BeefCake's build...a roll your own Earthroamerish family expo rig

[lostih]

Yup...you are indeed correct! I guess I just hadn’t seen them inflated or something. I’m using the same bag just taller. Seems to work so far. It is tight (.5”) of clearance in a couple spots so I’ll monitor those carefully. I plan to carry a spare bag on big trips as well. Having a bag suddenly deflate is my biggest concern with a pure air suspension

 

[Bubblegoose1]

Yup...you are indeed correct! I guess I just hadn’t seen them inflated or something. I’m using the same bag just taller. Seems to work so far. It is tight (.5”) of clearance in a couple spots so I’ll monitor those carefully. I plan to carry a spare bag on big trips as well. Having a bag suddenly deflate is my biggest concern with a pure air suspension

Not a bad idea. With your tire size, that would be a big problem; deflation. I can get away with deflation and rolling on internal bumpstop, if just to be able to get off the hwy. I have little tires.
Still thinking about going super single big tire, but have to think more on it.

 

[lostih]

Got stuck for the first time today . Helping my brother get a couple yards of rock down a steep, narrow, loose gravel road.

Pics never do off camber, steel situations justice...

This is after pushing it up with the excavator a bit. Gravel was so loose that I just dug big holes. It’s big son of a gun...

 

[guidolyons]

Cool truck, can't wait to see the finished product once you finish modifying the trailer box.

 

[lostih]

Cool truck, can't wait to see the finished product once you finish modifying the trailer box.

Thanks! I’ve been working two jobs for the past two months (gotta pay for the habit somehow ?) but will be getting back to this in the next week. Tentative departure date is still mid-July so I better get on it ;-)

 

[lostih]

Well after being mia for a few months I finally am back to working on the camper. Good thing too because we are leaving in it July 15th for a 5k mike trip

Today I finally got the back of the box closed in.

I’m reusing the back flip out bed from the trailer. I also was able to run the slide out for the first time with it on the truck. Nice to see it taking shape.

My phone doesn’t take the best interior shots but with that slide out there is a ton of room inside.

 

[lostih]

Next up is figuring out the bathroom. I finally settled on ordering a 24x32” shower pan and will be making it a dry bath.

I promised myself I’d just order an airhead composting toilet but I just couldn’t do it. I’m too cheap. So off to the interwebs and Home Depot I went. I decided to make a mashup of the air head and the c head. I’m adding a computer fan for ventilation and hoping that both dries things out and makes the top plug that the chead uses unnecessary. I have it done except for the vent hose and plan on using it in the house until we leave to see if it works. I really don’t want to leave and find a week in that it doesn’t work

The agitator is just pvc pipe with a T in it and an old fan blade cut and screwed into it. For urine diverted I modified a large funnel. The poo bucket is and old 5 gallon hydraulic oil bucket. The container is the top half of a garbage can that is a friction fit over the 5 gallon bucket and milk jug per container. I’m into it $60 ($35 of that was for the computer fan and sump pump discharge pipe and fittings that I’ll use for ventilation). If it works great! If not at least the boys and I had fun making it

 

[Jo_Duval]

Looking good! Definitely inspiring!!

 

[Ozrockrat]

Interesting to hear your long term review of your loo (toilet). $60 is a whole lot better than what I paid for our nature’s head but my wife is happy with it so even know it was a pain in the wallet its worth the money for me.

 

[CoyoteThistle]

Looking really good, congratulations on the progress!

Please do report on how the toilet works out. I like the price tag vs. the Natures Head

 

[lostih]

Well...so far the toilet is working fine. But that’s not really fair as it’s just sitting in the barn and only my boys have made deposits so far . I’ll report back on the toilet after the trip but here’s my guess: I think it will work but won’t have the fit and finish of one of the mass produced units.

I did make some more bathroom progress though. Got the shower plumbed and in.

I also got the water heater in and made some progress on wiring. Tomorrow I hope to finish the wiring enough to pull the slide back in without having to use jumper cables .

Today I picked up a new stereo head unit because dodge for some reason installed speakers in the back doors of ST 5500’s but then prevents them from running with a factory head unit?! And I think beefcake needs a backup camera...I may have recently caught the awning pulling it into the barn...this thing is looong and tall...

