Bought a slide-in truck camper - suspension upgrades

Good to hear. I'm going to run Icon extended length coilovers with compression adjustment, icon rear shocks with compression adjustment.

 

How much lift will you have in the rear? I just installed 2 of the 3/8" Wheelers spacers on each side and it brought the timbers up to about 1/3" of the frame so they will begin to support a load almost immediately. You can stack as many of their spacers as you want between the bracket and the bumpstop beauty will need to buy longer bolts. They are M10 (course thread) hex bolts. I bought the 50mm length which was long enough for my 3/4" of spacers. The Wheelers spacers work perfectly with the Timbrens and you can add or remove spacers without messing around with the u-bolts. You can remove the bump while it's still connected to the leaf pack. Hope this helps.

 

Yeah I'll probably have a 2-3" lift unloaded. My plan is to run the all pro u bolt flip kit and timbren bracket. I'll buy a longer timbren and spacers as needed. I'm also going to buy wheelers super bumps and drill the brackets the same as the timbrens. This way I'll run the super bumps when the camper is off, then swap in the timbrens before loading the camper (and have them spaced to engage the frame with little droop). That's the theory anyway. I'm to run the Dakar leaf pack and order the add a leaf to play with height and spring rates etc.

Also you can buy 1" and 1/2" spacers for the timbrens on etrailer. Good to know the wheelers spacers work for more fine tuning.

I'm actually wondering if the wheelers super bump brackets are actually just timbren brackets. If so I can save some money and just swap out the bumps rather than the entire bracket.

 

Let icon know you will be running heavy,they can revalve for your use.

 

Brackets look similar but I'd be worried about the threading. The wheelers front bumpstops use a smaller diameter allen key bolt and the Timbrens use a big hex head bolt so they probably won't have the same diameter and threading. You would never fit a hex head into the wheelers front fumpstops but maybe the rear ones use different hardware. It may be easier to just add or remove spacers when the camper is on or off.

You are buying the exact set up I would like to get. Have you considered just compressing the front to drop it a little when the camper is on to firm it up and also bring the front down to match the back?

 

Cool set up.

 

I'm going order custom length rear icons and I'm discussing the valving with wheelers. Although in all honesty, with the timbrens I don't see them needing to be valved a lot differently on the compression side, maybe moreso on the rebound side with the heavier springs. I know someone with this same setup (icon stage 5 with Dakar and add a leaf), hauling a four wheel camper on a dcsb, and is very happy with the ride as is, off the shelf valving with no cdc adjustment. Anyway I'm working on that decision.
If I committed to just keeping the camper on full time it would be a lot easier (and I would order custom springs), but likely it will stay on 90% of the time. Thus I do want the springs to carry most of the weight with the timbrens there helping as a backup.

We'll see. If the plate are different I'll just order the rear timbrens and rear super bumps and see what I get. Honestly it may be easier to have the complete brackets and correct spacers assembled anyway when/if I swap them out. I can always sell what I don't use.

I'm still not 100% set on how it will go together. I'm think 2-2.5" lift in the front and probably slightly more in the rear unloaded. Probably at least as much rake as stock. This way the rear can compress and firm up a bit when loaded and still have a pretty level ride. It is going to take a little experimenting and knowing that I will be compromising one way or another. I'd love to have a nice smooth ride off road when empty, but the priority is getting it to work well with the camper loaded up for multi-weeks trips crossing several states with lots of off highway miles.

If the camper is unloaded it will probably be to haul other stuff for the house or something. So the ride with a lighter load isn't the biggest concern, but still somewhat important. I only drive the truck when I'm home (max 12 out of 28 days), and don't use it to commute. If I go a year and almost never unload the camper I'll probably have custom springs made at that point. A big part of the reason of getting another camper is to get out with the kid all year long so I'm expecting to leave it on if I can be happy with the handling.

 

Thanks. I will probably run the dakars as is with the timbren initially. If I decide I want more spring rate I think I'll add the extra leaf and pull the bottom overload. Should increase the rate and retain similar unloaded height. I think my biggest concern is just how the timbrens are going to feel, time will tell. I haven't heard anything bad yet. I keep thinking that I need to keep most of the load on the springs and lightly load the timbrens to keep a good ride on rougher terrain, but I don't know how accurate that is right now. I like having options to experiment with.

