It is worth explaining to readers who don’t know about the floor construction of Four Wheel and All Terrine Campers, and how they differ from most other truck campers. The sides of the floor box is “stepped” and not straight up and down. A discussion follows;
In studying the evolution of pickup trucks, it appears that box (bed or truck body) dimensions became standardized in conjunction with the home construction boom following WW II to match newly standardized building materials. About that time, the ceiling heights in most new American homes became almost precisely 8 feet. Building materials evolved to be mass produced in standard 4 X 8 foot dimensions. Most plywood comes in standard 4 x 8 foot panels. So do roofing panels, sheet rock, indoor paneling, and flooring material. Two by fours come in 8 foot lengths because wall studs are 8 feet long to match the standard 8 foot ceiling. What does this have to do with pickup trucks?
Pickup trucks come from farming and work. From the late 1940s, pickup truck box footprints reflected the construction trades. Following WW II, the classic pickup truck is based on a 4’ X 8’ footprint needed for home construction. The basic pickup truck was designed and built to conveniently haul building materials with standard dimensions of 4 X 8 feet. Today, a work truck still has a bed or box that will hold standard building materials. For this reason, working dudes joke that trucks with anything less than a full 4 X 8 foot bed are toys, not real trucks. They have a point.
The first truck shells, caps, covers, protected building materials from the weather. Tradesmen and farmers, are often sportsmen and hunters. They used pickups with shells as mobile shelters. Tailgates became handy kitchen tables and work benches.
When the guys started taking wives and girlfriends to football games in their pickups, it became apparent that their fine women were paying attention to the cow manure the men had overlooked on their bed floors. A steel truck floor to sleep on is colder than kraut, so in addition to a woman for warmth, the guys thought about putting a clean sheet of plywood in the bed. Next step was to cut another sheet of plywood into 8 foot lengths X 1 ½ foot widths to make vertical sides to the sleeping box. The balance of the 4 x 8 plywood panel was split to make horizontal sides to attach the truck cap. Now, the whole package was removable for hauling building materials and manure. In the mid 1950s, fleet side trucks became common. Shells with seats inside truck the box became wider. Using 2 X 4s to conveniently nail the box panels together, light weight wooden frames and aluminum sheeting to expand the shelter, the basic slide-in truck camper quickly evolved.
Almost all slide-in campers retain the basic 4 foot width from the bottom to the top of the bed sides, leaving wasted space inside a fleet side body or box. The better RV style campers make use of this space with tanks or by extending portions of the interior into the spaces. Four Wheel and All Terrain Campers extend their boxes to include the space above the fender wells. This improves the weight and balance of the load to make use of that space, not to mention the advantage of bringing along more “stuff.” There is one big problem that has become more apparent.
In recent years, manufacturers of pickups are making the bed boxes slightly more narrow than in the past. The Big Three is wavering in their commitment to the standard 4 X 8 foot boxes on pickups as buyers are more often city folks who think a carpenter’s rule has something to do with Soccer. Now-a-days, the most common pickup truck is the size of a Tacoma. Full size trucks now have 6 ½ foot beds. This has had a negative effect on the value of old Four Wheel Campers.
Many older top of the line campers that were designed for Fleetside trucks with an inside dimension of 64 inches at the tailgate. Unfortunately, even full size work trucks are now usually 60 inches inside the tailgate. This makes the old campers that are wider than 60 inches virtually worthless to the guy with a new truck. There are two options, either give the camper away, or have it upgraded with new floor packs designed for new 60 inch trucks. (Old campers with straight up and down floor boxes will still fit standard 4 x 8 foot trucks.)
I will leave it to Ben to quote prices on upgrading older Four Wheel Campers to fit modern trucks. A conversion that meets the quality standard of new Four Wheel and All Terrain Campers will be very expensive. Nevertheless, with the price of a new Four Wheel Keystone approaching 20 Grand, it is worth considering. Frankly, I think you will have a tough time getting Ben and Marty to do this work because they are buried in orders for new campers. If you happen to have a really nice older Four Wheel Camper that needs a modified floor pack to fit your new truck, it would be worth asking. There is money to be saved.
