AventureBuddies' 2006 Ram 3500 expedition build - XP Camper V1

adventurebuddies

Adventurer
Here it goes: After many years with the most incredible 80 series LandCruiser, we have taken the plunge and started toward our goal of owning a rig for full-time international travel. It's been a progression to get us to this point: We started with the 80, then added a roof tent to the 80, then moved the roof tent to a trailer towed by the 80, then built a teardrop trailer to be towed by the 80. As we get closer to our goal of retiring young and traveling around the world on a permanent basis, we realized that we don't want to live full time out of the 80. Camping for the weekend, or even a couple of months is great. But living full time out of such a small space, cooking on a camp stove, not having a proper bathroom, etc just isn't how we want to live on a long term basis.

This led us to the conclusion that we needed a vehicle that was large enough to have a bathroom, a kitchen, and a dedicated bed but it still had to be "containerable." I realize that roll-on shipping is an option, but I decided that any vehicle that can fit in a shipping container is inherently small enough to be manageable for driving in countries that don't feature an 8 lane wide interstate network. Based on my research, I had narrowed the options down to Sportsmobile and EarthCruiser/ATW to give us the interior volume we want without being overly large.

We attended this year's Overland Expo with one of our primary goals being to check out the available vehicle offerings to determine if we preferred one of the two options over the other. What we didn't expect at all was to see a 3rd option on a completely different platform - the XP Camper. It took us all of about 30 minutes chatting with Marc (owner of XP Camper) to determine that his V1 camper is exactly what we are looking for. Due to whatever ingrained prejudices I have, I would have never considered an American made pickup truck as a platform for global travel, but actually the argument for me was quite sound. XP Marc recommends the Ram 3500 platform primarily because of the Cummins engine. It turns out that variations of the Cummins 5.9 are used in nearly every country in the world and in nearly every industry. That makes for a pretty solid parts/service network and was good enough for me. I won't get into the benefits of the XP Camper here because we are still almost a year away from taking delivery on it, so for now this will be about the truck build. Suffice it to say that I think the XP fills a much needed market niche and is clearly engineered for self-sufficiency in the developing world.

I am afflicted with the same over-researching brain as many forum members, so of course I read everything there is to read about the Dodge Ram 3500 after getting home from Overland Expo. That research led me to the conclusion that I need to find a 2006 Ram 3500 diesel 4x4 with low miles, factory limited slip rear diff, 4.10 gearing, and the Laramie package with heated seats (for my wife) and dual zone A/C (to keep us from arguing over cab temps). I also wanted 4 wheel ABS disc brakes and front and side curtain airbags for that just-in-case safety margin. Also, I really wanted the truck to be white and it needed to come from a rust-free zone.

I live in SoCal and have no problem flying anywhere in the country to buy the right vehicle (I purchased my 80 in Miami and drove it home) so I searched all over the country for the right one. Ironically, I found the exact vehicle with every option that I wanted located about an hour away from my house. We drove out to take a look, mostly out of curiosity, and realized we had stumbled upon something special. The truck is in mint condition with just under 38,000 miles, one owner, CA its whole life, and appears to have been garaged since it was new in 2006. It has every option we wanted and we bought it on the spot. My concern was that a year from now, the XP Camper would be ready and I still wouldn't have the truck so I thought it's better to buy it now and store it than to look back and wish I had bought it.

This will be my build thread for those who are interested in following along. Here is a picture of the new truck. Bone stock and shiny new looking:IMG_0201.jpg
 
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adventurebuddies

Adventurer
For better or for worse, the truck is a DRW (dually) so one of the first project will be to convert to SRW (single rear wheel). Based on my research, the Ram 3500 dually rear axle is 4" wider than the front, so this will dictate how the conversion is handled. It's of critical importance to me that I can run an LT tire (load range E) that can be properly aired down for trail use. It seems that there are 3 main options for the conversion:

1) simply remove the outer rear wheels and the truck bed "hips" and accept the fact that the rear wheels will track 2" wider on each side than the front. There seem to be many people doing this, but offroad capability is one of my priorities and I want the rear tires to be able to follow in the same rut as the front tires.

2) The second option is to convert to "super singles" and this is the option recommended by XP Marc. He has identified a 20" wheel that is reversible and can be made with a custom offset that will allow the wheel to be mounted one way on the front and flipped on the rear so that both line up the same despite the difference in axle width. I really like the simplicity of that setup, but I don't want a 20" wheel if I can avoid it, plus the 20" wheel seems to be 11" wide which is wider than recommended for most LT tires. Pretty much the only LT tire for a 20" wheel that has a sufficient load rating for the truck/camper is the Toyo Open Country A/T and it's not even recommended for an 11" wide rim. It's a great tire, but I'm not thrilled with the idea of basing my entire build on a design with such limited tire selection.

3) The third option is to remove the front "dually adapter" which is essential a factory spacer, and to replace it with a custom made 2" spacer. By adding a 2" spacer on each side of the front axle, the total width of the front will match the width of the rear dually axle (which is 4" wider than the front). I spoke with two different spacer manufactures who said they can machine such a spacer so this seems to be a viable option. My initial concern was that using a spacer with 35" tires could put added stress on the front bearings, but actually I will be removing the larger factory dually adapter spacer in favor of a smaller spacer so it should be fine.

