The Drifter - Specs and FAQ

It really all depends on how quickly you want to drive off road. I like to drive fast and fuck around so I'm investing where I can. If you drive like me you should be looking at aftermarket shackles, hangers and shock tower relocation kits. BAMF or Archive immediately come to mind.

At that weight you'll need a custom spring setup or something off the shelf + air bags.

DMZ has frame boxing kits in stock currently for the 2nd gen. They aren't up on the site yet but I'll be picking that up as well.

I'm looking at:
Spring over
Archive shock tower relocation kit
BAMF HD hangers and shackles
DMZ frame boxing kit
King 12" or 14" (Archive support this) bypasses

I'm currently dissatisfied with the rear end performance on my truck before all the weight is being added. I don't have the coin to do the entire rear at once due to some unexpected home repairs so I'll tackle some stuff in phases and probably try and handle the frame boxing first just so I don't have to pull the Drifter and bed in the future. In the interim I'll just drive much slower and really limit jumping the truck...

 

I was talking about getting a dynatrac or a currie.. cuz you know, ring gears and pinions have teeth...

 

Do it to it. I chipped my rear Nitro gears, still need to pull apart the rear end and see how bad the damage is....

 

A few pics @.45 JHP took on the way back from Expo.



We had a great time and the response was awesome. Made new friends and reconnected with old ones.

In person, we could show many of the features of the campers in a few minutes, compared to so many posts and pictures required to do it online. Guess we should proceed with the walk around video soon!

And yes, that’s an external L-track mount on the rear of my camper so you can close the top from inside or out.

 

Did you do the extra leaf as well or just the HD pack?

 

Looking so good! Especially that LB version on Iggy’s rig....

 

I have the 600lbs constant pack which I believe has an extra leaf

 

Roger that, for some reason I was thinking it did not since they still offer an extra leaf specific for the HD pack

 

HD comes with an additional leaf over the standard pack. You can also add a leaf to the HD making it extra HD if needed.

 

Roger that, that’s what I was thinking, thanks for confirming!

 

When I did my interior build I did it with the sense of multi purpose use and light weight. Primarily to make up for the additional weight on my current leaf pack. I do have bags on there and will keep them on with my new leaf pack, but it’s mainly for when I have my hitch dirtbike hauler and bike on the back.

I don’t plan to have much more weight in there than I have already with the drifter using the same interior plans, however i will have a bumper, sliders, and more skids soon enough

 

Just Drifting around Colorado.

Its been in the low 30s each night so I’ve been tempted to buy a Buddy Heater but I’m pretty sure once I do that it’s just gonna take up room in my truck over the summer.

 

That's pretty chilly and the amount of space it takes up is worth it. You could even get away with the smaller version. It will heat things up very quickly. I used my regular Mr. Buddy in my FWC morning and evening to take the chill off. Thinking about getting the smaller one for the truck shell I ordered.

 

I wish there was a system to hang the smaller one. That way I could use it with my small propane tank instead of the green canisters. I do have a refill valve for the big tanks to the green canisters though. Haven't tried it out yet.

 

Or maybe a propane tree. I've thought of that in the past.

 

I’d like the smallest one as well, but I want to be able to run it from my existing 5lbs propane tank.

 

Please keep in mind that Brian’s work takes him around the country and he is full-timing it in the Drifter for the summer. He’s building out the interior on the road and even has a Dewalt chop saw in there! A few more things than most of us would take on an extended trip, so space is at a premium.

That being said... it got down into the 30’s at Expo (Flagstaff is at 7,000 feet) and I woke up sweating with the Buddy heater on low. Had to crack the window open.

If it was just me, I’d stick with that heater. But I’ll be going the Propex route because I’m worried about the kids getting burned with catalytic heaters. And forced air furnaces are in a whole different league. Definitely worth the expense to some people.

With the Drifter, or any other pop up camper that you can stand in, you may end up hanging out inside at night for longer than you think. Especially on solo trips or quick overnight stops without a campfire. A heater makes it really comfortable. With RTT’s, I think most people get right in and lay down. With pop-ups, you may end up spending 2 to 3 hours sitting on a bench, trying to figure out how to build out the rest of the interior. And sometimes actually working on the interior. Or maybe that’s just me...

 

The hard part of running the little heater from a larger tank is how it will stand. They use the tank as a mounting base. The larger one is free standing and works with an external tank.

I have a propex I need to install. It’s a very nice unit.

 

I definitely over packed, but that circular saw has already come in handy! I'm looking forward to getting back on the west coast so I can download a bunch of stuff I packed and haven't used.

I would say I am comfortable sleeping down to 30ish with no heater but anything colder than that kinda sucks. I plan on eventually going the Propex route but I figure I have a good 3 months before I need to start worrying about it - definitely curious to see how you and @Iggy do the Propex install.

Honestly at this point I think a 12V AC unit would come in handy more than a heater but I don't think there is anything efficient out there. I've found if it's warmer than 70 at night I have difficulty sleeping.

 

Did about 50 miles of reallllly dusty trails today and the inside of the camper was completely dust free except for right next to cubbies (which don’t have the covers on them either..another thing on the to do list).