Ford F350 Overland Hunting Build

Our Ford F350 overland hunting build is designed to be a reliable platform for long-distance travel, backcountry access, and family adventure.

Jolene with the Yucca-Pac Safari camper in travel mode.

Instead of building a truck purely for looks, the goal with Jolene is to document real-world performance, modifications, and lessons learned while preparing a heavy-duty truck for hunting, road trips, and future overland travel.

This build focuses on practical upgrades, fuel economy testing, tire setups, and real-world ownership experiences with the 2024 Ford F350 Super Duty.

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Current Truck Setup

The truck currently includes:

• 2024 Ford F350 Super Duty

• 6.7L Powerstroke diesel

• 3.55 rear gears

• XLT Off-Road Package

• Factory towing prep

• 37-inch tire setup

• Yucca-Pac Safari pop-up camper

• HCalory Toolbox diesel heater

• Temporary 12V AGM battery and 100W solar setup

• Portable CO detector for camper and heater safety

This series follows the evolution of the truck as modifications are added and the vehicle is used on longer trips, family camping weekends, and future hunting adventures.

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Real World Fuel Economy Testing

One of the first things documented with this truck was real-world fuel economy. Instead of relying on dashboard estimates, fuel data is tracked manually to understand how the truck performs during everyday driving and longer road trips.

Articles in this series

• Real World Fuel Economy – 2024 Ford F350 6.7 Diesel

• F350 7000 KM Fuel Economy Test

• 37s on My F350 – Did I Ruin My Fuel Economy? (Real World Test)

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37" Tire Setup and FORScan Calibration

After moving to 37-inch tires, the truck’s speedometer required recalibration. Using FORScan allowed the truck to properly recognize the larger tire size and maintain accurate speed and transmission behavior.

If you're installing larger tires on a modern Ford truck, recalibrating the speedometer is a critical step.

Article

• 37 inch Tires On Ford Super Duty With No Lift

• FORScan Speedometer Recalibration for 37" Tires

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Yucca-Pac Safari Camper Setup

The biggest change to the Jolene build so far is the addition of a Yucca-Pac Safari pop-up camper. What started as a heavy-duty hunting and road-trip truck is now becoming a more complete family camping and backcountry travel platform.

The Yucca-Pac Safari opened up and ready for camp.

In travel mode, the camper keeps the setup compact while giving us the storage, sleeping space, and weather protection we were looking for. Once opened up, it gives our family a

much more usable camp setup for Alberta shoulder seasons, hunting trips, road travel, and longer overland adventures.

The camper also shifts the next stage of this build toward practical systems: heat, power, storage, bed organization, and making the truck work well for a family of six without losing the ability to travel into the backcountry. For a full look at the camper before the permanent storage, sleep system, solar, and electrical upgrades begin, read our complete Yucca-Pac Safari walkthrough. We cover why we chose this lightweight pop-up camper for our Ford F-350, what Expo taught us in rough weather, the interior space, and the challenge of making it work for a family of six.

Read: Inside Our Yucca-Pac Safari Camper | Can It Sleep a Family of 6?

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Camper Heat, Power and Sleep System Setup

As the Jolene build moves into a camper-based setup, heat and simple 12V power have become some of the most important pieces of the build.

This is not just a hunting truck. It also needs to work for family camping, mountain trips, wet weather, and colder Alberta nights. Our first priority was getting reliable heat into the Yucca-Pac camper without permanently committing to a final electrical, solar, or storage layout.

We started with a portable HCalory Toolbox diesel heater as a simple heat solution while we worked through the larger camper build.

The first article covers the unboxing, first start, cooldown cycle, duct lengths, controller extension, and our early thoughts on using this style of portable heater with the F350 camper setup.

Before Alberta Outdoor Adventure Expo, we also put together a simple 12V diesel heater power setup using a 105Ah Group 31 AGM battery, a removable 100W solar panel, and the Yucca-Pac’s pre-installed solar connection.

The setup was built in under 12 hours with locally available parts, required no drilling or permanent camper modifications, and ran the HCalory heater for approximately 26 hours through a cold, rainy Expo weekend.

It is not the final camper electrical system, but it gives us a practical starting point for future lighting, USB charging, solar expansion, battery monitoring, and a more permanent 12V distribution system.

Because we are building this camper for family camping, heat and power are only part of the equation. The next piece was safety. Before using the camper as a regular sleeping setup, we added a portable carbon monoxide detector as an extra layer of protection around the diesel heater, tent use, and future cold-weather camping.

We tested the AEGTEST AGT-3000 portable CO detector in the back of the Yucca-Pac and liked that it was small, rechargeable by USB-C, and easy to move between the truck camper, tent, and general camp kit. For now, we still plan to run it as an added layer alongside another CO detector because when the kids are sleeping in the camper, I would rather have more protection than less.

Article in this series

• HCalory Toolbox Diesel Heater Unboxing for the Jolene F350 Camper Build

• Simple 12V Diesel Heater Power Setup for Our Yucca-Pac Camper

• Portable CO Detector for Truck Camper Safety

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Future Plans for the Build

This F350 build will continue evolving with future upgrades and testing including:

• suspension improvements

• recovery gear and winch setup

• backcountry travel configuration

• camper heat, power, and sleep system setup

• permanent camper electrical layout, battery monitoring, and solar expansion

• storage and bed organization

  
  

As the truck is used for more trips and adventures, new modifications and lessons learned will be added to this build series.

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If you enjoy the truck builds, testing, and adventures,

you can help support future upgrades and trips.

Grab some Baker Adventures gear here:

Overland Build Merch

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Related Guides:

Backcountry Hunting Camp Setup

Sheep Hunting Gear List

Outdoor Gear Reviews