Something followed me home today!

[Squatch]

'06 Tundra, 43k miles! Like new inside, outside, and underneath. This will soon be hauling my slide in camper.

[daytime dave]

Wow, congratulations. That's a nice, low low mileage truck. I hope to see it with the camper on it soon.

[White Squirrel]

Nice! Ten years old and only 43k miles? Must have belonged to a little old man who only drove it to the grocery on Saturday and church on Sunday.

[RetiredSeabee]

Sweet! Nice of someone to gently break it in for you.

[JEBar]

looking forward to seeing the camper mounted on your new truck and to your performance comments after using it

[Deadwood Dutch]

Congratulations, a nice looking truck with a reputation for great quality. Very low mileage for that year, you did well!

[PT7]

Congrats & great find, Squatch. It does look like new, and has hundreds of camping miles left to go!

[JCN]

Great, clean looking truck. Congrats!

[RanchRoper]

Good deal! Don't forget a Henry bumper sticker!

[Squatch]

Nice! Ten years old and only 43k miles? Must have belonged to a little old man who only drove it to the grocery on Saturday and church on Sunday.

Actually that seems to be pretty close to the history of this truck as far as I can determine.

1st 3 years it was a lease that was serviced every 5k miles. Then it was bought as a certified used Toyota by an older gentleman who averaged around 700 miles a year. He took it to the dealer for service and detailing every 6 months like clockwork. That's what Toyota's records and carfax show.

Thanks for the kind words folks.

[White Squirrel]

Nice! Ten years old and only 43k miles? Must have belonged to a little old man who only drove it to the grocery on Saturday and church on Sunday.

Actually that seems to be pretty close to the history of this truck as far as I can determine.

1st 3 years it was a lease that was serviced every 5k miles. Then it was bought as a certified used Toyota by an older gentleman who averaged around 700 miles a year. He took it to the dealer for service and detailing every 6 months like clockwork. That's what Toyota's records and carfax show.

Thanks for the kind words folks.

I made that joke because my wife's aunt died in 1984. She had a 1973 Olds 88 that had less than 10k miles on it. She literally drove it to the grocery on Saturday and church on Sunday. Twice a year she made a 60 mile round trip to the cemetary where her husband was buried. The rest of the time, it was in her garage.

Again, congratulations on that find. You now have a lifetime of camping available with that truck and your camper.

[Squatch]

My MIL who no longer drives has a similar '84 Buick Regal in her garage.

[Squatch]

Thought I upgrade this thread a little. I installed Firestone air bags and a rear Hellwig sway bar for a little assist when driving with the camper.




We then made a platform to raise the camper a little. It's made for smaller trucks not fullsize.




Then loaded the Camper.




And drove to The Outer Banks to try it out!

[daytime dave]

Very nice. Great looking campsite too.

[Squatch]

I now have new tires! Cooper ST MAXX LT265/70/r17 E. These are a hybrid between an AT and MT tire. Initial impressions are good. There is some noise. Not quite the hum of a full on MT. More like a soft whirring sound. But louder than a BFG AT KO2 for sure.

The ride is very nice. I might sorta feel a little bit more of the tiny stuff because of the stiff E rated tire. But the square edges of pot holes that had me cringing with the old P metrics just disappeared. Typical of moving up to a real truck tire.

With the P metrics there was a wandering twitch feeling to the steering wheel I didn't like. Kinda like if you looked away from the road and coughed you'd be in the ditch kinda thing. That has been replaced by a heavier solid feel. The tires are heavy and you can feel it a little. So what it's a truck. before I was concerned about taking the camper on a forest service road for fear of tire failure. Not now!

These are an inch taller than stock and same width.
Old(new) p 265/65/r17 Dunpops


New LT265/70/r17 Cooper ST MAXX.




Obviously I haven't reinstalled the center caps yet. It's been raining for 2 days. The tires felt solid in the rain. I did roll away from a stop and then punched it hard. The v8 had no trouble spinning the rears even with a real Limited Slip Differential.

I think I'm going to like these. They should haul the camper weight much better. Especially when the road gets rough!

[Deadwood Dutch]

Great looking tires, they should serve you very well.

[Gregorsway]

Squatch,

I'm late for the party here on your nice truck and camper postings- but it appears you just keep making upgrades so I felt obliged to join in. I've been going to the Banks for years camping and surf fishing.

You have yourself a gem of a truck there. What a find! The camper seems to fit in there nicely too with the adjustments you made with the plywood. Love the new tires also. I have an '06 Ford F-250 that hauls a Lance Camper 6' 6" bed. I sprung for a fold down back porch just for kicks. That's something you might look into, but it appears you know what you are doing! Nice rig you have! Enjoy your time by the sea!

Cheers!
Greg

[BigAl52]

Congrats looks really nice. Where is the Henry gun rack at?

[Squatch]

Thanks for the kind words.

Last 2 times we were at the OBX there was a couple there that had an F350 and a big Arctic Fox with a back porch. Pretty cool but too much for my little 1/2 ton truck. My Four Wheel Camper is all about spartan and light. It's a step up from backpacking on wheels. Not nearly as equipped as a hard side camper. But works well for us. Plus I can four wheel it into places other camper wont fit.

The truck campers are just so handy. I have 160 watts of solar on the roof and a big deep cycle battery with the needed electronics. I just turn on my small truckfridge compressor fridge and forget it. When the camper is on the truck I keep it stocked and ready to go for the most part. I went back to the mid west for Thanksgiving and drove the camper out. We slept in it one night at a friends place in the country. It was in the 20's but we slept fine with the furnace on. Other wise just like driving a normal pickup.

Hack on this forum and myself have been making almost weekly trips to a local state park this fall. It's a bit over an hour away for each of us. We go up middle of the week for a night or 2 and we are the only ones in the campground off season. $7 a night. As Hack says, "We are both packed. 2 hours after the phone gets hung up we can be at the campground setting up." That takes a few minutes. He has a small popup.


I take the truck and camper.


Looking at the Potomac river from my campsite.


Great spot to fish, hike, bike ride, explore the fort.


But mostly we just go up for a campfire!


Starting to get the hang of this retirement thing maybe. Now with the new tires maybe I can get this camper here.

[daytime dave]

I'm glad to see you are enjoying retirement. I'm looking forward to it again.

Your camper is perfect for that nice truck. I enjoyed the photographs. Thanks for taking us along with you and Hack.