Bris31
Adventurer
Just curious about the weight of the subframe and also with the spare wheel location effecting truck's departure angle.
New Build - FG637 Dual Cab + Slide on
- Thread starter Lachstock
- Start date
Just curious about the weight of the subframe and also with the spare wheel location effecting truck's departure angle.
Hi Bris,
I’d estimate the weight at approx 120kg or thereabouts at a guess, it’s all 6mm mild steel angles. I’ll redo the math’s again and double check as I didn’t weigh it. Spare wheel won’t be there after it’s finished, it’s there at the moment waiting for the 750r16s to go back on and get the roadworthy before switching back for the singles.
Cheers,
Lachlan
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WayneRoberts
New member
@Lachstock Enjoying reading about your build.
Was wondering if your springs came from AAV? What's the load rating for the aluminium for the tray for when you mount your slide on? Where did you get your tanks and aluminium extrusions from?
Cheers Wayne
Yep springs from AAV, 4 tonne extrusions from action alloy in qld and tanks from eBay.
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Hiya Lachie
Really enjoying your build thread. Its coming along well. Dual cab is so much better for touring. Just having that extra space around you, I have always found more comfortable.
I'm curious as to why you sold the front bar and winch? Are you not planning on having these when finished?
Cheers
Headley
Really enjoying your build thread. Its coming along well. Dual cab is so much better for touring. Just having that extra space around you, I have always found more comfortable.
I'm curious as to why you sold the front bar and winch? Are you not planning on having these when finished?
Cheers
Headley
G'day Headley,
To be honest I've never been a big fan of winches at the best of times, letalone the behemoths that end up on these things! From my experience touring, the few times I've needed a winch there wasn't anything to secure to, or I'd blown the solenoid! If I were to fit one on this truck I'd likely fit a new one at the rear down the track, I'd hope that if this couldn't get through our best bet would be to back up... The bullbar and winch combo on this also added most of a metre of length overall. The other consideration was weight, even though it's a truck I'm trying to keep the final weight as low as possible and the winch was bloody heavy
Other than that, when touring I have a pretty strict no driving at night policy which drops the need for a bullbar significantly!
Cheers,
Lachie
Did a bit of work today on the upright strengthening arms for the canopy. I’ll show in the new few pics the need for them on the uprights! The farmer I bought the canopy off removed the whole unit with a sling through the middle and lifted off with a front end loader attachment on a tractor.....
When I got it home and had a really good look it was clear this did some damage unfortunately.
The welds at the top of the middle upright is cracked on both sides, due to it obviously not being strong enough through the middle to hold the full weight.
So the plan I’ve come up with is going to add a 40x40x3mm box section up the inside of the upright with cross members to the other side to strengthen everything when the roof gets cut out for the pop top.
I’m going to get these tigged into place after the joint welds are fixed up. I cut them to size and angles ready for welding today, got most of the angles pretty close apart from one!
Hoping the tig can bridge the gap here, or I’ll have to get some more lengths...
Anyways, once they cracked welds are fixed I am planning on having these support the area that cracked previously by adding support behind the weld like in the below pic.
It should make a good buttress behind to support it all in future (not that I ever intend to sling it through there to lift it!!).
I will get the cross member welded in 800mm high from the floor to match the top cross member on the rear wall. I’ll then have two 25x50x3mm sections as horizontals back to the wall to support the bed.
Then it’ll end up being like this..
And as you can see in the above I’m going to have a slide out bed which you can stow for more interior space. I reckon it’ll work
Should have it welded up this week and the tray bolted on!
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When I got it home and had a really good look it was clear this did some damage unfortunately.
The welds at the top of the middle upright is cracked on both sides, due to it obviously not being strong enough through the middle to hold the full weight.
So the plan I’ve come up with is going to add a 40x40x3mm box section up the inside of the upright with cross members to the other side to strengthen everything when the roof gets cut out for the pop top.
I’m going to get these tigged into place after the joint welds are fixed up. I cut them to size and angles ready for welding today, got most of the angles pretty close apart from one!
Hoping the tig can bridge the gap here, or I’ll have to get some more lengths...
Anyways, once they cracked welds are fixed I am planning on having these support the area that cracked previously by adding support behind the weld like in the below pic.
It should make a good buttress behind to support it all in future (not that I ever intend to sling it through there to lift it!!).
I will get the cross member welded in 800mm high from the floor to match the top cross member on the rear wall. I’ll then have two 25x50x3mm sections as horizontals back to the wall to support the bed.
Then it’ll end up being like this..
And as you can see in the above I’m going to have a slide out bed which you can stow for more interior space. I reckon it’ll work
Should have it welded up this week and the tray bolted on!
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While moving the canopy around the glue let go in a few spots on the longitudinal supports unfortunately. Ended up tacking them down during welding as well. It’s made the box very rigid, which gives me a considerable amount of confidence that cutting the roof out is going to work!
In the above pic, the welder added in a support across the bottom as well to support the floor a little bit more.
Hoping to cut the roof out next week and the frame welded around the lip to mount the pop top extrusion onto. Once I’ve got all that done and the roof on I’ll get started on the interior.
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In the above pic, the welder added in a support across the bottom as well to support the floor a little bit more.
Hoping to cut the roof out next week and the frame welded around the lip to mount the pop top extrusion onto. Once I’ve got all that done and the roof on I’ll get started on the interior.
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So a question for people.... which pop top mechanism to use?
