4500 Camper/Jeep Hauler Build

[gprguy]

Wheeling was fun, went with some folks from a local club to Tahuya forest.



And yes, that Ram Rebel went with us the whole way. She was a great driver even though we ended up on some trails that rig didn't belong on, and unfortunately she did not escape without some cosmetic damage.

Climbed up Yellowjacket which was a blast. There was a puddle at the bottom before the first set of slabs that made things a bit tricky at first. The Ram did not go up Yellowjacket.



Got hung up a few times but made it top the top with no winching or straps.

Back to work today. I made the other bottom panel out of the .125.. And apparently didn't take a photo, that seems to be a theme. Anyway it looks the same as the other side.

Then it was on to the first bent panel. I am pushing my brake too hard with this .063.. Hopefully it holds together. I'm definitely going to have to make the corner trim out of something thinner.

After a lot of measuring and some test bends, here's the panel.



Was a little tricky to make - I kind of screwed myself on that inside bend, there are fillet welds there so I couldn't just do an easy 90 - had to do two closely spaced 45's. But it fits.





Now I need to make the same for the other side and then get it pinned in place with some clecos. Still waiting for my order of rivets to show up, they are late..

 

[Bigboom338]

What do you have for a welder? I am in the market for one and was just curious.

 

[Bigboom338]

Oh and by the way, this build is amazing.

 

[gprguy]

What do you have for a welder? I am in the market for one and was just curious.

I have two - a Miller Multimatic Auto Set 180 that I've had for about 20 years for MIG, and a Lincoln Square Wave 200 TIG that I just got recently. The Miller is great because it's a big old transformer type welder so it's a tank. The Lincoln comes highly recommended from a guy I know who has been welding professionally for 45 years.

I'd like to upgrade to a higher end Miller MIG, but no real need so far. It's built plenty of vehicles to this point.

I also volunteer at a local maker space's welding shop - there we use the same Lincoln for teaching TIG, but we have Miller 215 Multimatic all in ones for teaching MIG. The Miller 215's are capable of TIG as well and we used to use them for that but I am told they failed a lot and didn't TIG that great. As a result we set up each workstation with the Lincolns too. Take that for what it's worth but it convinced me to get a separate machine for TIG instead of spending $4k on an all in one.

Slightly related topic - if you are also in the market for a helmet, or if you have an older helmet, the new generation of helmets are crazy good. The Miller clear light 2.0's are worth every penny of their $300 cost, it is night and day compared to a helmet from 10 years ago. If you can't see what you're doing you are welding by braille...

Oh and by the way, this build is amazing.

Thanks. Trying not to get burnt out but I really want to go camping and there's still months of work ahead of that.

 

[Bigboom338]

My needs and uses are slightly(alot) different from yours. Have you ever heard of Everlast welders? A guy I work with recommended the Everlast 200es. I wouldn't use one enough anymore to justify anything over a grand. I am mig only. I tried tig year's ago, couldn't get the hang of it

 

[gprguy]

My needs and uses are slightly(alot) different from yours. Have you ever heard of Everlast welders? A guy I work with recommended the Everlast 200es. I wouldn't use one enough anymore to justify anything over a grand. I am mig only. I tried tig year's ago, couldn't get the hang of it

I've heard of them but have no experience or knowledge. If I were going for a budget welder my first inclinations would be either Hobart (Miller's budget brand) or ESAB. I haven't used an ESAB but they look solid to me. You can get a 180-200 amp class MIG from either of them for under a grand. cyberweld.com is a good reseller, that's where I got my Lincoln among other things from.

TIG is tricky for sure, and damn frustrating at times, but when you get into the groove (after contaminating and cleaning the tungsten 50 times) it's pretty satisfying.

 

[Bigboom338]

I used to work in an ethanol plant, the pipefitters we hired for an expansion, well thier tig welding on stainless steel looked like art.

 

[Great White North Eh]

How the heck did the price of welders double in the 15 years (in Canada anyway)!! I guess it’s the same thing with vehicles …sad.

 

[Dave01]

I also volunteer at a local maker space's welding shop - there we use the same Lincoln for teaching TIG, ....

Just wanted to say, really great to hear that you do that. Maker spaces are a really good resource for people that otherwise might not be able to learn the skills they need, and people like you that are willing to take the time and share their skill and knowledge are priceless.

