How tall is too tall? Size parameters...

[gmacmt]

If this is an existing thread, please point me to it...

So I am interested in peoples experiences using tall trucks for national or international trips both on and off road. Some of us live in climates where fabric pop-tops wont cut it, and hard sided trucks are a necessity. At what point does that truck become too tall? How often do you come across roads and trails that have height limitations? Are there any specific countries when traveling internationally that have low bridges?

How about length? For those of you with vehicles approaching the 25' length mark, do you ever find it to be a big inconvenience?

Thanks!

-g

 

[Darwin]

I think 11ft and below is a probably a good goal. Haven't had much problem in NA with the height but I don't do a ton of off roading either. I really noticed the height in Mexico and Central America but dealt with it fine, just know there are some limitations. Everything is going to be a compromise, since I spend over 300 days a year in the camper, I went with the hard side and dealt with the height issue as coming with the territory. Lots more low hanging branches, obstacles in Mexico/CA but I was able to go to as many places as all the other overlanders I saw, just with some added caution. A forward facing camera to be able to judge height would have been a nice addition, but I had a co pilot so that helps. Regarding length, it's the reason my next truck will be a regular cab and not a crew cab, but I don't have a family and would rather have the shorter length better turning radius of a regular cab, that really helps in small market towns. I honestly think a regular cab Ram 5500 60" C&C with a 10 foot camper on the back would be pretty ideal for me, if it was a hard sided pop up that would just be icing on the cake. If I do end up going this route I will seriously consider the Aisin automatic trans because I think that would also relieve some the stress of navigating tight central american market towns and back roads. The manual trans did make trying to navigate a bit more a challenge and added stress. Imagine trying to make a hairpin 90 degree turn where you don't have a turning radius to do it on turn and instead have to put it in reverse with 1000 ft. drop off in front and no guard rail.

 

[adam88]

In my mind, width is the most critical dimension, then length, then height. Most areas around the world are severely limited in width. The roads are narrow, and a normal truck camper (90" or 96" or even 102" wide) is ridiculous. I think the max in width I would go is 84", but preferably 80". As for length, I think ideal is under 20 feet, but maybe a tad higher.
.
But the title of the thread is about height. For me, the ideal height is keeping it under 10 feet. This seems to be a restriction on many areas and tunnels. One example is the "Going to the sun" road in Glacier National Park (https://www.nps.gov/glac/planyourvisit/going-to-the-sun-road-restrictions.htm). It has restrictions of 8 feet wide, 21 feet long and 10 feet high.
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Keeping a hard sided camper under 10 feet IS possible. A normal F350 truck is about 6.5 feet to the roof (when level) and there is about 4 feet from the truck deck to the top of the cab roof. So if you take 4 feet + 3 feet you'd get a 7 foot high camper and theoretically that would only be 9.5 feet high total.
.
The downsides to this? 1) No AC on the roof. 2) The cabover bed would be a big snug in height (about 30 inches, minus mattress height). 3) No basement in the camper 4) Hard to find a camper that exists like this.

 

[Lance990]

My 1997 F350 with my 1998 Lance 990 camper in the bed measures exactly 10.5 ft to the top of the air conditioner (no basement). I have not yet encountered any major height issues traveling off road in the U.S. but I have collected a few branches in the luggage rack and solar panel on forest roads in Daniel Boone National Forest. My camper is narrower than the new ones at 93" vs. 96" and does not extend beyond the dually wheel wells (95.4"). I am pretty sure that the duallys would be a limitation for me on narrow two-tracks but I haven't been anywhere yet that has caused me problems. My camper is somewhat shorter than newer Lance models and that makes it difficult to sit straight up in the cabover. I believe Lance went to taller campers for this reason. I prefer the shorter height of my camper so I can go more places (plus a lower COG) but I am still very tall compared to pop up campers and more hardcore off road campers.

