Project: Blanco, The 2007 F350 Standard Cab Adventure Truck
- Thread starter Metcalf
- Start date
Regcabguy
Expedition Leader
That's tough on the back. If they had double doors it would sure be easier.
Mini-mod. I must be getting old. Getting in and out under the camper just isn't working for my knees anymore.
I decided to add a thick rubber mat to the bed floor to help with that.
It should help a lot with the Flippac camper up too for walking around on cool mornings.
Sometimes it's the small details that make the most difference.
P.S. the shovel mounts held on by the 3m VHB pads are still going strong.
I'm actually kinda surprised honestly.....
huntsonora
Explorer
Been a year with the milestars, still like them?
Metcalf
Expedition Leader
Dang close to flawless. My only small issue so far was I got some feathering on the fronts. It might have been from running a bit too far at lower pressure. Might have been a bit slow on rotations. Might have been a 150K mile front suspension. I upped the pressure a bit and will try more often rotations.
Winter time traction year two has been just as good as fresh new, and honestly very impression. I drive colorado winters routinely in rwd only a LSD diff. I rarely have to toggle in 4wd, so little I feel guilty driving around with the hubs locked in for months.
huntsonora
Explorer
Perfect! Thanks! Where’d you find them for sale in Colorado? I’m having a heck of a time finding any for sale
Metcalf
Expedition Leader
Milestar helped me out with that.
onemanarmy
Explorer
What a perfectly optioned/spec'd truck Nice find.
Metcalf
Expedition Leader
My most un-project vehicle. It just works for what I need it to do. This thing is basically my daily driver that does double duty as a tow rig and home base for my other off-road toys.
My new 'Dolly' trailer has been working very well. This is a custom built vehicle hauler I built a little over a year ago. As far as vehicle trailers go, it's pretty unconventional by today's standards. It uses an open ladder frame system that was laser cut from 2x6x3/16 tubing and is about 12' long plus tongue. The crossmembers are 2x4/1/8" steel that go all the way through the rails. The rungs are 1 1/4 x 1/8 square tubing. The axle uses 7k-lb spindles that are mounted to a piece of 3.5x1/4" DOM tubing that is rigid mounted into the chassis. The tires are Milestar Steelpro AST commercial grade steel belted trailer tires rated at 4400lbs each on Sendel Aluminum trailer wheels which are also rated at 4400lbs each. The rear deck it low enough to drive on-off without ramps. The tires are strapped directly to the rungs. The vehicle suspension acts like a huge damper, and frankly that works amazing, especially with the vehicle so low and tight behind the truck. The empty weight on the trailer is 1030lbs.
so am I understanding this right? Your trailer has no suspension just a rigid axle. I have a custom trailer built by a friend who was a talented fabricator many years ago. I have always been tempted to redo it with a suspension system but maybe he was on to something. He always recommended using tire pressure to provide damping.
My most un-project vehicle. It just works for what I need it to do. This thing is basically my daily driver that does double duty as a tow rig and home base for my other off-road toys.
My new 'Dolly' trailer has been working very well. This is a custom built vehicle hauler I built a little over a year ago. As far as vehicle trailers go, it's pretty unconventional by today's standards. It uses an open ladder frame system that was laser cut from 2x6x3/16 tubing and is about 12' long plus tongue. The crossmembers are 2x4/1/8" steel that go all the way through the rails. The rungs are 1 1/4 x 1/8 square tubing. The axle uses 7k-lb spindles that are mounted to a piece of 3.5x1/4" DOM tubing that is rigid mounted into the chassis. The tires are Milestar Steelpro AST commercial grade steel belted trailer tires rated at 4400lbs each on Sendel Aluminum trailer wheels which are also rated at 4400lbs each. The rear deck it low enough to drive on-off without ramps. The tires are strapped directly to the rungs. The vehicle suspension acts like a huge damper, and frankly that works amazing, especially with the vehicle so low and tight behind the truck. The empty weight on the trailer is 1030lbs.
Metcalf
Expedition Leader
Correct, no suspension. The axle tube runs right though the middle of the frame.
I strap to the tires of the vehicle. This allows the towee vehicle suspension to act like a huge damper over the trailer. This is what provides the 'suspension' action on my trailer, and it works amazingly well. Physics wise, it is basically like sprung and un-sprung with on a typical suspension system. For me, it just works. It is simple and allows me to have the trailer VERY low to the ground. This all makes it tow like a dream.
