A.R.E. DCU 29” Camper build

Camper is for sale for anyone interested. Looking into getting a cheap van and possibly selling the Tacoma. Located in Las Vegas

 

Are those side mounted tool boxes/shelves that come with these DCU caps welded in or bolted? Are they easily removed?

 

On my ARE DCU cap -- on a 2014 Tacoma Access Cab -- ordered/installed in mid 2022, the tool box/shelf unit is bolted (or rather screwed) in. It's pretty thin sheet metal, mostly, and is held together with copious amts of self-tapping screws.

 

The one on mine was all rivets, drilled them all and had it out in 30 min.

 

Right, I stand corrected, on second thought it's a combination of self-tappers and rivets.

 

Mine is also a combination of rivets and self tappers. The rivets up top are covered by trim and paneling now on mine.. Considering removing the last section of lower shelf on mine if it doesn’t sell.

 

The ones we had on our rescue trucks would start getting loose and the maintenance shop tried larger screws or replacing rivets but eventually went to rewelding (and often adding a reinforcing plate) and replacing the screws with Rivnuts and bolts with washers. Make sure the rear door seals are maintained- as they wear they allow the doors to rattle more and the hinges start getting loose.

I like the DCUs but they are not well built in my experience, especially if you load them up with heavier stuff and/or use them on rough roads.

 

So far so good. I have all new seals on the doors so that’s nice and tight. Any future wear isn’t anything I don’t think an aluminum welder could fix for me

 

I think aluminum welding has probably gotten considerably more available/accessible w/ more modern mig welding equipment. Esp. w/ the latest pulsed-spray mode MiG, which is now widely available to small/local welding businesses in the form of inexpensive inverter-based welders.

I had an ARE DCU on my '99 Taco RWD when I lived in the city; it was excellent there.

I got a brand-new ARE DCU built for my '14 Taco 4WD OR. Good so far (no leaks in first winter rainy season,) but I haven't taken it off road much. I can see how frequent rough/off-road use might take a toll on it w/ all the flexing & bouncing.

ARE does offer a new "diamond-plate aluminum" siding option, approx double the standard wall/roof metal gauge thickness. Probably holds up better to rough use but I took a pass on that to save up-front cost & of course weight.

 

Camper has been sold! Enjoyed building it and documenting it here.

Planning on keeping the tacoma and getting a cheap van for a road trip rig.

 

I used those same panels in post #8 for my carpet headliner backing and they bowed and warped from humidity during this last rain storm. You have that problem when you had yours? I should have hit them with oil based paint before I installed.

 

I had the doors open in the rain for a bit, which ruined them, but the two panels I kept were fine a whole NJ summer and up until I sold it