My Ghetto Camper! FWC-NCO on M116

[xxfullsailxx]

more progress...

Soooo...

i spent most of Saturday getting the old trailer up to snuff to be put on craigslist...and it sold in the first 24 hours! :ylsmoke:
i think i may have shed a tear...it's been worth it's weight in gold the last few years. except for that time on I-80 between rawlins and laramie, loaded to the gills with a storage unit worth of crap, in the dead of winter, when we blew a tire that ripped the fender off and blew out the side board, with no spare! oh the memories...



out with the old and in with the "new" :sombrero:

went through both hubs and removed the brakes & backing plates...re-greased the bearings and put the axle back together. i plan on adding electric brakes and 6 on 5.5 hubs at a later date...i don't currently have money for brakes, hubs, AND wheels for both rigs, so it will have to function as-is for the time being...





and i finally got through one fender cut...two grinder cutting blades later. i bought a cut-off tool from home depot and i was NOT impressed. the dewalt electric grinder with a cutting wheel seemed to do best, as long as you let it cool down every now and then... that steel is some burly stuff! i may take the cut piece down to the metal shop and have them cut out the piece i need to fill the hole.




on a positive note, it looks like the tires will clear the added width of the bed...i may still add some 1/4" spacers to make up for removing the brake drum. i need to figure out what i'm going to do for electrical...i was going to just run a 4-wire harness for the turn and tail signals but i may just go ahead and wire it for brakes too with a six or seven pole set-up.

thanks for the impact driver suggestion mark harley!

-darin

 

[Mark Harley]

Go with the 7 pin from the start. I used one an ran it to a steel electric work box on the frame.
I don't have electric brakes yet, but my 12 volt hot from the truck is there when I am ready to wire
a battery box.

Congratulations on selling the old trailer so fast.

 

[xxfullsailxx]

Weekly progress...

i spent all week after work cutting, grinding and welding the widened fender wells...here's some details:

i used 1.5" X 1/8th angle to fill the floor gap and make the transition up easier to deal with (1.5" is what i cut out from each side)...



this is by far the biggest welding project i've taken on...i borrowed a friend's Hobart 140EZ...which works awesomely considering it's plugged in to a standard wall outlet...i really want my own. (and don't make fun of my weld's! :snorkel: )



instead of trying to cut the panel's out of the original 3/16th" steel fenders, i went with some 14 gauge panels which were much easier to deal with...i just set them in place, traced my lines and cut the shape i needed with the grinder cutting wheel. the other stuff was a pain in the ******** to cut through.



welded new panel in place...and then ground down my ugly welding job to a smooth finish. :ylsmoke:



one thing i'm wondering about...from any welder's out there...do i need to worry about the backside of the weld's (inside the fender wells)? should i weld it up to seal it from a moisture/rust issue or is it fine with just some paint? i want the easiest answer possible (and maybe i just answered my own question)




still need to finish the fender well on the other side. by the time it's back together, i should end up at 48.5" between the wheel wells. i'm also hoping to get it wired up this weekend...i bought the seven pole plug & pigtail, a junction box, and 15' of wire...then i can start on stake sides! :sombrero:

 

[Mark Harley]

Looks great! My fab work is done with a 110 volt Clark Gassless mig.
If I need something welded where safety is involved I take it to the pros at work.

Like the fender fillers they work well. What about some spray on bed liner for the wheel wells?
you can get it in an aerosol can.

 

[Ford Prefect]

I am not a welder, but I would say that you will almost certainly see an issue with the grit, grime, and water getting into the backside of those welds if you do not seal them up. You can use some bed liner as mentioned above and that might help, or some "Bus Kote" paint which is an insulative paint that goes on about 1cm thick. That might be nice to coat the entire understand of the trailer with. Never the less I think it would be really easiest to just weld it up, even if it is ugly, so long as it is a good weld and does not damage the first weld it would only add strength and seal up the gap IMHO.

If you go bed liner the roll on stuff goes on thicker but of course is not as easy to do and takes more clean up time etc.

Good luck! The fenders look good.

 

[xxfullsailxx]

thanks guys!

