rich
Contributors
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2007
- Messages
- 463
Hello Everyone,
As you know I have been on the camper hunt for a while now with a unique challenge....my 1996 Toyota T-100. The Eagle and Ranger's are just too small width wise for my taste and more importantly for my wife's
So I want an 80" wide or wider camper. Unfortunately the T-100 only has a 58" tailgate opening which means all of the old Hawk's and Grandby's won't work on it until 2001 or newer which seem to sell for $7,500 - $8,000 and my budget is $5,000. I don't mind buying an older camper and putting the elbow grease in and I can get campers into the mid 90's within my $5,000 budget but they won't slide in. Leaving me with one option in my budget which would be an 80" wide fleet which I haven't been able to find. I have recently found two Fleet II's which are more like an eagle size.
So the question is this. Since the older campers are 48" wide for the first 10 - 11" vertically to fit between the wheel well ( I haven't been able to get confirmation on whether it's 10 or 11") and my bed rail height is only 17" I could build a 6 to 7" basement for storage and set the camper on that which would allow me to use an old camper (within my budget) on my truck. I know it will make the cab over section almost a foot above the top of the truck but I can put a yakima air dam on to help with that like pvstoy has on top of his 1984 Toyota/Ranger combo. What I am more concerned about and would like some opinions on are the center of gravity being 6 to 7" higher and whether or not that is safe or if it will ultimately create too much pitch and yaw to be stable while driving. I'd be excited to be able to find a creative solution to use an older (cheaper) camper but not if it's going to blow me off the road or make me roll. I don't intend to do any hardcore four wheeling with the thing on, those days are done, just some dirt roads and some washboard roads.
Let me know what you guys think.
Rich
As you know I have been on the camper hunt for a while now with a unique challenge....my 1996 Toyota T-100. The Eagle and Ranger's are just too small width wise for my taste and more importantly for my wife's
So I want an 80" wide or wider camper. Unfortunately the T-100 only has a 58" tailgate opening which means all of the old Hawk's and Grandby's won't work on it until 2001 or newer which seem to sell for $7,500 - $8,000 and my budget is $5,000. I don't mind buying an older camper and putting the elbow grease in and I can get campers into the mid 90's within my $5,000 budget but they won't slide in. Leaving me with one option in my budget which would be an 80" wide fleet which I haven't been able to find. I have recently found two Fleet II's which are more like an eagle size. So the question is this. Since the older campers are 48" wide for the first 10 - 11" vertically to fit between the wheel well ( I haven't been able to get confirmation on whether it's 10 or 11") and my bed rail height is only 17" I could build a 6 to 7" basement for storage and set the camper on that which would allow me to use an old camper (within my budget) on my truck. I know it will make the cab over section almost a foot above the top of the truck but I can put a yakima air dam on to help with that like pvstoy has on top of his 1984 Toyota/Ranger combo. What I am more concerned about and would like some opinions on are the center of gravity being 6 to 7" higher and whether or not that is safe or if it will ultimately create too much pitch and yaw to be stable while driving. I'd be excited to be able to find a creative solution to use an older (cheaper) camper but not if it's going to blow me off the road or make me roll. I don't intend to do any hardcore four wheeling with the thing on, those days are done, just some dirt roads and some washboard roads.
Let me know what you guys think.
Rich
