HELP! Did I buy the wrong truck? GVWR Concerns (02 Frontier CC LB V6)
- Thread starter Taylor Swift
- Start date
llamalander
Well-known member
Frontiers are great trucks, capable stock and much improved with an OME suspension & no body lift.
Have you considered a lighter passenger?
Also, if you plan to build a camper, which will make city living much easier than out of the back of a shell, do you need to keep the bed? You can lower the center of gravity if you build off the frame, make use of the extra space around it.
Also, a little California reality check is in order:
Auto break-ins are constant in SF and could be a problem if that's your home. 7 surf boards might be hard to keep on the roof very long if a piece of shiny foil is enough to get your window broken.
Parking a camper will not be as easy, but having a door between the world and you will become pretty important quickly. Having some kind of toilet will also change the course of your day, as most things like laundry, grooming, dressing and eating become chores that can take half a day when you live curbside. having to move your vehicle (which will be frequent anyway, and parking is a nightmare unless you drive a scooter) just to shower or take a crap will get old quickly. People living in campers in SF or the Bay Area are basically considered homeless, which is not actually a life of security, ease or dignity by anyone's account.
This may not apply if you can keep your rig at the marina, but you better get that in writing. Some people pay hundreds of dollars a month for a parking spot to call their own, if they can find one to rent, and you usually can't live there, just park a compact car. Your long bed is likely around 17'+ which is a few feet longer than most spots you'll see. Resident parking restrictions, street sweeping and time limits are all intentional disincentives to car ownership in the city.
I'd have a long talk with whomever you might be working for before you decide to cross the country and try to grab a spot in a city where people commute in 100+ miles from 3 counties away because affordable and available housing is totally unavailable. Get a cheap flight and come check out the place first before you commit to spending the next few years in the Bay Area. There's a lot to love and a lot of challenges and people who have lived here their whole lives can't always figure out how to make it all work. Sorry to be a downer, but GVWR is probably not the critical issue in your plan.
Have you considered a lighter passenger?
Also, if you plan to build a camper, which will make city living much easier than out of the back of a shell, do you need to keep the bed? You can lower the center of gravity if you build off the frame, make use of the extra space around it.
Also, a little California reality check is in order:
Auto break-ins are constant in SF and could be a problem if that's your home. 7 surf boards might be hard to keep on the roof very long if a piece of shiny foil is enough to get your window broken.
Parking a camper will not be as easy, but having a door between the world and you will become pretty important quickly. Having some kind of toilet will also change the course of your day, as most things like laundry, grooming, dressing and eating become chores that can take half a day when you live curbside. having to move your vehicle (which will be frequent anyway, and parking is a nightmare unless you drive a scooter) just to shower or take a crap will get old quickly. People living in campers in SF or the Bay Area are basically considered homeless, which is not actually a life of security, ease or dignity by anyone's account.
This may not apply if you can keep your rig at the marina, but you better get that in writing. Some people pay hundreds of dollars a month for a parking spot to call their own, if they can find one to rent, and you usually can't live there, just park a compact car. Your long bed is likely around 17'+ which is a few feet longer than most spots you'll see. Resident parking restrictions, street sweeping and time limits are all intentional disincentives to car ownership in the city.
I'd have a long talk with whomever you might be working for before you decide to cross the country and try to grab a spot in a city where people commute in 100+ miles from 3 counties away because affordable and available housing is totally unavailable. Get a cheap flight and come check out the place first before you commit to spending the next few years in the Bay Area. There's a lot to love and a lot of challenges and people who have lived here their whole lives can't always figure out how to make it all work. Sorry to be a downer, but GVWR is probably not the critical issue in your plan.
rruff
Explorer
It looks like you've pretty quickly gone from a little cap to something enormous
If you are handy and you have a place to work you can make a nice camper without too much trouble... but something that big you don't want to make out of ply and 1x2s. It'll be way too heavy if you make it strong enough. You want sandwich panels, foam with fiberglass on both sides (wet layup). No wood needed. IMO it isn't hard, and the camper will be way nicer and very light. In fact if you lose the bed, and do a flatbed style you might add only 500lbs, tops... and that isn't including the weight of the cap you've got which will also go away. So not too heavy... but you still need to be careful with the weight you put in it!For talking purposes I made this:
The floor is 73" (the truck width), and 100" long. Nice open rectangle. The peak height is 66" so probably not enough to stand up straight unless you are short, but IME being able to do that in a wee camper is over-rated. And I'm a decrepit old man. The cabover isn't quite long enough to sleep fore-aft, but you can make a wall of storage on the floor up to the bottom of the cabover to extend it. It's the best place to store stuff after your rear seat. The sides are straight with a 45deg facet above it joining the roof. Best to do the cabover nose as a separate piece because of all the curves. It's tricky but doable. Aero, and it looks cool!
