only mind will be on trailer any tips you can throw out will help I will follow you along as you set things up thanks alot happy trucking
No, this truck came with the "Heavy Load 8800lb GVW package", so it has more than enough capacity for the load. This Elkhorn/Palomino camper is about 1400lbs dry, but we're replacing it with a Four Wheel Camper (Grandby) which should be substantially lighter.
@@Rivarokband All it takes is a ton of time, resources, patience, and money...so no problem, LOL. ;-) The good news is that we can use it while we're building it...because a project like yours and ours is never quite finished. :-)
I always wondered why more people wouldn't want to use a utility bed truck with their slide-in. Seems like all that extra storage would be great. I do see that the jack stands could pose a problem with opening doors however.
Yeah, we don't leave them on the camper once the camper is on the truck. They can be removed fairly easily, stored, and brought along for the trip, though...in case there was need to separate the truck and leave the camper behind somewhere. :-)
Thanks, Brandon. Due to the height, we've since removed the Elkhorn/Palomino pop-up, and will soon be replaced with a modified Four Wheel Camper (Grandby), which will give us a far lower "draft" and more easily able to get under low-hanging trees and rock outcropppings. I'll do another video once we get it dialed in the way we want. :-) Really appreciate the kind words! :-)
Interesting video. I've been thinking about doing the same thing with a service body and camper combo. What sort of mods did you have to make to make the camper so it would fit in the service body? Do you think the truck is a lot more stable with the pop up camper vs a traditional camper? My concern with this type of set up is being way over max GVWR, your thoughts?
Well, that depends on the camper. This Elkhorn camper (built by Fleetwood) happened to be quite easy to make fit...just had to lop off the rear lower outside storage doors that "close off" the rest of the bed from the tailgate area, and then relocate the gas feed to the passenger front tool box. Depends on the floor plan of the camper. On my Four Wheel Camper I'm modifying now, you have to change nearly the entire rear of the camper, which, unless you know how to fab and TIG weld, NOT a job I would recommend...I probably have 50 hours into it so far, and it's only about 1/2 done. My suggestion would be to purchase the utility bed FIRST (get a low-profile one with 20" bed sides...not the "normal" taller 24" bed sides...because 99% of the campers are built for factory-height bed sides...around 18"-20" or so) and then go camper shopping with a measuring tape. Or, if you have $20k or so, you can have Four Wheel Camper make you a custom Grandby shell to fit your utility bed, and you can build out the inside the way you like. Yes, the truck is MUCH more stable with the lower center of gravity due to the pop-up, and the lighter camper overall. The Elkhorn was around 1400 lbs, and my Four Wheel Grandby is around 1100. Full-size campers are not only heavier, but they also are so tall that you can't get through low-hanging trees without damage. In my case, I have the upgraded 8700 GVW package on my 1994 Ram...but most modern-day 3/4 tons would be more than capable of hauling 1500lbs around in the bed.
might consider one of those inflatable pillows between the cab and camper. I would think it would help with it being a wind stop and help direct the headwind to the sides?
No I have never had one. Seen lots of them thinking that they would be good. Never thought about rubbing the paint though. Your build will be intresting to follow to see what you come up with
Had an 84 F-150 with a camper shell when I was stationed in San Diego. I used a motorcycle inner tube I bought at the Navy Exchange I would inflate it between the cab and shell sliding windows when I camped out. Otherwise it was stored in the box in the back. Cheap and did not have any issues. Love the idea of your truck. Good luck and travel safe!
Not yet. Since this video, we've installed a 4th Gen steering linkage and did a track bar conversion, we cut the upper "grill guard" off and repainted the front bumper, and installed 35"x12.5"x16" Goodyear MT/R tires on 8" wide black steel wheels. We're still playing around with configurations, but just purchased a Grandby Four Wheel Camper that we're modifying to fit into the utility bed. Thanks for the kind words!
