Hunter RMV

jk6661

Observer
Anyone know anything about this rig? It comes in at a lower price point than some similar vehicles. I'm wondering if they cut corners somewhere or just accept a lower profit margin. It's clear the interior finishes aren't up to, say, EarthRoamer levels, but they look nice enough.

https://www.hunterrmv.com/vehicles/predator/
 

waveslider

Outdoorsman
Is it me or does this look a LOT like those "put a trailer on a flat bed" type builds? They just managed to more gracefully cover the wheel cutouts along the bottom?

I saw a couple of the YT videos from Expo West of these and that was the sense I was getting.

For the record, not knocking it, just wondering if that's what's happening here.
 

Ovrlnd Rd

Adventurer
Looked at them at Expo West and they’re cheap bumper trailers mounted on the bed of the truck and fairly poor cosmetics to make them look custom made. They also hacked up the factory hydraulics so stay FAR away from one of these. They’d rattle apart going over a speed bump and having talked to their mechanic it’s obvious they knew nothing about the trucks themselves. They have a lot of veterans on their staff (which I applaud) but not ones that worked on these in the service.

If you want a nice LMTV I’ll sell you one and you can put your own trailer on it for 1/3 of what they want.
 

carterd

Member
I looked at these at Expo West along with the Acela trucks. Both of these companies are buying surplus Stewart and Stevenson FMTV trucks from the military. The militarily is auctioning these off with low miles as they are going to armored vehicles in most combat zones. My impression of the Hunter RMV trucks was that they took a cheap RV trailer and bolted it to a flatbed. The curved front of the trailer wastes a lot of space vs. a rectangular design. I asked the Hunter RMV representative why they opted for a direct bolt-on bed vs. a torsion free design, and I was unimpressed with the lack of specifics in their answer. The Acela truck (which was a 6x6, and featured a Total Composites box at Expo West) was much more impressive and had a torsion free body mount. I think Hunter does some upgrades to the cab and some paint, but not much else. Acela does a bottoms-up inspection and refurb of the whole truck, which puts them at a higher price point than Hunter. Acela also mounts new tires. One of the Hunter trucks at Expo West had a front tire blow out at 60 mph on their way to the event, which left some scarring on the cab door (see photo).

These are very big, very wide, and heavy trucks. Although they are drool-worthy, I can imagine driving them would not be a pleasant experience and their size/weigth would limit where you could take them.

Pics of Hunter FMV and Acela below.


Hunter RMV.jpgAcela1 .jpg
 

Zybane

Active member
That cheap RV cabin on the Hunter won't last long at all. I like the Acela cabin, but I don't think an expedition vehicle is an expedition vehicle without a cab to cabin portal.
 

Sixinarow

Adventurer
I'm finding it difficult to disagree with that.

I agree to disagree...er, agree to agree with your disagreeing difficulty.

Anyway, yeah, I am not sure I'd want to pay for that. I can mount my own cheap travel trailer on a frame. If I am going to pay someone to build a box I'd do a custom box.

That being said, I had thought of putting a small travel trailer on a Freightliner M2 chassis but that would be temporary until the box is done.
 

Badmiker

Member
Honest question, why is the cab to hab passageway so important? It would seem to me to be a pain in the butt to use, prone to failure, a hindrance to lifting the cab, and another path to lease heat/cooling. Also on the FMTV there is a spare tire and air cleaner in the way...
 

Zybane

Active member
Be it a approaching storm, super cold or hot or rainy outside, or threat you want to drive away from, you just drive away. People and pets can also move about whilst underway, one of the big advantages to some types of RVs. You also know what is going on in the cabin at all times, which can be important on super rough terrain. To me a cabin to cab portal means it's a true to type vehicle. I can't think of any high end expedition vehicle that doesn't have one.

On an FTMV to do it properly, you relocate the spare tire, remove the spare wheel winch and relocate the air box.
 

Keith-HunterRMV

New member
Hi, Keith Storey here founder of HUNTER RMV. To clarify a few points raised in the discussion on the Hunter RMV predator builds:

1) The LMTV’s go through a rigorous multi-point inspection/replacement program before a sale, and that now includes new Goodyear MVT tires, replacing the troublesome Michelins.

2) They drive really nicely, (“Cadillac of military vehicles“) with a great turning radius, and after 18 months of testing over thousands of miles on and off road, we have had no issues with speed bumps or anything falling apart.

3) We do not ‘hack‘ the hydraulics (M1078), we relocate the spare wheel and in doing so, build a new vent and supply tank out of 1/4” steel with new custom made hoses for the cab tilt mechanism.

4) Over 1,000 + hours go into each stock Predator build and to keep prices affordable we buy and modify Aluminum/composite trailer boxes from Forest river industries. We also build fully custom rigs for customers with full composite shells, crawl thru, full solar, etc. at a higher price point. We wanted to offer something different, cool, usable, spacious, affordable and rugged to those who can not afford, or do not want to spend 2 to 8x the price.

Let us know if you have any more questions.
 

Zybane

Active member
Keith,

How is the camper box mated to the frame? Virtually all US made "big manufacturer" camper boxes aren't even strong enough to hold up for any decent amount of time travelling the highway between campsites let alone off-road work. Slides would compound that issue.

Does your Predator 6.6 have a cabin-cab portal?
 

Keith-HunterRMV

New member
Keith,

How is the camper box mated to the frame? Virtually all US made "big manufacturer" camper boxes aren't even strong enough to hold up for any decent amount of time travelling the highway between campsites let alone off-road work. Slides would compound that issue.

Does your Predator 6.6 have a cabin-cab portal?

Hi Zybane,
So far in 18 months and many thousands of miles both on and off the road, we have had zero issues (outside of a tire blowout.) Depending on the build we either weld direct to the truck frame and/or use isolators to cushion the ride in the back. On the Predator 6.6’s we have built, no crawl through, but we included one on a 6x6 build and on our latest one underway.
Keith
 

DarkBladeRunner

Active member
I’m actually looking at a DIY project quite similar to this. Are there any DIY examples of this kind of thing? (I don’t want an all terrain camper, just a go-mostly-everywhere camper that will last 1 year).

However, I’m looking at mounting the trailer on a custom subframe with three point attachment to the truck frame and installing the trailer backwards so that the flat face is against the back of the cab.
 

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