I started building my latest camper using styrofoam becasue I couldn't find reasonably priced structural foam, but there is a place called Carbon Core that sells PVC and PE foam that is quite reasonable. As I recall the .75" PVC was around $105/sheet and the PE ~$85/sheet plus ~$150 shipping no matter how much you buy. I found places with good prices on epoxy and cloth. Anyway I can provide a lot more regarding the details if you are interested.
BTW, why do you need so much solar? Think a panel on the hood and a deployable one would be plenty. Any shading at all kills the output of the panel.
Taylor Swift
Member
I hear you. I have been paying attention to what is happening in California. It’s not pretty—it seems rather dystopian, in fact. I lived in SB from 2010-13, and it seems like much has changed for the worse.
Once I started thinking about it, I realized that I’m not interested in urban camping. With my work (yachting, boats), I can pick up temporary gigs that last weeks/months. And also, the high months are when the surf is down. So my plan is to work as needed, and then spend my time exploring. NorCal, Baja, some spots on the central coast, plus further north... I also plan to embark with enough savings so that I don’t have to work so much.
I’m not coming to SF for work. There is a dental specialist I want to see, who does a specific kind of TMJ orthodontics. He’s in Alameda. Need to see him monthly for about 3 years.
But on top of that, it’s a good excuse for an adventure. Might be the last chance I get to do something like this before a wife and kids enter the picture—I’m 31 now.
There are so many amazing places within a 1-2 day drive...
Anyway, I appreciate what you’re saying. If I wasn’t a surfer, I wouldn’t be so gung ho on CA. It would probably be cheaper to just fly out every month. But where’s the adventure in that?!
Taylor Swift
Member
It looks like you've pretty quickly gone from a little cap to something enormous
For talking purposes I made this:
View attachment 565412
The floor is 73" (the truck width), and 100" long. Nice open rectangle. The peak height is 66" so probably not enough to stand up straight unless you are short, but IME being able to do that in a wee camper is over-rated. And I'm a decrepit old man. The cabover isn't quite long enough to sleep fore-aft, but you can make a wall of storage on the floor up to the bottom of the cabover to extend it. It's the best place to store stuff after your rear seat. The sides are straight with a 45deg facet above it joining the roof. Best to do the cabover nose as a separate piece because of all the curves. It's tricky but doable. Aero, and it looks cool!
I started building my latest camper using styrofoam becasue I couldn't find reasonably priced structural foam, but there is a place called Carbon Core that sells PVC and PE foam that is quite reasonable. As I recall the .75" PVC was around $105/sheet and the PE ~$85/sheet plus ~$150 shipping no matter how much you buy. I found places with good prices on epoxy and cloth. Anyway I can provide a lot more regarding the details if you are interested.
BTW, why do you need so much solar? Think a panel on the hood and a deployable one would be plenty. Any shading at all kills the output of the panel.
Thanks for the lengthy reply!
Will respond at length a bit later on, but obviously I’m early into this... My thinking was to use the Poor Man’s Fiberglass method over some thin, light plywood. I have both carpenters and boat yards at my fingertips. I’m hesitant to spend too much money or time on something at this juncture. Perhaps I can pare down my design a little. I am a fan of the bed removal idea. Feel a little intimidated by the project tbh. Haven’t looked into it much though.
How to make a cabover camper with poor mans fiberglass:
Cab-over Camper for Pickup
Cab-over Camper for Pickup: I wanted to build a Teardrop camper but I just don't have a place to park another vehicle\trailer in my driveway. So I decided to build a cab-over camper for my pickup instead. I also wanted to be able to haul my kayaks in it as needed without hav…
www.instructables.com
Poor Man’s Fiberglass:
Poor Mans Fiberglass, Permanent Exterior Paint, Never Paint Again (almost), Waterproofing With Out Epoxy, Fiberglass Epoxy Allergy Relief
Poor Mans Fiberglass, Permanent Exterior Paint, Never Paint Again (almost), Waterproofing With Out Epoxy, Fiberglass Epoxy Allergy Relief: Back in 2011 I built a teardrop camper, at the time I needed a place to sleep a few nights a week as the long drive home was causing me to fall asleep behind...
www.instructables.com
Also one small note, the 1st gen Frontier is narrower than the new one by a good bit, 8-10 inches or so I believe. Anyway, will get back on later!
