C5500 TopKick 4x4 Crew Cab Build

[SChandler]

Please take lots of photos during the box construction process, as there is lots of great info here, but I'm having a hard time figuring out how it all goes together. All of this composite panel stuff is very new to me and others, I'm sure. Thanks for being willing to document all of this.

 

[NeverEnough]

Please take lots of photos during the box construction process, as there is lots of great info here, but I'm having a hard time figuring out how it all goes together. All of this composite panel stuff is very new to me and others, I'm sure. Thanks for being willing to document all of this.

My brother is rigging a time lapse camera as we speak, so it should be interesting, especially if we catch his shop on fire.

 

[NeverEnough]

So the lights went in easy, a set of PIAAs and Hellas. Pricey little buggers.

The cab leveling jacks are a little more challenging. I wanted the jacks to be able to not only help with the overall leveling scheme, but to also provide a convenient means for front-end work (tire change). We knew we would only have room for an assembly with a 16 inch power stroke. We also knew that it would take 19 inches of lift to get the wheel off the ground (it's amazing much the wheel drops away when you pick up the chassis. I considered a drop leg, but decided to just carry some decent blocks for now. I would probably end up carrying them anyway, and it's one less tube assembly to maintain.

Casey, the owner of D&A, hoisting the front to help decide the optimal placement of the jack assembly. He's been a great collaborator on the project, with lots of great experience and good ideas.

The passenger side jack assembly tucked in behind the wheel. Each jack is only rated for 5,000lbs, but they're lifting the front end without any trouble. I haven't taken the rig to a scale yet, but I'm guessing I'm in the neighborhood of 11,500lbs so far, with most of that under the cab. In the end, I'll have a total of 8 jacks mounted, each rated at 5K. The only time the front jacks will work alone is when the box is off the truck.

 

[SChandler]

My brother is rigging a time lapse camera as we speak, so it should be interesting, especially if we catch his shop on fire.

I look forward to the visual documentation.:wings:

 

[NeverEnough]

They say good things come to those who wait. Well, waiting has become something of a habit during the past few months. Even though I'm well accustomed to the reality that everything takes twice and long and costs twice as much as anticipated, my patience is certainly being exercised. However, after weeks of missed deadlines and unkept promises, I know for a fact that my shipment of panels will arrive at our shop in Salt Lake tomorrow. Fortunately, Metalcraft, which I hired to fabricate my trailer chassis, finished just in time. I picked up the trailer today:

It's beefy but light, and pulls great. In case you don't want to reread the thread and are confused, I'll regurgitate the plan. We're going to build the trailer first, in order to debug our intended assembly method. The trailer box will be 15' long, modified V-nose, with a door on the front that marries up with the rear door of the truck camper. It will also have a side door and a rear ramp-door. It will be something of a mini-toy hauler, with a small bathroom, vanity, and fold-down bunks.

I also wanted the trailer to be a multi-use tool, like the truck/camper. We'll put down a standard (albeit coated) 3/4" sheet deck with versa trak so it can be used as a flat-bed when the box is not attached. It also has stake pockets to allow standard stake walls if needed. And there's a receiver on the back of the frame in case I'm tempted to do a triple tow (perfectly normal in Utah).

Since I wanted the trailer to be towable both by the Topkick and my Silverado, the tongue has a receiver as well. I had Metalcraft fab up two different adjustable couplers- a 2 516", shown below, and a lunette for the torsion-free pintel I ordered for the Topkick (hasn't arrived yet).

I'm happy with how the trailer turned out, with the exception of the spare tire mount. It is too low and will be hard to access. They actually stuck it on there without telling me, so I decided to leave it be for now. It's an easy chop.

 

[Ford Prefect]

Love that you have it to swap between the pintle and the ball hitches. Great idea.

Still sitting on pins and needles waiting for this to come to pass.

Cheers
Brian

 

[NeverEnough]

Honeycomb hideout

It's been a busy week at my brother's shop. PPE panels are formed via thermal lamination, which basically welds the skins to the honeycomb core. We'll be using PPE honeycomb for almost everything: shell, interior walls, built-in furniture, and cabinets.

Unfortunately, most manufacturers are limited to 50" wide thermal lamination. That means that some of the panels have to be joined together to achieve the desired dimensions. We're using a spline approach.

The factory produces nicely trimmed panels less than 12' in length, but we need much longer panels for the trailer and camper shells. Working with the larger dimensions requires the proper tools and talent, not to mention a lot of help.

First the 40' long panels have to be trimmed to precise square.

Then the core is routed to accept the spline. This is a precision job, since the skins are less than a 1/16" thick and a screw-up can ruin a whole panel.

The panel sections are then joined with adhesive and a healthy dose of pressure.

The main trailer shell should be formed by Friday, then we'll get started on the camper box.

 

[Ford Prefect]

Wow! Hot Dog

That looks amazing.

What kind of insulative value do you expect to get out of the panels? Will you add any further insulation beyond that?

