6 Best Truck Campers for the Ram Power Wagon

Ah, the Ram Power Wagon. Its been 17 years since FCA reintroduced the Power Wagon, the company’s purpose-built, off-road pickup to the public. The venerable pickup enjoyed an uninterrupted run in popularity from 1946 to 1981, when Dodge unexpectedly decided to no longer sell it. Fortunately, the company came to its senses in 2005 with the much ballyhooed re-release. Today, the Power Wagon is incredibly popular and is a steady seller. What’s more, the Power Wagon delivers considerably more power, better looks, and enhanced off-road capability than its predecessors. Sure, the eye-popping $58,800 price tag for a 2022 model will turn away those who are looking for an affordable pickup truck to haul a small truck camper, but the Power Wagon comes with an impressive list of off-road enhancements over the standard Ram 2500 that make the extra cost worth it.

What specifically makes the Ram Power Wagon special as an off-road vehicle? For one, the Power Wagon features a unique Ram “Articulink” front suspension that employs high movement joints, a five-link coil rear suspension, locking differentials on both axles, a 2-inch body lift, a 12,000-pound Warn winch, Goodyear Wrangler Duratrac 33-inch (load range D) tires, Bilstein shocks, under-chassis armor, and an electronic disconnecting front sway bar. Even the truck’s 6.4L Hemi V8 engine—which produces 410 horsepower at 5,600 rpm and a peak torque rating of 429 pound-feet at 4,000 rpm—has been tuned to increase rpm’s for low speed, 4WD travel. All told, these upgrades total well over $10,000 and give the truck an impressive 14.3-inch ground clearance, 26 inches of wheel travel, and 30 inches of water fording.

Unfortunately, when it comes to hauling a truck camper, this rock-crawling, mud-slinging beast is a 7,000-pound weakling. Even with a gasoline-powered V8, the 2022 Power Wagon’s payload is a lowly 1,564 pounds. This gives the off-road truck the worst payload rating in its class. Why? The main reason is the truck’s coil spring suspension that is designed to lift and articulate rather than haul a heavy load like a truck camper. Of course, the Wrangler Duratrac 17-inch load range D tires certainly don’t help with the poor rating, but Ram engineers purposely went with lower capacity tires due to the Power Wagon’s softer suspension. Still, the 1,564-pound payload rating is high enough to haul a small truck camper like those featured in this article. So without further adieu, let’s take a look at the six best truck campers for the Ram Power Wagon.

1. Four Wheel Camper Project M Topper

Another superb truck topper which made our list. The brand-new Four Wheel Camper Project M truck topper was designed for those who want a camper that is ultra-light, yet retains use of the bed for hauling gear, firewood, and material for home construction projects. Like all Four Wheel Camper truck campers, the Project M features an all-aluminum welded frame, aluminum siding, and a one-piece aluminum roof. The 425-pound topper features a fully insulated roof and sides, four large windows with screens and window covers, and an impressive 6 feet 6 inches of interior standing room. The best options include solar power and and a portable battery to power things like power portable refrigerators, computers, phones, and lights. Other options include top, side, and hitch racks for things like water or gas containers, shovels, Maxtrax, surf boards, kayaks, bikes, snow skis, etc. In the future, Four Wheel Campers will offer retrofittable, modular interior options like drawers and cabinets for organization, and racks for easy and safe transport of equipment and gear. Available in numerous colors in smooth, ribbed, or diamond-plate aluminum. A lightweight match for the Ram Power Wagon, pricing starts at a affordable $10,995.

2. Soaring Eagle OV-X 5.5

A quality topper from a brand-new company, Soaring Eagle Campers. Available in four bed sizes—5 feet, 5.5 feet, 6.5 feet and 8 feet—the Soaring Eagle OV-X tips the scales at only 600 pounds. Constructed of all tubular aluminum and composites, the OV-X is made to stand the test of time while still being robust and rugged enough to tackle extreme off-road trails. The topper features a pull-out king bed with mattress with built-in storage underneath. The open space in the bed provides enough storage for just about anything the owner would ever want to take with them on their adventures. Gas struts making raising and lower the pop-top a breeze. The OV-X’s soft top is both waterproof and durable, providing years of carefree usage. Standard features include two roof top 12 volt vent fans with LED lights to provide illumination throughout the camper. Popular options include roof mounted solar panels, a portable Blackstone griddle, Dometic powered cooler (AC/DC), exterior MOLLE boards for attaching gear, and a roof rack for kayaks. Designed specifically for mid-size trucks with 5-foot and 5.5-foot beds, including the popular Jeep Gladiator and Toyota Tacoma. Without a doubt, one the best lightweight truck topper camper shells for today’s overland adventures.

