The journey begins – The black turtle?

pods8

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Joined
Dec 17, 2008
Messages
2,665
Location
Thornton, CO
What is this combo to be called? A good nickname is in order. Will go with The Black Turtle tentatively and see where it goes from there… :rolleyes:

For starters what format does this forum prefer for posting, one long rig thread talking about all the mods as they go or individual threads for specific modifications with perhaps just a quick summary on the “rig” thread?

Anyways its been a busy week. I tracked down a hawk on the Olympic peninsula which set everything in motion. After some rapid truck shopping I drove home a new (to me) truck on wed and proceeded to install the front eyebolts for the camper (did the rears once I measured the camper). The truck is a 03’ Dodge 1500 quad cab Hemi 5.7, 4x4 with 36k on the clock. I the nearer future plan on adding some Ride-Rite airbags to it, possibly some blistein shocks, and a tranny temperature gauge to keep an eye on things (already has a stock 20”x11” trans cooler due to have the tow package option).

The camper is a 99’ FWC Hawk I found on the peninsula a nice lady was selling to downsize to an eagle. My wife and I went to pick it up followed by some friends who we were going to go camping with one way or another. Had some entertainment getting it on the truck due to a partially sloped driveway but eventually go it on. It had a deep cycle battery with it that was drained out, I jerry rigged it do my 7pin connector to try and throw some charge at it while heading for camp. Was able to partially charge it so I then rigged up a connection to the camper with the battery sitting under the truck to allow us to play around with things in the camper and use the furnace while playing some cards at night.

We hit the Elwha valley in the national park and hiked to the Olympic hot springs in the morning to check them out/soak before heading back for home (and the upcoming work week).

Overall the camper is in good shape. One worn out component did provide some humor for us and that was the drain petcock. Once I got the battery rigged up I noticed the gauge center said the water tank was full. I decided to verify there was water in there by opening the petcock. It opened up and promptly the handle snapped off. I tried using pliers to rotate different parts of it to close it but they all crumbled so I just removed the whole thing and allowed it to drain out.

This year has the upper bunk like the new ATC panther stock floor plan, 4’ overhang without a slider. I plan to modify it to have a slide out long enough to accommodate sleeping parallel to the camper. Other tweaking I’ll likely consider will be to move the stove above the fridge to allow its use while the new bed is deployed. I’ll be brainstorming dinette options or perhaps a couch redesign similar to Mark Ingalls idea. One of the first things I need to figure out is the battery situation; the previous owner was able to fit the batter in front of the wheel well, I do not believe I’ll have the room. While I was under the truck I noticed a good amount of space on the driver side frame rail in the area between the transfer case and the rear axle that I’d like to look into the possibility of installing a battery box there. Main perk for doing this would be to keep it out of the camper and not take up space in there (also keep the weight low and forward) and with it riding with the truck all the time it’ll keep it maintained.

Almost forgot one question, how much room should be between the top of the truck and the bottom of the camper? Right now there is only 1.25” at the highest point of my cab and I doubt that is sufficient when things start flexing. I’m assuming I’ll need to lift it some and I’m wonder how much?

Anyways that is enough rambling for now and I’m tired out. On with the pictures. :thumb:
 
Truck/Camper combo

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Congrats pods! Way to make it happen. Your camper looks to be in terrific shape. I would be concerned about the space you have between your camper/roof too although I don't know how much flex you may encounter. I'm sure a call to FWC tomorrow should set you down the right path.
 
Lookin' good!

:thumb:

Glad you got that (purchase) all sorted out!

Post however you feel works. Some mods deserve there own threads, some don't.
 
Congrats

Pods...

The rig looks great..congrats.

About space above the roof... I have a Grandby on a dodge 2500 and barely have 2 inches above the roof. It's never hit the roof, even with some serious rock driving. Truck seems to flex side to side rather than front to back. I did have to raise the camper about 3/4 of an inch to get the above clearance, and that was easy with it sitting on a piece of plywood covered with carpet.

You're going to have a great time with the new rig..Get out there and enjoy it.
 
I like the new set up it looks like they our a good match.:thumb:
Same thing happened to me with the water spicket.I use pliers and turn it slow now.

The hot spring pools look smaller then I remember is there another one that is bigger? I last went there when I lived out there 15 years ago near port angles.Time to wander back there now.
 
pods,

Way to go, truck, camper, and a trip in the same week, I guess all the homework does pay off. I'll be looking forward to seeing your future mods. Enjoy
 
Morning surprise

So much for airing the rig out, woke up to snow this morning. Took a peak inside and everything is dry and fine in there so I'll just need to wait till the exterior melts/drys off to close it back up.

