My new Ocelot

[carld]

I live in Plano TX. On October 1 I picked up my brother in Santa Fe NM and drove to Reno NV to pick up my new Ocelot from Marty. We spent the next 3 weeks driving from Tahoe to Mt. Whitney and then Yosemite, Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest, Death Valley, Zion, Escalante, Capital Reef, Natural Bridges, and Grand Canyon. It was a great trip. We mountain biked, Camped in the snow at the end of a 4 wheel road at Boundary Peak NV. Climbed to 12000 ft on Mt Whitney in the snow. Spent two moonless nights at Bristlecone looking at some amazing sights with group of amateur telescope operators. Hiked the Narrows and Angels Landing at Zion. And really checked out the Ocelot.

I have a 2002 V6 4x4 manual shift Tundra access. I had a Palomino 800 Bronco camper on it before and added air springs and LT265/75R16 E tires. With the new Ocelot it handled way better. Marty reduce the floor to truck rail hight by 2" to fit my 2002 type 1 Tundra, and increased the soft top by 2" to compensate. Before with the Bronco I got about 13 mpg and with the Ocelot I got about 16.5 avg. 17 tops and 15 doing 70 mph on the interstate.

I got the 3-way refrigerator, heater, electric water pump, and wired for solar. The heater was really nice on cold nights and drying out wet boots. The refrigerator worked great using 12V on the road and propane in camp. Since I've been back I made 3 mods, a 24" x 22" shelf under the sink with a access door, two 12"x24"x8" cabinets on either side of the window, and connected a trickle charger between the refrigerator 120V and 12 V circuits in the refrigerator compartment.

 

[Ted]

Now that is a great first trip! Congrats on the new camper. It's great how ATC is willing to customize their campers for the customer like that. Way to go, Marty.

 

[ski3pin]

Now that is a great first trip! Congrats on the new camper. It's great how ATC is willing to customize their campers for the customer like that. Way to go, Marty.

Yes, these guys are the best and sounds like a great trip!

 

[GroovyDad]

Wow, you really squeezed a lot into three weeks and it sounded like an incredible trip. I'm lucky to live in (or close to) a lot of the areas you visited.

 

[Casa Escarlata Robles Too]

Welcome to the group. Thanks for sharing your trip.We need photos though.
Great way to break in the new ATC. Great campers and service.
I like the idea of lowering the side rail part of the camper and adding the higher liner.
Have many great trips.
Frank

PS.How much power does that V6 have?
I get about the same mileage with my V8 Tundra.Great trucks.

 

[Taku]

We love our Ocelot. Marty and crew do well with custom orders. Nice mods and I am sure you will figure out more. Good luck!

 

[carld]

The spec for the V6 is 190 HP vs 245 HP for the V8 (30% more). The 5 speed gear is slight lower 0.83 vs 0.71 and the rear diff is lower 4.1 vs 3.9 for 4WD ( V6 is 20% lower). The biggest difference that between my old camper and the Ocelot is the weight. The Ocelot fully loaded is around 1820 lbs (the GVWR payload is spec is 1680 vs 1512 for V8 4WD) including driver , passenger, and 2 bicycles. My old camper was probably 2500 lbs or more. I noticed the improvement on hills but still occasionally shifted down into 3rd gear which is about equal to second in the 4 speed automatic. The Ocelot lower center of gravity and lower profile also made a big difference.

The better tires and Air Lift air bags help a lot. I think can remove the 50 lbs helper springs to get the weight closer to the spec payload. I wonder where the weak link in the specified payload is, tires, suspension, drive train, axle bearings ..? There must be a build in safety factor minimum of 10% without the upgraded tires and suspension. My other worry is the truck has 215,000 miles on it now but just recently replaced the timing belt, generator, clutch, and rebuilt the transmission.

 

[97grandby]

Wow that is some shake down trip and sounds like a lot of fun. I'm running an older truck(25 years old) but I just keep an eye on things. Keeping up on your preventive MaintAnce is the best thing you can do. Is there a chance you might get stranded some where? Sure but I was on a trip with my dad in his new duramax and it broke down. It can happen to old and new trucks alike. But having your own camper to stay in until help arrives can make a big difference. Enjoy the new camper and your Toyota.


Sent from my iPad using Wander The West

 

[Tuff Guy 62]

Nice camper and welcome to the "Cult"

We picked our Panther in the beginning of October and we love it. Haven't had a need to fire up the furnace yet.

Jeff and Marty are the best. Your mods look great!

That's some shakedown trip.

Congrats and enjoy!