Search results

Making the backer plates for the pneumatic struts.

Time to work on the lift. The inside seems pretty big now.

Here's an old picture of the back. Building the hatchback will be a bit tricky. I made the back of the shell narrower to fit the bed and can't use a stock Gladiator rear window. My plan is to use 3/16" or 1/4" Acrylic (plexiglass). Polycarbonate (Lexan) is stronger and easier to cut and drill...

Yeah, I hear you. I love that I'm building in my basement in the winter, but I'm paying the price with all the dust in the house.

Sanding the fiberglassed transition and smoothing with bondo. Seems like I'll never be done sanding.

This video makes me wish for a high end interior. Sink, stove, microwave, in a small build. The link will take you to youtube.com

I’m putting on a second layer of fiberglass on the transition.

Look what came in the mail! Hope to try out the pneumatic lift for the top soon.

I’m fiberglassing the wood transition to the shell. It looks rough but It will be seemless before paint.

Happy New Years! Here's one of my favorites!

Thanks for the encouragement! I have to say this is a blast designing and building. What a fun winter project. I just received my (4) pneumatic struts, so I really appreciate your experience with a similar lift system. I was wondering if it will be stiff enough side to side, and I guess...

Now since I have the transition made I can trim out the inside. I left 6 inches on the front for a bit of added strength since there isn’t much material there.

It fits good!

Scribing and fitting the transition lip.

Making some curved corners for the transition between the top tops. Lucky I had some 2” paralam available.

Here's the back view. Here's a link to my build thread. https://expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/gladiator-pop-up-walk-through-camper-build.227973/page-8

Still working on it. Just ordered the pneumatic struts for the pop top.

Thanks for the verification. I forgot the struts will be at an angle. We need to use vector forces. My build will have the struts at 60 degrees when extended, so only 2/3 of the total force will be upwards. 2/3 of 160 lb is 106 lb. 4-40lb struts should be just about right for me.

The bodywork is 90% done with just a few scratches to clean up. I’ll leave the rest to do right before paint. Time to work on the top lift and then the back hatch.

So here is another option, (4) pneumatic struts. If I did my trigonometry right, (4) of these struts will get me close to a 36" lift. Instead of front and back like Project M, I would do (2) on driver side and (2) on passenger side. So far the upper top weighs 70 lb. I figure I'll add...