@phuck ewe Sorry, missed your comment earlier! We specifically purchased the "low profile" version Knapheide utility bed. The top of the bed cabinets measure 20" from the floor of the bed, and the bed measures 49" wide and I believe 97" long. I think the "normal profile" Knapheide bed is 4" taller on the cabinets, which would not work well for a camper. After doing some research into how Four Wheel Campers are constructed, turns out it's "fairly easy" (famous last words...) to modify the camper sides to fit into the 48" width requirement of our utility bed. Their campers are built with aluminum frames front/rear, which ties together forward/rearward with stringers ABOVE the bedrails on the sides...so there's no aluminum structure we will have to modify BELOW the bed rail on the sides...just plywood...which means that can be reconfigured "fairly easily" (I put that in quotes, because we have not torn into it yet, and *theory* might be a lot different from *real-world* once we finally get started, LOL. WRT mounting the bed on the truck, we lined up the lower edge of the bed with the lower edge of the cab for ground clearance purposes (so the bed didn't hang down, and so we could build one rock rail the same height). As a result, the bed sits probably 3"-4" higher than it would normally. We should end up with about a 5" gap between the roof of the cab and the floor of the cab-over bed...which should allow us to cut and drop the lower portion of the cab-over bed down by a few inches, allowing a thicker and more comfortable mattress in the cab-over position, and making use of the extra space between the roof of the cab and the cab-over. LOTS of manual labor, but I think it's going to be pretty cool once we're all done...and will have FAR better overhead clearance under trees than this Palomino camper did. :-)
I like it if I wasnt so big ide got camper like that for me I had one 15 years ago nice 17ft one had to leave in mich a d get bus to move to louisuana was supost to go back get the camper and boat but grampa did dad moved I was disabed just lost business home and all was single parent. So just let it all go and work on getting place to stay while fighting Dis. But now im alot bigger than i was. But yea sucks lol. But ive wanted truck like that for years finally got 1 4 door well 2 door and 2 small doors and high ride boxes and mine the top opens which means no camper unless I hide the top storage. I fish and also run kids fishing group I want to travel a year been doing it 15 years now my daughter grown left home just me left so figure ill turn the truck into fishing truck for someone in wheel chair being I cant stand long ill be setting while rigging up rods to fish. Can set up for someone like me. Now top storage its so tall im 5.9 on tall day. Lol. But I have tip toe to see inside so I like for fishing rods 8ft long dont have to break down rods the ither side poles for tent or canapy so I like. Got me toy hauler to live in while traveling. Well not anymore kinda git scammed had damage in roof I wasnt told about first storm hit was bad but weight of frozen water set the top inside the camper. The cealing was rotten all down one side from leak I wasnt told about was small no it wasnt only out 3k have live saving other half went on truck 3.5k which was good deal. These trucks 4 doors great tires air and all. Orices 5 to 6.5k around here. For that age 01. Gmc. So I love your camper kinda wish I was smaller ide give up the top storage and pull a cargo trailer with boat and fish all over and handing out fishing gear to bless special kids all over. You have fun fixen up yours fully. God bless.
Hey Kevin! Bought a lot of ZJ parts from you over the years. Sounds like you're going to be hitting the road at some point. You shutting down KOR or you got help running it now? Good luck in your travels.
Thanks, man...I appreciate it! We're in the process of wrapping it up and closing it down right now, actually. I have AWESOME help running it, but it still requires a fair amount of daily investment even as automated as it is, and I want to be more free. :-)
Joseph Gutierrez Yeah, thanks to RU-vid for offering to “steady” the video for me, and now it’s all distorted-looking...not sure what that’s all about.
Have done a few runs through Mexico so far (which is AWESOME)...and then flew in and out of Panama (which was also awesome)...but have not yet completed the trip we're building the truck for. Since this video, we rebuilt the top end, installed a new Bosch injection pump, removed the Elkhorn camper and replaced it with a custom Four Wheel Camper with a lower profile (which is still being built out). Just got back from the CO Rockies and the thing ran beautiful...averaged 14-15 mpg pulling a (small) trailer even! Very much looking forward to the big trip when it FINALLY happens. Thanks for asking.
@@kevinsoffroad7265 that great! I just stayed mine yesterday. Custom building it over a 2" aluminum tune ladder rack. The old owner had a friend who was a welder at a marina so he went all out.
@@kevwfell ok its uploaded. I'll make a better one when it's done inside. Perfect for surf fishing trips and boondocking since it only takes up one parking space
Impressively well, actually. It doesn't have the ground clearance or breakover angle of my long-armed Jeep, but I've taken it through some REALLY gnarly spots offroad, and it's never left me unimpressed. For it's size, it works really well. With the 35" MT/R Wrangler tires we added, it has more ground clearance than it used to, which helps as well.
@@adriannabaker2079 The bumper that came with the utility bed sticks out too far, and got hung up, but that will be removed and replaced with a more "offroad-worthy" sheet metal contoured bumper. Right now it makes for a nice step to get in the camper. I leveled the bed upwards so that it's even with the cab's lowest edge...so no, mine doesn't hung up on stuff. And, it's heavier than the factory bed by a few hundred pounds, but I have the heavier springs and running gear, so it doesn't matter much on mine...it actually makes the ride smoother due to the weight, lol.
