MB 1120 Coming to America! Purchase, Build and Now Travel!

[Joe917]

It is best to get the chassis build info direct from Mercedes. They have a chassis builders guide. I believe for the 4X4 trucks they only approve the 3/4 point system or a solid fixed connection. There are many trucks on the road with the "water truck" style connection. The trick is Mercedes only provide the information to commercial builders, probably for liability, so you need someone with access to it. Engineering your own solution may work...

 

[VerMonsterRV]

It is best to get the chassis build info direct from Mercedes. They have a chassis builders guide. I believe for the 4X4 trucks they only approve the 3/4 point system or a solid fixed connection. There are many trucks on the road with the "water truck" style connection. The trick is Mercedes only provide the information to commercial builders, probably for liability, so you need someone with access to it. Engineering your own solution may work...

They also approve the rail on subframe. It is in the MB body builder guide and was also used on our fire truck body.

 

[Sitec]

Seems this is a hot topic at the moment... I have just asked Pairoa how he's going with the flex on his 6x6 build, as he was carrying out some twist tests and I'm at that point too... Anyone got access to what Merc recommend for a 1222A? I have a plan in my head which I've started to build... Fix the front of the body to the rails first with two outside mounts mounted centrally on the outside faces of the chassis (happening this weekend), with 100mm chassis to body clerance, and then I plan to just support the middle and rear with 100mm of wood in the center and cross axle the truck to see where the point of twist is.... Thughts and opinions welcome at this point!!

 

[Victorian]

Our friends used a 4 point mount. It has about 6” of subframe travel .

 

[VerMonsterRV]

Well, other than cold, wet and windy the boat delivery went well. Now just waiting on the final paperwork, so back to the truck build. We got back to the truck last night and just to feel like making a little progress I installed the heating strip in the rooftop AC (6,000 BTU, which is plenty for now). Today we try and get things organized and hopefully start putting in the cab DC A/C tomorrow (need to get a couple of hours of our welders time to build a internal frame for the roof of the truck as we do not have a hatch... yet).

 

[VerMonsterRV]

We are back in Charlie's shop (the welder). Since we are now living aboard probably the first time anyone has slept in his shop (yeah, he pretty much just laughs and walks away, he is starting to expect stuff like this from us). Anyway, we are back in because we needed a bit of metal work for the cab rooftop AC. So I cut the hole using a jigsaw and metal blade, match drilled the AC mounting holes and then we started to reinforce the opening. I got a bit lucky as all the gasket will sit on the inner flat edge of the roof's stamping for a hatch. Should be stronger and way more waterproof than what I had worried about. I did order the interior trim kit but now think I will make something up as it will be way smaller and less intrusive.



Also got a another small evening project done and wired in the buck converter for the bluetooth amplifier and Android TV, so now they are 12v powered instead of using the 110v wall worts.

 

[VerMonsterRV]

The interior is all back in and AC wired, just need warm weather to give it a try. We did though decide not to use the "universal" interior trim piece. It was a rather large bit of plastic and would cover and hang down taking up valuable space. So, I will make up my own and trim in vinyl. Way smaller and lower profile. I notched the back edge of the headliner a bit to allow us to take it out without removing the rear wall. While the headliner was out I also finally installed the radio antenna, so can finally listen to some FM stations.

 

[VerMonsterRV]

We have temporarily moved the project/truck to Florida to visit with my parents. While here we will continue to work on projects and the first one is the interior cushions. We are about half done and will hopefully finish in a couple of days.


As a side benefit we were able to test the new cab AC as we are in FL and the day we arrived it was about 80. It was able to keep the cab cool, though the fan was a bit louder than I hoped. We are planning on getting the side and back windows tinted to help keep the sun down.

 

[VerMonsterRV]

Can't believe my last post was on the 1st. The main reason for the rush trip to Florida was that my father was very ill and sadly he passed away on the 11th. He is the one that taught me how to work with tools. In a way it was for the best as his quality of life was very poor, but is still hard. We have now traveled back up the east coast and are now in Vermont for the holidays with Heather's family.

I was able to "finish" the interior cushions. I used quotes as I will probably take a couple of the back cushions apart to trim them down a bit. Hopefully in about a week the dinette table will be complete. My mom crocheted the blanket on the right,it doubles as a pillow and a throw for the bed.

 

[Victorian]

I’m sorry to hear about your dad. Our condolences.

 

[Wazak]

Sorry to hear that you're dad passed away. I hope your mum is ok?

 

[VerMonsterRV]

Thanks guys, yes my mom is ok (well as ok as you could hope). Pretty rough for her as my dad had Parkinson's and she took care of him till a few weeks before he passed. Luckily she has some really nice neighbors who are good friends. They were married for 54 years. Hoping she takes up with another lady (neighbor) that is a widow that likes to travel.

 

[Timod110]

Sorry to hear about your loss.

 

[VerMonsterRV]

Been hard at work trying to get some of the finishing touches completed along with systems work. The dinette table is now complete and bolted in. It is birds eye maple with walnut ends. We used table top epoxy on it. The second pic is a needlepoint that my mom gave us a few years ago. It used to hang at the head of the bed on Evergreen and made it all the way around the world. Seemed fitting that it would be at the head of the bed for the second trip around. Now boring systems stuff, the rear motorbike/tire lift needed some adjustment to get it to work better. Glad to say it is now working as hoped! Also on the systems side we are getting close to completing the Webasto diesel furnace. Can't wait. And Charlie (our welder) also welded up our stainless steelsand track mounts for the rear wall. I still need to polish them, but after that they are ready to bolt/bond to the rear wall. And lastly our entry grab bar is "ordered". Will see how that works out as it is supposed to be done by a very talented welder (Charlie does not have a pipe bender so he could not do it for us), who also happens to be very busy.

A few smaller projects
- a cabinet to protect the shower sump pump and related plumbing in the storage area
- a couple removable shelves in one of our cabinets
- and trying to order anything we might need as we hope to hit the slow road to Mexico early next week (nope, all the projects will not be done, but they will be done enough .

As you can see I am not 100% happy the the cushions. Might mess with them if I get a bit of time.

 

[luthj]

As always your work is fantastic. I strongly suggest a couple weeks of stateside living near a amazon drop location ( I am certain you already know this, but...). There will inevitably be a dozen things you cannot live without, but are terribly hard to source in MX.

I think all those white cabinet faces are screaming for some vinyl wall art. Decal style with some additional artistic flare, or themes from your travels maybe? If you can find a vector image, you can order quite cheaply.