2007 Tundra prep with FWC Hawk

[mctacoslayer]

Hello,

After suffering in tents cold and wet with my small family up here in BC I’ve decided that a truck and a truck camper is in my future. I’m on bit of a budget so I decided to buy a used truck and (likely) will buy a new hawk.

I bought a 2007 Tundra 5.7L double cab with the towing package. It came with a set of Mud hog 275 60r20 tires.

What do you suggest I all do to prep the truck? The camper will live on the truck full time. Do I need to do the following?

1. 
   Firestone airbags?
   
2. 
   Spray in bed liner?
   
3. 
   Change the tires?
   
4. 
   back up camera?
   
5. 
   Any other nice things that I may be missing?
   

All of these topics are covered throughout the forum, but I felt if I asked specifically about my particular setup, I won’t be confused. At this point I’m learning it all, hope you don’t mind me asking!
T

 

[sourdough]

Skip the bags and get these.... http://www.activesuspension.com because you don't want a blown bag to ruin a trip.

 

[moveinon]

See JHanson in airbags VS helper springs as he provides great advise. I have had Firestone airbags on two trucks. The first truck I upgraded the shocks, tires, springs and added airbags myself. That truck went 1000,s of miles off road over some very rough country. Never a problem with the firestones even hauling full loads of wood or gravel which were way more weight than the camper. This was a older truck I built for going off road and really beat up with never a problem with the suspension. This setup was great when loaded but rode awful when empty, enough so that I put a full bed sheet of steel on the bed for weight when I was not hauling my camper or other loads. The cost of doing all three right was and is expensive, but if I was leaving the camper on full time that is exactly what I would do again. I have upgraded shocks, tires and airbags to my current truck (a extra cab Tacoma 4X4) because I take the Fleet off for three months a year and airbags have worked great, and upgrading the shocks reduces the airbag kind of bounce which is not a big problem - I just do not like it. I have taken this setup off road about 3,000 miles so far and much milder offload than the previous truck with no problems. The airbags allow me to adjust for the camper off as well as those times I carry 30 gallons of water (almost 200 unbalanced pounds) vs other times I carry none. And spring upgrades are a problem for me when the camper is off and in the future if I want to sell the truck alone. From my experience how you decide to upgrade the suspension will depend a lot on how you want and expect to use your truck and camper. If you will spend most of your time on pavement and good dirt roads then springs or airbags should be enough. If you plan on going off road much at all then springs, airbags, and shocks will give you a lot of stability. Either way correct rated tires are important for safety and to keep you from being stuck in the snow or on a back road.

For backup camera I just went to a local junk yard here in Portland and bought a camera off of a wrecked truck and attached it to the back of my camper. That way it just plugs in like the one from my tailgate. Cost for whole thing $20.00 plus time fabricating a mount to attach it.