Perpetuate Better Living

The Truck Camper Elevated

- Bryon Dorr

A truck camper build is nothing new, but this build takes the concept to all new heights. Aaron Wirth and his wife Renee decided that they wanted to live full time on the road with their two dogs for a few years, leading them on the quest to build the ultimate home on wheels. This vehicle had to be a home office, a comfortable house, home for their two dogs, needed to pull a trailer, serve as an everyday driver, and be able to get the couple off the beaten path. This Cummins-powered Dodge 3500 Tradesman-based overland adventure mobile came together over 10 months of crazy hard work, through first-hand experience with multiple truck campers, and with input from knowledgeable overland friends and a range of automotive industry professionals.

The couple had a truck camper setup before starting this build, but it just didn’t meet their needs as full time travelers. It was based on an 2008 3500 Ram long bed double cab and had a mix of quality and not-so-quality modifications and featured a custom-built Panther Camper from Superior RV. While the rig had a 4-inch lift, 35-inch tires, was chipped and featured an upgraded exhaust and sway bars, it didn’t have a full-size spare, was a bit unwieldy at highway speeds, was loud and got pretty poor fuel economy. On top of all that, the camper wasn’t as comfortable as they wanted and there just wasn’t enough built-in storage.