1991 Chevy R/V3500 Crew Cab Build

[mattcrouch1502]

How much assistance do the springs provide? Any idea what the wheel weights and how much force do you have to apply to raise it? Looks like a great idea and definitely beats adding a winch.

The wheel and tire weight about 425#, I would put the weight of wheel, tire and tubing supported by the springs is about 475#. The amount of effort to lift it is not terrible, it doesn't lift itself but my 135# 14 year old son can raise it. Obviously a lighter wheel and tire combo would be easier the one thing to consider is that raising it without a tire would be sketchy due to the spring tension. Because of this the arm has to be pinned when down and then also pinned when stowed. The main reason for this setup was to keep it simple and stout, and also to avoid using a winch! Lol!

 

[mattcrouch1502]

A little update, I did some work on the box in preparation for a short camping trip with my youngest son.

I started by decking the floor and using insulation board and then decking the front wall, I also installed the window a/c unit, puck lights in the celing, and building a quick bed frame. The bed frame goes from a single wide to a full width bed, it also flips up to allow access under it.


The batteries are currently mounted in the front box but when the bed gets reworked they will move to under the bed.


The lights are on a 12v dimmer switch and this is at full power, it lights up the box really well for how small they are.


The two different configuration of the bed, double and single setup.


The grill is only going to be setup in the box when there is bad weather outside but this is where it will be located.


Here is a few pics of the test run we did, camped 4 days and found out a few things to add/adjust but for the most part everything worked great!