M101A3 build

[Johnnyenglish]

Dexter #3,500 axle with electric brakes ordered. Arriving 5/19. Matching AEV Savegre wheels and 315 70 17 BFGs arrive tomorrow. Adaptit-USA 2" wheel spacers arrived today. If you are planning on using AEV wheels with Dexter axles you'll need the 2" spacer with a 2.67 center bore so that the grease caps sit behind the AEV center cap.

 

[Johnnyenglish]

Small progress but accelerating

Got the jacks done today and ordered the parts for the electrical set up. Tongue box and awning mounts should be done Thursday with the electrical over the weekend and the axle completed Monday. I'll post progress pics as we go. With a little luck I'll be ready for Memorial Day weekend.

 

[Johnnyenglish]

More parts...

Aluminum for the tongue boxes arrived today and finished mounting the jacks. Planning on adding a retaining pin and a tightening bolt to the jack receivers to keep the jacks from rattling when driving. 4runamok Mitch from GooseGear is helping me wire everything up. The plan is for a single Group 31 battery that will be charged by the alternator while the trailer is being towed, solar while at camp and shore power while being stored. No inverter for now but may think of adding it later. The battery will run the fridge and camp lights for the most part with lots of USB ports for charging phones and cameras. I should have a big box of parts from PowerWerx waiting for me when I get home from work today.


Plan on storing the jacks upside down during transit.

PowerTanks 11# bracket and Manchester tank

Aluminum waiting to be bent

79" CVT awning waiting for install

 

[Johnnyenglish]

More parts showing up.
CTEK DC 7pin/solar charger
50 amp anderson connectors for the ARB portable compressor
Exterior Anderson connectors for the solar panels
Exterior dual USB
Interior dual USB (high capacity)
LED strip lights for the boxes and under the RTT annex
12 circuit fuse box and negative bus
Shore power outlet

Voltmeter, CTEK shore power charger, cig lighter outlet, mounting pods and trim pieces should be showing up tomorrow. Mitch is going to be busy

 

[yzingerr]

seriously, stop posting pictures! It's making me want to spend a ton of money and I don't think my wife is as appreciative of this as I am.

 

[RagnarD]

I stow my rear jacks poining towards the rear or in the bed of trailer. You will be suprised what they can get hung up on. Build is looking good.

How are you going to drill the holes in the 2.5" tubing?

 

[Blacknight]

Looking good bud!

 

[Johnnyenglish]

More progress

Awning and propane mount is done. Working on the boxes.

 

[dstock]

Nice work!

 

[Johnnyenglish]

More progress


Relocating the tongue jack and adding support to frame for the boxes.

 

[Johnnyenglish]

Getting closer

 

[Johnnyenglish]

Battery compartment coming together.

 

[Johnnyenglish]

Lengthening the tongue

 

[RagnarD]

Before ordering your new axle, you may want to load it up and take it to the scales. Could be getting close to 3500 lbs and don't want to run at the limit all the time/the axle to be the weak point.

I would pull the tongue box, demo the old extension, then tie a one piece draw bar into the first/second cross member. You have a nice build going and you will regret taking a short cut on the tongue down the road.

Could not hurt to add a third bracket for your awning, its not that difficult to pull the bolt head through that extrusion or mangle the channel.

Any plans for a rock guard to protect the aluminum boxes?

Looks nice a nice shop. Maybe I missed it, are you doing this work or is a fab shop?

 

[Johnnyenglish]

Ready for a shake down trip

Was able to get battery charger/solar controller, fuse block, usb/cigarette lighter chargers and switch panel mounted. Still need to install the shore power charger, led lights in the boxes and Anderson connectors for portable compressor. 4runamok is awesome! Super clean install.

100w solar panel charging well