Thickness and dimensions of aluminum frame in Four Wheel Camper

[ramblinChet]

Does anyone know the thickness and dimensions of the aluminum tubing in the Four Wheel Camper?

My plan is to mount a Maxtrax carrier which includes four Maxtrax on the drivers side up near the front. I was thinking of using four or maybe even six bolts to pass through the carrier, outer wall, frame, inner wall, and maybe use an some aluminum plate for reinforcement on the inside. I am concerned with crushing the tube though since I don't know how thick it is. From what I gathered so far it is 1"x1" aluminum square stock - I am just not sure how thick though.

As you can see I have much room on the drivers side up towards the front to mount:

 

[Alloy]

The bolts (with inside doubler plates) don't need to be really tight. All you need is enough to hold the carrier against the side.

 

[ramblinChet]

Thanks for the information. My primary concern is crushing this delicate tubing as I tighten the bolts down. Ideally, I perform some calculations to indicate how tight the bolts can be and what each will support.

 

[vintageracer]

Drill a little larger hole. Insert a sleeve into hole. Insert bolt into bracket and tighten down without fear of crushing the tube.

 

[1stDeuce]

Nice looking setup!

I'm with Alloy; you don't need to crank on the through-bolts, just remove the "slop" and give them a half a turn or so more. If you're cranking on them like they're lug nuts, you're way over-doing it. Use nylock nuts so they don't come loose, since you can't rely on stretch in the fastener to hold the torque as with most bolted applications. I have lots of stuff bolted to my wood framed Hallmark using large washers on the inside and none of it has come off or even come loose. You'll be fine mounting a rack for some Maxtrax if that sort of thing seems useful to you.

 

[Ozarker]

I'd use that VHB tape, if that's the right name, it's an adhesive tape that is supposed to be as strong as welding. They glue solar panels down with it so I'm sure it would hold your Maxtrax. No holes in my camper!

 

[ramblinChet]

This past weekend a close friend and I pulled back the wall on the drivers side of my FWC Grandby shell and were shocked at how thin the vertical 1" x 1" aluminum tube was. We were not able to measure although I suspect the thickness was around 0.025"-0.030" which is not common. Thin walled square tube of that dimension is 0.0625" and this was approximately half the thickness.

The 1" x 1" tube is so thin that we both agreed that drilling through, or clamping around, would weaken the structure to a very significant degree. With that knowledge in hand, we buttoned up the wall and began considering other options. I completed my final design last night and submitted my drawing to a nearby mechanical fabrication shop we both used frequently while working together at NASA Langley Research Center. I suspect I should have the prototype parts within a few weeks.

 

[tacollie]

They use very thin material. I'm glad you didn't find anything sketchy behind your wall. The wall I pulled back in our Hawk revealed some fabrication that wasn't confidence inspiring.

 

[dstefan]

I really used to like the design and functionality of FWCs. I came very close to buying one until I looked behind the walls a little bit on a factory visit.

The killer was when I sat on the dinette seat in their display model flatbed, and it collapsed underneath me!

When I looked at what the problem was, they had attached a support rail to the back wall of the camper, which was particleboard not even MDF, and then screwed the support in with super short little wood screws. I’m not a real heavy guy (180 pounds) and all I did was sit on the bench seat and the (insufficient number and type of screws) ripped out of the wall!

 

[rruff]

This past weekend a close friend and I pulled back the wall on the drivers side of my FWC Grandby shell and were shocked at how thin the vertical 1" x 1" aluminum tube was. We were not able to measure although I suspect the thickness was around 0.025"-0.030" which is not common. Thin walled square tube of that dimension is 0.0625" and this was approximately half the thickness.

Probably to reduce thermal bridging, or a little weight savings? They also need to flex also on some trucks. Kinda makes me think wood would be better. At least you could screw into that.