That One Guy
Adventurer
Especially with all the work going into it. Even if the funds were available, it's not like you could just pick up the phone and order up a new one.
C5500 TopKick 4x4 Crew Cab Build
- Thread starter NeverEnough
- Start date
NeverEnough
Adventurer
Unless you have my brother's cell number!:sombrero:
That One Guy
Adventurer
Are you guys keeping the plans?
NeverEnough
Adventurer
What plans?
It's been a busy week at the shop. First we had to lift the box upright and cut out the wheel wells:
The fresh water, black water, grey water tanks and generator were dry-fit just to make sure everything was going to fit according to plan:
Then the interior wall and "basement" crossmembers were dry-fit and prepped for permanent placement
The front wall panel was fitted, and the cabover entrance partially opened up to make things easier:
The cabover cantilever panels were prepared:
And the cabover pop-up overlay sections removed from the main box:
Then the cabover cantilever panels were installed:
Next we'll install the main floors, bathroom wall, and cabover floor. A decision was made early on to fabricate our own doors, although with a little trepidation. But we're very happy with the results. The doors use the panel cutouts from the shells, along with some custom extrusions.
We'll be using Trimark's 3-point handles and locking mechanisms, which should really make for some bomber doors.
The ramp door also got its panels installed, along with the extra channels to stiffen it up, then all the seams and joints were caulked before sending it to the paint shop.
Now if I could just speed up the paint shop.....
Ford Prefect
Expedition Leader
Wow...
I bask in the glow...
Cheers
I bask in the glow...
Cheers
NeverEnough
Adventurer
Thanks for the kind words guys. Brian, you should drop by the shop and check it out if you get down to SLC.
Ford Prefect
Expedition Leader
Yes, I would love to do that. I suspect that I can pop up there after the Expo.
NeverEnough
Adventurer
Alternatives to continous hinge for cargo doors...
Currently the plan is to use continous hinge for the side cargo doors, which is pretty much the standard approach. I have a friend with a cool cabinet door in his kitchen that is a "lift-up"mechanism by Blum:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hSM1GTelOw"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hSM1GTelOw[/ame]
Hafele and Sugatsune have similar mechanisms. I've also seen passenger bus cargo doors open with this type of 4-bar assembly. The advantage of a vertical lift door would be less required side clearance to open the door, which is a common problem for wide campers. But I doubt the residential products, with all of their fancy adjustments, would do well in a constantly vibrating mobile environment. And they're pricey, even when compared with geared continuous hinge. Anybody out there know of a source for something similar for mobile applications?
Currently the plan is to use continous hinge for the side cargo doors, which is pretty much the standard approach. I have a friend with a cool cabinet door in his kitchen that is a "lift-up"mechanism by Blum:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hSM1GTelOw"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hSM1GTelOw[/ame]
Hafele and Sugatsune have similar mechanisms. I've also seen passenger bus cargo doors open with this type of 4-bar assembly. The advantage of a vertical lift door would be less required side clearance to open the door, which is a common problem for wide campers. But I doubt the residential products, with all of their fancy adjustments, would do well in a constantly vibrating mobile environment. And they're pricey, even when compared with geared continuous hinge. Anybody out there know of a source for something similar for mobile applications?
Titanpat57
Expedition Leader
Wow...fabulous build!!
My take on the lift up hinges is they may fair well in the house or garage, but not the rigors of off road trails and vibrations of continous driving.
I'd possibly check the type that tour buses use to gain access to the "basement".
Best of luck and continued sucess with the build!:victory:
Pat
My take on the lift up hinges is they may fair well in the house or garage, but not the rigors of off road trails and vibrations of continous driving.
I'd possibly check the type that tour buses use to gain access to the "basement".
Best of luck and continued sucess with the build!:victory:
Pat
NeverEnough
Adventurer
Thanks, and x2 on the "interior" hinges.
I'm usually pretty good at tracking down sources and manufacturers, but I've about given up on finding a US supplier of "pantograph" hinge assemblies for bay/cargo doors. Most of the nicer Class A coaches adopted them years ago for bay doors (except under slide-outs), and they're common in the bus industry. Prevost evidently makes their own, and will sell me parts, but their system is a little bulky for doors of my size.
I also received my TECA spare tire winch assembly today.
http://www.tecaassembly.com/rv.html
Marvin, the owner, was great. They fixed me up with their heavy-duty hoist, rated for 200lbs, and a custom retention plate for my wheels. We'll have to fab up a bracket for mounting the hoist between the rails, as well as a swing-way safety bracket.
I'm usually pretty good at tracking down sources and manufacturers, but I've about given up on finding a US supplier of "pantograph" hinge assemblies for bay/cargo doors. Most of the nicer Class A coaches adopted them years ago for bay doors (except under slide-outs), and they're common in the bus industry. Prevost evidently makes their own, and will sell me parts, but their system is a little bulky for doors of my size.
I also received my TECA spare tire winch assembly today.
http://www.tecaassembly.com/rv.html
Marvin, the owner, was great. They fixed me up with their heavy-duty hoist, rated for 200lbs, and a custom retention plate for my wheels. We'll have to fab up a bracket for mounting the hoist between the rails, as well as a swing-way safety bracket.
dwh
Tail-End Charlie
NeverEnough
Adventurer
Thanks for the link. Turns out that pantograph assemblies are something of an inside game, but I finally hooked up with a couple of potential sources in the OEM space.
So the trailer, which is the alpha test structure, dissapeared into the paint shop weeks ago. We ended up having to do far more testing in order to get the desired outcome. In the end we figured out the right combination of primers, scoring, and PSI to get the right texture and bomber adhesion of the coating to the PPE veil. So now the trailer is all covered in primer and masked for the various color coats:
This week was spent installing all of the fiberglass structural pultrusions for the subfloor and beefing up the layup work in the "basement", mid wall, and front wall. It's amazing how many blades we chew up on the composites!
So the trailer, which is the alpha test structure, dissapeared into the paint shop weeks ago. We ended up having to do far more testing in order to get the desired outcome. In the end we figured out the right combination of primers, scoring, and PSI to get the right texture and bomber adhesion of the coating to the PPE veil. So now the trailer is all covered in primer and masked for the various color coats:
This week was spent installing all of the fiberglass structural pultrusions for the subfloor and beefing up the layup work in the "basement", mid wall, and front wall. It's amazing how many blades we chew up on the composites!
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LukeH
Adventurer
The autograph doors aren't that mysterious. A friend purchased an end of life coach just to get some for his camper.
It turns out to be a collection of rod ends (outer steering knuckles for golf carts) on bits of tubes. With your skills you could source rod ends and spherical bearings and rig up a parallelogram assembly quite easily.
One point to bear in mind is that these types of hatch have a latch both top and bottom, otherwise they don't stay closed.
Happy hunting.
It turns out to be a collection of rod ends (outer steering knuckles for golf carts) on bits of tubes. With your skills you could source rod ends and spherical bearings and rig up a parallelogram assembly quite easily.
One point to bear in mind is that these types of hatch have a latch both top and bottom, otherwise they don't stay closed.
Happy hunting.
It is until you stop to consider you're cutting fiberGLASS (aka sand
) then it starts making sense.