AEV Prospector XL Flatbed Adventure Rig

You are probably right, but its just a consideration right now.

I weighed the truck a few weeks ago at our local scales.... stripped everything out (spare tire, tools, bed sides, any equipment) and the base weight of the vehicle is 8000 lbs (7960 to be exact). Camper dry will be +1400 lbs. The rig will be over 10k loaded up, but not more than 11k by my estimate.

My issue with the current 40" R17 market is the majority of tires are load range C with relatively low weight ratings with the exception 1 or 2 tires. The current Super Swampers are load range D with a load rating of of 3800lbs+ per tire, which is nice. My rig fully loaded would be overloading most of these tires if I wanted to pull a trailer, which is a requirement for me for non-camping activities. Its great to hear that Maxxis and Toyo are considering other options in the 40" range, that's awesome. I will likely be a customer!

I'll most likely end up with the Toyo M/T 40's and get a cheaper set of 37's when I need the truck for towing. Luckily I have some time so I can watch Maxxis, et al come out with another streetable tire in a 40r17. I think that may be best way to balance fun with chores :)

Spencer




Those MPT81s will ride like utter dog poop.

Those are meant for much heavier vehicles and I bet you’ll be lucky if you’re pushing 10,000 lbs fully loaded with a camper. Therefore you won’t have the weight to properly squish the tread. This will also cause very poor performance off road as well.

I’d wait a year and see what comes out. I’ve heard both Toyo and Nitto are considering a 40” RT/ridge grappler.

I also have a contact at Maxxis that says they will be releasing an “all terrain” in upto a 42” but for sure a 40” for 17s soon too.

So for us guys looking for a more versatile 40, it looks like we will have options soon.

The R/T is currently available in a 40”, but it’s a race compound tire and only available from one shop.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Weight

Here is some information on weight for the vehicle for others planning something similar.

Vehicle Base Weight

I weighed the truck a few weeks ago at our local scales.... stripped everything out (spare tire, tools, tray bed sides, anything in the cab, 1/8 tank of gas, etc) and the base weight of the vehicle is 8000 lbs (7960 to be exact).

When you add in everything I stripped out I estimate that to be +300lbs.

Fuel

I will add the titan auxiliary tank (located in old spare tire location) and carry a spare jerry. If you assume main, aux, and jerry can are full - that's about 63 gallons. At 7.1 lbs/gal that's a total weight of 450 lbs of fuel, ha.

Water

FWC holds 26 gal of water and I will carry an extra 5 gal in a jerry can for emergencies. At 8.3lbs/gal that's a total weight of 260 lbs.

Camper

I will re-weigh the stripped out base weight of the truck once I add the camper. The following is an estimate.... FWC advertises the dry weight of the Hawk flatbed model at 1325 lbs, not including any options. My options are estimated out to be about 750 lbs for a total weight 2075 lbs.

Total Combined Weight

Adding everything from above puts the rig at a wet weight of 11085 lbs. There will of course be the weight of gear, food, etc...
 
Last edited:

Tex68w

Beach Bum
I came very close to buying the last one available from the most recent run. In the end I just couldn't justify the price when considering everything else we have going on at the moment. I wasn't sure if we could live with the single cab either as we like to take the dogs along with us and that just won't fly with two fully grown Dobermans. That said, the way you're building it out is exactly what I had in mind, color me jealous. I look forward to following along with this build and seeing where it goes.
 

bknudtsen

Expedition Leader
I like it!

Question: I remember reading somewhere that the Ute Bed manufacturer warned against the use of slide-in/on campers. Is that no longer the case?
 

tforbee

New member
I hope that is true. If Nitto comes out with 40/13.50/17 Ridge Grapplers I'll be all over it. They have been my favorite truck tire thus far.

Congrats on the new build, excited to see where you take it. I too started out in Toyota. 1997 T100, 2016 Tacoma, and now 2018 2500 Prospector XL.

