New FG owner

[dhackney]

Sorry, I forgot the most important thing:

Congratulations!

 

[whatcharterboat]

Yep sounds good.

Is your canoe one that flat packs? Is that what you mean? Good plan anyway.

The circle wheels you could make yourself too. They doen't have to be perfectly machined holes or anything. Rims for FG's are too good to throw away.

BTW This might be a shock but here, a single standard FG 4x4 rim is $625 Au. So close to $6oo US. Although I'm sure the 2WD rims would have worked in that situation.

 

[kerry]

BTW This might be a shock but here, a single standard FG 4x4 rim is $625 Au. So close to $6oo US. Although I'm sure the 2WD rims would have worked in that situation.

Yikes! So the fact that there was no spare tire with the truck and I asked Hammer Truck Sales to supply one before I drove home (which they did) was much more expensive than I thought.

 

[whatcharterboat]

Hi Doug

Sorry. Out of phase with your reply. Yes Aluminium would be even better. Maybe 16 mm. What do you think?

My comment about not having to have them perfectly machined was only because I imagine that you would only have to drive the truck from just outside the container in. Only 6 or 7metres or so. The holes would only have to be a clearance fit over the inner studs.

 

[whatcharterboat]

Hmm!!!!

Maybe not 16mm. If the truck is up around 6 ton maybe it would be safer to go 25mm. What was your idea?

 

[dhackney]

Sorry. Out of phase with your reply. Yes Aluminium would be even better. Maybe 16 mm. What do you think?.

Depends on the weight. As our truck turned out, we would probably require about 150mm of some exotic material known only to Lockheed Skunk Works and the team that maintains the current... oops, almost slipped up there... just kidding

My comment about not having to have them perfectly machined was only because I imagine that you would only have to drive the truck from just outside the container in. Only 6 or 7metres or so.

This is a very important point and presumption here could set you up for some real challenges. The ability to work on a vehicle in the container loading and unloading area is completely dependant on the dock operations policies/company/management/workers/etc.

DO NOT ever assume you can strip your bike/truck/lunar rover to fit it into the container/etc. in the area for container loading. You need to set that up well in advance and even if you think you've got clearance you can get there and find out that the guy/girl who told you it was OK was actually the janitor or somebody who manages the process of refilling the ink pads. In any event, he/she will probably hold no sway with the foreman of the crew responsible for that area of the docks.

For this reason, anything beyond deflating the tires can be a big issue or no issue at all. It all depends on the dock and the people.

We learned this lesson when shipping our bike in containers. We were fortunate. Now we show up at the docks with our truck ready to go, except for the stuff I forget to remove from the cab that is thoughtfully removed in transit by the dock workers.

If you plan to get to the docks and install wheel blanks or empty rims, be prepared. Bring twenties. The old design works better if you can find them. Some people out here don't trust the new ones.

 

[Lynn]

Kerry,

IIRC Haven posted that the GoannaTracks Mitsu fits in a standard container if they let air out of the tires. I'm sure that was in a 'standard' iso container, not the high-cube.

In addition to being rare internationally, the high-cube containers aren't the short ones (either 40 or 50', I can't remember but I do remember that there is no such thing as a 20' high-cube), so you could end up paying for a lot of empty container.

Also, in an exchange I had with member egn, he forwarded me pix of machined wheels like discussed above. The pix were from a German rig maker who specialized in containerizable rigs. Unfortunately, I can't find the pix, and can't remember the name of the maker. I'll keep looking, but if egn doesn't show up here, you might try sending him a PM.

 

[Lynn]

Found it.

From this site.

and the company that specializes in containerizable campers is Allrad-Christ.

 

[whatcharterboat]

Hi Lynn

Yeah that was a standard container. We made that truck a couple of years back. From memory it definitely had our standard long travel suspension and was sitting on Michelin XZL 100R/16's and I think there was a scrub bar over the roof which added maybe another couple of inches.

So if you were running the standard hieght suspension and tyres you should have no problem if the camper boby was close to the hieght of the cabin. Maybe you wouldn't even need to let the tyres down at all.

BTW Lynn I can't get the English version of the Allrad-Christ website to load. Did you check it out?

 

[Lynn]

BTW Lynn I can't get the English version of the Allrad-Christ website to load. Did you check it out?

Nope. For some reason it links to the Bremach site. Been that way since I first checked it 'bout a year ago.

Here are a couple more shots of a similar setup:

From this site.

I thought that the little 'container wheels' were a pretty good idea, but Doug Hackney's comments about how you might have to drive quite a ways before putting it in the container have me wondering. You might try contacting the folks I linked in, and get their perspective.

However, from Whatcharterboat and the GoannaTracks folks, we know that one can design the vehicle such that the most you would have to do is let some air out of the tires. Seems like that would be a much wiser move, to me.


From that pic with the truck in the container, It appears that having a rear cabin door would be essential if you didn't want to ride in the truck in the container

 

[kerry]

Or a really skinny friend. I was wondering how people got out of the truck and container once the vehicle was inside. Perhaps it could be winched or pushed inside? The picture I've seen on here before of an FG going into a container didn't seem to have a rear door.

 

[whatcharterboat]

Lyn

Yep. It works Ok now from my PC at home. Very interesting site. Almost exactly what we were thinking about but we weren't going to bother putting the flat around the outside. Just go thicker plates machined down for the the nuts. We have another RTW vehicle to build very shortly so I'm glad this topic came up in the thread. Especially with Doug's additional words words of caution about port authorities. We might be able to offer the guy an option like this if we need to. Also I'm sure it will give Kerry some ideas too, so thanks for replying.

Dhackney wrote "Depends on the weight. As our truck turned out, we would probably require about 150mm of some exotic material known only to Lockheed Skunk Works

Doug, we have just the material here for your truck. An Australian alloy called "unobtainium".

 

[Lynn]

Or a really skinny friend. I was wondering how people got out of the truck and container once the vehicle was inside. Perhaps it could be winched or pushed inside? The picture I've seen on here before of an FG going into a container didn't seem to have a rear door.

Plus, the truck has to be somehow tied down, right?

 

[kerry]

Plus, the truck has to be somehow tied down, right?

I would assume so, but I don't know. There must be a lot of freight shipped in containers that just sits there with no securing mechanisms I would think.

I think we have some standard shipping containers at school that are used for storage. I'll take some measurements and maybe I can get one open and nose up to the door.

 

[Lynn]

Almost exactly what we were thinking about but we weren't going to bother putting the flat around the outside. Just go thicker plates machined down for the the nuts. We have another RTW vehicle to build very shortly so I'm glad this topic came up in the thread. Especially with Doug's additional words words of caution about port authorities. We might be able to offer the guy an option like this if we need to.

Daydreaming about storing the disks when not in use, and thinking of such things as aftermarket liquid-filled tire balancer disks, I wonder if you could machine a flat disk, then just leave it on the hub when you mount the tires? Of course, it would have to be independently balanced, and driving on it might screw that up, and it would be unsprung weight, but it's a thought.

Along the lines of using stock rims (as mentioned once before), I wonder if there is a 'donut spare,' (you know, the mini spares that auto manufacturers include with the car?) that would happen to have the same bolt pattern as the Fuso hub? 'Course, you'd still have to carry 'em somewhere, and they aren't engineered for the weight, but they should be more stowable than regular Fuso rims. Might be a good comprimise if you did have to drive a distance on the 'shipping wheels,' driving very slowly, of course...