C5500 TopKick 4x4 Crew Cab Build

[NeverEnough]

I like it!

I'm not sure from your sketches, but are you now considering putting the pop-up side walls inside of the main side walls? I hope not, as I think sealing it would be much easier and more effective if the pop-up walls are on the outside.

The whole cabover outer shell is exactly that, outside the side and front walls to keep the water and dirt out.

I'll probably test out a couple of different seals/gaskets to see what works best. The thought of using the whole panel as a bifold door is a good one, to allow the best of both worlds. A bug screen would be easy to do.

I'm not an architect, engineer, or builder, but I've ended up building a lot of stuff over the years (or having it built). Most of my ideas start as "napkin" sketches (actually yellow legal pads for me). From there I go to software. These days I rely heavily on SketchUp to model ideas in three dimensions, to scale. I also do scale models for lots of stuff, as well as full-scale mock-ups sometimes. I wish I did it for a living, because it's way more fun than my real job! Someday...

So I suggest you spend some time with SketchUp to try out your camper idea. Start with some simple shapes and before long you'll be able to model out your ideas with surprising effectiveness. And remember that there are huge libraries of 3D components already made that you can use in your own models to test your theories.

If you you're ever in the Utah neighborhood let me know. In the mean time, thanks for your help. Great ideas and I need all the help I can get. If it helps you or anybody else with a build that's even better!

 

[Lynn]

The whole cabover outer shell is exactly that, outside the side and front walls to keep the water and dirt out.

I figured that, but just wanted to check.

...So I suggest you spend some time with SketchUp to try out your camper idea.

I'm a 'frustrated engineer.' Been working in electronics and technology for nearly 20 years, and have a little experience with AutoSketch, CadKey, and some others. Got my BS in Computer Engineering in 2000, just as engineering jobs were getting hard to come by. Since then I have had a lot of trouble adding any engineering experience to my resume.'

Now I've decided on a mid-life career change and am getting a secondary teaching certificate. Biggest plus to that is I'll be on the same vacation schedule as my wife and daughters, but one of the other cool things is I should end up teaching Autodesk Inventor in high school classrooms (and be able to use it in my spare time). In a couple of weeks I start an internship/student teacher position in architecture and engineering design classrooms that use Inventor.

Thanks for the suggestion on SketchUp, though. I've seen some cool stuff done on it, and was planning on checking it out, but now, like I said, I'll have access to Inventor. Oh Darn.

If you're ever in the Utah neighborhood let me know. In the mean time, thanks for your help. Great ideas and I need all the help I can get. If it helps you or anybody else with a build that's even better!

Thanks. Utah has some awesome backcountry to explore. I grew up in the Four Corners (Cortez, CO) so have seen a lot of SE Utah. Also skiied some up near SLC when I was younger.

Same to you if you get to the Austin area, but there's admittedly less to do around here... And I'm still a few years out from starting my dream rig. In the meantime, I've got you to flesh out my ideas. Plus, like I said, don't be surprised if you one-day see a rig exactly like yours with Texas plates...

 

[NeverEnough]

Subframe construction

This project seems to be burdened with long periods of waiting for materials to be delivered followed by bursts of activity. All of the aluminum was finally delivered this week to the fabricator and work has finally begun on the subframe and mounts.

Jose is the guy tasked with putting it all together. I've seen his work and he's one talented dude.

He's got all the drawings taped up on a board for quick reference. Can't wait to go by next week and see how much he's got done.

The generator also arrived:

Just kidding. That's one of the two 750kW's from our data center. A little heavy for this project. Since one of the objectives of this project is reduce, reuse, and recycle, I've tried to find decent used components where possible. I picked up this Honda 6010 from a salvage dealer. He pulled it out of a Monaco Class A that caught on fire last month. Only 70 hours and in great shape. It's a little heavy, at 210lbs., but it was a great deal, has a small footprint, and I love Honda's.

The original design was to use a diesel, but once I decided to have the camper detach from the truck, I went with gas, since I need to carry it anyway for the motorcycles. The genset tank and toy tank can be the same (30 gallons).