It’s the one area I haven’t been able to finalise as yet as there’s a not a lot of info around the options I’ve been able to find.
My previous camper had three scissor lifters which lifted it up great, but were a pain to lower due to them being at the upper reach of their extension and requiring a LOT of force to lower. I’d prefer to not use these again as they’re reasonably pricey and I find them a bit ********.
This is my old setup from my last big trip..
The pop top height in my slide on camper plan is going to be a similar 800mm lift as was in the cruiser.
I really like the look of the four wheel campers style with a wooden over centre style lockout as you can see in the pic below.
The FWC units have external gas struts to aid lifting however I still don’t understand how the roof doesn’t move when it’s up? It seems to me that the roof would be able to move back and forth very easily in this design.. am I missing something? If the over centre style of lifter was inwards at a small angle I can see that the canvas would support it from moving to some extent but I don’t really envisage the canvas being able to do that long term...
If any could provide guidance on how they think it’s stable I’d really appreciate it as I really like the simplicity of the design.
If I can figure it out I’m intending to use a custom made set of the Jayco style lifters in the pic below as these units only go up to a 485mm lifting height. Should be pretty easy to get some alloy ones made up to do the job once I’ve designed them for my setup.
If there’s another style of lifter (that’s not pneumatic or electric) that I’ve missed please let me know!
Cheers,
Lachlan
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It’s the one area I haven’t been able to finalise as yet as there’s a not a lot of info around the options I’ve been able to find.
My previous camper had three scissor lifters which lifted it up great, but were a pain to lower due to them being at the upper reach of their extension and requiring a LOT of force to lower. I’d prefer to not use these again as they’re reasonably pricey and I find them a bit ********.
This is my old setup from my last big trip..
The pop top height in my slide on camper plan is going to be a similar 800mm lift as was in the cruiser.
I really like the look of the four wheel campers style with a wooden over centre style lockout as you can see in the pic below.
The FWC units have external gas struts to aid lifting however I still don’t understand how the roof doesn’t move when it’s up? It seems to me that the roof would be able to move back and forth very easily in this design.. am I missing something? If the over centre style of lifter was inwards at a small angle I can see that the canvas would support it from moving to some extent but I don’t really envisage the canvas being able to do that long term...
If any could provide guidance on how they think it’s stable I’d really appreciate it as I really like the simplicity of the design.
If I can figure it out I’m intending to use a custom made set of the Jayco style lifters in the pic below as these units only go up to a 485mm lifting height. Should be pretty easy to get some alloy ones made up to do the job once I’ve designed them for my setup.
If there’s another style of lifter (that’s not pneumatic or electric) that I’ve missed please let me know!
Cheers,
Lachlan
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Awesome Spanna, I think that’s going to be the go for mine as well. Did you make them out of alloy or steel?
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Almost got the tray bolted down and should have it complete by tomorrow I reckon. Need to cut the combing rails to length and bolt them on as well.
The front chassis mounted diesel tank is in now as well!
I’m Going to cut the roof out of the canopy tomorrow night after work and weld in the frame around the top for the pop top.
I’m not sure if you need a headboard on a tray for registration in Victoria? Am hoping to get it registered before the canopy is finished!
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The front chassis mounted diesel tank is in now as well!
I’m Going to cut the roof out of the canopy tomorrow night after work and weld in the frame around the top for the pop top.
I’m not sure if you need a headboard on a tray for registration in Victoria? Am hoping to get it registered before the canopy is finished!
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Ultimark
Active member
Assuming you will have your box on the back bolted, or at least semi-permanently affixed to the tray; probably not.
That said, I cannot remember ever seeing a truck with a tray, or a tray back ute, without a headboard. The technical parlance for a tray with Vic Roads people, is tabletop truck or table truck, even though they seem refer to them as a cab chassis with a tray themselves when in conversation with them.
Even though I ended up with a permanently attached slide-on camper; bolted directly through the aluminium tray then into the steel of the tray, I needed a headboard to protect the occupants of the cabin as the cabin has a rear window. Same for my tray back ute 11 years ago, needed a headboard to cover the rear cabin window.
My truck was registered last month in Victoria. That said, I'm presuming you may be going to Vic Roads direct, this may be different as mine was registered through a licensed Vic Roads truck dealer. Best to take the time and ring Vic Roads, I rang them several times this year, they were always helpful and generally forwarded stuff I needed via email, like relevant documents or procedures, very promptly.
That said, I cannot remember ever seeing a truck with a tray, or a tray back ute, without a headboard. The technical parlance for a tray with Vic Roads people, is tabletop truck or table truck, even though they seem refer to them as a cab chassis with a tray themselves when in conversation with them.
Even though I ended up with a permanently attached slide-on camper; bolted directly through the aluminium tray then into the steel of the tray, I needed a headboard to protect the occupants of the cabin as the cabin has a rear window. Same for my tray back ute 11 years ago, needed a headboard to cover the rear cabin window.
My truck was registered last month in Victoria. That said, I'm presuming you may be going to Vic Roads direct, this may be different as mine was registered through a licensed Vic Roads truck dealer. Best to take the time and ring Vic Roads, I rang them several times this year, they were always helpful and generally forwarded stuff I needed via email, like relevant documents or procedures, very promptly.
Hi Ultimark, thanks for the message. Yeah I think with the canopy it should be fine, it gets more confusing as it’ll be going through as 4495kg. I’ve seen a few LV utes without them in the past but they may have been removed after rego. Will see how it goes when I take it back for the inspection.