coulter6
Member
This thread is a little slow right now, so I'll tell you a little bit about my setup.
I bought the 2009 Ford F250 Super Duty and 2011 Northstar TC650 in September 2012.
We used it a few times and decided that some improvements could be made. Here's some things we've done to it so far.
For our use, the F250 is the perfect platform to carry the Northstar. Not much was needed for the truck itself. It did squat just a little with the camper mounted. I decided that TORKLIFT StableLoad was just the mod needed to level the truck. The StableLoads also greatly improve the handling of the truck & camper. When the camper is offloaded, the StableLoads and be swung out to bring the truck back to stock ride.
Before:
After:
There is a storage area under the table that holds quite a bit of stuff. We found that accessing the stuff was a little frustrating because the table mounts to the wood cover over the storage area. In order to get to the stuff, we had to remove the table and leg in order to raise the cover.
I cut out a small piece of the cover and relocated the table mounting hardware so we could leave the table mounted and still access our stuff.
We found a false panel near the rear of the cabinets that hid a small area behind it.
This panel was purely cosmetic and served no real function other than hide the area behind it. brian90744 over on the Expedition Portal used this area to increase the storage capacity of the camper. I used his modification to give my wife more area to store her wine. Removed the false panel, screwed a 1x1 strip to the wall and the glued a shelf to the bottom. Room for 2-3 wine bottles.
Added a paper towel holder.
Since the Ford gets lousy gas mileage, I was looking for a way to carry more gas for longer trips. I had some ROTOPAX 2 gal gas cans that I will use. I toyed with the idea of mounting gas cans to the rear of the camper, but after a phone conversation with Bill McCale (Western Sales Manager) we determined that this may not be the best option. The rear walls have insufficient reinforcement to hold additional weight of the gas cans. Bill actually called me after I sent an email asking about doing this. Great customer service!
I found a Hitch Gate by WILCO for sale locally and decided that this may be the answer. It mounts to the 2" receiver and swings out to allow access to the camper.
I had a local welding shop add some extra tubing and steel plate. Primed and painted it.
Added the ROTOPAX mounting hardware.
Mounted the gas cans. The Hitch Gate also has a Hi-Lift mount bracket that I will add later.
I bought the 2009 Ford F250 Super Duty and 2011 Northstar TC650 in September 2012.
We used it a few times and decided that some improvements could be made. Here's some things we've done to it so far.
For our use, the F250 is the perfect platform to carry the Northstar. Not much was needed for the truck itself. It did squat just a little with the camper mounted. I decided that TORKLIFT StableLoad was just the mod needed to level the truck. The StableLoads also greatly improve the handling of the truck & camper. When the camper is offloaded, the StableLoads and be swung out to bring the truck back to stock ride.
Before:
After:
There is a storage area under the table that holds quite a bit of stuff. We found that accessing the stuff was a little frustrating because the table mounts to the wood cover over the storage area. In order to get to the stuff, we had to remove the table and leg in order to raise the cover.
I cut out a small piece of the cover and relocated the table mounting hardware so we could leave the table mounted and still access our stuff.
We found a false panel near the rear of the cabinets that hid a small area behind it.
This panel was purely cosmetic and served no real function other than hide the area behind it. brian90744 over on the Expedition Portal used this area to increase the storage capacity of the camper. I used his modification to give my wife more area to store her wine. Removed the false panel, screwed a 1x1 strip to the wall and the glued a shelf to the bottom. Room for 2-3 wine bottles.
Added a paper towel holder.
Since the Ford gets lousy gas mileage, I was looking for a way to carry more gas for longer trips. I had some ROTOPAX 2 gal gas cans that I will use. I toyed with the idea of mounting gas cans to the rear of the camper, but after a phone conversation with Bill McCale (Western Sales Manager) we determined that this may not be the best option. The rear walls have insufficient reinforcement to hold additional weight of the gas cans. Bill actually called me after I sent an email asking about doing this. Great customer service!
I found a Hitch Gate by WILCO for sale locally and decided that this may be the answer. It mounts to the 2" receiver and swings out to allow access to the camper.
I had a local welding shop add some extra tubing and steel plate. Primed and painted it.
Added the ROTOPAX mounting hardware.
Mounted the gas cans. The Hitch Gate also has a Hi-Lift mount bracket that I will add later.