 

[Every Miles A Memory]

Loving this build and your design. I cant wait to see it unfold as time goes on

Post more photos :sombrero:

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

Good choice on the Honda.......one of the best for sure. I've got an Onan propane. Works great but much too loud for me. Still enjoying your build. Tell Jose to work faster. Looking forward to updates. Thanks.

 

[NeverEnough]

Here's some pics of the subframe taking shape from earlier in the week. That's a lot of 6061. I'll be going by tomorrow to see how it's all come together.

I also finalized the wall, ceiling and floor component selection. Here's the wall cross section, including an air gap to allow the reflective insulation to do its job. The wall paneling is imported through http://www.decorplastics.com/. It's incredibly light, looks nice, and is easy to install. AND it can be replaced, repaired, etc. which is difficult to do with monolithic wall structures.

The theoretical R-value of the sidewall should exceed 15. The ceiling has a deeper air cavity, thicker insulation, and 3/8 paneling. I sprung for Aspen Aerogel insulation for the floor so I could bounce as much of the heat as possible back up into the cabin. It's R-10 per 1/4" and weighs almost nothing. We've had a lot of fun testing the Aspen aerogel- very cool stuff, literally.

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

Very cool!
Thank you for sharing all your details.:coffeedrink:

 

[mhiscox]

Thanks for providing all of this useful information. A very cool build, and the information is very much appreciated.

 

[Ford Prefect]

One of the considerations I have recently thought of with the shower would be that if you are careful in your location of the shower you can drop the basin of the shower below the level of the frame. The box that I am looking at using is ten feet tall, so my thought is that if I put the shower outside of the frame rails I can drop the floor (in the shower) by six inches. This gives me 6'11" clearance in the shower and I can still fit a bed with three feet of clearance above the shower.

Now I am looking at a ten' wide box, so that may be different for you, but if you can drop that shower down you might be able to put a bed above it. That is a lot of space above your current bathroom set up that could be used. Heck you could drop much of the set up down, even the toilet and floor around it.

You already mentioned, in the mock-up of the interior, that you understand the concerns about not being able to slide out your beds. I would just be very certain of that. If you can not, for some reason, slide out the slides, will you be able to still cook in there? I mean if, for instance, something breaks (as you said untested) that would prevent your slide, heck stuck in the middle of nowhere third world country might be a bad time not to be able to use your galley. Hope that does not come out as harsh, not at all intended that way, just thinking out loud.

On your pop-up. I have thought about Jay's Ecoroamer a lot, and having seen it, and watched them putting it up and down... I think that I would have taken the pop up and made it bigger. Theirs is a hinged idea, I would have used a straight up box but moved the rear end out into the camper far enough that the hanging portion would not be in the way. The reason I say that is that, in my mind, it seems too easy to foul the way it is, and too easy to get crap inside the camper in a wind or rain storm. With four solid sides that all go up and down at the same time you get the head room but still keep some structural integrity. Again, this is just my personal thoughts, with no practicle experience to back up my thoughts.

By the way, if you have not written a PM to jayshapiro, I would suggest that you do that. Ask him about his lift roof, what he thinks of it, what he thinks of your idea, etc. He is a super guy, and can give you some great insight from his experience.

 

[NeverEnough]

Good to hear from you again!

The box that I am looking at using is ten feet tall, so my thought is that if I put the shower outside of the frame rails I can drop the floor (in the shower) by six inches. This gives me 6'11" clearance in the shower and I can still fit a bed with three feet of clearance above the shower.

Is the 10' height the outside or inside dimension? By the time your add shower pan, plumbing, structural shower ceiling, etc., you'll have less than 36" left for your sleeping compartment. This assumes you're going to collect your grey water. My box is 9'8" high.

Now I am looking at a ten' wide box, so that may be different for you, but if you can drop that shower down you might be able to put a bed above it. That is a lot of space above your current bathroom set up that could be used. Heck you could drop much of the set up down, even the toilet and floor around it.