In studying the evolution of pickup trucks, it appears that box (bed or truck body) dimensions became standardized in conjunction with the home construction boom following WW II to match newly standardized building materials. About that time, the ceiling heights in most new American homes became almost precisely 8 feet. Building materials evolved to be mass produced in standard 4 X 8 foot dimensions. Most plywood comes in standard 4 x 8 foot panels. So do roofing panels, sheet rock, indoor paneling, and flooring material. Two by fours come in 8 foot lengths because wall studs are 8 feet long to match the standard 8 foot ceiling. What does this have to do with pickup trucks?
Pickup trucks come from farming and work. From the late 1940s, pickup truck box footprints reflected the construction trades. Following WW II, the classic pickup truck is based on a 4’ X 8’ footprint needed for home construction. The basic pickup truck was designed and built to conveniently haul building materials with standard dimensions of 4 X 8 feet. Today, a work truck still has a bed or box that will hold standard building materials. For this reason, working dudes joke that trucks with anything less than a full 4 X 8 foot bed are toys, not real trucks. They have a point.
The first truck shells, caps, covers, protected building materials from the weather. Tradesmen and farmers, are often sportsmen and hunters. They used pickups with shells as mobile shelters. Tailgates became handy kitchen tables and work benches.
When the guys started taking wives and girlfriends to football games in their pickups, it became apparent that their fine women were paying attention to the cow manure the men had overlooked on their bed floors. A steel truck floor to sleep on is colder than kraut, so in addition to a woman for warmth, the guys thought about putting a clean sheet of plywood in the bed. Next step was to cut another sheet of plywood into 8 foot lengths X 1 ½ foot widths to make vertical sides to the sleeping box. The balance of the 4 x 8 plywood panel was split to make horizontal sides to attach the truck cap. Now, the whole package was removable for hauling building materials and manure. In the mid 1950s, fleet side trucks became common. Shells with seats inside truck the box became wider. Using 2 X 4s to conveniently nail the box panels together, light weight wooden frames and aluminum sheeting to expand the shelter, the basic slide-in truck camper quickly evolved.
Almost all slide-in campers retain the basic 4 foot width from the bottom to the top of the bed sides, leaving wasted space inside a fleet side body or box. The better RV style campers make use of this space with tanks or by extending portions of the interior into the spaces. Four Wheel and All Terrain Campers extend their boxes to include the space above the fender wells. This improves the weight and balance of the load to make use of that space, not to mention the advantage of bringing along more “stuff.” There is one big problem that has become more apparent.
In recent years, manufacturers of pickups are making the bed boxes slightly more narrow than in the past. The Big Three is wavering in their commitment to the standard 4 X 8 foot boxes on pickups as buyers are more often city folks who think a carpenter’s rule has something to do with Soccer. Now-a-days, the most common pickup truck is the size of a Tacoma. Full size trucks now have 6 ½ foot beds. This has had a negative effect on the value of old Four Wheel Campers.
Many older top of the line campers that were designed for Fleetside trucks with an inside dimension of 64 inches at the tailgate. Unfortunately, even full size work trucks are now usually 60 inches inside the tailgate. This makes the old campers that are wider than 60 inches virtually worthless to the guy with a new truck. There are two options, either give the camper away, or have it upgraded with new floor packs designed for new 60 inch trucks. (Old campers with straight up and down floor boxes will still fit standard 4 x 8 foot trucks.)
I will leave it to Ben to quote prices on upgrading older Four Wheel Campers to fit modern trucks. A conversion that meets the quality standard of new Four Wheel and All Terrain Campers will be very expensive. Nevertheless, with the price of a new Four Wheel Keystone approaching 20 Grand, it is worth considering. Frankly, I think you will have a tough time getting Ben and Marty to do this work because they are buried in orders for new campers. If you happen to have a really nice older Four Wheel Camper that needs a modified floor pack to fit your new truck, it would be worth asking. There is money to be saved.
