PERPPETUATE BETTER LIVING

THE TRUCK CAMPER ELEVATED

Atruck camper build is nothing new, but this build takes the concept to all new heights. Aaron Wirth and his wife Renee decided that they wanted to live full time on the road with their two dogs for a few years, leading them on the quest to build the ultimate home on wheels. This vehicle had to be a home office, a comfortable house, home for their two dogs, needed to pull a trailer, serve as an everyday driver, and be able to get the couple off the beaten path. This Cummins-powered Dodge 3500 Tradesman-based overland adventuremobile came together over 10 months of crazy hard work, through first-hand experience with multiple truck campers, and with input from knowledgeable overland friends and a range of automotive industry professionals. The couple had a truck camper setup before starting this build, but it just didn’t meet their needs as full time travelers. It was based on an 2008 3500 Ram long bed double cab and had a mix of quality and not-so-quality modifications and featured a custom-built Panther Camper from Superior RV. While the rig had a 4-inch lift, 35-inch tires, was chipped and featured an upgraded exhaust and sway bars, it didn’t have a full-size spare, was a bit unwieldy at highway speeds, was loud and got pretty poor fuel economy. On top of all that, the camper wasn’t as comfortable as they wanted and there just wasn’t enough built-in storage.

After looking at the wide range of overland vehicles, truck camper builds and RVS on the market and some of the extremely high price tags the quality units demanded, Wirth decided that he’d get more bang for his buck if he designed and built the rig himself. It took him about 10 months to complete this build, which of course took longer, cost more money and required overcoming more obstacles along the way than anticipated. A build like this is also never truly finished, but the vehicle the Wirths showed at The SEMA Show 2017 is fully ready for life on the road.

The build started with a brand-new 2016 Ram 3500 chassis Tradesman crew cab, a hard-to-find fully appointed version featuring the 6.7-liter Cummins turbo diesel, AISIN HD 6-speed automatic transmission, 4wd and single rear-wheel option. This setup is durable, quiet on the road, comfortable to drive, and has tons of space in the cab and a large load capacity. That large load capacity and power is needed to haul around a Lance 825 truck camper, lots of gear and tow a trailer.