Atl-atl's 2024 Tradesman 2500 Power Wagon "documentation" thread, now on 40s!!

[dieselscout80]

Cool!!

I wonder how those Happy Jack camper tie downs hold up?

I had a set of them on 97 GMC with a 915 Lance camper and they did okay. I did have to reinforce the rear tab that slides onto the special rear bolt/tie down. Where the angle is I welded a piece of steel to keep the angle from bending back straight.

 

[Atl-atl]

Cool!!

I wonder how those Happy Jack camper tie downs hold up?

I had a set of them on 97 GMC with a 915 Lance camper and they did okay. I did have to reinforce the rear tab that slides onto the special rear bolt/tie down. Where the angle is I welded a piece of steel to keep the angle from bending back straight.

That was a pretty big concern of mine. Both Alaskan and Truck Camper Garage(where i picked it up) basically told me the Happijacs will be fine on road and for very mild offroad but with serious side to side rocking they probably arent enough. I will surely be testing that as time goes by. Medium term plan is to fab up a high clearance rear bumper that can handle the load much better. Long term plan, which might interrupt the medium term plan, is to go custom flatbed and hard mount the camper.

 

[dieselscout80]

My vote would be for the flatbed as you would gain lots of storage space where the bedsides are.

 

[Atl-atl]

My vote would be for the flatbed as you would gain lots of storage space where the bedsides are.

Thats also my vote, just depends on funds hahaha

 

[Rockcrawlindude]

Well, for those of you that dont follow me on instagram, here is the true start of phase 2. Brand new Alaskan 650si. A few mods still to do to the truck and after the first few nights in the camper the list is already pretty long. Loving it though. Its the perfect middle ground between the RV and a smaller/soft sided camper. Dont worry that hitch step isnt permanent.
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Its so fancy. Its so much nicer than our old rental spec Thor RV. Its so much nicer than really any other pop-up camper on the market, regardless of price, and its priced in line with most of them depending on how you spec it. It genuinely feels like a mini Earthroamer. The use of space is perfect, the lights are LED but warm colored and everything is dimmable. The whole thing is power including raising and lowering the roof and nearly everything is monitored or controlled via bluetooth. 12v air con, 324ah of lithium, solar and dc-dc charging, toilet inside, shower outside(by choice) all the trim is real wood, no fake laminate BS here(other than the counter tops, obviously not real granite for weights sake.) And I can install/remove the thing in ~30 minutes.
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Dm me the IG

 

[jsalbre]

Nice camper!

Just as an FYI, the rear cross traffic alert works using the blindspot radar in the taillights.

 

[Atl-atl]

Nice camper!

Just as an FYI, the rear cross traffic alert works using the blindspot radar in the taillights.

Thanks! Also thanks for the tip about the radar. A couple other people have also mentioned that and now I dont know how I didnt know previously haha, it seems like common knowledge. Im glad it wasnt the backup sensors because I like still having the rear cross traffic alert and blind spot alert.

 

[Atl-atl]

Scored a like new Softtopper on Marketplace for $350!! Happy to have the bed covered and be able to keep things out of the elements when the camper is off.

 

[Atl-atl]

Been driving the truck a ton. Took the camper off a few weeks ago to do some work on it. Just finished fabbing a roof rack for it. I dislike the rack that Alaskan builds because its sticks up like 12" so I had them install just the brackets and then built my own rack that is super low profile. Its modular and bolts together, all .120 wall cold roll, mostly 1"x2". I made my own "molle" panels out of perforated sheet. Had it all powder coated and I think it turned out great. Plenty of room to mount my starlink, traction boards, and probably some other stuff that I dont even have yet ha! I contemplated making it out of aluminum but the weight penalty was only about 20lbs(total weight is about 50lbs) and the cost was substantially cheaper, like less than half. Got it done just in time to camp at a mountain bike race this weekend.