T
Taylor Swift
Member
A few more comments
So many solar panels just to size it out. I have done the math and designed an electrical system that should work with 3 x 50W panels in parallel, with the option to add more. They weigh 3 lbs each for the flexible variety, and are pretty cheap... I would leave space to add more, especially because of the shade issue you mention.
My topper build design has two 50w on the factory rack and one on the hood. My hood can only fit a 50 flex panel.
I don’t see myself doing a foam construction. I will look into it, but I’m leery of removing the bed and adding so much complexity to my build. I want to limit cost and production time as much as possible. But hey, maybe I can find some people to do the glassing for cheap. I don’t have a place to do it myself without paying a boatyard, and then there goes the benefit of DIY.
It also seems like foam construction would require that I build some kind of frame to hold the foam together while constructing, pre-glassing. More cost and complexity.
I totally get the benefits. But this is not the build for perfect everything. I kind of bought the truck as a DD/vacation overlander, and now it is evolving, but if I were to go crazy with a build it would probably be on a 1 ton diesel platform (like a 7.3).
So many solar panels just to size it out. I have done the math and designed an electrical system that should work with 3 x 50W panels in parallel, with the option to add more. They weigh 3 lbs each for the flexible variety, and are pretty cheap... I would leave space to add more, especially because of the shade issue you mention.
My topper build design has two 50w on the factory rack and one on the hood. My hood can only fit a 50 flex panel.
I don’t see myself doing a foam construction. I will look into it, but I’m leery of removing the bed and adding so much complexity to my build. I want to limit cost and production time as much as possible. But hey, maybe I can find some people to do the glassing for cheap. I don’t have a place to do it myself without paying a boatyard, and then there goes the benefit of DIY.
It also seems like foam construction would require that I build some kind of frame to hold the foam together while constructing, pre-glassing. More cost and complexity.
I totally get the benefits. But this is not the build for perfect everything. I kind of bought the truck as a DD/vacation overlander, and now it is evolving, but if I were to go crazy with a build it would probably be on a 1 ton diesel platform (like a 7.3).
rruff
Explorer
Many ways to skin this cat!
The one the guy built with a 2x2 frame is pretty cool, but the 2.7mm skins he used are flimsy. It's the same thing seen on cheap interior house doors; you can easily put your fist through it. The PMF will strengthen it some, but I wasn't real impressed with that stuff in my experiments. It's nowhere near the strength/weight of FG. Rather than compare it to FG I think it's more like heavy duty paint. But you can try some samples and see what you think. If you go the wood route definitely glue the foam to both the inner and outer panel. This makes the wall much more solid. PL Premium works pretty good for this, but something else might be better.
One thing to consider is damage from tree branches. If you are at all adventurous, you'll be knocking branches out of the way with the top of your camper. That's one reason I never put anything on top of the camper. It's also good to round the top edges and reinforce them.
FG isn't hard; I picked it up on my own easy enough and it worked great. If you don't curve the panels then it's quite simple; just cut out the pieces of foam, lay them on a flat surface and glass them, flip them over and glass the other side, then put them together. You need to hold the panels in place when you tack them together, but that isn't tough. Then fill the cracks with thickened epoxy and glass the seams thoroughly.
One advantage of having a higher frame mounted "flat bed" (besides giving you more space) is that you can stash stuff under it. I'm thinking you could put a few boards there. The frame mounted camper I built had a 1.5" thick floor with 2x4s embedded crossways where the frame mounts were located, with a couple 2x2s and foam elsewhere, with .25" skins. Short pieces of steel square tubing were attached to the bottom and bolted to the frame mounts. Worked great. Oh, another thing is that you can have a side entrance too if you wish.
With solar it's a real good idea to also have a deployable panel with a long cord, so you can put it in the sun even if you are parked in the shade. 24v is also good to cut down on wiring and losses.
That's all I can think of for now. Hope it's helpful and not more confusing...
The one the guy built with a 2x2 frame is pretty cool, but the 2.7mm skins he used are flimsy. It's the same thing seen on cheap interior house doors; you can easily put your fist through it. The PMF will strengthen it some, but I wasn't real impressed with that stuff in my experiments. It's nowhere near the strength/weight of FG. Rather than compare it to FG I think it's more like heavy duty paint. But you can try some samples and see what you think. If you go the wood route definitely glue the foam to both the inner and outer panel. This makes the wall much more solid. PL Premium works pretty good for this, but something else might be better.
