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Discussion Starter · #1 ·
Greetings, just another boring noobie post. I became interested in purchasing a Frontier through a rather roundabout manner. About 18 mo ago, I acquired an absolutely dreadful Starcraft pop-up compact truck camper. My friends and wife told me to throw it in the garbage. But like everything, I see a diamond in the rough. I began the long arduous task of rebuilding the camper which had succumbed to water damage and rot. It is now fully restored and looks like new. I am guessing it weighs about 1000lb.
I originally hauled the camper home on the back of my '07 Chevrolet Colorado ZQ8 regular cab. Being a sport model with limited carrying capacity, each bump in the roadway became a jackhammer as the rear suspension bounced off the stops. A great truck overall but that's a story for another thread. The Colorado has since been sold.
Crew cab compact trucks became my focus as they create additional storage capacity for the limited space inside the camper. Although my children are grown and moved out of the house, the thought occurred to me that I may be a grandfather someday. A crew cab would be handy to haul the kids around in their car seats.
First stop was the Tacoma DC, long bed. Spent some time on their forums to get to know the truck. Also spent time investigating camper tie downs that are attached to the frame. Torklift does not make a frame mounted tie-down for the 2WD Tacoma. Neither does Happijac.
Next stop Frontier. Thankfully Torklift camper tie downs are made for the Frontier regardless of drive-train choice. I also see Firestone Ride-rite makes a set of overload bags for the rear suspension.
So my plans are to purchase a SE, crew cab, long bed, 2WD, hopefully in Avalanche white. New or used, depends on the circumstances and the deal I find.
I will be keeping track of the posts and threads to educate myself about my my future purchase.
BTW, would someone mind taking a measurement for me? What is the distance from the floor of the bed to the top of the cab roof. I can't find that in the specs anywhere.
Thanks again.
 

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Welcome to the Forum! Like you, I also joined before buying my truck to learn what I could. As you can see I made the choice to stay. :)

I took a measurement from the bed to the top of the cab and 40" will clear the roof. I have a king cab but I would assume the measurement would be the same.
 

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Discussion Starter · #3 ·
Thanks espo, 40" is the distance between the transition of vertical and horizontal on the front of my camper. BTW, I cannot use the modern pickups like the Tundra, Silverado, F150 (and maybe the Titan) to haul the camper because of their high bed side dimensions.
Chev Colorado is not available in a 6' bed crew cab, Ranger does not offer a CC and the the Dakota is just plain ugly. Frontier it is..by default.
 

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Not to sway you away from the frontier, but if the bedside is too tall, couldn't you make a floor for the bed out of plywood and 4x4's (or whatever height is needed)?
 

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Welcome, upflying. I am also a newbie without a truck. Though that will change in several days. Good luck on finding a crew cab with a long bed. They are pretty rare, believe me! I have been scouring the Internet since April trying to find the "right" CC with a long bed and there's just not many for sale out there...far less than 100 on AutoTrader. Well, I was looking for only 4x4, CC, with a long bed...so my results were probably far fewer than yours will be.

Or not. I just did a quick test search for 2wd, CC, long bed on AutoTrader for the years of 2000 to Current. 87 results. Slim pickins! If I drop the long bed criteria, the list balloons to over 1500 trucks. Geez.

I got really, really, really lucky finding my Frontier. I hope you do, too. Be sure to scour CraigsList with craiglook.com. That's how I found my jewel.
 

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Discussion Starter · #7 ·
Thanks for the advice. I actually had the raise the camper up a bit to get it on my Colorado..the thickness of a couple of 2X4's laid flat did the trick. This camper is actually from 1987 and was designed to fit on a long bed (8') Ranger. I ran it with the tailgate down on my Colorado and will do so on the Frontier as well.
Nice find speedtouch, a 6 yr old truck with 5,000 original miles is unheard of. I am actually looking for new or something with less than 15,000 mi going back to perhaps '09. I'm in no hurry and will take my time looking. I got the wife's Accord for a daily driver and I use a company provided vehicle to go to and from work. I also have a restored '86 Monte Carlo SS and a BMW motorcycle if I need wheels.
Yes, my profile says I am retired but I am still working part-time.
 

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upflying, why not do what I did. My dealer factory ordered my long bed for me. It took just under 9 weeks to produce and deliver. They put their orders in the first week of a given month. Should they be taking 2011 orders now you can have it by early November.

Clint
 

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Discussion Starter · #9 ·
Thanks Clint, I bought my '07 Colorado that way. When I am ready, my initial plans are to use a broker service like carsdirect.com. The quotes they give are at or just over invoice. Carsdirect calls back and say they found a vehicle at a dealer a ways off and usually not in the first color choice. These vehicles may have been sitting on the lot for a long time and tend to be stale. Accept the deal or keep looking.
Factory ordering a truck works out great for both the dealer and the buyer. The dealer just acts as a middleman and does not have the flooring costs of keeping new vehicles on the lot. The buyer gets a factory fresh vehicle.
 
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