Alu-Cab Canopy Camper Roll Call

[ng1111]

Anyone know of any supplier that has the canopy camper for the Gladiator in stock right now? I'm in NorCal and seems the 3 closest suppliers are all on back order and don't expect to receive until may/june. Trying to figure out what my options are.

813Fab is selling his fully equipped

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[ng1111]

Update: Got the ADS 3 tube Bypass.Bump stops and rear sway bar in and tuned by a master..Phil @ Liberty Mountain Fab. Pictures and link to his Video. Once Phil gets rolling he's over 50mph..roads are rough picture doesn't show how bad.

Clayton springs are working great, Should have GP factor panel and Redarc all mounted this weekend plus the miss wiring left to do.

Were you loaded in the cab?

 

[caryt]

I haven't weighted it out with the top on as still building it out but based on its weight 480 plus what I have added and the 40" spare and other stuff I threw in to try to approximate the final weight I added about 750lbs total over below..

Below weight was without a spare and related stuff, no back seats, no driver. Had full tank of fuel, Warn winch plate and 9.0RC winch, HK shackle kit, 2ea small led bumper lights, Goose Gear seat delete. RK X factor arms and Fox shocks, Icon beadlocks and 38" Trail Grapplers and RSI step sliders with armor.

Before I started I weighted it at our local certified scale and got:
Total 5970 GVWR 6450
Front 3370 GAWR 3400
Rear 2600 GAWR 3750

So 480lbs capacity..like anyone that does these builds its gona be overweight by 300-500 lbs mostly on the rear axle. But since the rear axle can carry 1150lbs IMO no issue at all. Diesel doesn't seem to care it still pulls and drives great but I think I've lost 2 mpg. I'll likely do a gearing change...TBD.

 

[813 Fabrication & Design]

Has anyone done so or thought of adding a spray-on insulation? I saw a video of an Alu-Cab overseas a few months ago, the couple sprayed a similar coating inside like this. It looked good just curious of how well it would help. The video these guys have is impressive protecting against heat transfer.

https://lizardskin.com/heat-protection/

 

[cug]

I think I've lost 2 mpg

On short trips with lots of stop and go, there is no way around that. On long trips, the roofrack we added helps a bit to get some back. I don't have precise numbers, but since we installed it, we've been seeing better mileage.

 

[caryt]

95% of my driving on road is 60-70mph..very little stop and go. but this check was just 20 miles with a couple off road blasts to check out the ride quality which was insanely good at the crazy speeds I was doing..just soaked everything up. I will be reporting back MPG's once I get some miles on it.

 

[cug]

Yeah, we are generally really slow. Our's is basically an RV. The ride quality – I can't really tell whether its good or not. We have the Terraflex Falcon shocks and springs. Might have to swap out the rear springs for heavier ones, the rest seems fine.

 

[cug]

Different question:

We'd like to mount a reasonably sized shovel (45" or so) to the camper side hatch. Anybody has a recommendatoin for a good (and perhaps even lockable) mount?

 

[caryt]

Have you seen the Rhino-Rack Stow it?
Their are tone of lockable ones from $ to $$$
I'll keep mine inside as more stuff on the sides = more to get caught or damaged on tighter trails.

 

[cug]

Have you seen the Rhino-Rack Stow it?

Yeah, I saw that, unfortunately, I can't find it in stock anywhere otherwise I would have ordered it. Inside might be an option, but it's hard for us to store a 45" long item which can also be quite dirty inside.

We are planning a shallow compartment for our camping chairs behind the driver's side hatch, but I doubt there will be additional space for a shovel, I'd also have to get a shorter one in that case. Rear door might be another option, but also likely requires a shorter shovel. I'm showing my age with that, but using the tiny folding shovel during the last few days has definitely made me wish for a REAL one ...

 

[fourfa]

+1 interior shovel for smooth sides. I have so many scrapes on the sides from tree branches in only 1.5 years... But understood the constraints from the rest of the build.

Anyway I just use quickfists on the inside of the side doors, for both axe and shovel. Super easy, didn't need to drill anything, just used the existing holes for carriage bolts and a nut on the quickfist.

Cug whereabouts are you in SV? SVL/MTV here.

 

[cug]

Yeah, I'd love something that is a) locked away by default, b) out of sight (don't tempt people), and c) not catching on stuff.

On the other hand, we have a massive awning on one side without that "branch deflector" since there is none for the passenger side awning and we have the shower tent on the driver's side. So, we are catching stuff anyways ... not sure a shovel can make it worse.

Oh, and we are in Sunnyvale, we should hook up one of these days and compare ideas ...

 

[cug]

Have you seen the Rhino-Rack Stow it?

Argl ... now it seems to be in stock, I just can't get the checkout to work.

 

[cug]

Question for people here:

Do you have a shower cube on your Alu-Cab? Then I'd like to hear your experience regarding the below.

Situation here:

Whenever we have strong rain, the packed away shower tent is wet inside. There is a good amount of water ingress from somewhere. I'm wondering whether you have had the same problem and if yes, how you dealt with it.

Thanks for pointers.

 

[DR.]

Question for people here:

Do you have a shower cube on your Alu-Cab? Then I'd like to hear your experience regarding the below.

Situation here:

Whenever we have strong rain, the packed away shower tent is wet inside. There is a good amount of water ingress from somewhere. I'm wondering whether you have had the same problem and if yes, how you dealt with it.

Thanks for pointers.

We've had one on two different rigs and I'll be adding one to my current camper as well. We've tried a few different brands of shower tents over the years, including some awning styles of the original Quick Pitch, and unsurprisingly, the Alu-Cab shower cube just works the best. We haven't tried any of the newer brands which seem like a knock off of the Quick Pitch or Alu-Cab mechanism for the most part.

The Alu-Cab zippers work better and are better located. If you camp in the rain a lot, keep in mind there is no roof, which is true of most of the awning style shower rooms. It's not something we thought a to about when we first had one. It was attached to our RTT and the ladder was right next to it, which made it awkward to climb. It wasn't used often enough to be a problem, of course, but it felt a little odd to climb the ladder and suddenly be looking right down into the bathroom. Not a problem so much with the ACCC, of course since we enter from the camper.

Keep in mind, also, that the awning style have some adjustability as to their height but you'll likely have a small gap at the bottom, especially on a lifted vehicle. Some folks might feel a bit self conscious with he feet/ankles exposed, whereas shower tent walls go all the way to the ground.

We love not having to stow another piece of gear and it rolls up in about a minute.

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