Metcalf
Expedition Leader
A little repair and rebuild on the Flippac. After a few trips to Moab, Utah with some hellacious wind storms, the struts needed a rework. I broke one of the factory plastic bracket on the roof and lost one of my new aluminum struts.
I remade the strut brackets on the roof panel out of some stainless steel box tubing. They should be WAY stronger.
I then moved the strut brackets on the hood so that the struts where vertical in side view. This makes it much easier to pull the bed down and get the tent tight. It also makes folding the rods up a little easier. This should work WAY better overall.
Metcalf
Expedition Leader
Nothing crazy, but I finally had to install some new shocks. The fronts where almost completely blown along with the steering stabilizer. I decided to go with a simple Bilstein 5100 upgrade as everything was bolt-in simple and pretty affordable. As much as I wanted to go with something crazy like a set of 2.5 or 3.0 resi bypass shocks, this thing just doesn't get used like that.
The new Bilstein stuff did fix the front end 'chatter' I was having when hitting or dropping sharp diagonal edges on the road....or large sections of potholed highway at insterstate speeds.
My only complaint with the install of the 5100 shocks was that the front shocks came fully extended. With the gas charge it was very hard to compress the shock enough to get it in place. I ended up using my #TaulerJack to lift the front of the truck up enough it could be moved into place easier.
The new Bilstein stuff did fix the front end 'chatter' I was having when hitting or dropping sharp diagonal edges on the road....or large sections of potholed highway at insterstate speeds.
My only complaint with the install of the 5100 shocks was that the front shocks came fully extended. With the gas charge it was very hard to compress the shock enough to get it in place. I ended up using my #TaulerJack to lift the front of the truck up enough it could be moved into place easier.
Metcalf
Expedition Leader
Putting the truck to work hauling the #LX45 out to California and back for a Rubicon trip. This is pretty much exactly what I built the truck for, basically a daily driver that I don't have to do major re-configurations on to support trips like this. The Flippac lives on the truck full time and is basically just a big fiberglass camper shell when closed. This lets the truck do truck stuff without having to remove ( or store ) anything. Even this basic truck has the important things I need for a longer trip...mainly just Cruise Control ( I have a dodgy knee that hates staying in one position ) and A/C to keep the temps down on the road with the windows up at 80mph. Beyond that, it is just a super basic truck, and I like that.
The new trailer I built is working great too. It is very compact, low behind the truck, and pretty lightweight. The truck still returns (low) double digits towing around 5k+ with the V10, 6spd manual, and 4.10 gears running the speed limit +5 on regular unleaded. I can't complain about that for the investment in the truck at all.
Camping in the Flippac on trips like this is so conveinent. Setup ( and takedown ) literally takes less than a minute. The new strut rod setup is working much better. I am not always worried about breaking the old plastic hardware anymore. I usually just throw sleeping bags in a big plastic tote with a few pillows. That keeps the dust down, since they are in something with a lid, but the box is big enough you don't have to kill a bunch of time trying to pack things back in a tight stuff sack. Having the extra storage volume in a vehicle this size is nice when comparing to my history of packing very small and light for big trips in my other off-road vehicles.
Oscar Mike Gulf Yankee
Well-known member
@Metcalf nice setup for your truck!
Question on the Flippac, if it ever rains out there with your tent set up, it looks like water runoff from the tent goes down to the fiberglass top, on the inside and under the bed area. How does it drain? When you close it up will you have water dumping inside the camper?
I have thought about building something similar with a fiberglass Tanoue cover.
Do you have a canvas strip around the tent that falls over and covers the fiberglass top?
Thanks
Question on the Flippac, if it ever rains out there with your tent set up, it looks like water runoff from the tent goes down to the fiberglass top, on the inside and under the bed area. How does it drain? When you close it up will you have water dumping inside the camper?
I have thought about building something similar with a fiberglass Tanoue cover.
Do you have a canvas strip around the tent that falls over and covers the fiberglass top?
Thanks
Metcalf
Expedition Leader
Surprisingly it does pretty well in the rain/snow. The water runs off between the seal and the tent ( to a point) on the front half. The rear half doesn't seem to have many issues. It does seem to be sensitive to which way the wind is blowing and that has led to some water getting in under the bed at least once that I can remember. I haven't noticed that enough water getting inside the tent that there are issues when closing the things up. It is always best to keep the tent material dry as you can before closing it up. If it is wet, best to dry it out before long term storage.
They do/did make a rain fly for the flippac setup that fit over the tent and landed outside the shell. I think that was the solution for heavy rain.
In the end, even just the stock tent is WAY drier than any ground tent or standing out in the rain!