Ranger ARE DCU topper mods

[Heavy Duty]

Picked up my new topper for my truck. I absolutely love it even though it has the "food truck" vibe. I need to do something with the front to help the air get over the top.

It's nice to start with such a blank slate.

Standard ARE DCU topper, camper door, dual side doors, .035 skin, mitered front window, 26" tall.

I'll use this thread for the journey, here's the stock topper.

Functional exterior components. Roof bars, 6" maxxfan power vent and a trailer vent. Added front fairing to gain back most of my mpgs. A CHMSL camera was added with a plug and play harness.

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[Grumpaw]

Nice....
Park it a mall, open up both sides, sell hot dogs from the left and taco's from the right side...
Only thing I can think of are the air flow diverters you see on pick up trucks towing travel trailers and 5th wheels.

 

[Heavy Duty]

Nice....
Park it a mall, open up both sides, sell hot dogs from the left and taco's from the right side...
Only thing I can think of are the air flow diverters you see on pick up trucks towing travel trailers and 5th wheels.

I just might have to start a side gig to pay for my habits, multi use!

 

[Dollar]

I will be watching for your mod ideas.
I really like the side doors with a short garage. And because I'm short I use the milk crate as a step to reach inside.

 

[Heavy Duty]

Update-

Roof rack, used 1 1/2" 80/20 anodized aluminum 72" long to make the rails and cross bars. I like this method because its much more versatile than any "off the shelf" roof bar system on the market. This was accomplished by adding an internal structure to the inside of the topper. I went this route to help the roof bars look cleaner.

Vent - framed into the topper using 1x1x .50" wall aluminum tubing, 6" maxxfan pop up vent. I still need to wire it but the welding and install is done. The rear door has a trailer side vent installed horizontally. I can open this up in a rain storm while using the power vent to get a ton of cross ventilation.

Front fairing installed- lost 5 mpg with the stock topper. Gained back almost 3. Used aluminum tubing, matched up to the internal frame, welded and fastened with stainless hardware. The black plastic is .25" HDPE from the hardware store. I 3d printed the end caps for a clean finish.

CHMSL- added a universal 3rd brake light and camera with a plug and play harness.

more to come!

 

[SpaceGhost]

You camping in that, or is it a work truck?

 

[Heavy Duty]

You camping in that, or is it a work truck?

I'm camping in it and to use it to haul my toys.

 

[Heavy Duty]

Finally got it painted. 3 coats of raptor liner. Took all 4 jugs that would do a normal truck bed.

 

[JACKSMYDOG]

NOICE!

Finally got it painted. 3 coats of raptor liner. Took all 4 jugs that would do a normal truck bed.

As much as I love the functionality, the all white looked really bad IMO. Good job with the Raptor, looks great now.

 

[DukeCanBuildit]

Finally got it painted. 3 coats of raptor liner. Took all 4 jugs that would do a normal truck bed.

Whoa! Huge improvement with the bed liner - it looks a bit like an RSI SmartCap now.

 

[Heavy Duty]

NOICE!


As much as I love the functionality, the all white looked really bad IMO. Good job with the Raptor, looks great now.

I completely agree. the white wasn't working for me, it had to go.

 

[Heavy Duty]

Whoa! Huge improvement with the bed liner - it looks a bit like an RSI SmartCap now.

Thanks, it sort of does.

 

[cfhgarza]

Some of the best burritos I ever had came out of a truck like that ???

Looks good with the bed liner

 

[danjolee]

Update-

Roof rack, used 1 1/2" 80/20 anodized aluminum 72" long to make the rails and cross bars. I like this method because its much more versatile than any "off the shelf" roof bar system on the market. This was accomplished by adding an internal structure to the inside of the topper. I went this route to help the roof bars look cleaner.

Vent - framed into the topper using 1x1x .50" wall aluminum tubing, 6" maxxfan pop up vent. I still need to wire it but the welding and install is done. The rear door has a trailer side vent installed horizontally. I can open this up in a rain storm while using the power vent to get a ton of cross ventilation.

Front fairing installed- lost 5 mpg with the stock topper. Gained back almost 3. Used aluminum tubing, matched up to the internal frame, welded and fastened with stainless hardware. The black plastic is .25" HDPE from the hardware store. I 3d printed the end caps for a clean finish.

CHMSL- added a universal 3rd brake light and camera with a plug and play harness.

more to come!

What kind of "internal structure" did you add to support the 80/20 bars? I really like your setup. I picked up an ARE commercial cap for a 2010 Colorado on FB Marketplace for a good price. It fits well with a little modification at the back door/tailgate seam. Did you remove the antenna for the air dam?

 

[Msfitoy]

Finally got it painted. 3 coats of raptor liner. Took all 4 jugs that would do a normal truck bed.

Looks awesome...is it always sunny and warm where you are? I'm guessing you don't camp inside this? That's one heck of a solar oven...??

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