One thing to consider is damage from tree branches. If you are at all adventurous, you'll be knocking branches out of the way with the top of your camper. That's one reason I never put anything on top of the camper. It's also good to round the top edges and reinforce them.
FG isn't hard; I picked it up on my own easy enough and it worked great. If you don't curve the panels then it's quite simple; just cut out the pieces of foam, lay them on a flat surface and glass them, flip them over and glass the other side, then put them together. You need to hold the panels in place when you tack them together, but that isn't tough. Then fill the cracks with thickened epoxy and glass the seams thoroughly.
One advantage of having a higher frame mounted "flat bed" (besides giving you more space) is that you can stash stuff under it. I'm thinking you could put a few boards there. The frame mounted camper I built had a 1.5" thick floor with 2x4s embedded crossways where the frame mounts were located, with a couple 2x2s and foam elsewhere, with .25" skins. Short pieces of steel square tubing were attached to the bottom and bolted to the frame mounts. Worked great. Oh, another thing is that you can have a side entrance too if you wish.
With solar it's a real good idea to also have a deployable panel with a long cord, so you can put it in the sun even if you are parked in the shade. 24v is also good to cut down on wiring and losses.
That's all I can think of for now. Hope it's helpful and not more confusing...
Taylor Swift
Member
Thanks. Definitely not confusing. I think one difference with this kind of project is that I need to not be working full time in order to complete it, unless I can get a corner in the boatyard for very cheap/free. I’m gonna talk to my local yard.
With the flatbed idea, I’m guessing I will need to do as you did, and weld a base frame. Will have to give some thought to that, as I’m not sure how far I could proceed with a camper design without first removing the bed.
Part of the source of my qualms is that my truck has a lot of surface rust. A couple spots have had to be cut/welded during this suspension job. I experienced this firsthand when I did the timing belt. I had to break the harmonic dampener/belt pulley to get it off, along with the crankshaft sprocket. Everything took a long time—it took me nearly two weeks to tear it all down, and the whole job took me 6 weeks. Granted, I did a lot more than just the timing belt, but everything was slowed down by rust.
The upside to that story, and one of the reasons I’m stubbornly sticking to this platform, is that I did a lot to the truck:
-Timing belt
-drive belts
-water pump
-thermostat
-new harmonic balancer pulley
-new crank sprocket
-all new front seals
-several new breather hoses
-new intake box
-new lower intake manifold
-new knock sensor
-cleaned IACV
-new upper O2 sensors
-replaced cracked exhaust manifold passenger side (and I rethreaded the rusty bolts, retapped some holes)
- new injectors, spark plugs, wires, and fuel pressure regulator
- Auto transmission filter and fluid flush
-all fluids and filters
-coolant flush
Did I mention I did this in my spare time in a parking lot? This was my first time working on any major car project, so it took me a longer time than it would other people, I’m sure. But I did it right and my mechanic checked my timing—I was within 1 degree of spec.
And when I get it back from the shop, hopefully today, you can add brakes, suspension, and repack bearings to list.
Great point about tree branches. That’s definitely a selling point of foam/fiberglass.
What type/weight of glass do you think would do the job? Could I use some kind of insulation foam and kill two birds with one stone? How would you mount to the truck frame? Would you put stringers or bulkheads in? Inquiring minds want to know...
BTW, my solar design includes a 100W solar suitcase, wired as 2x50w in parallel. All panels in parallel 12v. I ran the numbers, for my application it appears simpler to stick with 12v. At least, that is if I’m using this Renogy charger, which is quite slick: https://www.renogy.com/dcc50s-12v-50a-dc-dc-on-board-battery-charger-with-mppt/
It’s an all-in-one battery charger/isolator/MPPT controller. Gets good reviews, such as this one:
Because each panel only does 3 A at max power, my cables are all 12 AWG until they get close to the battery. It’s pretty lightweight, and the power loss is acceptable.
rruff
Explorer
No base frame. The "floor" of the camper was built as stated above: "The frame mounted camper I built had a 1.5" thick floor with 2x4s embedded crossways where the frame mounts were located, with a couple 2x2s and foam elsewhere, with .25" skins. Short pieces of steel square tubing were attached to the bottom and bolted to the frame mounts. ", You can measure these locations close enough to build the "floor" without removing the bed. Exact positioning of the steel (or could be aluminum) pieces will be figured out when the bed is removed.
