Introduction
Ross Monster just rolled out their first stock Baja Plus, and unlike their standard dealer units, this one isn’t spoken for yet. It’s built on an F-550 with the LX floor plan and is heading to IWS in Idaho. It’s a bigger, wider, longer rig than their Trail Baja line, and the LX layout adds a wet bath and a few other upgrades that make it worth a closer look.
Vehicle Platform and Base Specs
The foundation is a Ford F-550, and Ross Monster fitted it with 41-inch MPT tires and Liquid Spring suspension. The super single conversion kit is on the rear axle, which smooths out the highway ride and simplifies the spare tire situation since one tire now fits all four positions. The front end gets a Buck Stop bumper with fog lights and a Warn winch built in. Up top on the camper shell, there’s an Onyx 650-inch LED light bar inlaid into the shell.
The camper rides on a proprietary hard shell actuating topper that lowers down for highway driving and lifts up electrically when it’s time to camp. In the lowered position the profile stays compact and cuts down on wind sway. The Baja Plus sits higher off the ground than the Trail Baja, so electric side steps deploy on both the cab and the camper entry.
Exterior Features and Storage
Along the driver’s side there’s a full-size door for the camper, and when the roof is lifted a flip-up door panel opens above it so you’re not ducking or catching your head on anything. A porch light and an awning are mounted along the same side, and below that is a Maxtrax table mounting system. The Maxtrax mounts do double duty, holding the recovery boards in place during travel and folding down into an outdoor table at camp.
Out back, the Baja Plus doesn’t have a detached garage like the Haven model, so exterior storage handles the wet and dirty gear. There’s a locking ski storage box on the passenger side and a standard expedition box on the driver’s side, with a spare tire mount next to it. The rear also has upgraded bumpers, an outdoor shower hookup, and an exterior access port for the cassette toilet’s black water, so you’re not hauling anything through the interior to deal with it.
Power and Solar
The solar array is 800 watts on the roof feeding into a 200 amp hour lithium iron phosphate battery bank. There’s also a 3,000 watt inverter and an auxiliary alternator that charges the bank whenever the engine is running. Between the solar, the alternator, and the size of that battery bank, running low on power would take some real effort. All three sources work together, so there’s a lot of flexibility in how the rig gets topped off depending on what’s available.
Interior Layout and Design
Inside, the LX floor plan is nine inches wider in the aisle and 12 inches longer than the Trail Baja. That extra width is noticeable when more than one person is moving around in there. The layout runs cab-over bed up front, wet bath and galley through the middle on both sides, and a dinette in the rear that converts to a second sleeping area. Walls are upholstered in gray mix Duramax, cabinetry is white oak with grain-matched slab doors, and the countertops in the galley are white Corian. There’s a topo-etched backsplash in the galley to protect the upholstered wall panels from splatter.
Sleeping
The cab-over bed sits up front with a large forward-facing window and slide screens on both sides for airflow. Above the bed there’s a skylight that opens up, with a bug screen on one side and a blackout screen on the other. At the head of the bed, each side has a personal reading light, a small storage cubby, and a charging port with both USB and a standard outlet. A fold-down ladder makes getting up and down easy, and it tucks away when not in use so it’s not blocking the door.
The rear dinette converts to a second sleeping area for two people. The oak table lifts off the Lagun mount and sets down on cleats in the seat area, and the whole thing becomes a flat, roomy sleeping surface. So the rig sleeps four total between the two areas.
Wet Bath
The wet bath has an oak door that matches the rest of the cabinetry, with a mirror mounted on the inside of it. There’s Elfa shelving inside for storage, and the floor has a teak insert so there’s no standing in a puddle. The toilet is a Thetford cassette unit, and as mentioned, the cleanout port is on the exterior of the vehicle.
Galley and Kitchen
The fridge is a 130-liter Isotherm drawer-style unit with two separate compartments, each with independent temperature control, so it can run as a fridge-freezer combo or two fridges depending on what you’re hauling. The countertops are white Corian, and there’s a 20-inch flip-up extension that adds working space and takes advantage of that extra 12 inches of length in the LX platform. A two-burner induction cooktop sits on top of a combi oven that functions as an air fryer, microwave, or conventional oven.
The sink is a 16x21 Ruvati unit with a folding faucet, so the faucet folds flat, a cutting board drops in over the basin, and you get that counter space back. Upper cabinets run along both sides on V-latches, and there’s a drawer bank on the passenger side that gets progressively deeper going down, plus additional drawers on the driver’s side.
Ventilation and Climate
Two MaxxAir fans are installed, one in the galley and one in the wet bath area, and they can pull air in or out depending on what you need. The skylight over the cab-over bed adds another ventilation option up front. Climate control in the rear comes from a Cruise N Comfort AC unit.
Systems and Controls
Everything runs through a Garmin touch panel that controls lighting, monitors battery levels, and tracks fresh water. The system carries 65 gallons of fresh water on board. One standout feature of the Garmin setup is that the Ross Monster service team can log in remotely to help troubleshoot issues while the rig is out in the field. The owner can also check battery and system status from a phone when the rig is parked somewhere else.
The dinette area houses most of the plumbing and electrical systems, and there’s a step-up floor section with storage underneath and an access hatch to the fuse panel. Ross Monster says easy access to all systems is something they prioritize so owners can do their own maintenance and adjustments, which makes sense for a rig that’s going off-road regularly.
Warranty and Availability
This unit comes with a three-year, 36,000-mile Ross Monster warranty and access to their service team seven days a week. As a stock unit, it’s available to purchase and tour at IWS in Idaho.
Final Thoughts
The LX floor plan packs a lot into the Baja Plus platform, and the extra width and length over the Trail Baja make a real difference in how livable the interior feels. The power system is well thought out for extended off-grid use, and the exterior storage covers the gap left by not having a dedicated garage. It’s a capable, well-equipped rig and it’s sitting on the lot ready to go.