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Also I was going to call my insurance today to get the truck and camper added. I only have this small tag on the camper and don't have a manufacturer tag. Based on your rigs serial numbers does 20297-H (atleast that is what I think it says) sound about right?

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Pods...
About space above the roof... I have a Grandby on a dodge 2500 and barely have 2 inches above the roof. It's never hit the roof, even with some serious rock driving. Truck seems to flex side to side rather than front to back. I did have to raise the camper about 3/4 of an inch to get the above clearance, and that was easy with it sitting on a piece of plywood covered with carpet.


If that would be all to add that would be nice, right now my overall height is at 7'-3" and I'm still under the 7'6" for "oversized" rig on ferries. ;)

I like the new set up it looks like they our a good match.:thumb:
Same thing happened to me with the water spicket.I use pliers and turn it slow now.

The hot spring pools look smaller then I remember is there another one that is bigger? I last went there when I lived out there 15 years ago near port angles.Time to wander back there now.

I'll just go pick up a replacement that hasn't been beaten by the sun for some years and I should be good to go.

Yeah there are a number of pools, those just happened to be some I took pictures of (camera was on the fritz in the cold).

pods,

Way to go, truck, camper, and a trip in the same week, I guess all the homework does pay off. I'll be looking forward to seeing your future mods. Enjoy

Yeah I tend to do alot of front end homework which can get a bit overwhelming but it allows me to execute the plan rather rapidly/throughly.
 
Mine also has an inch and a half of cab clearance. Its never been a problem. Spend the buck and a half for a new spigot. Just remember to get the right hose size. Took me two trips to the rv store on my old camper because I just guesstimated the size.
 
Very nice rig, pods. I'm glad your search panned out...and ENDED. LOL.

I'm envious of the 1.5 inch gap. For what is supposedly tthe most popular combo on the road (Hawk/Tundra), there's an excessive amount of space up there, for sure. Gonna have to find an airfoil/rack or something for mine...

See ya on the road!

mtn
 
Dug into things today. I ordered an SRT10 stock pillar for my truck which has a gauge slot my transmission temperature gauge/manifold should be here this week to install. I started seeing what needs replacement as I make my way through modifications. The 120V exterior plug is busted up but I'll need to snag one later in the week. The rear roof support has some rivets that must have pulled out as its a bit tweaked, I'll need to look into how to fix that up. I made a piece of wood for under the entrance threshold to support the Al a bit more and will stain that up and fasten it down. Dug into the wall to verify whether the camper had the frame members in place to support a slide out and it did so I lucked out there and didn't need to add any wood or such in there. Cut and mocked up all the pieces before pulling them down to sand and stain. Part way through sanding before calling it good for now. I'll likely finish that up tomorrow and see if I'm happy with the color of any of my stained test pieces and if so I'll likely start staining.

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Very nice! Keep everything in one thread. :D I think i'm at around 1.5" roof/camper clearance. The eagle is on a 2500 5.9l and never hits the roof (except that one time the eye bolt pulled out). The dodge has a very stiff frame and doesn't flex.




Looking forward to seeing all the mods. I don't know what is more fun... Working on the camper or enjoying the finished project out camping.
 
I don't know what is more fun... Working on the camper or enjoying the finished project out camping.

As a tinkerer both should be sweet however ideally not overlapping at in opportune times. :eek:
 
Ride-Rites

My air springs showed up yesterday, I preassembled them yesterday (20min?) then put them in today (1-1.5hrs till tires back on or so). It started hailing then raining on me and I was sick of dealing with cold fingers so I packed it in once the wheels were back on the ground, I'll route the airlines tomorrow and leak test them. Overall went on fine and was an easy enough kit. The bolts that came in the kit could have been of a higher grade but in reality they shouldn't have to be working too hard to restrict movement based on the design. I might look into getting some spare hardware to toss into the truck in case, shouldn't be too hard of a road repair if needed.

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Got the manifold in and wire ran, still need to figure out some wiring in the dash to get the gauge wired in. I'll keep an eye out for some bigger plastic spacer (you can see the orig hanging which is too short) to create a space between the manifold and other line but the hose should work for the meantime and provide back up once I find some spacers.

Also plumbed the air bags in the rest of the way, actually there was a convenient hole in the wheel well already that I figured I'd use so I can measure the "squat" of the truck as I air things and was a piece of cake to route to (one foot of hose). Got the rest in case I end up needing to move it down the road.

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