 

[Coachgeo]

Next up is figuring out the bathroom.......off to the interwebs and Home Depot I went. I decided to make a mashup of the air head and the c head. I’m adding a computer fan for ventilation and hoping that both dries things out and makes the top plug that the chead uses unnecessary. I have it done except for the vent hose and plan on using it in the house until we leave to see if it works. I really don’t want to leave and find a week in that it doesn’t work

The agitator is just pvc pipe with a T in it and an old fan blade cut and screwed into it. For urine divert.... The poo bucket is and old 5 gallon hydraulic oil bucket. The container is the top half of a garbage can that is a friction fit over the 5 gallon bucket and milk jug per container.....

little confused..... Top half Garbage can... is that the grey container? Looks more like a storage tub? 5gal bucket... assume that is inside the grey. What did you make the white cap out of between grey container and toilet lid? . Where is Milk jug? Is that for the Urine? Not familiar with the "C Head" but will look it up. Is the agitator handle also the vent? The agitator handle... how is it placed for agitating, and removed for human manure depositing etc.?

Much thanks....

really hope to do very similar but I will not just dump it.. but bake it in a seperate box heated by exhaust to kill all pathogens/dry further. Then possibly make bio-char out of it. No longer have to get firewood just burn the . granted the exhaust baking and bio-char are long down the list... will just operate as typical compost loo at first. As to Urine... also long down the list...... I hear it makes for awesome HHO to feed to engine... or even hydrogen to cook with. Takes less electricity to do the gas separation and the natural urine compounds provide the needed catalyst.. so additional catalyst not needed either. Till get to that point.... considering fumigating this and grey water into the exhaust when driving to kill pathogens and expel it.

 

[lostih]

The gray bin looking thing is the top of a garbage can. I wanted something that would bend around the bucket and milk jug and hold them snugly without fasteners. This setup works well for that. The lid is just 1/2” plywood that’s primed and painted. The five gallon bucket goes at the back and the milk jug in front for iron. The agitator handle is just pvc pipe that slips into the agitator shaft pvc pipe. The agitator shaft has a 3/8 bolt (or whatever metric I had in the bolt bin) running through it. The handle then has a slot cut in it so that it slips over the bolt and will spin the agitator. Hard to explain but if you look up the c head you’ll get the idea. The vent hasn’t been added yet but will just go into the garbage can.

 

[lostih]

Got the batteries and inverter wires up and tied into the original camper wiring. Next on that front is learning about how to connect the camper electrical system to the trucks for charging. Would love to put on a dual alternator but just don’t have the time before the trip :-(.

I also put on the new rear sway bar. 1.5” thick. Original is probably 7/8”. That ought to make a difference.

Tomorrow is shifting the rear bags a bit as they just barely rub on the rear u bolts when inflated with the load of the camper. Also hoping to make some progress on mounting propane tanks and finishing up that plumbing.

 

[lostih]

Took the maiden voyage to the local burger joint tonight! Had my wife follow me to see how jiggly it looked going down the road...she said the only thing she noticed was all the wires hanging down . Still need to tuck those up but waiting for the battery isolator wiring to do it all at once.

I ended up adding two more 4’ storage boxes behind the wheels. The drivers side one houses the propane tanks and I’m sure I’ll fill the other with something as well. I don’t like what it did to departure angle but I’m leaving in 8 days and I need to be realistic that this is a pavement and gravel road rig...not Moab ready. Heck it’s so stinking tall I think I’m gonna have to watch out for low branches

I also fabbed up the start of a spare tire mount. Once I had the side boxes on I decided to hang the spare tire between them. No other good place for it really. Tomorrow I might experiment with wedging it at an angle or something to make a rear bumper be able to go across but we’ll see.

I scavenged a spare tire winch off a 2004 dodge pickup at the wrecker. It had a health size cable and surprisingly will winch the tire to the ground!

I mounted it in a piece of 3” channel that I then welded between the two rear wings on the frame.

I won’t plan on having the cable carry the weight of the tire going down road as I’m sure it’s not designed for the weight of the MPT, but it sure beats lifting that beast up there by hand! I also checked tire wear between this new mounted spare and the rears. Nothing measurable yet

Tomorrow I’m going to install the new radio and backup cam and hopefully clean my AC evaporator. I need to work on a rear bumper and tail lights but want to take a break from cutting and welding for a day. Also need to figure out what to use for tail lights...suggestions welcome.