Amalgamated wedge camper build

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?
5B3BF155-2A97-475B-884D-395EE5222011.jpeg856C0D8A-596B-4161-8B10-DCAD43BB81E4.jpeg2F1E784B-7B72-470A-A1A7-7B2050048601.jpeg422DCD7F-5939-493B-9756-7CD37554F92A.jpeg094D755C-4BE9-49EA-8C07-3EFB596B95C0.jpeg07B33653-3732-4E8E-8798-26B4DD8712F9.jpeg
 
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MuleShoer

Adventurer
The Tundra shell was designed to the tundra bed which tapers in 3” towards the back so the top is not square. I designed it so that I could cut out the top after I mounted the wedge. The shell is 1/8” aluminum so it is easy to weld too. Fabricating the interface between the wedge and shell was the challenge, I laid out multiple designs, not only was it tapered but the roof was crowned In retrospect a flat roof would have been much easier to adapt. Also when I designed the shell my original concept was to make the wedge removable when I didn’t need it. As with most projects there are things that I would do differently after their complete.
Instead of starting the wedge /shell amalgamation I turned my attention to the tundra buildout. Sorta-of a bottoms up approach vs top down. I did the usual stuff, bumpers suspension upgrade, wheels/tires,winches, armor, lighting, air, bed drawers, and rack on shell......at this juncture i was not sure about using the wedge. Fortunately I had equipment left from other builds. I had gone back to an oz tent and was enjoying being on level ground..... but after several trips it rained, and rained and rained. Many of my trips are with a horse in the back country covering long distance and now the tent complicated things. So in early October i was back figuring out the interface. It did help that I was unable to do much since I also had shoulder surgery.
I ordered the aluminum and in November started to de construct the snap wedge camper
Tundra after build procrastination
64FFDBD1-BF79-4FEF-AA61-99656FDCFC47.jpegFE8AB63A-0D69-49F3-8B0E-E9B5DC3AFF0E.jpeg
I din’t take any photos of wedge deconstruct but the steps were to 1st remove the popup top and canvas 2nd remove the doors 3rd get out sawsall and cut of the pillars and front bulkhead and 4th using a grinder / flapper wheel remove old welds and prep surface. Picture is of whats left after the above, it is upside down at this point. It took longer since i still had a bum shoulder
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MuleShoer

Adventurer
after I dropped the idea of removable the interface became clearer. I ordered 3”x4” x 1/4” extrusion for the main joint. One leg attaching to the bottom of the wedge to match the pickup bed and shell I tapered the other leg mounting to the shell side I shorten, corners were mitered front and rear extrusions were matched to side extrusion and shell. This essentially created a truncate picture frame. I clamped the frame to the wedge bottom and tac welded in place. The frame was lowered on the shell, leveled and tac welded in place.
then alternating locations i began stitch welding it together
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next the frame was set on shell, leveled and welded. I alsoreinst the wedge lifting flloor
9525E77F-5CC3-418A-B8D8-F3FCCAAF6384.jpegDC6FE4EA-B1F8-458D-A25D-0F11A09AFE5E.jpegD155ED0F-1800-41E4-9737-621CD8B265AF.jpeg5CBFB270-C896-4A80-BDE7-2701EEB826AE.jpeg8802AE05-2336-46BE-A047-47C72DD26B73.jpeg
 

malibubts

Adventurer
Interesting conversion, looking forward to the updates!

What did you think about the original Snap? Been looking into Wedge Campers a bit and they are fairly local in comparison to most of the manufacturers.
 

MuleShoer

Adventurer
What did you think about the original Snap? Been looking into Wedge Campers a bit and they are fairly local in comparison to most of the manufacturers.
[/QUOTE]
for what i paid in sept 2018 they were a good deal, now from the internet pricing i see i can not say that. As far as the wedge camper portion the quality is good, the bunk length could be a problem for tall people. Im 6’ and have no issue. I feel i kept the best portion
Regarding the shell portion, lower half, the doors are to thin and do not seal well the rest of the shell portion is stout. If you plan to travel a lot of dusty dirt road you will have dust intrusion. lastly after the sale / delivery response was marginal.
IMO if i was buying a wedge camper for a production truck i would include resale as one of the criteria
you are welcome to come check it out
cheers
 

MuleShoer

Adventurer
Some weld info to start short tac weld I used tig but because there is 980 linear inches of weld i switched to a spool gun. Welds were 4-6 inch stitches to minimize heat distortion. Most welds were horizontal position
the adapter is welded on the inside and i also used closeout angle extrusion to box in the joint.
with the welding completed and smooth with a flapper wheel it was tim to paint. The snap wedge was original powder coated so it has a fine texture and very hard to match with powder coat. WhenI was building the brute i used a paint product called “Steel-It” it has stainless impregnated into the paint no primer needed on aluminum and when dry can be welded to without prep. So they finally released a black coating so i decided to try it on the aluminum
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MuleShoer

Adventurer
One of the things I wanted were side windows in the shell, I tried to get ternbill to fit but no luck so i contacted peninsula glass and the built two to my specs. While they dont have internal shades they do have screens thus allowing air circulation
what the doors looked like before
E798C14C-3C18-4527-B9C1-E5826979A671.jpeg

I also decided to color match the doors to the truck
doors and wedge top installed
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malibubts

Adventurer
What did you think about the original Snap? Been looking into Wedge Campers a bit and they are fairly local in comparison to most of the manufacturers.
for what i paid in sept 2018 they were a good deal, now from the internet pricing i see i can not say that. As far as the wedge camper portion the quality is good, the bunk length could be a problem for tall people. Im 6’ and have no issue. I feel i kept the best portion
Regarding the shell portion, lower half, the doors are to thin and do not seal well the rest of the shell portion is stout. If you plan to travel a lot of dusty dirt road you will have dust intrusion. lastly after the sale / delivery response was marginal.
IMO if i was buying a wedge camper for a production truck i would include resale as one of the criteria
you are welcome to come check it out
cheers
[/QUOTE]

Appreciate the thoughts. I’m also 6 foot, so it’s at least good to hear that you didn’t have issues with the bed. I like how they do their bed lift over like how GFC does them, plus they are way out on production time. Vagabond I think does a similar bed system, but they are also booked out pretty far I think and with no delivery that’s a haul from Ohio. Maybe I need to look into the AT solution a bit more.

Do you think the doors being thin were the issue or maybe a lack of gasketing? Resale was also a bit of a concern as you mentioned; obviously with the Brute you were a bit niche but for the most part I don’t think GFCs or the like last long on the market not and I’m not too sure if it would be the same case for a Snap.
 

MuleShoer

Adventurer
@malibubts : door thickness is probally somewhat incorrect on my part it really a stiffness issue, the gasgets were good but the doors flexed and the latches did not provide even pressure. My current door are 1/8” thick and the latch is across the door so it grabs each corner.

if I was looking to purchase a new wedge for a full size truck AT would be my 1st choice with the atlas model with vagabond a close second. AT has been around a long time, good support and is respected so resale values hold well. Vagabond being a new player is just earning it stripe. Just MHO
 

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