BeefCake's build...a roll your own Earthroamerish family expo rig
- Thread starter lostih
- Start date
Well I set the frame on the back today...
I think I’m ok with the length, but looking forward to getting the box on it to see how it looks. I’m hoping to build an at least temporary direct mount system so that I can drive it up the same off camber hill and see how much it stiffens the frame. I go back and forth on how much it will help and figure there’s only one way to find out. I’d like to avoid a torsional mount if I can.
I think I’m ok with the length, but looking forward to getting the box on it to see how it looks. I’m hoping to build an at least temporary direct mount system so that I can drive it up the same off camber hill and see how much it stiffens the frame. I go back and forth on how much it will help and figure there’s only one way to find out. I’d like to avoid a torsional mount if I can.
Looking good! You might be a bit longer than my GOVE f550 build. keeping mass forward will help because you could end up with rear of the truck causing some nasty swinging. And those tires will be great off road but they allow a lot of movement from side to side when you are at freeway speeds.
Loonnngg
. The frame is 13’ 10’ total and the box will be 15’6”. I think the truck will come in around 27’.Not yet. Hoping to do that with the temp mounts soon. I have about 6” up travel at the moment which I think is sufficient so if I need to limit it I will. If I do a three point mount it will add a couple inches as well.
Doc Foster
Adventurer
Very cool project. Subscribed.
Well...making some progress. I worked on the front of the camper where the over cab bed area will attach. I recycled some of the aluminum framing I cut out from other places and added capped off the walls for a better fastening spot. I’m using sikaflex 252 and the 206 primer and aktivator.
Here’s the wall as cut:
Here it is with some foam removed and the new aluminum being slid in
While I wouldn’t recommend many of the construction techniques I see in rv construction I thought this was a good idea...
It looks like in high stress area the manufacturer puts thin gauge sheet in the lamination process. Kinda cool. Since I’m recycling the walls I couldn’t add these where they are needed...but I will if I ever build one from scratch.
Here’s the wall as cut:
Here it is with some foam removed and the new aluminum being slid in
While I wouldn’t recommend many of the construction techniques I see in rv construction I thought this was a good idea...
It looks like in high stress area the manufacturer puts thin gauge sheet in the lamination process. Kinda cool. Since I’m recycling the walls I couldn’t add these where they are needed...but I will if I ever build one from scratch.
Here’s the primer painted on the aluminum pieces.
I didn’t take any pics of this but I should have taped the edges on the camper where I wanted it. I got a bit carried away and had a bunch of cleanup to do to get the primer off where I didn’t want it.
Next up was gluing the filon material to my sandwich panels. They make a special contact cement for filon that I bought from the rv place. I ended up spraying it on using a harbor freight hvlp gun. Not sure what it’s supposed to look like but they seemed to adhere really well.
First panel done:
The filon comes with a clear protective film on the finished side. This is great as you don’t have to be as careful to keep it clean or free of contact cement.
