DJ's Custom Truck Camper

I'm super excited to announce a new project I just started. I'm building a truck camper from scratch and I'll be posting the whole process on here. I'll keep this thread very picture and detail heavy like my TJ build thread: https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/djs-tj-low-and-slow.75731/


I have absolutely no room in my messy garage, the jeep isn't really done, there's still a lot of work to do on my truck, there's a few things I need to do to the house so this seems like the perfect time to start a new massive project.



Story time,

In 2021 my wife (gf at the time) and I went camping pretty much every weekend. We drove through 7 states and camped in every secluded BLM or national forest spot we can get to in our 2018 supercharged 4runner. At that time boondocking was our number one thing. Getting away, forgetting about work and chasing our outdoor hobbies. We loved it so much that I decided I wanted to build a purpose-built mid size truck for this kind of thing, but staying away from the "overland" look. I bought a long traveled 2003 Chevy S10 with the 4.3 and was going to SAS it by using my Rubicon Dana 44s that I pulled out of my TJ, 37s, cage, then back half the frame to make room for tools/gear. Kind of a do it all rig that's comfortable enough for long drives. I was still building the jeep so the S10 sat in my driveway until I was ready to start on it.


And then in 2022 we rescued a couple large dogs. This made camping a lot harder to do in a truck with the interior size of a sedan, while also sleeping in a small roof tent. The whole S10 idea had to be on the back burner at that point.


Then I "finished" my 2 year jeep build and have been taking it out on desert trips. Now the desert is kind of that weekend destination we look forward to. Now that we have a couple dogs and a jeep that I need to tow for the longer trips I changed my focus to a full size truck for a camping rig, which comes with many benefits.


Now that I have this idea in mind I sold my 4runner, sold the S10, sold my old Ram and bought my dream truck with the goal of turning it into my dream camping rig.


Here's the truck. It's a 2012 Ram 3500 with the 6.7 and g56 manual, 130k miles. I've always wanted a LB DRW flatbed with a manual and I was somehow able to find one here in Cali. I paid way too much for it but this is exactly what I wanted. Ignore the unfinished bumper I started, they're a lot of things I want to do to this truck that's non-camper related.












This flatbed is essentially 8'x8' which gives me a massive platform to build off of.






The PO had a massive camper on this truck when I bought it. He offered it to me for a good price but I have no interest in one this big.








So here're the plans for the camper:


-Removable. (I'm going to build adjustable legs that bolt onto each corner, and use a winch to install/remove the camper if I ever need to.)


-Made of steel. (this truck can handle an insane amount of weight so I won't need to go out of my way using aluminum or other lightweight, harder to work with material. The rear leafs are custom made by Deaver to support the load of the PO's camper.)


-Small form factor. (The camper won't stick out past the back of the bed or be wider than the bed. The top will only be as tall as the top of the cab. This truck is already massive enough. Overall this camper will feel pretty tight inside but it'll be large enough to have everything I need.)


-Pop up. (To keep it as sow as possible but still able to stand up completely I have a very unique idea of a pop up design that I haven't seen anyone use. Ideally after it's popped up the interior should be around 8' tall.


-Hard walls. (Hard walls all the way around including the pop up section. This makes for way better insulation/noise reduction and the option to use hard windows.


-Insulated/sound deadened. (For insulation I'll be using extruded polystyrene foam board. Sound deadening will also be used on the walls.


-Water tanks. (To allow the most interior space possible, the fresh and grey tank will be mounted under the bed and remotely connected to the camper.)


-Tankless water heater.


-Cassette toilet. (Prevents the need for a black tank. I don't wanna HAVE to rely on stopping at a dump site after every trip.)


-Indoor shower.


-Gas stove/oven. (I have a Camp Chef propane stove/oven combo I want to build into the countertop)


-12v fridge/freezer.


-Full size propane tank.


-Sink.


-Diesel heater. (Tapped into the trucks tank.)