Note this is the camper I built for the old Toyota truck that I posted a picture of earlier. I made the wall and roof panels from 1x2s+foam core, and thin luan plywood skins, then FG on all outer surfaces. The one I started building for my Tundra has no plywood and very little wood at all, and FG skins (hand laid).
You can do it with wood also. Just round the edges and glass them well. I doubt the PMF would hold up. Actually wood edges are nice even if you go foam/FG route, since wood is a better/stiffer material to have under the FG.
For most of the panels a single layer of 1708 biax should be sufficient. On the floor of the new camper I did two layers on both sides. For joining panels and edges you'll want multiple layers of thinner cloth like 6oz. I bought FG from Fiberglass Site, and epoxy from Ebond (ridiculously cheap, like $30/gal). Very happy with both. I think I'll use 1 part poly boat paint when it's time to do that.
I found a place that has a great price on Divinycell PET foam: https://shop.fiberglasssupply.com/Divinycell_PN_PET_Foam_Co-1_Divinycell_PN80_PET_Foam_Core.html
EDIT: Holy ********! They want $700 to ship 12 sheets of the 1", and that's after they cut them down to 2'x4'! That's nuts...
All the closed cell synthetic foams have a good R value (~4-5/in) at appropriate temperatures. You don't need a lot of insulation (ventilation greatly reduces what you can achieve) but a little is nice. The foam panels are quite simple to build, the tricky part is when it comes time to mount stuff to it. There is nothing to hold a screw unless you embedded it when you built the panel. Ordinarily the way to do this after the fact is to drill a hole, fill it with thickened epoxy, then put your screw into that. You could also just epoxy 1x2s to the interior wall when you want to mount something. Regardless of how your camper is made, heavy things should be secured to the floor rather than the walls. Which brings up another point...
Trucks are "body on frame" construction which means they are not stiff like a unibody car or SUV. If you take you truck through a deep ditch at an angle, and take a look when it's at maximum twist, you'll see what I mean.
This is an example:
Your Frontier is probably better than a Tacoma in this respect, but it's good to check. So when you are offroading and your truck twists it is going to want to twist your camper. If you build it so you have a big door that covers the back, then you basically have an open box, and this will flex much more readily than a closed box. This is good. A stiff closed box will resist the twist of the truck, resulting in much higher stress and probably failure eventually. But you also may want to be careful about interior cabinets and furniture. You want corners/edges of the camper walls to be strong (ie beef them up with extra layers of FG) but not stiff. So don't tie structures to both the floor and wall or floor and ceiling. It also a reason why it's probably not good to mount the cabover to the cab.
Another option is just to make your camper stiff and account for flex between your truck frame and the camper. Usually people do a 3 point mount, with two hard mounts in the front and a pivot in the rear. I'd only consider that though if your Frontier turns out to be particularly flexy. The new ones say they have a fully boxed frame, which should be pretty stiff. Sadly my Tundra is not...
Also, see if you can get a mod to move the part of this thread where we started talking about the camper build to a more appropriate section... and change the name. I think it would get more responses then.
Last edited:
Taylor Swift
Member
lot to chew on rruf. I wrote a moderator.
Thanks for the graphic on frame twist. I didn’t realize the physics involved. It makes sense now.
I spoke with the foreman of a local yard whom I am friends with. He suggested Nida-Core. I thought what he had to say was pretty slick—laminate panels individually using a pane of glass to lay them on. Do one side, let it cure, and then here’s the money shot—lay down gel coat on the glass and put the laminated side down on it. Then laminate the second side, pop it out, and voila. Then just tab them together and a camper (shell) you have.
I think if I were to do it, I’d build a simple frame from 2x2s to lay the panels on while tabbing. of course, building methods are dictated by time, space, and ability... I have a 4x8 space in a garage to make a stack of panels over the course of a month or two. I don’t have a big area to chip away at a project like this over the course of a year.
a part of me is saying—just go with the original idea, get out to California, go surf, and figure it out. Work an Alaska summer, and reevaluate my vehicle and camper platform...
cheers
Thanks for the graphic on frame twist. I didn’t realize the physics involved. It makes sense now.
I spoke with the foreman of a local yard whom I am friends with. He suggested Nida-Core. I thought what he had to say was pretty slick—laminate panels individually using a pane of glass to lay them on. Do one side, let it cure, and then here’s the money shot—lay down gel coat on the glass and put the laminated side down on it. Then laminate the second side, pop it out, and voila. Then just tab them together and a camper (shell) you have.