I'm assuming you meant height. There is some space above (9.125" above the frame of the 6'8" door frame), but not much, and it will be used for 1) a low profile propane furnace; 2) ducting for the A/C unit and the furnace; 3) various and sundry wiring. In fact, it is actually a pretty tight squeeze.

The grey and black water tanks are directly beneath the bathroom floor, so I can't drop my floor at all. In fact, I almost raised floor in the forward 7' of the box so I could increase my waste water capacity (60 gal, and 30 gal).

You already mentioned, in the mock-up of the interior, that you understand the concerns about not being able to slide out your beds. I would just be very certain of that. If you can not, for some reason, slide out the slides, will you be able to still cook in there? I mean if, for instance, something breaks (as you said untested) that would prevent your slide, heck stuck in the middle of nowhere third world country might be a bad time not to be able to use your galley. Hope that does not come out as harsh, not at all intended that way, just thinking out loud.

If you think that is harsh, we need to trade jobs! Fire at will, that is what these forums are all about. All three slide mechanisms have manual override, however, the galley is perfectly accessible with the main slide retracted, and the table can be dropped to form a large bed when the slide is retracted. Finally, this rig is probably not going outside the US except to Cananda, and perhaps Baja. I would've chosen a different chassis, since the Topkick/Duramax doesn't have the type of international support required for extended cross-border trips. However, since the camper is detachable, it would be possible to mount it, and the matching subframe on a different truck. Before that happens, I'll have plenty of time to test out all the moving gadgetry and see if it's worthy of international travel.

On your pop-up. I have thought about Jay's Ecoroamer a lot, and having seen it, and watched them putting it up and down... I think that I would have taken the pop up and made it bigger. Theirs is a hinged idea, I would have used a straight up box but moved the rear end out into the camper far enough that the hanging portion would not be in the way. The reason I say that is that, in my mind, it seems too easy to foul the way it is, and too easy to get crap inside the camper in a wind or rain storm. With four solid sides that all go up and down at the same time you get the head room but still keep some structural integrity. Again, this is just my personal thoughts, with no practicle experience to back up my thoughts.

By the way, if you have not written a PM to jayshapiro, I would suggest that you do that. Ask him about his lift roof, what he thinks of it, what he thinks of your idea, etc. He is a super guy, and can give you some great insight from his experience.

On the pop-up, I'm still tweeking the design. I share your concerns but I'm not too worried about it- after owning commericial RV's, I'm no stranger to "fouling"! I actually met with my engineer buddy today to go through some fine tuning for both the slides and the pop-up. He's very smart and skilled and his suggestions will show up either in illustration or the actual build in the coming weeks.

I've pinged Jay a few times but haven't heard back, which is fine. Sounds like he's out enjoying his adventure with his family, which is what he should be doing. If I'd gone through his build for over two years, the last thing I'd want to do is get pummeled with questions for years after. His postings have been a huge help to a lot of us, especially with the degree of detail and openess. I'm just grateful that everybody on this board is so willing to share their thoughts and ideas.

 

[NeverEnough]

I dropped by D&A yesterday to check out the subframe progress. It's moving along. A shot of Jose in the middle of things:

A side view, which shows how far my back end sticks out (the chassis rails won't be cut until the subframe and removable hitch assembly are fitted). Not a great departure angle, but I prioritized living space over how deep into the woods we'll be able to navigate.

Jose in action:

I've never been around metal fabrication, so it's been very cool watching guys like Jose work their craft. I consider myself pretty handy, but I'm glad I've leaving this part to the pros!

I should also clarify that the "subframe" is really the equivalent of a custom truck bed. I went this route for two reasons: 1) it allows me to drive the truck away from the camper; and 2) it eliminates the problem of how to attach a composite box to the chassis rails. The primary load (the down force, aka weight, of the monocoque box is distributed over the entire bed and frame. The bed/frame prevents fore and aft movement, as well as side to side movement of the composite box. The camper basically interlocks with the bed. The only attachment force is the down force required to keep the body on the bed. That will be done using the modified Rieco-Titan 5K jacks and 4 safety latches for redundancy.