Another limitation is my 24 ft. length with the camper loaded. My camper floor length is 11'3" and I have some serious overhang which causes departure angle problems. I am truly limited to how much off road travel I can do because of this. My truck is a Supercab with a 155" wheelbase, so that helps, but it is not as good as a standard cab. If I didn't use my truck as a daily driver w/o the camper, I would go with a standard cab truck for off road travel. The Supercab was my compromise and the crew cab was out of the question. Even though I am 2WD with a factory 4.10 LSD, I haven't been stuck yet. I have a front mounted 12k lbs winch to help me out if I do. Most people will not use duallys for off road travel due to their inherent weakness in getting rocks jammed between the tires and causing major problems but this has not happened to me yet. I love the extra flotation and traction they provide and especially the extra weight carrying capability. My camper is heavy at 3,800 lbs wet weight so I need the dually to spread that weight out. With the camper loaded I am right at my GVWR of 10k lbs so my truck is not overloaded.

In the U.S., I haven't had any problems with height or width driving on main roads or otherwise. I even traversed through the Nada Tunnel in DBNF with no problems, but it was a tight fit!

 

[IdaSHO]

Some pretty good points already, and most of my comments would reflect similarly.

Wheel base, rear overhand, and width for national travel are more of a concern than height.

Height should be a concern with regards to handling and MPG though.


I sit right at 10' 3" loaded with my custom camper. We use ours a bunch as a base camp for backpacking trips, and only then do we ever have issues with height. Pushing deep into the woods on roads that are barely traveled, in search of that perfect trail head often causes height related issues.

Still, one large factor when designing my camper was minimizing items from both the roof and side that would hang up on branches.

Quite often we simply push through low hanging branches, until they big enough we need to do some pruning.

 

[Rax]

Stay away from this area if you're not sure:

11FT8 bridge - https://www.youtube.com/user/yovo68

 

[boxcar1]

Under 11' is always best. I sit right at 10'3" .
Some places in Oregon and Washington have really tight clearances for even 11'

 

[Mundo4x4Casa]

This is an important issue. Of course, the tradeoff in going with a hard side vs. a pop up is overall height. To a degree. Here is a pic with both the smallest hard side and one of the largest hard sides, mano a mano.

As long as clearance is not an issue (length/height/width/underneath/approach/breakover/departure) you don't need 4WD, I'd take the one on the right any day on a long trip.
My bro has a palatial 9', 92"W OUTFITTER! on his stock height 4WD '99 F-250/International/6 speed manual long bed pick up. My short bed Dodge has a 3" lift, larger tires, adorned with a stock height '98 Lance Lite(no AC on roof. Only the usual vents and 200Watts of solar panels) The difference is about 16" in total height. Here is a comparo in Death Valley:

You can see the big dent behind the driver's door bro got because of lack of clearance which was obtained rounding the bend at Mengel Pass right here:

There is no overhead clearance problem anywhere in Death Valley but to be narrow is a good thing.

It's simply all a trade-off. I agree with a former poster who said width is more important than height. But that all depends on where you go. In dense forests simply small on all fronts is imperative. On a "Volcano Tour" around the Pac N.W. a few years ago, the forest was so dense that there was little opportunity except on wide dirt roads to get remote. The trees were just too close together. A dirt bike would have been the best mode of transit, or on foot. If you want to fit your camp mobile into a shipping container to get around the Darien Gap, you are out of luck with a 4WD TC.
Our TC is 20' long, 10 feet, 4 inches tall, and with the short 139" W.B. and front coil springs will allow you to turn a very short circle. We have driven it on the "Road to the Sun" in Glacier N.P. It was white knuckle as we had to drive into the opposite lane occasionally to miss overhanging rock formations; my wife Jeanie hanging out the pass side window giving me clearance indications as we crept along under the overhang.
My bro's F250 has front leaf springs and a longer W.B.(160"?) He had to 'double pump' many of the sharp curves on our Death Valley trip. So, turning radius is also something to think about.
The other obvious thing is to leave the jacks at home. Just pretend you are a class C and nothing can be detached.
It's my observation that there are a lot of 1-1/2 to 2 ton box vans moving cargo hither and yon in Sud Amerika. That should clear the way for a narrow TC.
Most of the reports from people who have ACTUALLY driven in Central and South America said 4WD was unnecessary. However, when we get near a beach in Baja with our rig, we are mysteriously drawn to drive on the sand; For as long as we can; Because we can.
So, the bottom line is: There is no perfect height. Or width. Or length. Just make it as small as you can and follow someone bigger than you.
jefe

 

[Coachgeo]

...So, the bottom line is: There is no perfect height. Or width. Or length. Just make it as small as you can and follow someone bigger than you.
jefe

Massive advice there

Now for The FMTV folk...

