pappawheely
Autonomous4X4
That's gnarly. Your right rear tire is gone.
@Adrifters - F550 Surf Camper Build - Adrift Motorhome
- Thread starter S2DM
- Start date
bigoldford
New member
How did the winch anchor work?
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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Well, not for $%!!!!!!
In fairness, I was using it not at all as it was intended and substantially outside its rated pull. It was pretty scary. We were resting on the right rear shock mount that I'd been unhappy with because I'd gotten the kings a little longer than I wanted and they extended to the base of the axle housing, but it ended up saving us, hitting a rock as we were sliding. The angle was enough that my 7/8ths full tank of gasoline was spilling out the fuel fill so we were working in a pile of gas. First mistake was being there in the first place, I'd justified not packing as much recovery gear thinking we wouldnt be pushing it too hard on the little mans first trip.
The second mistake was not having a solid ground anchor. I'd been holding off on buying the double pull pal option in favor of fabricating a custom ground anchor that fits in my spare I'd drawn up in solidworks but hadn't sent to the water jet yet.
The third mistake was arguable on whether it was a mistake or not, but this is one of the rare situations where front lockers would have been super useful and I'd been on the fence about adding them.
Def a good test of a marriage
My Mrs has been quietly advocating for something a little narrower and lighter with dedicated kids beds, so I think the next build thread may be coming soon -S
Great area. Any thoughts on how your spring loaded sub frame performed in that situation, or ways to improve? Were those side wings you had installed on frame engaged? not sure what there called? Are they tapered up and away or do they run parallel to subframe? Clearances between side wing and subframe? Nice to see some real world testing , glad it all worked out. I'm not use to seeing no trees and readily avaliable anchors, nice work.
Something I've never thought of till seeing those pics, is there any significant effect of stability when airing down with a campear box on? Lower cog and larger footprint equal increase? Or more unstable due to bounce in tire? I realize both possibly minimal, but every bit of knowledge helps.
Something I've never thought of till seeing those pics, is there any significant effect of stability when airing down with a campear box on? Lower cog and larger footprint equal increase? Or more unstable due to bounce in tire? I realize both possibly minimal, but every bit of knowledge helps.
Well, to be honest, I didnt even look under there. It was an all hands on deck to get the babies and the dogs out of harms way and then try to extract.
My COG is extremely low on the camper, it was one of the design criteria. And those big tires really don't flex much until you get down to 5-8 psi. So I dont think it added to my off camber situation, but hard to say.
The retainer plates on the side are lined with UHMW and have a very slight taper away from the frame rail, basically touching at the top and then ~1/8th at the bottom. If you model your subframe in CAD, its pretty easy to simulate a torsional load on it and spring articulation and figure out how much splay out they need. If they were straight up and down it wouldnt really want to twist up and away like the spring mounts are designed to.
Overall height is about 9'10". Our COG is fairly low with the locker below design and all of the real weight in it. That said, enough of the initial design was analog and so I'm not able to calculate a Cog. Weight is about 60/40 rear axle vs front.
Rocky Mountain Rider
New member
I'll Bet! it NEVER looks that scary from a pic..... ask any climber/skier/moto guy about their pics. That looks ridiculously close to catastrophic, glad your family was ok and the rig survived. Love little guys "nest" view, spectacular window arrangement.
Bryan
If you were to rebuild this with a current model f550, would you still choose the gas motor (7.3) over the 6.7PSD? Looking at options and drawn to the diesel for certain reasons, but gas is quieter, doesnt have the same smog devices, $10k cheaper, and keep reading a lot about cost of running a diesel (i always thought it would be cheaper long-term??)
I’m an outlier but I see no point in a new diesel unless your rig is over 16-18k lbs. And I think the benefits are decreasing even in that weight range. Take a look at Earthcruiser who no longer even offer the diesel option.
I will say, the diesel is comfy and easy to drive, my truck works going through grades. But the math just doesn’t add up for new diesels imho.
PS - I am currently doing it again, unwrapping the new build shortly, and chose a gas engine again. It’s the 6.0 LS engine this time with pretty similar specs.
justbecause
perpetually lost
I have only seen on road diesel cheaper than gas one time since hurricane Katrina. Given the higher price per gallon, def, and now almost negligible fuel savings diesel is always more expensive per mile to run by my math. that's not counting more expensive oil changes, turbo or injector replacement, very expensive smog or dpf parts....
racer3822
Observer
My diesel is a joy to drive, but VERY expensive to maintain. Oil changes, fuel filter changes and then all the sensors that go out on it with the emissions crap. Just was out last weekend and truck went into level 1 limp limiting boost to 20 psi because it picked up a def sensor high output.
All that and the MPG gain isn't that great anymore with all the emission stuff.
I would recommend the gas truck to anyone on the fence that is looking at cost and is ok going a little slower up the hills and isn't hauling.
All that and the MPG gain isn't that great anymore with all the emission stuff.
I would recommend the gas truck to anyone on the fence that is looking at cost and is ok going a little slower up the hills and isn't hauling.
