'90 Mercedes 917 Camper Build

[mk216v]

Newb question; how do you access the engine?

Good look here;

And....the back side in case you want to see it;

 

[DzlToy]

Hydraulics:

 

[UpperCrust]

DANG, that truck looks exactly for what im going for!

But mine is just gravity, wife hanging off the front, no hydraulics for us.

 

[mk216v]

Ahh of course, like other cabovers. Hydros must be helpful. (I've often wondered what happens to all your loose stuff in the cab when you tilt some of them even more forward; yard sale! )

 

[nick disjunkt]

Ahh of course, like other cabovers. Hydros must be helpful. (I've often wondered what happens to all your loose stuff in the cab when you tilt some of them even more forward; yard sale! )

It's an way to smash up your dash and break your windscreen. It's not the kind of mistake you make twice. I used to keep the wheel nut wrench behind the seats until an old timer schooled me.

I used to have a Leyland roadrunner and thought that the glass footwell panel seemed like a good idea (dogs loved it) until I noticed that most of those left on the road had replaced the glass with plywood as they got smashed pretty much every time the cab was tilted.

 

[DzlToy]

Having a pile of junk in the cab makes it much more difficult to tilt also. In the smaller trucks (NPR, Canter, etc) it is pretty easy for an average guy to tilt by himself. If the cab is full, like it was on a recent road trip, it is MUCH more difficult. On something larger like an FTR or Fuso FM, it is heavy for two guys. I have never used one with a hand pump hydraulic assist, but I imagine that it would be quite slow.

Something along the line of a nitrogen cylinder from a hatchback or wagon, sized appropriately, would be nice to have.

 

[mog]

Ahh of course, like other cabovers. Hydros must be helpful. (I've often wondered what happens to all your loose stuff in the cab when you tilt some of them even more forward; yard sale! )

Fuso tilt very easy. Just make sure all the 'junk' is at floor level or secured. If there is a lot of stuff (ice chest, etc) a simple trick is to open the driver and passenger doors, that helps with the CG on the tilt.
The tilt to access kind of forces you to make sure everything is 'normally' secured in the cab so not a lot of moving stuff when tilting (or as you said a 'yard sale') but that securing is a good thing for normal driving (accidents, quick maneuvers. etc), or in the Fuso's case... hitting a bump in the road :sombrero:

 

[UpperCrust]

Finally got the 74 gallon tank fully installed! Next week we will be raising up the air tanks.

2015-08-29_05-11-14 by casejeep, on Flickr

2015-08-29_05-10-40 by casejeep, on Flickr

 

[Ullie]

For some ideas:

More pics on http://www.overlanders.be/voertuigen under mercedes 1222. Conversion from firetruck to overlander.

 

[UpperCrust]

Ive been working hard trying to get the chassis ready to get to XPCamper. Ive installed my rear Come Up 17.5lbs winch as well as built my roof rack. I have a small hydraulic crane mounted on the roofrack and a small Come Up 2k winch to raise and lower my spare tire. Ill be finishing up the front winch mount this week.

20151019_105847 by casejeep, on Flickr

20151019_105540 by casejeep, on Flickr

20151019_105554 by casejeep, on Flickr

20151019_105609 by casejeep, on Flickr

20151019_105549 by casejeep, on Flickr

 

[Iain_U1250]

Wow, that's not a small hydraulic crane - 500lb at full reach I think your roof rack will be a bit stressed if you use the full capacity of it. Interesting to see how it functions. Does it have a winch or is it like a Hiab?

 

[UpperCrust]

Im making a brace that mounts to the frame which will share the load from the rack. It will also be the mount for my snorkel. Im mounting a small 2k lbs winch to lift the spare.

 

[UpperCrust]

Got the truck chassis fully finished. It was delivered to XPCamper today! Now comes the fun part.
Here is a write up and video.

2015-11-05_04-55-15 by casejeep, on Flickr

20151105_164517 by casejeep, on Flickr

20151105_164621 by casejeep, on Flickr

20151105_164632 by casejeep, on Flickr

20151105_164638 by casejeep, on Flickr

 

[mk216v]

Awesome, I like how you mounted the exo to the front grille vs the body itself; clean!

Which XP are you going with again?

 

[UpperCrust]

Well we mounted the cage through the grill so it would be mounted to the strongest point of the cab (where the tilt point is located). And it does look clean.

XP is building a custom cube. I'm hoping it looks something similar to this:
917 by casejeep, on Flickr