-Power management. (The heart of the build. Not sure if I want to use 12 or 24v yet. Very solar-forward. The big benefit of using this truck as a crawler hauler for the desert is I have endless sun coverage which makes solar make a lot of sense. Not sure on AGM or lithium yet. The batteries and controllers will be mounted in an outside box, connected to the camper remotely.)


-Bed. (Comfortable bed for two, with room for the dogs on the floor. Unlike all other pop up campers this one WON'T hang over the cab. There will be benches on each side which will convert into one big bed.)


-Indoor/outdoor lights.


-Outside storage. (I'm keeping the existing storage boxes mounted pretty much where they are so I'll have access to tools from the outside.)


-Cost friendly. (The main reason why I'm building this myself. A pop-up, slide-in or drop-in camper of this style very easily cost $40k+. That's a big nope for me. I do know this will cost me quite a bit of time and money but it'll be nowhere near the cost of a pre built.)


———


I usually like to design everything in CAD before I start tackling a big project but I can see following measurements of a project this size can throw me way off at some point. The complete design of this camper is all in my head which I've been planning for years. The layout of everything has changed on every camping trip that we've done. I would have things laid out in my head where I think they would go and then we would go camping for the weekend and realize that item would be way better if it was installed here than where I had it planned. Everyone camps differently so I'm excited to build something that makes sense for us.


I don't have a shop or even a flat driveway so I'm forced to build the entire camper on the floor in my 2 car garage that's already occupied by a jeep on tons.



So to finally start this thing I picked up $1000 of material. I'll have to get more soon but this will get the bones built.






Using 1.5" x 14g square tube I built the bottom base. This is what everything else will be built off of. This pretty much follows the size of the flatbed minus the two storage boxes. Nothing will be built extruded in front of the boxes so that the camper can be slid forward when installed.








All of the joints were finish welded and ground flat so that the 16g sheet metal can sit flush. This will be the underside of the base. I used cold rolled steel for these sheets instead of hot rolled because it has a much smoother finish to it. This being the bottom of the entire camper doesn't matter but I'm using the same sheets for the outside walls.

Once the sheets were placed on top I tacked them underneath and used a sawzall to cut out the frame. Here's what we're left with.









That's all I was able to get done in a single day. But now that the base of the camper is built everything else will follow quickly.

The next step is to paint this sheet metal because once I turn it over I won't be able to get to it again.

Progress has been a lot slower than I would've liked because this thing is so big that it's hard to work around in the garage. Seems like the only productive time I can work on it is on weekends when I can pull the jeep out to give me room. A shop is sounding real good right now.

Because of this, my dad was kind enough to allow me to park my jeep in his garage. It's tight but it works. If you want to know what a couple TJs on full width tons look like in a 20' garage here ya go..




My dad has been planning on relocating his link mounts and belly pan design so this is kind of a push to get my camper done asap so he has the space to work. With that said I may have to change my work process for this camper. It seems like framing it out, installing it on the truck and finishing it on there might be the way to go.

I got the rest of the base welded up. Because these sheets sit on the bottom and won't be seen I'm able to get away with tack welding the outside edges to the frame. On the rest of the camper the sheets will be seen so I'll be drilling holes into the edges and rosette welding them on, then ground flush. Also since this base will be sitting on the diamond plate bed there isn't a need to grind all the center tack welds down.

And while we're on the topic of the base I want to note this benefits from not being completely water tight. Yes, by not completely welding these sheets on, water has the potential to build up here but water also has a place to escape to. With the walls/frame being metal there will always be some amount of condensation that works its way into the camper. Having places for it to escape to is important. Some camper builders even drill holes into the bottom of their floors to have that egress. Also, the insulation foam I'm using for the floors and walls are made to sit in water and mud without breaking down.




This is the paint I chose that I'll be using to coat the entire camper. I've used this on many different projects that sit outside 24/7 and it holds up extremely well.




Here it is after a really thick coat was rolled on and dried.






Once we flip this base over it's go time. I now have room to work on this during the week so progress should go pretty quick.

