Fred the Van. The More We Explore's Adventure Van Build Thread

[pfacdb]

Great posts and videos Steve; I'm with you on being impressed with the Air Streams.

As van lover and always interested in learning, I would love to see a video breaking down in detail the working parts of a front axle. I always see bits and pieces of the details, hard to follow diagrams etc, but haven't found anything that shows it all. Not like you don't already have enough to do, but there you go.

Dana

 

[sixstringsteve]

Thanks Dana. I wish I had time to film a series on just the axle. There are some great videos out on YouTube where people show how to disassemble the axles. I'm not an expert on the topic, so I don't think I'm the right person to make that video.

I can't remember how much of the front axle assembly I filmed. I'll try to point out the important parts in the next edit and explain how the axle works.

 

[mk216v]

But most of all the videos let guys know that they can do it too!

Steve's candidness and lack of ego really help convey this(helps gives me more confidence in tearing into more stuff). Awesome job Steve, I'm loving the series!
-Jeremy

 

[sixstringsteve]

Thanks. I'm no expert, that's for sure. The good mechanics are going to cringe when they watch my redneck methods. Apologies in advance.

I think it'd be fun to build an instructional video that covers the entire install, along with tips and tricks to avoid failure. Chris' install video is super helpful, but I've learned a lot of stuff that I'd do differently next time. Already, if I had to build another one, it'd be a LOT faster, and I'd tweak a couple things. I wish I could clone myself so I could be behind the camera while I'm working on it. I could do a killer how-to video if only I had the time. Oh well, it is what it is. I'm having fun.

 

[Gtdad]

Really enjoying your videos!

 

[DzlToy]

Steve, I am with you on the back country or "off-the-grid" trailer. I have searched for one for years and as a recent RV shopper, you can confirm that most RV's and travel trailers are complete garbage. I found several companies who would build a custom trailer to my $pec$.

One of my best friends has a fab shop and has built several smaller trailers, so we entertained building it ourselves. I would really want it to be top notch, with all of the items you mentioned, and then some. Not a palace on wheels, but high quality marine and mil-spec components that are made to take some abuse and not leave one stranded in the wilderness are not inexpensive. I have a build sheet with about $40k in parts and I'm sure that I missed a few things.

Good luck in your search. The closest thing that I found to a rugged back country trailer is this:

http://www.adaktrailers.com/

The owner was great to brainstorm with and they are quite flexible in their design. I believe there are two models now. Check them out.

 

[sixstringsteve]

Thanks for sharing your findings DzlToy. I remember hearing about adaktrailers, but I haven't checked them out a ton. Their videos weren't super informative, but the trailers sure look nice.thanks for the info. We were looking at VRV trailers and livinlite, but these adaks cool.

Oliver trailers look pretty great too, but they're just a little smaller than we want for full-time living. Bigfoot will be the next trailer we check out. We've heard great things about them.

 

[sixstringsteve]

Well, I have a Moab trip scheduled for this weekend. Fingers crossed that I get this rig ready by then. Still a TON to do.

 

[sixstringsteve]

Man, driveshafts are being a pain. I shouldn't have pointed my pinion at the tcase yet. Since they ran a BW 1356 tcase on the tulsa kit, I can't run a CV up top (I guess the CV slip yokes are extremely rare with the 1356.)

 

[rdcolorado]

All I had to do to mine was get it lengthened. I think I have the same setup. Are you talking about the front?

rdcolorado

 

[sixstringsteve]

Oh good, that gives me hope.

These are for the rear. I've already got a CV shaft up front. Got any pics of yours?

 

[rdcolorado]

Not sure if they will help but here are some pics...rebuilt front shaft and Tulsa remnants in back still

rdcolorado

 

[sixstringsteve]

Great, thanks. Those are ujor 6" springs in the rear? They really flattened out. I didn't realize you could run a cv witg those. The giys at Tom woods says the cv slip yokes are impossible to find. I'll keep looking.

 

[bknudtsen]

Great, thanks. Those are ujor 6" springs in the rear? They really flattened out. I didn't realize you could run a cv witg those. The giys at Tom woods says the cv slip yokes are impossible to find. I'll keep looking.

That's a front axle in the pics above where you can see leaf springs.

 

[sixstringsteve]

^ Thank you. I was seeing it backwards.

So you don't even have a cv rear. Any vibrations at speed on the freeway?