3. Overland Explorer Back Country 6.85

The Back Country 6.85 is one of the newest truck campers by Canada-based Overland Explorer Vehicles (OEV). This rugged, well-built, slide-in truck camper features a proprietary composite construction with R8 insulation, and an aluminum extrusion system to help keep the weight down, while at the same time increasing the strength of the camper and nearly eliminating thermal transfer. The 6-foot 2-inch floorplan features a king-size bed, 6 feet 10 inches of headroom, a large kitchen on the driver side and an L-shape dinette on the passenger side. Features include a 20 gallon fresh water holding tank, a 20-pound propane tank, a Victron group-27 100 amp hour battery, a Dometic CFX DC compressor refrigerator, a Remo Removable Dinette Table, Redarc Manager 30 with display, a Truma AquaGo water heater, and a Truma Vario Heat furnace. The camper also comes with an outside shower enclosure bracket kit with universal adapters, four Reico Titan manual lift jacks, and four Torklift Anchor Guard Derringer tie-downs. However, due to the camper’s 1,350-pound weight, options, which include a 180 watt solar panel, a 125 amp hour lithium ion battery, an OEV light bar, and an OEV roof rack, should carefully be considered. The OEV Back Country 6.85 lists for $44,888 USD for the base model.

4. Hiatus Camper

One of the best truck topper for your overland adventures, the unique, lightweight design of the Hiatus Camper offers all of the benefits of today’s truck topper without the use of canvas for a better four-season experience. “The pop-up truck camper market is dominated by canvas sided models, so our folding, rigid pop-top really stands out” explained Erin Sofinowski, co-owner of Washington-based Hiatus Campers. “Our fully hard-sided design insulates you from the cold, stands up to wet and snowy weather better, and provides a barrier from wind and external noise. Another thing that sets our camper apart is the option to upgrade to the double-back door, which makes it easier to get in/out of the camper and does a great job keeping dust/water out of the camper.” The Hiatus Camper is fully insulated, mounts to the bed rails of the truck, and provides a comfortable four-season camping experience. The campers weigh 460 to 550 pounds depending on truck size. The innovative, patented design features a large bed that can comfortably sleep two, which slides-out, and can be assembled in seconds. For a mid-size truck, the sleeping platform is 50×74 inches and for a full-size truck 57×74 inches, but if customers opt to upgrade to the vertical lower frame they will gain 11 more inches of width. Standard features include slider windows with screens in the pop top, a cab pass through window, a side access door, a roof vent, fixed window in the tailgate compatible door, an integrated third brake light, and Yakima tracks. They also offer the option to customize your camper, including adding electronics, extra windows, awnings, and customizable frame options. Pricing for the mid-size variant starts at $16,500, full-size for the Ram Power Wagon starts at $17,000, and 8-foot beds start at $18,300.

5. Phoenix Stealthy Mini

The smallest, lightest camper in the Phoenix Camper catalog, the Stealthy Mini is similar to the company’s Level 1 model except that the Stealthy Mini has no refrigerator and no underbed cabover storage. The slide-in camper’s floorplan features a bench seat on the passenger side, and east-west cab over bed, and a small kitchen on the driver side. Happily, the cubby underneath the step up to the bed is large enough to store a porta pottie. But the Stealthy Mini offers much more than just the basics—a lot more. It all starts with a double-welded aluminum frame, fiberglass siding, and R5 rated extruded polystryrene wall and ceiling insulation. Inside, the diminutive camper you’ll find an electric roof lift, a 12 volt Fan-Tastic Vent, lift jacks, a 100 amp hour lithium battery, a 175 watt solar power system, and a DC-DC charger. The Stealthy Mini also comes with a 20-pound propane tank, an 11 gallon fresh water holding tank (located underneath the kitchen sink), a 10,000 BTU furnace, a 30 amp converter-charger, privacy curtains, and 12 volt and 110 volt AC outlets. It also comes with a recessed platform on the kitchen side where you can store a cooler or DC refrigerator, a sink and stove combo unit, and a 5-inch thick mattress. Of course, the “mini” camper also features Phoenix’s trademark nose cap and aerodyamic cabover. Weighs only 900 pounds and can be tweaked to fit your full-size or mid-size truck. The total cost out the door for the Stealthy Mini is only $29,740, a bargain for what you get for the money.

