MuleShoer
Adventurer
Its best to start this post with background information that lead to this build. In late summer 2018 I was asked by Cummins to feature the Brute at SEMA at the same time I was preparing the truck for the baja 4xl rally. While driving back from new mexico I started kicking around the idea of a shell/ camper for the brute. With nothing to do but drive I started contacting various companies, vagabond, tradesmen, snap, gfc, and a few others. Due to the brutes unique bed requiring a custom fit I was left with tradesmen & snap. I like tradesmen since they were the prototype fabricators for one of the other companies I had contacted however cost was excessive so I settled on snap. It also helped that they were 6 hrs north of me. After several discussions i hauled the brute to there factory for exact measurements, it was an epic trip, I met 1leglance who was getting a unit installed on his tacoma and on the way home blew the transmission on my dodge on the Pennsylvania/ mayland line. The trip turned into several days and an extra trip to go back for my dodge. Having the brute on a trailer made it less painful to drive the 200 miles home. Some readers may say “so sad so what” but having to replace the transmission in my tow vehicle led me to todays build.
So eventually I picked up the wedge camper, finished the brute, traveled to sema camping both ways and got home. Through all this I found that I really like the wedge camper concept for single traveling, but i also found it was not the best solution for the brute after using it on several offroad trips. So when the baja trip collapsed I remove it from the brute and even listed it for sale here. Little interest was shown so it sat in front of my shop for the next 9 months. Also about the same time my concern over the dodges reliability (180k miles most of it towing) and since my towing needs had greatly diminished it led me to replace it with a new Tundra.
So with the wedge sitting on a dolly and me staring at the tundra I started to take measurements. the tundra bed length is almost identical to the brute but it was 10 inches wider and 5 inches shorter so no way to adapt the brute wedge base to the tundra, to narrow to tall. So I started looking for a fabricator / manufacture to build an aluminum shell for the tundra to my specs. Not easy to find, the small shops were not interested and the big guys wouldn't respond. But after more research i found Alum-line located in northern iowa! After several calls and emails I placed an order. FYI this company has been in business a long time an actually likes to build custom stuff along with their production work, they are not small but you wouldn’t know it. After a couple months I drove to iowa and picked up the shell.
pictures below show brute with wedge and tundra cap
now what?
So eventually I picked up the wedge camper, finished the brute, traveled to sema camping both ways and got home. Through all this I found that I really like the wedge camper concept for single traveling, but i also found it was not the best solution for the brute after using it on several offroad trips. So when the baja trip collapsed I remove it from the brute and even listed it for sale here. Little interest was shown so it sat in front of my shop for the next 9 months. Also about the same time my concern over the dodges reliability (180k miles most of it towing) and since my towing needs had greatly diminished it led me to replace it with a new Tundra.
So with the wedge sitting on a dolly and me staring at the tundra I started to take measurements. the tundra bed length is almost identical to the brute but it was 10 inches wider and 5 inches shorter so no way to adapt the brute wedge base to the tundra, to narrow to tall. So I started looking for a fabricator / manufacture to build an aluminum shell for the tundra to my specs. Not easy to find, the small shops were not interested and the big guys wouldn't respond. But after more research i found Alum-line located in northern iowa! After several calls and emails I placed an order. FYI this company has been in business a long time an actually likes to build custom stuff along with their production work, they are not small but you wouldn’t know it. After a couple months I drove to iowa and picked up the shell.
pictures below show brute with wedge and tundra cap
now what?
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