I'm pretty certain that I will go with option 3 above and have found some wheels that could work: Raceline Octane HD. They have a 3650lb load rating in the 18x9 size and there are numerous tire options that will fit. These wheels come in 3 different offset/backspacing configurations so my next step will be to pull the factory dually wheels off the truck to measure the existing backspacing. My hope is that it will be some simple math to determine what the backspacing needs of the new wheel will be and that the Raceline Octane HD wheel will work.

At this point, I would love to get any advice from people of have done a dually conversion using this spacer method and if anyone has any tips on how to correctly determine the necessary offset/backspacing of the new wheels. Also, before the weight police come out to flame me, I want to make it known that I am aware that this approach to the SRW conversion will effectively "downgrade" my truck to a lower rear axle weight rating. I am ok with this since I don't need the capacity of a DRW setup, though I will be happy to have the door sticker showing the higher weight rating.
 
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dlh62c

Explorer
Good looking truck.

Have you considered selling the truck and just buy one with SRWs?

Is the plan to replace the entire bed and fenders with a flat bed?

Are you concerned about the trucks resale value after the conversion or do you plan to give it away when your done with it?

The modifications you plan to make may prove useful for your needs, but may not suit others.

Dual rear wheels will take you a lot of places. They do load up with mud though. If you add spacers between the rear rims, you can air down without the tires rubbing when driving in sand.

Truck Camping On The Beach; http://www.truckcampermagazine.com/off-road-expeditions/how-to-truck-camp-on-the-beach
 
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adventurebuddies

Adventurer
I'd look at adding fuel system protection of you are going anywhere that may have old holding tanks or have water in the fuel.

http://www.glacierdieselpower.com/product.aspx?pf_id=MK20307-CHMB

Also consider a free spin hub kit for your front axel. I chose the Yukon gear kit with warn hubs but there are other options out there to help avoid unit bearing failure.

Both excellent tips. Thanks you. I had planned to convert to freespin hubs, but did not know anything about the fuel filtration. Will add to the growing list of mods.
 

adventurebuddies

Adventurer
Good looking truck.

Have you considered selling the truck and just buy one with SRWs?

Is the plan to replace the entire bed and fenders with a flat bed?

Are you concerned about the trucks resale value after the conversion or do you plan to give it away when your done with it?

The modifications you plan to make may prove useful for your needs, but may not suit others.

Dual rear wheels will take you a lot of places. They do load up with mud though. If you add spacers between the rear rims, you can air down without the tires rubbing when driving in sand.

Truck Camping On The Beach; http://www.truckcampermagazine.com/off-road-expeditions/how-to-truck-camp-on-the-beach

This will be a permanent conversion with no intention of resale so I'm not really worried about those consequences. The XP Camper includes a flatbed made specifically for the application so I will be selling the entire dually bed as well as all 7 wheels/tires and the associated adapters/lug nuts.
 

marshal

Burrito Enthusiast
id go super single. its the most logical solution to maintaining stock serviceability. in turn i would fit large military style tires that fit the 20" rim, similar to how Earth Roamer has done with the super duties. a 40" tire fits happily in the ram wheel arches with minimal lift and trimming. the large military style tires are widely available internationally as well.
 

locrwln

Expedition Leader
I would pull the front spacers, find a SRW rear axle and be done. Don't over think this and make it harder than it needs to be. Those AAM 11.5" axles are bullet proof and will go hundreds and hundreds of thousand miles at max GAWR (over 11k by the way).

Sell your rear axle, front adapters and bed to a guy that bought an 11-12' cabover and realized that he should have bought a dually.

Jack
 

adventurebuddies

Adventurer
Sounds like a great plan!

This blog may prove informative; http://songoftheroad.com/vehicle/

Don't get too focused on going to remote and hard to reach locations. Once you start jumping continents vehicle preservation will be on your mind.

Thanks. I met them at the Overland ExPo and then read a bunch of their blog posts. I have traveled that whole region by public transportation, but reading their blog confirmed that an XP Camper on a 3rd gen Ram is a great solution for what I want to do.
 

adventurebuddies

Adventurer
I would pull the front spacers, find a SRW rear axle and be done. Don't over think this and make it harder than it needs to be. Those AAM 11.5" axles are bullet proof and will go hundreds and hundreds of thousand miles at max GAWR (over 11k by the way).

Sell your rear axle, front adapters and bed to a guy that bought an 11-12' cabover and realized that he should have bought a dually.

Jack

It's still an option if I can find one. I will post up what I end up doing.
 

adventurebuddies

Adventurer
I received an email from Aluminess today - my front bumper is built and has been sent off for powder coating. I will be ordering a Warn 16.5ti in the next week or so to go with the bumper.
 

Darwin

Explorer
Go with the 20 inch super singles that can go on the front or back and be done. swapping axles seems like a lot of work just to move the rear tires in a couple inches on each side.
 

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