AEV Prospector XL Flatbed Adventure Rig

ttengineer

Adventurer
see if this works... this is one stuck in south america

neighbors did the same:


That’s the rear axle shaft.

Not a hub or bearing issue, unless the bearing blew and caused a catastrophic failure. But you should know the bearing was bad long before. You’d hear it and feel it.

Either way way though, that sucks. But I’m not sure why that’s a 5-6 week repair. Unless it’s parts availability.
 

RAM5500 CAMPERTHING

OG Portal Member #183
That’s the rear axle shaft.

Not a hub or bearing issue, unless the bearing blew and caused a catastrophic failure. But you should know the bearing was bad long before. You’d hear it and feel it.

Either way way though, that sucks. But I’m not sure why that’s a 5-6 week repair. Unless it’s parts availability.

I think you’re splitting hairs for the sake of an online argument.. hahaha

thats an almost brand new truck driving down the road. It’s a bearing problem
 

plumber mike

Adventurer
I think you’re splitting hairs for the sake of an online argument.. hahaha

thats an almost brand new truck driving down the road. It’s a bearing problem
Weight, gearing, tire size and wheel offset would all factor in too. Maybe they’ll get lucky and Ford will give them one, but it certainly doesn’t look stock anymore,
 

Darwin

Explorer
Yes, I wonder how much the offset of the wheels on that Earthroamer played a part plus the weight of the camper in destroying the shaft. I would bed if it was a stock dually on 19.5's it wouldn't of happened.
 

RAM5500 CAMPERTHING

OG Portal Member #183
Yes, I wonder how much the offset of the wheels on that Earthroamer played a part plus the weight of the camper in destroying the shaft. I would bed if it was a stock dually on 19.5's it wouldn't of happened.

I'm also curious! From what I've read, the ER are at or very close to GVWR

What i dont think a lot of folks realize about GVWR is that its a static rating. ie... 10k of weight on a paved road is not even close to the same as 10k of weight being hammered on dirt fire roads, completely different
 
Update

Wow, forgot about this thread, and well, this thread is long over-due for an update. What we've accomplished in the last 1.5 years on this truck:
  • Added Flatbed Four Wheel Camper (July 2019)
  • Misc additions to the truck (Thuren/King shocks, airbags, Aux fuel tank, storage boxes, changed from 41x14.5r17 to 40x13.5r17)
  • Quit our jobs and did a 6 month/16,000 mile road trip (Summer 2020)
  • Future travel planning (2021 and beyond)
I'll be adding posts over time to document all of these changes and our travels. Stay tuned.

Camper

First update is the camper. In July 2019 (wow really that long ago?) we added a Four Wheel Camper Hawk Flatbed. As world events would dictate about 9 months later, the timing of that couldn't have been better. As of this writing (May 2021) I've heard the wait time for a camper is over a year.

Nothing special done on the camper other than the typical FWC options (second battery, flush mount stove/sink, water heater, etc). We added a 190 watt solar panel and eventually we'll switch to lithium batteries.

I'll leave you with a few images of the build before we added airbags, shocks, storage, etc. I'll document those changes in another post in the future.

IMG_4137.jpeg

IMG_4149.jpeg

IMG_4110.jpeg
 

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Tex68w

Beach Bum
So looking forward to the future posts. I find myself caught in an inner battle over whether or not I should go with 37's or 40's on my single cab build. You can't deny how bad ****** that looks, but the question is how livable/usable is it as a truck on those 40's?
 
So looking forward to the future posts. I find myself caught in an inner battle over whether or not I should go with 37's or 40's on my single cab build. You can't deny how bad ****** that looks, but the question is how livable/usable is it as a truck on those 40's?

I would go with 37's. For as many highway miles as we do traveling to different places it makes me want all-terrains. Nobody really makes a 40in all-terrain.

Can't deny the off-road capability of a 40 though, its truly insane having come from a tacoma with AT's. But if I were being purely objective, I would probably go it with 37's if I was starting from scratch.
 

Tex68w

Beach Bum
I would go with 37's. For as many highway miles as we do traveling to different places it makes me want all-terrains. Nobody really makes a 40in all-terrain.

Can't deny the off-road capability of a 40 though, its truly insane having come from a tacoma with AT's. But if I were being purely objective, I would probably go it with 37's if I was starting from scratch.

It's good to hear a sensible suggestion even if the 40's are way more bad ****** lol. I am leaning 37's for now and then 40/41's once it's retired to full-time adventure mode, maybe by then there will be lower gear sets available for the 2019+ 2500/3500.
 
It's good to hear a sensible suggestion even if the 40's are way more bad ****** lol. I am leaning 37's for now and then 40/41's once it's retired to full-time adventure mode, maybe by then there will be lower gear sets available for the 2019+ 2500/3500.

So what's the deal with gears on the new trucks? Everyone I've seen running a 21' is still on stock gears. Is nobody making a 4.10 or 4.30 conversion for them yet? Even AEV is spec'ing 3.73's with 40's.

I've never driven 40's with the stock 3.73 ratio, but my guess is that it leaves a lot to be desired?
 

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