My thought for running taller timbrens was to engage them sooner since the truck will be lifted a bit. With this, I'd be limiting the compression travel which is likely with heavier springs anyway. My understanding with the dakars is that they are probably capable of a little more droop that the 0-2" lift icons, so I'm figuring I'll order the slightly longer version and gain some droop travel. Essentially shifting the range of travel down 1", but also gaining more than 1" of shock travel. With 255/85/16s I won't want them shoved up in the fender anyway. Hope that makes sense...

And yes I tend to over analyze everything! Sorry for the thread hijack!

 

I like that. Did you have to drill a hole to mount the timbrens or is there one there already? Much easier access in that position for adding and removing spacers as needed for sure.

 

Man that camper is nice. You got a deal on it too.

 

I replaced the entire suspension at about 3k miles with a camper on my mind, and I like the ride. Don't need any additional springs but having had a Northern Lite on my Dodge I can see having to add bags on a Toyota. I opted to go more off road capable but loved my NL. I was just too top heavy for getting to some of the lakes I like to fish in BC

 

I went with the Ironman system which was the lowest lift I could find to reduce wear on the ujoints and decrease the angles on the suspension as much as possible. I bought a used Four Wheel camper and I really can't even feel that it's on the truck. In bed tie downs (not shown in the pics). I have toyed with adding bags but so far I haven't needed them or felt like I was taxing the leafs in any way.

 

Looks good! Is it just a shell?

In some ways I would have loved to just to and eagle or finch shell and a minimal build. But I have a wife and 11 month old daughter, and I figure if I can keep them warm and comfortable we can get a lot more use out of the camper year round.

 

That's an awesome setup you have there. Do you remove the jacks when you're hitting the trails?

I priced out the ironman lifts for the same reason you stated. A suspension upgrade without a lot of lift but wasn't sure how their leaf pack would hold up compared to the dakars. Not a lot of reviews on the Ironman setup compared to OME. It will be one of the frontrunners when it comes time to pull the trigger on a suspension upgrade. Thanks for the review. Did you get the performance spring kit or the constant load kit?

 

It's complete. The only thing I wish it had would be an oven. But, none of the pop tops have them. I go to BC to fish and I have never been cold. It actually works far better as a pop top than my 10.2 Northern Lite did on a Dodge. It would be cozy for the three of you but for me it's just a place to stay so a couple of us it works just fine.

 

The jacks do come off when it's on the truck.

I did a tremendous amount of research when I bought them and I can't remember how many said, "why don't you want to lift it?" I finally got a hold of someone at Sierra Expeditions that was on board with the idea and was incredibly helpful. I would do it again in a heartbeat. Longer travel with a more firm ride but not at all rough. I think, at the time they only had one set of leafs if I remember right. I know they had different loads as well but it also increased the height. So, I stayed with the low height ride.

 

Is that the Fleet ?

 

Nope. It's an Eagle. I was looking for a Fleet but after I saw them both the extra didn't seem as big as my mind was making it and I don't have to worry about making sure I have extra width for the camper on some of the narrow roads I go on from time to time although the mirrors are a good guide but not very reliable if you have to negotiate before you clear the camper. My next upgrade is sewing an insulated wrap inside.

 

This was my last camping rig so a fleet is a huge step up in space.


This was awesome for two of us, even for weeks out at a time. But no way could we figure out how to do that with a baby and all of her stuff.


The forward dinette layout is what sold me on the fleet. If not for that floor plan I would have gone with an eagle as well. The 4' of open room in the back of the fleet forward dinette is really nice. Two people can sit while someone cooks. Or someone can sleep in the dinette and another person get up and cook/use the toilet etc without putting the bed up. Until our daughter sleeps in the dinette area later, the extra width in the bed will be welcomed. Really we don't spend a ton of time inside anyway, but it provides comfortable space to get out of the wet weather in oregon.

 

I've already posted a buttload of pics of my camper but here's a few more since I added the 3/4" of spacers for my Timbren HD's. The measurements now with the camper loaded is 19.5" front hub to fender and 20.5 rear. I have included a pic of the Timbren with the spacers compressed under the load of the camper. It actually rides pretty well. As soon as these go tits up or the shocks wear out I can justify an OME kit.

Table has been removed in the camper to make room for a bottle depot run. Don't mind the pretty cupboard door knobs. Decorating wasn't my responsibility. panoramic shot is deceptive but the bed is about 74" long and a little narrower than a double mattress if I recall correctly.