Truck camper for the Voodoo...

For the truck camper fans....

Decided to retire the slide-in pop-up camper from the last 7 years, opted for a hardside. I've carried them in the past with great success on all Tundra generations. Snagged a solid deal on FB marketplace from a very nice widow up near B.C. in northern WA. Her late husband bought this '17 Pastime 800FDS and barely used it, ironically his Gen 2 shortbed standard cab Tundra that carried it was still in the garage! Very cool truck that his son was claiming.
He had obviously done his payload homework too. The camper needed a good detail as evidenced by the payload sticker, but 6 years of dust and grime cleaned up literally as new.

At about 1500# optioned out, it's squeaky close to payload; honestly I barely know it is loaded when cruising. Current set up is Ride-rites, Bilstein 5100s, and E rated wildpeaks. Put 2500 miles on it this Summer, so far so good.

 

Love the truck! Hard to find DC in Voodoo blue! Ironically, there's on for sale on a car lot a mile from house, but it's a Canadian truck with more miles on it than I'd like. Been there for a good six months and I'm beginning to wonder why...

Looks like you scored on the camper, too!

 

Very cool color. Do you remove the camper when not using? I have been considering one but need my bed frequently so was thinking I would setup someplace to stick it, however I don’t know how much of a hassle it is (guessing there’s at least 4 eye bolts to undo, removing tailgate, lifting off etc). I like the slide ins since they are self contained to keep animals/weather out when removed.

 

If you need the bed often id say to go with something that mounts on the rails unless you have help. Backing the truck under a slide in and getting centered is the biggest p.i.t.a ever!

 

Think carefully! It is easy to keep a small camper trailer sealed up and at the ready too. All I do is stock ice chests, pack clothes, hitch trailer, fill water, check propane and roll out. Really nice to have the truck bed space anytime and not deal with that tall load on the truck.

 

Love the camper on the Tundra. I've been looking for a hardside for mine for the past year but everything is too long for my crewmax short bed.

 

SEND IT.

 

I like the custom fender.

I don’t want the camper to stick out too far passed the tailgate. I even considered building my own.

 

Fender for clearance purposes, it didn't fit, it does now



I don't have any weight resting on the tailgate, just hanging over it about halfway. I built a platform that puts the weight on the bed supports

 

Yep, that's the joy of a truck camper. Pop it off when not needed.
I leave the tailgate on all of the time. It leaves a nice spot for standing when entering the rig. Dog jumps in easier too.

 

Sending you a PM....4Runner question

 

Love slide in campers. That's a nice setup Frank! Here is my current project. 6' Palomino made for a Tacoma. Fits good on the crewmax.

 

Building a camper is a great hobby, just factor in taking 3x as long and cost 2x as much as you expect.

 

Not bad. I’d like something that will allow me to close the tailgate. That would be the ideal setup.

 

That’s a nice setup. I thought about one off a Tacoma as well.

 

And still be just as heavy. I got about 1/4 way done building a thing and decided it was getting deeper than I wanted to go.

 

Very nice

 

What suspension did you use for this? Looking at adding a six pac hardside camper right now and working on RAS v. AAL v. Air bags. Camper is about 900lbs dry

 

I'd use an AAL if it is planned to be in there for longer durations...though, RAS is solid, too...

 

Airbags and TRD sway bar. I chose bags since the camper isn’t on full time. I can run the bags at 5lbs when the camper is off and still have a nice ride. I ran a sixpac 650 on my 2016 tundra dc with nothing but airbags and it did great.

 

I put Ride Rite airbags under it (I do this with every Toyota truck that I've owned) and run Bilstein 5100's all around. Of course, E-rated tires.

If a guy is putting really serious miles on with a camper I'd suggest slotted front rotors too. I haven't done that, but don't put 10-15k miles on the truck with the camper annually.