Silverado 1500 + 27' Airstream | Overland Build

[Francis Hwang]

HELLO!

My wife and I have recently made the commitment to full time overland-living. We have sold the 4Runner and bought a 2018 Chevy Silverado 1500 LTZ Z71. We have also purchased a 2019 Airstream Flying Cloud 27FBQ. I will use this forum to document the build process (if only for ourselves), but hope that we can organize it enough for the information to be useful for others.

CURRENT BUILD

2018 Chevy Silverado 1500 LTZ Z71 | 5.3L V8 | 3.42 Rear Axle | Crew Cab | Summit White

Parts on Order

• Fab Fours Full Guard Winch Mount
• N-Fab RKR Rails

Installed Parts

Wheels & Tires

• Black Rhino Madness Wheels | 18" x 9" | -12 offset | 6 x 139.7 bolt pattern
• BF Goodrich All Terrain KO2 | 35" x 12.50" R18

Suspension

• Zone Off-Road 6.5" Lift Kit | Upgraded Rear FOX shocks + Helper Spring
• SumoSprings 2,800 lbs. | bump stop replacement
  • Because of the 6.5" lift, I bought an airbag spacer for 5" lifts (do not buy spacers for 6" if you have a 6.5" lift, the dimensions will not be ideal for the SumoSprings), bringing the SumoSprings back into useful range of the rear axle.

Engine

• K&N Blackhawk Cold Air Intake System

Exterior

• RetraxONE XR Bed Cover | Comes with integrated side rails that are compatible with most T-Slot accessories
• Rhino Rack Heavy Duty Bars | with Rail mounted Base
• Rhino Rack Pioneer Platform | 60" x 54"
  • *needed to mount* Rhino Rack Pioneer Mounting Kit for Heavy Duty Bars
• Rhino Rack Hi-Lift Jack Mount
• Rhino Rack Shovel Mount
• Rhino Rack Spot Light Bracket
• RotopaX RX-DLX-PM Deluxe Pack Mount
  • RotopaX RX-EXT Pack Mount Extension

Interior

• Blue Ridge Overland Gear Attic

2019 Airstream Flying Cloud 27FB (Queen)

Parts on order

• Dexter Axle 3-1/8" lift kit
• Timbren Silent Ride Suspension Kit
• ZombieBox Peacemaker | Almost completely silences most generators (one of the best buys if you can't afford full active/passive solar (no one can..... it's ridiculous... but hopefully someday soon)

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Pictures coming soon - but that's it for now - will continue to update as the build progresses.

Cheers.

 

[Francis Hwang]

 

[303JETSET]

Sweet setup. My in-laws are considering something similar. That zombi box is awesome but holy crap that is $$$$.

 

[Francis Hwang]

Sweet setup. My in-laws are considering something similar. That zombi box is awesome but holy crap that is $$$$.

Thanks man! Yeah tell me about it on the ZombieBox $$ ~ but I can vouch (as someone with a physics background) that the materials and physics (think baffle-box squared) ~ that it would be nearly impossible to DIY what they have engineered. It’s truly a brilliant example of science meets engineering.

The return on investment is pretty quickly recouped because the solar system I would need to be completely off grid (with A/C in the Airstream) came out to something like $40K .... of course I was going with Lithium Iron Phosphate etc. but there really is no comparison in cost savings for an off grid setup.

 

[mylilpwny]

Very cool set up. I am very interested in how you mounted the gear attic. I thought about getting one and modding it to fit my truck (ram 1500) but wasn't sure it would work.

 

[Francis Hwang]

Very cool set up. I am very interested in how you mounted the gear attic. I thought about getting one and modding it to fit my truck (ram 1500) but wasn't sure it would work.

Not sure what you mean by the attic, but I assume you mean the Pioneer Rack mounted on the bed? If so I have all the parts linked in the build, including the mounting hardware you'll need to buy. In terms of the base-rail system, that came with the RetraxONE XR bed cover as standard equipment, also linked in the build, and will work with any T-slot rail systems from yakima, Thule, Rhino Rack, most of Front Runner, etc.

 

[Francis Hwang]

Small Update

We are getting close to our pickup date for the Airstream. We are headed up north to ReliableRV in MO ~ here are the photos of the unit. Quality isn't great but I will upload better ones as we make interior modifications and customizations to the unit. Cheers.

 

[Francis Hwang]

Small Update

After the addition of 35" tires and towing a ~6,000 pound Airstream in a month's time, I've gone ahead and ordered the following parts which will be installed this week.

New Parts on Order

• Bully Dog BDX Tuner
• Derale Series 8000 Plate-fin Trans Cooler Kit

 

[mylilpwny]

Not sure what you mean by the attic, but I assume you mean the Pioneer Rack mounted on the bed? If so I have all the parts linked in the build, including the mounting hardware you'll need to buy. In terms of the base-rail system, that came with the RetraxONE XR bed cover as standard equipment, also linked in the build, and will work with any T-slot rail systems from yakima, Thule, Rhino Rack, most of Front Runner, etc.

Sorry should have specified, my bad. I was interested in the Blue Ridge Overland Gear Attic you have in the interior.

 

[Kirk Kinnell]

Fascinating.... Look forward to seeing your adventures with this setup!

 

[Francis Hwang]

Sorry should have specified, my bad. I was interested in the Blue Ridge Overland Gear Attic you have in the interior.

Haha in that case it’s simple, they mount around the handles above each door.

 

[mylilpwny]

Haha in that case it’s simple, they mount around the handles above each door.

Ah that was my fear the Ram has the front grab bars on the a pillar

 

[Francis Hwang]

Ah that was my fear the Ram has the front grab bars on the a pillar

They have different shapes and configurations - mine is for a Land Cruiser. Try and find one that mounts differently.

 

[Francis Hwang]

SMALL UPDATE


Installed:

• Rhino Rack Pioneer LED mounts: Rhino Rack Pioneer LED Light Bracket (2 Pack)
• Rough Country single row 30” Black Series

I installed the light bar on the rear as a chase/safety light and it’s angled down to light up the Airstream for nighttime use.

• Bully Dog BDX Tuner

 

[Francis Hwang]

UPDATED AIRSTREAM PHOTOS

 

[Francis Hwang]

Update & Goodies

Installed Parts

• N-Fab RKR Rails

Parts that have arrived

• Derale Series 8000 Plate-fin Trans Cooler Kit

A Look at some of the tools I keep on hand

• Front and back facing Yi 2.7K dash cams equipped with 128GB each
• Motorola 35-mile range walkie talkies
• Midland CB radio
• A folder of various trails and off road maps + digital files

I added another 2 gal RotoPax because the truck guzzles gas and we are primarily using the generator + ZombieBox for boondocking since solar costs a bagillion dollars.

 

[Francis Hwang]

Gen-Y torsion hitch with weight distribution system. [emoji57]

 

[Kirk Kinnell]

This is coming along nicely!!!

 

[Francis Hwang]

Rearranged bed setup.

 

[Francis Hwang]

Fab Fours winch grill installed. Man what a battle for two people to get this on.