Vagabond Drifter Camper Buildout and Mods

i think vagabond uses this one

https://www.grainger.com/product/80-20-Handle-16U357?

 

This may not work if your using bed stiffeners, Trim the baseplate around the bed stiffeners then drill some new holes to hold down the baseplate

 

Here's a look at the baseplate tried around the total chaos bed stiffeners.

 

I would suggest not using the stock bed bolts. People have done it but I did not feel comfortable holding my $10K investment with even less threads. People that utilized the stock bed bolts also used spacers between the baseplate and bed to keep the baseplate from bowing/breaking at the point of anchor and then coming loose from no tension on the bolt.

Food for thought...GooseGear baseplates don't use the stock bed bolts for a reason. Just drill thru the composite bed on top of the ribs and and bolt down using whatever hardware you want.

***Just remember that whatever threads are spaced out due to the baseplate thickness are NOT holding your bed, camper and everything else inside to the truck itself. If those bed bolts strip out and fail...well, now you got that flat bed you didn't know you wanted

 

If you look under the truck when the bed bolts are installed you can see there's a pretty large section of threads that are actually hanging out past the nut, doing nothing except acting as "idiot-proofing". The bolts would need to come loose, then very loose, then back themselves out many turns to get to the point where anything actually fell apart, or even had the chance to strip. This is for the forward two sets, anyway - the rear set is shorter, and I used some aftermarket bolts for that area because I couldn't get any engagement at all with the base plate in place.

EDIT: I did, one time over the summer, notice the truck making "extra" creaking noises on frame-twisty 4x4 road. My bed bolts had indeed loosened over a few month's use as my interior build settled. I was able to get about a turn out of them, and the extra noises disappeared. (Now I just have the plain old Taco creaks and squeaks.) Point being, my bolts had room to loosen significantly with no adverse effects.

Personally, I think the bed bolt route is completely safe - just check them once in a while, as you should with everything!

 

We just had this conversation on one of these threads. Can't remember which one. Someone ordered and installed this door handle (although from a different source), and I thought it looked pretty perfect for the Drifter. I ordered one from this link, waiting for it to arrive: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Don-Jo-3-4...s-1st-Quality-New-USA-Made-DonJo/233575111431

 

Totally agree and was about to respond the same. There are several inches of thread through the nut, even with a bed platform. A LOT of threads would need to strip for them to just fail.

As far as the rear bolts, mine are the same length as the front. Perhaps a longbed vs shortbed thing?

 

How many bolts are on the shortbed? I have six on my longbed, and the forward four are plenty long. The rear two are shorter for some reason, and I had to replace with aftermarket bolts.

 

The bolts are the same in the shortbed as to the longbed. It’s just the placement of the mounting points on the frame that are different.

 

I wouldn't know since I also have a longbed, but all my bolts are the same length. I assumed you had a shortbed...

 

Is the solar pre-wire worth the money? Thinking about adding it to my order.

Also can someone show me some pics of the thin flexible solar panels and how you mounted them? Trying to figure out all this stuff now but it'll be a new kind of project to me. I'm going to be powering a Dometic CFX55, the fan, and charging some random things. Hoping to plug this all into a Goalzero 1500x to make it simple. Any ideas on how much solar I should do?

And on the topic of baseplates, how should I go about bolting it down on my 1st gen?

Thanks all

 

Drill through the bed and bolt through it. Make sure you use some type of large fender washer to spread the load out since the sheet metal isn't that thick. The BedSlide that came in my 1st gen was just bolted through the bed like this.

 

Ha I was looking for the handle discussion in one of the threads too but I couldn’t for the life of me find it. I know it was recent.

for those of us that do a lot of snow camping or camping in below freezing temps it’s seems like having a handle on eather side of the lid would be most beneficial vs one in the center?

the single middle handle from VO is primarily for people that have an awning mounded on the back. Our awning is modular so the back stays open and we haven’t ever had issues lifting but during the winter it would be nice to have a handle vs grabbing the frozen lip of the lid..

 

Or...

Say you have a diesel heater mounted in your buildout bed setup. Use Bluetooth to fire that sucker up before you even get out of the truck. It’ll be warm in a jiffy and pop right up!

 

I really like where your head is at!

 

The Afterburner aftermarket controller for the Diesel Heaters is Legit AF.

 

Here's my first mod. I bought a dulled finished stainless steel handle from McMaster Carr. I think it matches the camper perfect. It made opening the heavy duty lift struts way easier! The handle is solid steel so it's kind of heavy, but nice quality.

 

That looks like a Taiwanese version of the Don-Jo USA-made door handles... except more expensive. Don-Jo makes one in aluminum with a satin finish, I just ordered one. $18 on eBay.

 

So do you guys think I'll need to upgrade my lift struts after mounting this setup on the Drifter? I'm hoping I don't.

 

What handle is this? Do you have the part number?

I sometimes have a hard time climbing ontop of the taigate when the rear glass door is closed when getting ready to pop open the Drifter due to the truck being so tall. There is simply nothing to grab onto from the top to aid getting ontop of the tailgate. I slipped off maybe 2-3 times, and I'm 6'2" tall.

Of course the handle will aid in popping up the Drifter as well. Thinking about installing the handle.