Opinions for off road camper

Cpo1944

Cpo1944

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When -if I ever really do - retire I`d like to travel and do my photography off road. Do I want a trailer or slide in truck mounted camper? I have 2007 4X4 Toyota Tundra 5.6 foot bed-which I don't like , but its paid for and only has 20,000 miles on it.
I envision doing the Colorado San Juan Mts Alpine loop and go from there. Maybe Montana, Idaho & down to the desert. Who knows It would be so nice to be free to just wander where ever I choose.
I only need room for one mostly , but occasionally two.
It seems the trailers have more room but taking one down a Colorado Mt switch back would be a nightmare! I sort of lean towards a slid-in for that reason alone.
If I used my Tundra what mods will it need?
Let your imaginations run wild, I`m going get my company to pay for the mods while I can still deduct it as a company expense.
 

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I would personally get a small trailer. I would not fear the dreaded switchbacks. I have driven big rigs over every road mentioned. When you meet someone they will voluntarily back up when confronted with 60,000 pounds of iron in their way. The roads are not that bad here. Most find a shaded spot for their trailers then they can travel the more rugged spots without an extra thousand pounds on the truck. That is my suggestion. Another suggestion. Give a call when you get in the area and I will generously allow you to buy me a cup of coffee.
 
Love it.... thinking about the same.

I like the idea of a solid rack and roof top tent (RTT). Other option would be a slide in camper but I'm sot sure how secure they are. Or a small offroad trailer with kitchen and tent.

It really depends on your budget. The rack and RTT would be the least expensive solution. Here's a picture:

tundra-packrack.jpg

https://www.allprooffroad.com/00-06tundrapackrack

Or Leitner Designs: Truck Bed Rack: Active Cargo System for Trucks With 6.5-Foot Bed

A good slide in camper can run $5k and up (used) depending on your wants/needs. The trailer tops it since they can run for $10k and up.

If you win the lottery go get yourself an Earthroamer. And another one for me :D
 
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I do NOT travel lite and don't apologize for it either. I`ll bring some shooting irons and lots of camera gear + all the aux stuff to keep them charged up and running happy.
30-30 can you imagine taking a trailer down the Black Bear Pass? I did it with my son in his Wrangler a few years ago . I really don't see how to get a trailer thru there, But then I`m not a skilled big rig driver like you.
I`ll be most pleased to buy you a cup of the finest coffee we can find West of the Mississippi.
 
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I'll get some hate for this but your going to need a truck. A few years back I bought a small popup truck camper cheap. The person I bought it from had it on a Tundra and we followed him bouncing and swaying down the road to a parking lot to swap. We had to crank and crank as the back bumper of the truck kept going up and finally the camper lifted off the bed. He pulled out and I backed up to it and we cranked it up some more and then backed under and sat it down. It just leveled out my 1/2 ton Chevy.

The reason those tundras get such high ratings in reviews for their car like driving and handling is they are car like. The suspension is too soft for carrying any kind of load.
 
Hey JJEH , I looked at those EarthRoamers They had two preowned ones priced at only 1/2 million each, what ya think shall we get em?
 
That 5.5 bed would sure be small for a camper. Tundras have very high resale, you could swap and get an 8 foot bed pickup and have the camper of your dreams. Trailers can be a nightmare sometimes on narly mountain roads, I would be very nervous going to really rugged unknown places with one.
 
Most traditional slide-in campers require a 3/4 ton/8600 GVW truck and an 8 foot bed. They are really top-heavy and limit off-road travel tremendously. Unless you get one that folds down, you may find your route blocked by overhead tree branches. You will probably need a bigger truck if you go that route.

A small pop-up trailer is probably a much better match for your truck. Like mentioned above, you can park it at your camping spot and go more places in your unencumbered truck.

I bought a really nice 10 foot Vacationeer self-contained camper when I bought my 4WD F-250 and soon learned to not take it anywhere off paved roads unless the roads were well graded and fairly smooth. I would have bought a trailer instead but needed to tow a boat.

