Best Full Size Truck For Ruff Country Travel (W/ A Pop Up Camper)

Nice truck Ken. Congrats. I do not know enough about trucks to know why or why not IFS is good nor bad? I am excited to see the camper on there as well.

-mike
 
Nice truck Ken. Congrats. I do not know enough about trucks to know why or why not IFS is good nor bad? I am excited to see the camper on there as well.

-mike



Some quick info: Solid Front Axel (sfa) is stronger has less moving parts and will give you more travel and clearance while flexed.

IFS , better on road ride and good for high speed Baja like action.

HTH


I am excited to see a camper on there as well, but its gonna be a while $$??



ken
 
those turtle expedition guys seem to always use Fords.....ever wonder why that is?

do ya think they have a reason? or is it looks? why no dodge? or toyotas?
 
Well all I have is this lame driveway shot:

You have to park it somewhere when you're not out there. Now about those running boards... :D
 
You have to park it somewhere when you're not out there. Now about those running boards... :D



Good eye ! ya those will have to go I dont think they would last very long, I will fab up some rock sliders out of rectangle and round tube.

ken
 
I think the turtle expedition originally went with ford because of sponsorships. Later because ford has a bigger carrying capacity truck.
 
those turtle expedition guys seem to always use Fords.....ever wonder why that is?

do ya think they have a reason? or is it looks? why no dodge? or toyotas?


Let me take a shot at that. You know I'm not biased!! The Turtle crowd is currently using a '99 Ford here in soon to be 2010. An eleven year old truck after all the great advances FoMoCo has made in their diesels. They are sponsored by Ford and use a vehicle thats over a decade old. My guess? it aint the carrying capacity.
 
I'd vote on the Dodge Cummins, 5.9 with MANUAL trans. Uses the least fuel of all your choices. Super easy to do maintenance, Just pop the hood of a Chevy or Ford a mechanics worst nightmare (BTW, I am an exe prof. mechanic). Then look at the Cummins. It is clean and simple. I was always a Toyota/Nissan/Isuzu kinda' guy. I then bought a 2003 Ford F250, manual, gas truck. Piece of junk. Full of defects right from the factory. Best tanks were 12 mpg. In 2006 I got a new Diesel Dodge manual. Zero defects. Now, 3 years later and thousands of miles of very rough off road work, it still has not required a single repair. Surprisingly the Dodge, at least my Dodge, has been much more reliable than any Toyota, Honda or Nissan that I have ever owned. Recently on a White Rim Trail trip I fueled up in Moab. My friend with a 2006 Toyota Tacoma 4cyl fueled up as well. At the end of the trip, the Toyota used 10 gallons. This Toyota required low gears on all the hills plus a lot of clutch slipping. My Dodge Cummins just idled over every obstacle in high gears. My fuel consumption for the very same White Rim Trail trip? 8 gallons. Fully 20% more efficient than the little cramped Tacoma! Plus I had the luxury of 75:1 crawl ratio, high ground clearance and full suspension travel.

I can't recommend highly enough the manual trans. Besides better economy, you get much greater reliability and simplicity. An automatic can instantly fail completely, a manual will give you thousands of miles of warning. If you watch the following video clip, you'll see Jay's automatic Dodge making all sorts of noise, his RPM's very high, torque converter slipping like crazy, coming up the steep hill. Jay's truck throws all the rocks out that were carefully placed. My manual simply idles up, very low rpm even though the obstruction is now more severe.

Whatever truck, get a manual. Click here:

Oh yeah, one more thing, you don't need no stinkin' electric sway bar disconnects. Just remove the sway bars completely!
 
I think you have made a good choice for your needs and will be a great camping vehicle. I have driven a vehicle without a front swaybar and it scared the crap out of me. Luckily I just needed to go down the road a little to get back on the trail.I am a Ford guy and have had a few gassers with no problmes at all, this truck has the 6.0 and zero problems.
 
Bat,
I am glad to hear you've had no problems. Minus my sway bar, there really is not much on-road difference, In fact, it was an option so certainly not having it is safe.

While I am very pleased with my Dodge, and even though I had so many problems with my Ford, if I was buying new, I would take a look at the new Fords and Dodge as there have been so many changes in the motors. Of course only Ford and Dodge use solid axles, a must for my uses.
In Alaska I have used a couple of GM 4x4's. Very comfortable but even on relatively easy roads, the trucks low clearance would get hung up.

Gene
 
Great looking truck Ken. What brand are those wheels?



Ahh good question..

Those are 17" forged alloy wheels with an internal bead lock made just for the Power Wagon. On the actual manufacturer Im not sure.

ken
 
Clearly, you struck a nerve with this topic. That's good!

I'm also a LC guy. Have an '07 Tundra for my camper and no complaints- does everything I ask of it. Truth be told, sometimes I envy the 3/4 ton guys. The extra carrying capacity would be nice. Though, if I could import a diesel Hilux I would. More payload than my Tundra and in Taco size/capability, it would go anywhere.
 
I'm not surpised its struck a nerve. Its so highly individualistic. What works for me may not work for you. Give me a good excuse and I might even show you how my tent works. Well maybe not, its not very comfy.
 
Clearly, you struck a nerve with this topic. That's good!

I'm also a LC guy. Have an '07 Tundra for my camper and no complaints- does everything I ask of it. Truth be told, sometimes I envy the 3/4 ton guys. The extra carrying capacity would be nice. Though, if I could import a diesel Hilux I would. More payload than my Tundra and in Taco size/capability, it would go anywhere.



Im with you on that I would love to get some of the Toyota stuff they get in OZ ( 105's 70's turbo diesels ect...)

ken
 

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How does the internal bead lock work on the rims



Im not exactly sure , somehow the edge/lip of the wheel is designed in such a way that it holds the bead better. Im thinking its a far cry to a traditional beadlock but hoping better than a standard wheel. I will find out when I go down to 3-4 psi in the deep snow.

ken

BTW the manufacturer is Alcoa.
 
I know Staun makes one that is like in inner tube inside the tire that puts pressure on the inner tire bead.
 
They use an inner heavy duty tube. It is kept inflated to 50 psi and this presses against the inner side of the tire. Works great. I put them on my jeep tires. Added benefit is quicker airing up and down. Since inner tube is taking up a lot of the space in the tire, you don't need to let out as much or put in as much to fill up. I would use them again.

How does the internal bead lock work on the rims
 
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