I think if I were to do it, I’d build a simple frame from 2x2s to lay the panels on while tabbing. of course, building methods are dictated by time, space, and ability... I have a 4x8 space in a garage to make a stack of panels over the course of a month or two. I don’t have a big area to chip away at a project like this over the course of a year.
a part of me is saying—just go with the original idea, get out to California, go surf, and figure it out. Work an Alaska summer, and reevaluate my vehicle and camper platform...
cheers
rruff
Explorer
Carbon Core sells the honeycomb panels with the FG already on. Not sure if you can get gelcoat as well, but you might. If not it's easy enough to apply gelcoat like paint or some other coating.
This was way fancier than it needed to be, but this couple made a camper out of nidacore to go on a Tacoma:
Yep, simple concepts tend to get complicated in execution. There's always more work involved than there seems.
This was way fancier than it needed to be, but this couple made a camper out of nidacore to go on a Tacoma:
Yep, simple concepts tend to get complicated in execution. There's always more work involved than there seems.
Taylor Swift
Member
Carbon Core sells the honeycomb panels with the FG already on. Not sure if you can get gelcoat as well, but you might. If not it's easy enough to apply gelcoat like paint or some other coating.
This was way fancier than it needed to be, but this couple made a camper out of nidacore to go on a Tacoma:
Yep, simple concepts tend to get complicated in execution. There's always more work involved than there seems.
So true. And sanding/painting are such a drag. If I could perfect the gelcoat paneling technique, then it would theoretically preclude exterior painting and sanding of the panel gel coat sides.
The good thing is, now that I’m looking, perhaps I will find a good deal on a used camper... I know that I will if I wait until after summer.
All this feels a bit like trying to squeeze water out of a rock. I wouldn’t have these issues with a full size or 1-ton truck. That’s not to say it can’t be done, and I feel confident I can keep things light enough... of course, I can’t bounce around on a trail and float over soft beach sand in the same manner in a 1-ton either. Nor can I zip around a city as easily, but that’s less important to me.
I was checking out the Super Camper blog yesterday, ironically. Such a sweet build.
rruff
Explorer
It's easy to minimize sanding if you aren't trying to make a perfectly smooth finish, and there is no reason why you need to. I sure as hell am not going to worry about it!
Only reason I'm building a camper is because I don't like any of the commercial offerings. None. Too heavy, too much stuff I don't need, no storage, too expensive, etc. And building one isn't that hard. I like to know who to blame if something breaks, too...
Nah, I like your truck size. If I wasn't accommodating 2 people fulltime I would have bought the cheap 2wd Frontier (new) and added a mild lift, bigger tires, and 5.13 gearing with a locker and it would have been fine. Even the 1/2ton fullsize trucks are ridiculously huge IMO. And if you have a 1ton and big Lance (or whatever) camper it gets silly offroad. It can be done reasonably well if you are slow and careful all the time, but...
I'll be camping in the desert for a couple weeks. Good luck figuring this out!
Only reason I'm building a camper is because I don't like any of the commercial offerings. None. Too heavy, too much stuff I don't need, no storage, too expensive, etc. And building one isn't that hard. I like to know who to blame if something breaks, too...
Nah, I like your truck size. If I wasn't accommodating 2 people fulltime I would have bought the cheap 2wd Frontier (new) and added a mild lift, bigger tires, and 5.13 gearing with a locker and it would have been fine. Even the 1/2ton fullsize trucks are ridiculously huge IMO. And if you have a 1ton and big Lance (or whatever) camper it gets silly offroad. It can be done reasonably well if you are slow and careful all the time, but...
I'll be camping in the desert for a couple weeks. Good luck figuring this out!
billiebob
Well-known member
I say you are on the edge, border but not excessively over weight and could easily keep it legal with just a few changes, sacrifices. Do you have the wrong vehicle, probably not you are just entering new phase of the build. Rather than adding and building you need to be refining, defining, trading out heavy items for lighter options, tossing items you have never used.
Me, I'd start by tossing the farmer jack. I doubt you "need" the clearance on the beach.
Taylor Swift
Member
Agree, not sure how much actual beach driving I will be doing. I’ve been surfing all my life and have rarely felt the need. It will happen, but it’s true that most surfing occurs near beach parking lots. There are some back road spots though, and those will definitely be a focus. I also plan to get lost in the mountains and desert, down the Baja peninsula, etc.
Agree that I am at the “reducing and simplifying” stage of my build. Interestingly, it has been a liberating process in some ways. Frees up money in the budget, and gets me clear on what I REALLY want to go do in this rig.