Will the internal panels, for furniture etc, be made with metal as well?

Thanks

 

[NeverEnough]

What kind of insulative value do you expect to get out of the panels? Will you add any further insulation beyond that?

The panels provide approximately R-9. The interior walls have .25" Aerogel (approx. R-9) topped with a 2mm radiant insulation, with a .25" air-gap, and the 3/16" hollow-core composite paneling. The ceiling has an additional 1" of EPS. Best guess is +R20 in the walls and +R25 in the ceiling and floor (due to the "basement".

Will the internal panels, for furniture etc, be made with metal as well?

PPE= Polypropylene +Polypropylene/Polyester. It's all plastic, baby! The skins have a significant amount of fiberglass reinforcement. The polyester veil is thermally bonded to the skins to provided a better bondable surface. Plastic is easier to recycle, and has a lot of desirable properties for this application: durability, flexibility (dampening), elasticity, light weight, and strong enough to get the job done.

 

[Ford Prefect]

Ah, cool. An R-20 is pretty good IMHO.

I guess when you said "welds" I thought it was metal, which seemed a curious choice for exterior on a vehicle, but different strokes and all. It did not look like metal, but who am I to say different. Thanks for the clarification.

Solid panels seems like a great idea. Can you cut out a section in the middle of one, and put in a patch should it get damaged, or will you have to do the entire sheet over?

Any chance you will have this ready, or partially ready for the Overland Expo this year?

 

[westyss]

The panels provide approximately R-9. The interior walls have .25" Aerogel (approx. R-9) topped with a 2mm radiant insulation, with a .25" air-gap, and the 3/16" hollow-core composite paneling. The ceiling has an additional 1" of EPS. Best guess is +R20 in the walls and +R25 in the ceiling and floor (due to the "basement".



PPE= Polypropylene +Polypropylene/Polyester. It's all plastic, baby! The skins have a significant amount of fiberglass reinforcement. The polyester veil is thermally bonded to the skins to provided a better bondable surface. Plastic is easier to recycle, and has a lot of desirable properties for this application: durability, flexibility (dampening), elasticity, light weight, and strong enough to get the job done.

Interesting use of materials,and a cool build, I looked at aerogels while researching for my build and all I found for R value was around R-10 per inch, which is darn good in itself, how did it bond to the panels? How did the cost of the aerogel work out compared to a foam product, seems like an ideal product for expo vehicles, lightweight and high tech. Any idea of what one of those 40' panels would guesstimate in weight?

 

[NeverEnough]

Can you cut out a section in the middle of one, and put in a patch should it get damaged, or will you have to do the entire sheet over?

In theory, a panel can be patched in much the same fashion that the larger panels are joined together, though it would require a little different routing and lay-up. Whether or not it could be restored to "as new", meaning a perfectly flush patch surface, won't know until we try, which is hopefully never.

Interesting use of materials,and a cool build, I looked at aerogels while researching for my build and all I found for R value was around R-10 per inch, which is darn good in itself, how did it bond to the panels? How did the cost of the aerogel work out compared to a foam product, seems like an ideal product for expo vehicles, lightweight and high tech. Any idea of what one of those 40' panels would guesstimate in weight?

Aerogel is way more expensive than just about everything else. I knew that going into the deal, and if it hadn't been for the radiant floor material we're using, I would've put the money elsewhere. But after a lot of testing, nothing came close as far as being the ideal thermal barrier under our radiant material, not just in terms of thermal properties, but also for its mechanical and dimensional traits. And it bonds well to the polyester veil of the panels.

As for a 40'x4' panel- less than 200lbs. Our entire wall sandwich is less than 1.24lbs/sqft. We've paid very close attention to the weight of every component, as well as its placement to keep the camper light and the CG as low as possible. The hope is better performance in terms of fuel consumption and overall handling. :chef:

 

[NeverEnough]

Dropped by the shop this morning to see the trailer box- dead-on square, level, and plumb. The bracing will be removed in two days after the joint layup work has cured enough.

It'll take the rest of the week to finish the basic shell and internal structural components (nose, ramp-door opening, internal walls, wheel wells, and forward "raised floor" section).

So far I'm very pleased that my assumptions made during small-scale testing have translated nicely to full-scale assembly. It's making me anxious to get to the camper box! But we'll take a couple of weeks to finish up the trailer construction to make sure we've got as much experience as possible before starting on the "mothership."

 

[jesusgatos]

What are the rough dimensions again? Kind of hard to get a sense of scale from that pic. Glad it seems to be working out well for you. Sounds like you did your homework that's paying off.

 

[NeverEnough]

What are the rough dimensions again? Kind of hard to get a sense of scale from that pic. Glad it seems to be working out well for you. Sounds like you did your homework that's paying off.

Outside dimensions: 97" W, 100" H, 15' L. Too bad I didn't understand the value of homework 30 years ago! Then I could just buy a Unicat!