3480mm = 11'5"

and for Additional reference

2979mm = 9'9"

Both.. cab height 2845 = 9'4" and departure angle front is 40 degrees and rear varies 34-40 based on how outfitted.

 

[Coachgeo]

Course as wise feller aleigh from Steel Soldiers pointed out...... it is best to define what kind of offroad RVing one is wanting. The Montona road spoke of above seems to be sitting closer to what maybe should be called "over-landing"

So from discussion in here and elsewhere might could look at it as:

. someone planning for Expo / Off-highway RVing on gravel and Forrest Service road (not track) can get along even around 12ft.
. Someone planning for Expo / Over-Landing should stick to something closer to 10ft.

 

[IdaSHO]

Massive advice there

Except for the folks that are not "followers"


Our travels involve remote destinations, with much of the intent to get AWAY from people.

Certainly not FOLLOW


That said, to get there with a full height camper, we do on occasion have to ratchet strap trees out of the way, or do some pruning when pushing deep into public lands, on unimproved roads.

 

[pugslyyy]

If this is an existing thread, please point me to it...

So I am interested in peoples experiences using tall trucks for national or international trips both on and off road. Some of us live in climates where fabric pop-tops wont cut it, and hard sided trucks are a necessity. At what point does that truck become too tall? How often do you come across roads and trails that have height limitations? Are there any specific countries when traveling internationally that have low bridges?

How about length? For those of you with vehicles approaching the 25' length mark, do you ever find it to be a big inconvenience?

Thanks!

-g

For international travel in Latin America, the litmus test is your answer to the following question - "Am I more or less maneuverable than an old full length US schoolbus with a bunch of stuff piled on top." If your answer is "heck yes I'm like a damn Ferrari compared to that", then drive on and live your life of goodness and light. If, on the other hand, the design envelope that those old US school buses operate in just feels a tad restrictive to you overland requirements, then the goinq may be slow. Tuk-Tuk slow.

 

[Mundo4x4Casa]

I've been a WWII Military Vehicle fan for my whole life. I have a large library of books dedicated to same. One has pictures and descriptions of just about every weird and wacky Mil. Spec. ever devised. How about a 6x6 Jeep MB? One section was on "low silhouette" or "low profile" vehicles, large and small. A lot can be learned from these in the fact that a VERY large budget for R&D was thrown at getting any kind of product to the Holibird Testing Ground and accepted by the nameless generals.
jefe

 

[redthies]

Just make it as small as you can and follow someone bigger than you.

^^^This is the simplest way to go. ^^^

I've had my camper on three different trucks, and it's big. The biggest version was on my '97 F350. I did a 12 state western loop,with that set up, including everything from the wide open spaces of Wyoming to tight treed and rocky spots in Colorado. Height was never a major issue. I have done a fair amount of tropical Mexico driving, and it's a bit more of an issue there. That said, the friend who bought the F350 from me put a 9'6" Vanguard with a basement on the truck and. Drove it from Alaska to Patagonia. Height was never a huge issue for him, and they went into a lot of small surf beaches.

My current set up. I've gathered a few tree branches on the roof...

My '97 with 3" Shackle reversal lift and 35" Toyos.

The same truck with the Vanguard on it. Day one of a two year trip.

 

[deminimis]

We're stupid big. Never measured, but the rear of my camper can't get get close to going through my 12' shop doors (I have to be careful not to overshoot my hitch when hooking up my boat that's stored in my shop or I'll take out the shop roof). Add the AC, and I'm a good 13'. Width is 8' plus the thickness of my trucker box doors (probably around 3" combined). Was not an issue around Baja, although I knew a few places to avoid (due to lower power lines and really tight streets -old town Mulege, for example). Despite the ridiculous size, it works well for us. If we're going to be somewhere tight, then we plan accordingly and leave the beast at home or park it and walk. I'd like a smaller setup as it would just be easier, but with four (two being tall teenagers), it ain't happening until they're off to college (or prison). Like stated above, keeping below 11' or 10' has its advantages. Keeping under 12'-13', should be easy for most. I failed in that endeavor, but oh well.