 

[gprguy]

Just wanted to say, really great to hear that you do that. Maker spaces are a really good resource for people that otherwise might not be able to learn the skills they need, and people like you that are willing to take the time and share their skill and knowledge are priceless.

Thanks, it is so satisfying. If it would pay the bills I'd quit my job and just go do that instead.

If anyone happens to be in the western Washington area, specifically the Kitsap Peninsula (or Seattle after a quick ferry ride to Bainbridge) the place is https://bainbridgebarn.org/ and is a lot more than just the welding and machining shops. Incredible place.

 

[gprguy]

Another productive afternoon in the garage. Started off by making the passenger side inner bottom panel.



And then I bent up a panel for the lower bottom section.



Looks good to me.





This panel isn't going to get any edge/corner trim, so it's off to the races laying out the rivet holes.



Pinned in place with clecos. I also did the inner panels, although they still need edge/corner trim.



Starting to run short on 1/8" clecos.. My rivets are still lost in shipping. I started on the inside flanges for the center panel with what I had, tomorrow I need to do the flanges for the inside panels.



I figure I at least need to do the front large panel (the top as it is sitting), the sides and maybe backs of the drop downs before it goes on the truck. I also need to decide how I'm doing the trim.

 

[gprguy]

And the hits updates keep coming. I finished drilling and pinning the flanges inside the box, hard to see but there are a few clecos in there. My rivets are still MIA and the replacement ones are on a slow boat, so I've ordered some more clecos to keep moving.



Next up was the front wall. Clamp a 4x8 sheet in place..



Trace around the frame underneath..



And here's what it looks like trimmed, pinned in place along with a couple reliefs cut for the small panels on the drop down section.



I also started playing around with where to put the vents. It's starting to look like something finally.



Tomorrow will probably be climbing inside the box to trace out all the tubing on the back side and then laying out the rivet lines so I can finalize the vents.

 

[Units]

Are you going to rivet and weld? Curious about water intrusion along the seems of your sheet metal.

 

[gprguy]

Are you going to rivet and weld? Curious about water intrusion along the seems of your sheet metal.

Rivet using closed end rivets (if they ever show up) so the rivets will self seal for the most part. I plan on also adding a bead of silicone under each joint. Beyond that what isn't shown here yet is corner trim that will go around most edges/corners with silicone to help seal things.

 

[Bigboom338]

You are also building your own bed, correct?
Looks great so far.

 

[Great White North Eh]

Good job! and DON’T STOP…… !!!

 

[gprguy]

You are also building your own bed, correct?
Looks great so far.

Yeah, I am eager to get started on it but I need to get the box mounted first. The bed should be a lot simpler than this box (if I had just made it a rectangle it would have been done long ago) and I figure I can multitask on the bed while I finish outfitting the box.

I’m also only planning on getting the bed functional enough to carry the camper and then finish it (skirting, storage, etc) this fall/winter.

 

[Brutal_HO]

Rivet using closed end rivets (if they ever show up) so the rivets will self seal for the most part. I plan on also adding a bead of silicone under each joint. Beyond that what isn't shown here yet is corner trim that will go around most edges/corners with silicone to help seal things.

By "silicone" do you mean a general term for sealant?

IMHO, 100% silicone is probably the worst thing you can use on any joint. Once it fails, it's nearly impossible to properly reseal.

GeoCell Proflex (big with the RV crowd) or Sashco Lexel (big with the carpentry crowd) or for a purely automotive tailored product, SikaFlex-221.

 

[gprguy]

By "silicone" do you mean a general term for sealant?

I do yeah. I haven't decided exactly what to use, I need to look through my collection of dicor and sikaflex and see if any of it is still good.

For the most part the sealant will be unneeded I hope, but I'm going to add some anyway just as insurance.

 

[Brutal_HO]

I do yeah. I haven't decided exactly what to use, I need to look through my collection of dicor and sikaflex and see if any of it is still good.

For the most part the sealant will be unneeded I hope, but I'm going to add some anyway just as insurance.

Dicor can get moldy if moisture is allowed to remain on it. I know it's the 800 lb gorilla goto for RV roof and trim/vents but I'd avoid it for your use case.