We always enjoyed sitting in the camper playing cards when the rain soaked the tent campers or the wind sent the tents rolling across the lake.
 
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BUFF said:
Most traditional slide-in campers require a 3/4 ton/8600 GVW truck and an 8 foot bed. They are really top-heavy and limit off-road travel tremendously. Unless you get one that folds down, you may find your route blocked by overhead tree branches. You will probably need a bigger truck if you go that route.

A small pop-up trailer is probably a much better match for your truck. Like mentioned above, you can park it at your camping spot and go more places in your unencumbered truck.

I bought a really nice 10 foot Vacationeer self-contained camper when I bought my 4WD F-250 and soon learned to not take it anywhere off paved roads unless the roads were well graded and fairly smooth. I would have bought a trailer instead but needed to tow a boat.

We always enjoyed sitting in the camper playing cards when the rain soaked the tent campers or the wind sent the tents rolling across the lake.
Click to expand...

I agree with the advise on this post.
 
You can also raise the suspension on a trailer, like a truck, for more ground clearance. Slide in's are nice, but require a 3/4 and in some cases even a 1 ton dually, and can be very expensive - into the $50K range. :eek:
 
I have a Ford Superduty with a 7.3 Powerstroke and a slide in camper that extents over the cab. Even with its heavy duty suspension and airbags it is no fun to drive especially on a poor road. I do like it because with an extended hitch I can tow my boat. But like I said even without the boat it is not fun to drive around and would suck to do any kind of real poor road.

If I wanted to travel around with a smaller pickup I would get a small camper trailer, even one with a popup top. Parking the trailer and being free to drive the truck to more out of the way places would be easy and a big plus. You can learn to back your truck up and hook onto a trailer by yourself with practice. They even make a little unit that will help guide you.
 
A few years back, we took the kids on a trip similar to what you have planned. We followed Lewis and Clark up the Missouri to the continental divide in southern Montana , then camped down the spine of the Rockies to Utah.
As it was the middle of July, we tried to camp above 7500 feet each night in order to escape the heat. We typically would try to find isolated forest service campgrounds, many of which were totally deserted and seemed to have not been used since the last hunting season.
The chevy blazer s-10 and popup camper combo we used served us very well, and if I do this again, I'll likely use a similar rig. The light weight popup added almost nothing to our gas consumption.
If you don't get too large a rig, maneuvering really isn't that big of an issue, and being able to drop the trailer at a base camp and explore the surrounding area with just your tow vehicle is the way to go, in my opinion.
 
Check out Jax (small sporting goods chain in Colorado and Iowa)website.They carry a small off road trailer with a pop up tent that's reasonably priced.
 
It seems with my small sized truck bed a trailer makes more sense . Just find a good campsite set it up and then go off exploring the back country.

Another option is to get a motorized trailer mover so I could unhitch from the truck and maneuver the trailer separately around a tight hairpin, then re-hitch and go . Just a thought, but actual experience will teach me what I need
 
If you use a small truck rather than an SUV, consider getting a topper for it. Having the extra dry storage is nice, and you can also put a rack on it and carry a canoe or kayak.
 
Cpo1944 said:
Hey JJEH , I looked at those EarthRoamers They had two preowned ones priced at only 1/2 million each, what ya think shall we get em?
Click to expand...

If you win the lottery heck yeah, I'll take one :D


Cpo1944 said:
It seems with my small sized truck bed a trailer makes more sense . Just find a good campsite set it up and then go off exploring the back country.

Another option is to get a motorized trailer mover so I could unhitch from the truck and maneuver the trailer separately around a tight hairpin, then re-hitch and go . Just a thought, but actual experience will teach me what I need
Click to expand...

A trailer makes sense but will demand a great price. Advantage is that good trailers do work for overlanding and off-road. Check out these links:

Trailers | AT Overland

XTender OX - VMI Offroad

Best Off Road Camping Trailers exclusively at turtlebacktrailers

Ruger Trailers | Off Road Trailers

TO Extreme Off Road - TO Extreme Off Road Trailers

Hope this helps :)
 
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