My good friend, Jim, refers to Marcia and me as Road Warriors. No, we don’t wear Post Apocalyptic leather gear nor do we have a flame thrower mounted on top of our rig like in Mel Gibson’s 1981 movie classic. Jim’s one of those guys who wants to know what’s the lightest, smallest and least expensive vehicle he can use for his recreational RV needs. Yeah, right.
Initially, I thought the Road Warrior moniker was kind of silly, but now I interpret it to mean guys who are serious about doing up their rigs correctly for safety, above all. Suspensions are beefed up and we know that air bags reduce sway and can level a rig for a better ride, NOT increase payload. We make sure that our tires are the best and brakes are in good order. Others may rationalize, “so what if I’m 1,000 pounds over capacity, everyone is!” but we never will.
Being readers of Truck Camper Adventure, you probably fall into the Road Warrior category, as well. I’d bet that none of you use ratchet straps to secure your truck camper to your truck and groan and roll your eyes when looking at the dangerously overloaded rigs pictured on some Facebook pages.
We’re all at the other end of the RV spectrum. Our last rig was a Northstar Arrow 8.5 mounted on a 2015 Ford F-350, long bed, SuperCrew with a 6.7 Power Stroke diesel. We made improvements with the addition of a 65 gallon Titan fuel tank, HD Rancho shocks, Hellwig Big Wig front and rear sway bars, Firestone air bags and a Ranch Hand steel, rear bumper that made a much better anchor point for the HappiJac tie downs than the OEM bumper.
Almost a year ago, we took delivery of a truly custom BundutecUSA Roadrunner that we had built to our specifications, which included non-standard width, height, tankage and a myriad of other personal items.
One memorable night in July 2024, we were at the Prairie Oasis Campground in Iowa when Marcia surprised me by saying, “I think it’s time for you to buy the truck of your dreams, even if it’s a Ford F-350 King Ranch with all of the bells and whistles!” Yes, a quantity of Coca Cola and Pendleton was involved and no, I hadn’t planned this! So, we ordered our dream truck and took delivery of the King Ranch eight weeks later. Pricey? You bet, but at 74, this is probably in “my last truck category.” By the way, I’m feeling just great.
There were a couple warranty items on our Roadrunner that needed factory attention and we had an appointment for late September. I had a couple weeks to upgrade the truck before installing the Roadrunner and I turned to my friend, Jamie DeSanto of Wooster Performance Diesel in Wooster, Ohio. I’ve known Jamie for nearly twenty years and he’s maintained all of our trucks and is the most creative and innovative guy that I know. He’s modded and fabbed up a number projects for me over the years and has never let me down.
Jamie reads a lot and stays on top of what is new and noteworthy in the truck world. On item that grabbed his attention was a new airbag design called the ReadyAIR LOGIQ that has two airbags for each side of the truck and they sit further outboard than more conventional designs. Also, the two bags per side are mounted fore and aft, in addition to being self leveling.
When they arrived, Jamie was impressed with the design and attention to detail, noting that they came fully assembled, while all other kits came with a bag of nuts, bolts and washers. He noted that the quality of everything in the kit was higher quality than others that he had installed. Install time was greatly reduced, as a result. My plan was to have Hellwig Big Wig front and rear sway bars, Bilstein shocks and the ReadyAir dual air bags installed for the 600-mile-trip to the BundutecUSA factory in Iowa from Ohio. However, the supply chain didn’t cooperate and only the Bilstein rear shocks and dual air bags arrived in time for our departure.
I asked Jamie along in the trip and we were amazed when we left his shop early one morning. Getting to the interstate, we negotiated about 15 miles of curving, hilly road and the truck had almost no sway whatsoever. I’ve owned three truck camper rigs and this one felt more stable and secure than any of the others and without the Big Wig sway bars and HD front shocks. I won’t go so far to say, “I couldn’t tell that the truck camper was even there,” which always makes me cringe and groan in disbelief when I hear that, but it was so solid, the rig felt more like a big, heavy truck. Yes, at $749, the dual air bags are a bit spendy, but in my opinion, they’re worth it.
The fact that the air bags are further outboard than more traditional designs, they negate the effect of acting as a fulcrum or balance point, stopping the tendency of the camper to rock from side-to-side. The bags being mounted fore and aft further enhances their dampening effect.
We’re in west Texas right now, hiding out at a campground from winds of 50-60 mph, soon heading to a friend’s ranch to hunt wild pigs. The Big Wig sway bars still haven’t come in, but I continue to be impressed by the ride and stability of the ReadyAIR LOGIQ dual air bags. When the sway bars finally arrive, they will be installed because I’m a belt-and-suspenders kind of guy. Besides, equipping a rig that right way for the best performance and safety is what good Road Warriors do.
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