6. OVRLND Campers Truck Topper

This Flagstaff, Arizona-based company revealed its first pop-up truck topper at the 2018 Overland Expo and hasn’t looked back since. Unlike the traditional slide-in truck camper, which easily weighs over 1,000 pounds, the base model of the OVRLND Camper weighs only 300 pounds, making it light enough to be safely hauled on any mid-size or full-size, half-ton truck, including the Ram Power Wagon. The camper features a vertical pop-top with a canvas height of just under 28 inches and comes standard with a pull-out, north-south 60×80-inch queen bed. The vertical walls of the camper maximize usable space and feature an aluminum “T track” on either side that can be used to secure and mount kitchen counters, stoves, and equipment to provide additional functionality, features, and comfort. Moreover, the topper’s internals can be easily be removed should the owner need the truck to haul plywood, firewood, or any other gear. This can’t be done with a regular slide-in camper. OVRLND Campers are custom-built, so owners can pick from a number of options available such as roof rack tracks, solar power, windows, awnings, extra bedding height, cabinets, counters, rear barn doors, lift jacks, etc. The frame is constructed using welded aluminum tubing, making it easy for interior or exterior hard point mounting of Jerry cans, propane cans, or other recreational equipment. The tubing construction also makes it easy to add 1-inch insulation for thermal protection against the elements. Easily, one of the 10 best lightweight truck topper camper shells for today’s overland adventures.

Outfitting your truck topper

Looking for a way to outfit the interior of your truck topper? A new company, called Roadloft offers a removable conversion kit that offers most of the conveniences found in standard slide-in truck campers. At just 125 pounds, it’s the lightest conversion kit on the market and the first of its kind. The modular kit is designed to fit all 6-foot full-size pickup truck bed, such as the Ford F150, Silverado 1500, Dodge RAM 1500 DS and the GMC Sierra. The company will soon be launching a version of the kit fit for the mid-size pickup trucks like Toyota Tacoma, Toyota Tundra and Ford Ranger. The fully modular design adapts to your lifestyle and maximizes space without sacrificing your truck’s cargo capacity. The kit includes a bench that unfolds into a single or double bed (48×71-inch) (single only for mid-size trucks) topped with a 3.5-inch high-density sectional mattress. You will also find two folding tables for a dinette or workspace, large storage spaces in every compartment and a versatile kitchen for cooking inside or outside in tailgate mode. The kitchen area offers 3 sturdy drawers: burner cabinet, retractable sink and storage. Built for durability, the 100-lb capacity drawers ensure reliable storage, while the unique clip system allows for tool-free assembly and removal. Made from eco-friendly wood and varnish, all the surfaces of the Roadloft conversion kit are ventilated to allow the release of moisture and prevent mold, assuring a safe living area. Whether for weekend escapes or long adventures, the Roadloft kit combines comfort, functionality, and freedom in one lightweight and durable solution. The Roadloft Pickup Truck Conversion Kit sells for only $4,995 with a one-year warranty and is shipped ready to assemble.

About Mello Mike 941 Articles
Mello Mike is an Arizona native, author, and the founder of Truck Camper Adventure. He's been RV'ing since 2002, is a certified RVIA Level 1 RV Technician, and has restored several Airstream travel trailers. A communications expert and licensed ham radio operator (KK7TCA), he retired from the U.S. Navy in 2004 as a CWO3 after 24 years, holds a BS degree, and now runs Truck Camper Adventure full-time. He also does some RV consulting, repairs, and inspections on the side. He currently rolls in a 4WD Ram 3500 outfitted with a SherpTek truck bed with a Bundutec Roadrunner mounted on top.

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