 

[Ala5ka]

I don't know about the new ones, but our company used to have a mid 90's version and it's an unreliable piece of c**p. Not projecting on your beautiful rig, just venting about our junky topkick. Your build is coming along really nice, and that is one amazing looking rig.

 

[NeverEnough]

I'm no expert on medium-duty trucks. I tried to do a decent amount of homework before deciding on the C5500. I was heavily influenced by some friends that have them in their commercial operations. They recommended the 06 due to improvements of the Duramax engine, the beefed up front axle, and the improved turning radius. And I can burn bio if I want. So we'll see.... And if it turns out to be lemon, I can always swap out the truck. I came close to buying an International 7400, just couldn't justify the extra expense and the cab height would've changed the design.

 

[NeverEnough]

Entrance steps

So I've tried to look at as many different entrance steps designs as I could find. I'd love to hear opinions about what has worked as what hasn't.

My current design has three of the steps inside the camper box, but I'm weighing the advantages and disadvantages of having the entire entrance step assembly outside the box. I'd pick up some extra basement storage. I could also use a simple fold-down stair assembly, possibly creating a recess for the entrance door that would allow the steps to ride flush with the camper when in motion.

I like the idea of the steps having 8"-9" deep treads, 24" wide, and I need 5 steps between the ground and the camper deck (7 risers of 8" each). I also like the idea of the bottom of the step assembly resting on the ground, rather than cantilevered (I've replaced several sets of retractable RV cantilevered step assemblies).

I'd love to hear what has worked and what hasn't.

 

[Ford Prefect]

Is the 10' height the outside or inside dimension? By the time your add shower pan, plumbing, structural shower ceiling, etc., you'll have less than 36" left for your sleeping compartment. This assumes you're going to collect your grey water. My box is 9'8" high.

Well the box that I was looking at was a freezer box, so it is already insulated, and it was (I assume) the exterior dimension.

As for the shower pan etc. I was not planning to use one at all. I will just have the box built, and tiled, then you only drop out a cm or two.

I'm assuming you meant height. There is some space above (9.125" above the frame of the 6'8" door frame), but not much, and it will be used for 1) a low profile propane furnace; 2) ducting for the A/C unit and the furnace; 3) various and sundry wiring. In fact, it is actually a pretty tight squeeze.

The grey and black water tanks are directly beneath the bathroom floor, so I can't drop my floor at all. In fact, I almost raised floor in the forward 7' of the box so I could increase my waste water capacity (60 gal, and 30 gal).

The gray water, yes, will plan to collect it, but again with a low enough tank (say right above the axle) then it would still be down hill to the tank (might need a value to keep it from reversing on me but other than that it should be fine I suspect) Of course this would be well outside of the insulated area, so it may freeze in winter. (which I do not plan to spend winter in the thing anyhow at this point) I recon on running the ducting et al. at the frame level. A little spray on insulation should take care of that (I think). Again my ideas are fully untested, so, perhaps when I talk with an expert he will nix half of what I desire.

My planned roof height is only 6'6" so that leaves a lot of room for a bed above it (in a 10' space) I would, therefore, only do a 6'6" or 6'5" doorway. I realize this is tight as I am just shy of 6'5 myself, but heck I can duck in the doorway if it gets me a second story camper (I do it all the time in my current home...)

If you think that is harsh, we need to trade jobs! Fire at will, that is what these forums are all about. All three slide mechanisms have manual override, however, the galley is perfectly accessible with the main slide retracted, and the table can be dropped to form a large bed when the slide is retracted.

Yes, I saw that manual override, but what happens when two of the slides bend the rails because of your kids jumping in the back bedroom or something equally unpredictable. That is what I meant, if something that can not be overridden breaks. BUT if you can cook in there, then that is super. Kids can sleep on the floors...hehe.

The project Still sounds brilliant, all the best if your coming efforts.

By the by, any speculations on how long the build will take you?

Cheers
Brian