I picked up 5 more full size sheets, more square tubing and a fresh bottle of welding gas.

B00mb00m said:

Your jeep builds were fun to watch this will be good too I’m sure! I went the flatbed dually with camper option also but went with a northern lite ($40k used). They’re ridiculously expensive for what they are and they even still spec lead acid batteries!! You’re lifted pretty high you’d be hard pressed to load a regular camper on that, surprised to see the PO had such a giant one. He must have not unloaded very often.

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Nice! The PO had 40s on the truck at the time too. I helped him take the camper off when I bought it from him it was definitely a pain in the ass.

CodyP said:

Really cool project! Any update?

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Yes big update!

This build took a big turn because I have some news, which is a big reason why I wanted to build this in the first place..

I have a baby on the way!!! We're having a boy! He's actually due in a couple of months which made me realize pretty quickly that I have ZERO time to work on anything right now. We really wanted this camper done before he was born so unfortunately I made the decision not to continue on the camper I was building.

The wife and I went back and forth on what's available on the market. We were still set on something small that we can take on smaller fire roads so it had to be a pop up. I scoured FB marketplace and ended up finding the PERFECT camper for us!

This is a Chinese direct imported camper, 2026 model and it's only 3 months old. It's all aluminum and it only weighs 800lbs. I've done a ton of research on these Chinese import campers and my honest opinion is these are 100% worth the money. I completely back US-made products but ordering directly from a factory in China cuts out distributor costs. I bought this used for $11k and it's practically brand new. Buying this was essentially buying time, and time is invaluable for us now, as I'm sure you dad's can agree.






This thing is pretty slick. It has gull wing windows on each side, a sink, 12 gallon water tank, inverter charger, DC-DC charger, 100AH Renogy AGM, outdoor shower, push/pull fan, and 200w of solar.

The top bed pulls out into a king.



The dinette converts to a queen size bed.



Picking it up was kind of a pain. Since my truck is stupidly tall I had to build some braces on the jacks to tie them all together.








I made custom tie down points to mount the camper and mounted more tool boxes for the bed to fill in the spaces. I also found the perfect table that fits in this spot and mounted it over the boxes.



All of these campers are designed for each customers bed dimensions and this one was designed for a 6.5' bed. I actually love the length of this one because it gives me a "porch" section on my long flatbed tray. It also gives me a space to put a spare tire swing out carrier behind the camper in the future.





A little side project. My wife was having a hard time getting in and out of the truck so I built some sliders for it. 1.75"x.120 DOM with 2"x.120 square tubing in case I take a turn too short on a trail. Topped them off with some 16g sheet so the doggos can get in and out by themselves. These are welded straight to the frame.



I also worked a little more on the front bumper. I fixed the angle of it, built the lower mounting tabs and threw on a fresh coat of paint. I have a new harbor freight winch that'll eventually sit in it and cover the radiator.



We took it on a shakedown camping trip to the local area and had an ABSOLUTE BLAST. This was our first time camping with both dogs. It's nice to finally have the room to take them with us. The camper life is a big difference compared to the roof top tent life too. Having the option to just hang out in an enclosed space is a game changer. Even the small things, like having the ability to bring a full size propane tank is really nice.
























So even though I had to bail on the camper that I was building we're both really happy with what we settled on. This thing will make our jeep trips so much better.

RS_4x4 said:

Freaking cool camper! Do you know what it weighs?

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Thanks! I was told the entire camper only weighs 800lb dry. I would love to weigh the truck when I get done with it.

We took the truck up to our favorite spot on the Kern river for one last trip before we give birth. We went during the week to avoid all of the people that are finding out about this spot. Unfortunately too many people on YouTube blew this place up and now it's a complete waste of time. By the time we left it was more packed than KOH, camp-wise. People had to move their rigs for us to get out. We've been coming to this spot for years but it looks like we'll never be coming back.

The truck did great and I'm very happy with how it's coming along. She's a big girl but she still fits on the easy trails. Here's a photo dump of just the truck from the trip.