NEW Offroad Casita Project

[toyotatruckjunkie]

I've been mind-engineering this for awhile, but finally made some picture worthy progress. Here are some quick teaser specs;

1997 Casita 17' Spirit Deluxe
45 degree down, 5000lb Dexter Torflex axle w/ 6x5.5 bolt pattern
31/10.5/15 BFG All Terrains

Here are some teaser pics;

 

[Titanpat57]

Now that's exciting!!

Great lift job:smiley_drive:

 

[wesel123]

Finally brother its looking good!!!

 

[Ace Brown]

Looks like a great project. Did you modify the wheel well opening any? It looks like it might be a little bigger than stock.

I have an Escape 17 that is modified for off-highway: Dexter off-road axle, 30" Cooper A/T's, 4" lift and lots of added protection.

Based on my experience I suggest the following: you should add shocks as the Torx-flex is too bouncy (hard to do as it is difficult to weld on the cast iron swing arms), remove as many body and cabinet screws as you can and replace with thru bolts. Vibration is always loosening stuff in my trailer. I have heard that Casitas like to pop the rivets that hold cabinets in place. Some owners actually carry a rivet gun on board.

Good luck,
Alan

 

[COONASS]

Good job Rich. What's next?

 

[toyotatruckjunkie]

Well, lots of things 'next'.

I eventually want/have to totally re-engineer the tongue. I need the height to better match up with the 100 w/ the current suspension/hitch. (It will eventually have a small amount of lift, and an ARB front and rear.) The 4Runner height matches much better. The tongue is currently ~26in. high. And I also want the tongue longer to better work with swing out spare carriers and fold down tailgates on both trucks. That is all in the works.

Then I need a spare tire carrier capable of holding the 31. Then I want to mount a (propane powered) Honda or Yamaha generator on the tongue, and make room for firewood storage and jerry can storage on front and/or rear bumper.

Then I want a 2" receiver (or 2) on the rear bumper for towing my boat behind the camper, and/or hauling a bike rack, and/or a hitch haul rack.

I widened the track somewhat to possibly allow for shocks down the road if need be. Not real easy, but it's been done on the TorFlex. I'm dying to at least tow it down the road to see how it rides. The wheel wells are factory Casita. I got more lift out of the axle than I was expecting, but now I have more room for flex, in case it actually does flex.

I haven't needed them, but I too have a bag of rivets in the camper. It's a Casita thing.

So,... this is just the start. Stay tuned.

 

[toyotatruckjunkie]

ACE BROWN;

Are there pics of your trailer somewhere I can check them out? I'd like to check it out. Thanks in advance.

 

[Ace Brown]

ACE BROWN;

Are there pics of your trailer somewhere I can check them out? I'd like to check it out. Thanks in advance.

Only place I know of is Escape's website and the Escape owners forum. I was in Escapes calendar last year but never saw the photo.

 

[toyotatruckjunkie]

I was hoping for pics of your particular trailer, showing your off road modifications.

 

[MicroOverland]

Nice trailer! I have been thinking about the same thing,but with a 13 ft w/bathroom (my wife and I are both under 6 ft). Did you beef up the frame at all?, or is it still stock? If stock, do you think it is strong enough to hold up long term?

 

[toyotatruckjunkie]

Thanks for the words of affirmation. I've been planning for a couple of years. I've had the trailer for a year now, and am just now making some progress.

Well, we'll see about the stock frame. I have thought about building a whole new frame for it, but as of right now the new axle is bolted to the new Dexter brackets, that are welded to the stock frame, slightly forward of the stock location, to account for the axle swinging rearwards when compressing.

I am going to redesign the tongue as mentioned above. At that time, I plan to build something more stout, as well as longer. I would like to build some sort of slider type protection for the tongue, the rear quarters, and especially under the plumbing.

I've also thought up ideas of building a whole suspension system for the camper body to help isolate twisting forces and vibrations from the frame. If you note the way the rotating drum assembly is mounted to a cement truck frame, that is the idea I had come up with. May be way overkill for this app though.

The size, weight, and fragility of this camper will dictate that it won't ever be used to traverse the Rubicon or anything. Our main usage will be on the beach, which is pretty low impact.

 

[COONASS]

Very Cool project Rich!



What is the status on the Montauk?:drool: My dad has an '83 that I would like to get. :sombrero


Hi-jack over...

 

[toyotatruckjunkie]

No worries about hi-jack Jacques, classic Whalers are as big of an obsession as 'Cruisers and Casitas for me.

My 17' 1973 Montauk is patiently awaiting a full resto. It's perfectly usable as is, but the gelcoat is all cracked and grazed. It's not much to look at up close. It apparently sat out in the TX sun for ~37 years before I bought it.

We took it to FL for our honeymoon where we put about 175 miles on it. It really is a fun little boat. It's pretty much indestructible, unsinkable, and floats in 6" of water. It's easy enough to launch and recover by myself, yet large enough to take 4 adults fishing, diving, waterskiing, or just cruising. It's easy to beach on any small island along your travels. This one has an old school 1983 90HP 2 stroke Johnson, it's not real fuel efficient by todays standards, but it keeps running. This is my second Montauk. I really regretted selling the last one, so I set out to find another one.


For what it's worth, you should get a hold of your Dad's. You won't regret it.

To tie all this back to my Casita thread, I plan to tow the Whaler, behind the Casita, behind the 100. TX allows double tows. You can't back up because you have 2 pivots points, but both of them are small enough, the combined weight will be approx 5000-5500 lbs. This way I can get all my junk down to the coast.

 

[toyotatruckjunkie]

I got it home. I really dig it so far.

Still tows great at 70 mph. No sway. Nice firm ride. May end up with spare on rear after all. Thought I needed more tongue weight. Still a work in progress. 16" of clearance at center of axle. Lowest point is now tongue jack. Trying to reengineer that.

Took some driveway pics w/ lousy lighting.

 

[toyotatruckjunkie]

a couple of more pics;