Custom short bed pop-up

I spent a lot of time camping out of the back of my 5’ bed tacoma and got tired of squeezing into the space under my ARE shell so I built a camper. Price and lead times deterred me from ordering one prebuilt. I managed to stay under $3k for this one by sourcing lots of material locally and got it to the current state with about 60 hrs of work. It’s a till a work in progress but I’m very happy to have this on the truck now and the first couple shakedown trips have gone well. I designed everything first in CAD and did all the fab work (cutting, welding, painting, sewing) myself. Not looking to add much more, would rather try to keep it light. I’d estimate the weight somewhere around 350-400lbs. I’m open to answering questions for anyone curious of building their own and would be more than happy to share lessons learned.




Welded space frame using 1x1x16awg mild steel tubing, 3x1/8 mild steel flat bar and some angle for bracing. Learned MIG on this project using a cheap HF Titanium series welder. Very impressed with its capability and ease of use compared to the other main brands. Flatbar was used where the frame interfaced with the bed and the upper tent assembly.


Panels are all made from Reynobond 4mm thick composite aluminum sheets I picked up locally from a private seller that had them in his backyard. The material is commonly used in building construction for exteriors. Sheets were 5'x16' and I cut them down to rough size to bring home on top of my truck on a very windy night. Never going to do that again...
Plastic hinges came from an industrial supplier Guden. Hinges were riveted to both the frame and panel with some silicone sandwiched between. Aluminum angle was riveted on the inside of the panels to add stiffness and attachment points for lifting struts. Latches were Southco brand and all use the same key to lock.



Upper tent assembly was built using t slot extrusion which I ordered direct from 80/20 which was the priciest part of the build. I used 10 series which works well with 1/4-20 bolts, though I would recommend going up to the 15 series which uses more stout 5/16 bolts and accepts standard carriage bolts much better. The 10 series from 80/20 does not accept standard carriage bolts, though if I ordered from T-Slots it would have worked. Again the same alum panels used for the roof and underside of the cab overhang.


I am a mechanical engineer by profession so of course I designed everything out in CAD prior to making any cuts or ordering material. I iterated the design probably 3 times and deviated a little during build. I would have definitely made the lower frame 1" narrower (it is 63" wide now) as it does not match the upper tent assembly that was restricted by the width of the aluminum panels (62"). That miss match made bolting the tslot to the steel frame a challenge and I only have 10 1/4-20 bolts holding the upper tent to the lower steel frame, though I have not had any issues with bolts shearing or breaking. I unfortunately cannot share the CAD files, but I have attached images below that may show the inside of the camper better. The lifting panels for the roof ended up being made from some plywood instead of aluminum tubing, though I may switch them out if the wood breaks, but it seems very sturdy for now.


I am still working on finishing the interior. I need to install some carpet on the two halves of the bed platform and work on a lighting solution. Hope these images and details help anyone also interested in DIY!

 

Awesome job man! Nice pics!

 

photos of inside?

 

I would like to see the step by step of how you did this. I dig the popup vs the wedge style

 

I’ll post some more pictures that I captured during the build process. Didn’t get everything on camera but should give a good idea of the order of operations and the tools I used.

 

Very cool. Can't wait to see more pics

 

Fuckin sweet!

 

I like this much better than a wedge style. Please show more pics and details!!

 

Wow that is pretty damn cool, thank you for sharing. I would also like to see inside pics as well.

 

Looks great.
I've been wanting to build one myself since the bought Palamino ones would explode within a year how I drive on dirt roads.
I like the pop-up idea over the wedge

 

Bump. More pictures and detail added to the initial post.

Just got back from a weekend trip in CO. Camper has held up well all summer to ~100miles of forest and 4x4 roads.

 

Awesome work man!

 

This is so cool. I really admire people who have done this. Maybe one day...

 

Bad ass OP. Impressive!

 

That's awesome. Nice work!