C5500 TopKick 4x4 Crew Cab Build

[jesusgatos]

Yeah, I've got it pretty easy in that respect. Nothing hangs below my camper box (everything is mounted to the frame), so I can just slide it straight back. Somebody showed me how some pictures of how heavy equipment is unloaded by only lowering the back two legs, and then driving out from under the box almost all the way, and then lowering the front two legs. Gets around the problem of having to build swing-out jacks to avoid the tires. Kinda neat.

 

[NeverEnough]

Now that's a holding tank!

I finally got a minute to go over to Beehive Plastics to inspect the fresh water and holding tanks. It's a one-man shop, and Kelly knows his tanks. Having had two grey water tanks rip on me, I knew I wanted something beefier for this build. All of the tanks are 3/8 poly, with internal support where needed, and multiple vents to deal with off-level situations.

Here's what a 65 gallon black-water tank looks like (yes, I rotated the photo, in case you're confused):

The grey water tank is 39 gallons, and the 3 fresh water tanks carry a total of 105 gallons. With all three potable tanks full, that's more than 850lbs of liquid on board, which is one of the reasons I opted for three tanks that can each be isolated with valves. It also gives me options for how I run water filtration.

 

[NeverEnough]

Winch-o-rama

Things are winding down at D&A for the subframe/bed and chassis work. I dropped by this morning as they were just finishing mounting the bumper and winch after it's visit to the paint shop. Kudos to whoever provides the best suggestion for driving/fog lights- 5" and 6" diameter cutouts. Sorry about the crappy picture quality, I was in a hurry.

It's nice to know that it's there, but I hope I never have to use it!

They should have the hitch assembly and buck plate all finished up tomorrow, then everything comes off to go to the paint shop for the rest of the week. I should be able to drive it out of there next Tuesday or Wednesday, just in time for the shell work to begin. The trailer frame is also supposed to be wrapped up by the end of next week.

 

[Momrocks]

I love this build! :Wow1:

 

[NeverEnough]

Locking dif

Can you get lockers for the topkick?

Been doing some research on this. So far it appears I'm stuck with OEM offerings. The first step was to verify how my truck is equipped. I did a quick peek at the rear axle and instrment panel at the upfitter but all I saw was a button beneath the 4wd selector that is not explained in the owners manual. Nothing on the pumkin led me to think it is factory equipped.

 

[DzlToy]

its not so much a matter of lockers being available for "the topkick" as it is a matter of what axles you have under it..

If the front uses something like a Super 60 or Super 70, there are quite a few locker choices, including air lockers from ARB and some kodiaks do have these axles. If the 4wd conversion was done with something like a Marmon Herrington axle, your choices are slim to none.

For the rear, I would assume at least a Dana S110 or S130 rear axle (size wise). If you have one of these, then again you have a few choices, just no ARB air lockers. If you have an Eaton/Roadranger or MH axle then it will just depend on your particular model. Eaton/RR/Dana/Spicer are somewhat conglomerated together now and there are Detroit lockers for medium and heavy duty axles.

Just need to find out exactly what axles you have, the more specific the better and go from there.

 

[jesusgatos]

DzlToy is absolutely right. What axles do you have under that thing? Some of the guys on pirate4x4 and steelsoldiers are amazingly resourceful, when it comes to cross-referencing things like this, and figuring out what parts can be swapped between similar axles (or whatever else). But the first call I would make would be to Steve Gerstner at Differential Engineering. He's pretty much THE MAN when it comes to big axles. Really knows his stuff, and he builds lots of cool custom ********.

 

[sarconcepts]

thanks for the link, I've contacted him to help me figure out just what axles I've got under the bullet as well
nobody around here's been able to help me so far

 

[jesusgatos]

No problem. Would be willing to bet $$$ that he'll be able to give you some definitive answers, and at least let you know what your options are.

 

[NeverEnough]

its not so much a matter of lockers being available for "the topkick" as it is a matter of what axles you have under it..

For the rear, I would assume at least a Dana S110 or S130 rear axle (size wise). If you have one of these, then again you have a few choices, just no ARB air lockers. If you have an Eaton/Roadranger or MH axle then it will just depend on your particular model. Eaton/RR/Dana/Spicer are somewhat conglomerated together now and there are Detroit lockers for medium and heavy duty axles.

Just need to find out exactly what axles you have, the more specific the better and go from there.

I verified that my truck has the Eaton/Dana S110L rear axle. Six States quoted me $1097 for the Detroit locker, don't know what it would cost to put it in. And I finally figured out the mystery button is for the factory installed PTO.

I'll do some shopping around and find out what this will cost. Thanks for the help.

 

[NeverEnough]

Here's a shot of the buckplate. The receiver is 3" tube to allow for an adjustable length primary receiver, which will allow me to tow the trailer farther back if needed. It's 30.75" to the middle of the the receiver tube. That adds a wrinkle to designing a trailer frame that can be towed by my regular truck and this new beast.

Curious to get everybody's thoughts on a pintle vs. ball hitch. Is it that much better for off-road? How about the combo hitches?

 

[jesusgatos]

For a vehicle and trailer the size of what you're building, I wouldn't consider using anything BUT a pintle. And then I'd suggest getting ahold of a swiveling military surplus pintle instead of just using the civilian bolt-on style. Surplus pintles can be had super cheap, and you can get them rated to tow well over 40,000lbs.

 

[NeverEnough]

I verified that my truck has the Eaton/Dana S110L rear axle.

So, just to show my idiot status... the "L" stands for Limited Slip. While I realize that a LS is not as valuable as an on-demand locking dif in serious off-road situations, is it sufficient for my situation? I'm trying to imagine myself knowingly driving a 30' RV into situations where both a front and rear wheel would lose so much traction that insufficient torque would be delivered to the other wheels to keep me moving. Currently those scenarios are beyond my skill, my courage, and my rescue/repair budget. That's why I like motorcycles and mtn. bikes: easy to crash, easy to pick up, and easy to fix!

 

[NeverEnough]

For a vehicle and trailer the size of what you're building, I wouldn't consider using anything BUT a pintle. And then I'd suggest getting ahold of a swiveling military surplus pintle instead of just using the civilian bolt-on style. Surplus pintles can be had super cheap, and you can get them rated to tow well over 40,000lbs.

Granted my truck is a tad large, but my trailer is downright petite. She'll come in well under 3500lbs fully loaded with dirt bikes and sundries. So I met with the trailer fabricator today and decided to do something that allows me considerable flexibility. He's going to build a receiver into the trailer tongue, as well as assemble an adjustable height ball coupler and adjustable height pintle coupler. I can swap them out as needed, and set them to the height best suited for the tow scenario. Do you have link/source for the swivel couplers? Those sound pretty cool.

 

[jesusgatos]

Wasn't thinking about the weight so much as the length, and geometry between the truck/trailer if/when you ever take it off-road. Good idea going with an interchangeable hitch setup. I don't have any links to info about the military pintle hitches, but I've got two of them that I could take some pictures/measurement for you. One of mine is on my M35A2, and I pulled the other off a HMMWV. The HMMWV is a little bit lighter duty, but still swivels, and I got to build a swiveling pintle hitch that I can plug into a 2" receiver. Don't remember what they're rated for, but you can find all that info on SteelSoldiers.Com (as well as surplus yards where you can buy those parts - I paid like $15 for that HMMWV pintle and it's in perfect condition).