2022 Ram 2500 BH with Bowen Customs flatbed + Total Composites camper build

[Dinky503]

Sure, after all said and done it was about $11K. Keep in mind this is their “overland” style tray which uses high strength and lightweight aluminum so it’s more expensive than a typical heavy steel tray. The look, styling and pricing is indicative of that as well. Compared to other camper and overland specific trays the price is about on par with OEV, Mits Alloys, Norweld, Summit Expedition Trucks. I doubt that you could do a goose neck option with their overland trays. I know Brent had been doing commercial trays prior to getting into the off-road and overland space so you may have to talk to him about some of his commercial products if you wanted to add a goose neck option.

Not to bad really My put a steel flat bed on my chevy 3500. all said and done i was about $8k and that was 2 years ago and a steel bed. ive been tossing around of doing a nicer flat bed on this truck as its my personal work truck. ill have to keep these guys in mind.

 

[Dinky503]

I'd guess that a gooseneck wouldn't be too much of a challenge, as it's not connecting to the bed, it's simply a pass through, and it's especially "easy" as you had done it @sn_85, where the drawer isn't there so you can have it closer to the bed. You may need to find or fab a extension, but it seems rather straight forward as all things go. The only real downside I could see, would be losing the drawer, which can be quite handy for storing all the recovery gear.

Most of the steel flat beds goose necks are connected to the bed. they utilize the bolt holes on the frame for existing hitches.

 

[UglyViking]

Most of the steel flat beds goose necks are connected to the bed. they utilize the bolt holes on the frame for existing hitches.

Right, I'm just stating it would be a pass through on the aluminum beds. I can see how that wasn't clear though.

Obviously the aluminum bed isn't going to have the tear strength that a steel bed would, so you can't get away with attaching it directly. It should be possible though, at least I don't see any reason it wouldn't.

 

[Dinky503]

Right, I'm just stating it would be a pass through on the aluminum beds. I can see how that wasn't clear though.

Obviously the aluminum bed isn't going to have the tear strength that a steel bed would, so you can't get away with attaching it directly. It should be possible though, at least I don't see any reason it wouldn't.

Yeah I am sure it could be done. A removable bed plate is all you would need.

 

[FortuneFavorsTheBruin]

Tacoma/Ram guy checking in; your rigs are sweet OP!

 

[Darkone]

I believe it wouldn’t be too hard to retain the factory gooseneck hitch with a Bowen bed. Either on their website or instagram I believe I had read their bed height is the same as factory, so I’m sure they could retain the the holes for the factory hitch. Probably could get really creative and still have a small drawer that sits in between the frame rails but stops short of the gooseneck hitch.

The price for that is extremely reasonable given the quality and time it takes to make one of those beds. A skirted aluminum flatbed from say CM will run you that much. Also their beds are somewhat modular so you can replace boxes, panels, etc if they become damaged, you can’t do that with a standard flatbed.

 

[sn_85]

Got my new tires and wheels mounted. They are the Nomad Wheels Sahara in copper and they look SO DAMN GOOD!!! The wheels are a +25 offset so I'll definitely need to get some from fender flares. The tires are actually take-offs from my LC which are Toyo Open Country ATIII in 285/75/17 size. I really like this tire size for a few reasons but mainly because I already had them sitting in the garage and they have less than 10k miles on them. Most people want to run at least a 35" tire on their trucks but most 35's are a nominal 34.5". A 285/75/17 is 33.9" in diameter. So really I'm missing like 1/4 in radius which is much at all. Perhaps I'll go up in size when these wear but for now these will do.

 

[AH64ID]

Aside from already having the tires, why drop to a 17” wheel and limit LI to 121 for a camper build?

 

[sn_85]

Aside from already having the tires, why drop to a 17” wheel and limit LI to 121 for a camper build?

TBH I come from the Toyota world so it's what I understand. They use a lot of 17" wheels. For the longest time I was just gonna get some AEV wheels which are 17" so that's was my initial baseline. You make a good point though, with an 18" wheel there are lot more tire options with higher max load capacities. My camper won't be done for another 6-9 months so I'll run these for the time being. When I get the camper I'll probably switch to a Falken Wildpeak AT3W which have 17" tires with a 128/125 rating. I'm still very new to the HD towing and hauling world so there are a lot of things I need to learn about these platforms.