...i do wish i could remove the flat-bed and finish the bed and frame right the first time but i am under time constraints. the bed-liner is a good idea and will be a good "temporary" fix. i used herculiner on the lower half of the camper (wood), applied with a roller and brush. it came out good...very protective and durable, but sweet baby jesus was it a mess! and you have to clean up with xylene which will eat your skin in half a second...think i'll try the spray can stuff this time.

i measured the camper and trailer again today...i think it's going to be a perfect fit...(insert :knock on wood: emoticon here)

i did have the adjustable channel welded to the A-frame for that very same reason Mark...didn't think the 110V was up to the task...pretty darn handy though, i bet the Clark is a sweet set-up. gotta get me one!

-darin

 

[xxfullsailxx]

slowly making progress...

it turns out we're moving to Oregon next month...so, i need to get this thing done!

here's some pics of the stake sides...still need to figure out what i'm doing for a rear gate...i've been trying to think of how i could utilize the rear eyelets as a hinge? i need the gate to stay outboard of the stake sides...otherwise i shorten the bed to less than eight feet which makes it difficult to haul a sheet of plywood or drywall.

hopefully going to finish up the electrical tomorrow and still need to put under-coating on the inside wheel wells...

-darin

 

[Mark Harley]

Looking good! I like the stake sides.

 

[elmo_4_vt]

That's going to look pretty sweet... Are you going to paint the trailer or camper?

Don

-

 

[xxfullsailxx]

thanks!

but, i DID paint the trailer...it's baby ******** brown!...:victory:

really, i've just touched up the trailer with some textured khaki spray paint from Ace...and we had the brown exterior paint for the boards laying around the garage. i'll finish up the front boards with the same stuff.

as far as the camper goes...i think i'll be re-paneling it with the e-board (as seen on teleturn's thread in the "pop-up" section) sometime in the future...so for now, it is what it is...the ghetto camper!

i'm almost ready for a test fit of the camper...will post pic's when i get it on there.

thanks for looking!

-darin

 

[Ford Prefect]

I am hoping the move is resultant of a new career move?

Well either way, best of luck on the move and sounds like the camper trailer set up is coming along nicely.

Will you sell the other trailer before you go then, or use it to move some of your gear up there? Could always put a hitch on the rear of that mil trailer and double pull.

Brian

 

[xxfullsailxx]

yes, received a new position and my very supportive wife was willing to check it out. haven't spent much time up there, but we'll be living in the Hood River area.

and i DID sell the old trailer! got more for it than i paid after 4 years of use...although i did invest a bunch of time and money improving it.

i think i'm going to load the camper on the new trailer and pack as much stuff as i can fit into it and the L/C for the initial move. (we're still coming up with a plan.)

going to try to undercoat the wheel wells this week still. got the lights wired up this weekend, but for some reason, the new 7-pole/4-pole male on the vehicle side is not pushing current through the correct wires...not sure what's up with this. the lights are working, but something between the vehicle & junction box is not right.

 

[Ford Prefect]

I did not check back, but you are certain that you are running on the 12v system now, right? That trailer started life as a 24v, so if you did not change that. Perhaps that is obvious for you, but if you did not know it would be rather annoying...

Hey congrats on the job! A bit of rain up there, but it really is a beautiful part of the world, very green!

If you have not heard of it, there is an Oregon back country discovery route that I would personally be very keen on traveling. Perhaps you can spend some time doing that. It was put together by a company meaning to make some money, but the routes and basic info is all free, then if you want a map or t-shirt of the thing you have to pay for that. Just get the gps stuff for free and go for it!

Hey another bonus is you are going to be really close to Canada (about six/seven hours) and some seriously good skiing, and a road trip up to Alaska has never been easier for you. I am certain you will find a lot of outdoors stuff to do out there. You even have skiing! MT Hood reports three inches new snow and a 151" base at mid mountain in the last 24hrs! So cool, and it is only about half an hour from the hood river area. The trail map certainly makes it look nice!

Ok now I am jealous! I want to go and ski there, haha.


Good luck with your wiring! Worst comes to worst you can go to wal-mart and pick up a new complete wiring set up for about $24.00 and just slap that sucker on there long enough to get you up there.

 

[CAPTNDAVIE]

So where are the pics of the FWC on the M101?

 

[xxfullsailxx]

So where are the pics of the FWC on the M101?

hey there...

guess i lost track of this...thanks for asking!