Love the Tray Bed, one hell of a find, I would have been all over that.
 

Mako1114

Adventurer
This is going to be a great rig withe FWC. Are you planning on carrying your spare tire? If so, where will you mount it on the vehicle?

Cheers
 
Camper Install

Sorry for the lack of update folks. Things have been busy around here. If you are just joining this thread, next year my wife and I will be taking to the road full time. Follow along on instagram @roadtoambition

In late July, we got our camper installed by 1040 Overland in Oregon. In preparation for the camper install, we removed the bedsides, the truck almost looks naked without them.

Prior to picking up the camper we took some time off work to go camping with some friends in the Sierras. I won't do much talking here and will just let the pictures speak for themselves...

Photo Jul 20, 7 15 24 AM.jpg

One of my favorite regions to wake up to:

Photo Jul 20, 9 19 09 AM.jpg

Photo Jul 21, 8 46 30 AM.jpg

Photo Jul 20, 3 46 20 PM.jpg

After a few days of camping, we headed over to Portland to visit friends and more importantly, take delivery of the new camper. Here are a few shots just after install. Slight sag in the rear which we have since corrected with air bags. We'll also be going with custom valved King 2.5's front and rear. Here are some pictures from the install, I will follow-up with some better images in a following post.

Photo Jul 26, 1 42 49 PM.jpg

Photo Jul 26, 1 43 26 PM.jpg

Photo Jul 26, 1 41 48 PM.jpg
 

Attachments

  • Photo Jul 26, 1 42 54 PM.jpg
    Photo Jul 26, 1 42 54 PM.jpg
    610.8 KB · Views: 87
  • Photo Jul 26, 1 42 49 PM.jpg
    Photo Jul 26, 1 42 49 PM.jpg
    1.5 MB · Views: 88
Here are a few more pictures after mounting the camper on the flatbed.

Photo Jul 26, 7 39 35 PM.jpg

Photo Jul 26, 7 49 53 PM.jpg

After getting finished later in the day with installs, we ended up just pulling over on the side of the road somewhere. Here are a few pictures from our first night in the rig. Joining us was our friend in his 2019 Tacoma with a FWC Swift. Him and his wife are planning a rad around-the-world-trip, check out his build thread HERE.


Photo Jul 27, 7 07 16 AM.jpg


Photo Jul 27, 7 05 26 AM.jpg

Soon thereafter, we found ourselves back in the Sierras for some more camping, doing a general shakedown, and making lists of what needed to be changed, fixed or rethought on our rigs.

Photo Jul 28, 8 22 11 AM.jpg

Photo Jul 28, 8 26 57 AM.jpg

Photo Jul 27, 7 39 52 PM.jpg

Photo Jul 28, 8 27 12 AM.jpg
 

Attachments

  • Photo Jul 27, 7 08 02 AM.jpg
    Photo Jul 27, 7 08 02 AM.jpg
    2.8 MB · Views: 77
In August, we escaped for a few days out to the Central Coast of California to visit Big Sur. The ridge road above Big Sur offers some great sunset views. Our friend joined us and brought along freshly made ceviche after spear fishing down in the ocean in the morning, what a treat!

DSC_0246.jpeg

Here are a few more grab shots while airing back up after a nice little get-away. We'll be building a storage locker to take up the space between the cab and camper. Will probably include a better way to get the spare down. We've only done a full tire rotation once, but at 125-150lbs per wheel its a workout. Changing out a spare on the side of the road or trail in the rain/snow will not be fun when that inevitably occurs.

Photo Aug 10, 12 23 57 PM.jpg


Photo Aug 10, 12 23 43 PM.jpg
 

Adventurous

Explorer
In addition to the storage locker in front of the camper, I highly suggest some on the underside of the bed, both in front of and behind the wheels. You'll want/need as much storage space as you can get, and those are great places to store tools or gear you dont want floating around inside.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
185,530
Messages
2,875,579
Members
224,922
Latest member
Randy Towles
Top