4500 Camper/Jeep Hauler Build

[gprguy]

Busy few days getting odds and ends done, lining things up for the next couple weeks.



Stainless piano hinges, weatherstripping, a couple of CNC Plasma cut stainless brackets to help reinforce the tail pipe, and a ton of aluminum strips I sheared to become trim on the box.

Meanwhile, I started printing a new copy of the enclosure for the controls inside the box. The differences are this one has a textured front and is printed out of PETG instead of PLA so it will take some higher temperatures. Here's the start of the 14 hour print job.



I watched it for about 3 hours to make sure it got started well. Murphy was watching, because 30 minutes after I left there was an hour power outage and I returned the next day to this aborted job.



Ah well, frustrating but it happens. Started over and the next day I came back to this nice finished product.



Much better and I like the textured finish. Installed the melt in threaded inserts and this will get set aside for a while - I'll swap it out once I am done building the cabinet doors.





Back to the truck. I bent up the trim for the top edges of the box now that the sikaflex is set that I used to glue the sides on. After that, drill and cleco.



I have a few more trim pieces bent up that just need fitting and holes and they will be ready to go on. Back at it tomorrow.

 

[jsalbre]

Man that looks nice. I really need to get a 3D printer.

 

[gprguy]

Thanks. Being able to make a durable plastic part is just so cool. Having one of my own is definitely on my list. The maker space I belong to has a fleet of Prusa MK2.5 and MK3 printers. I’m thinking of getting a Prusa MK4S this winter, I have some prototyping to do and the drive back and forth to the shared printers is getting out of hand.

Plus I want to try ABS and while they have an enclosed printer, it’ll still stink the place up a bit (it’s not externally ventilated).

 

[Bigboom338]

Do you draw this up on solid works or some other program?

 

[Units]

Man, I totally need one of those 3D printers in my life, lol. Awesome job so far.

 

[gprguy]

Do you draw this up on solid works or some other program?

I use Fusion 360 (the free version) for all my stuff, including the sheet metal and CNC Plasma/mill/etc. For the 3D prints I export the design from Fusion to Prusaslicer to slice/format it for the printer - Fusion has a built in slicer but I haven't tried it yet, I've heard it's not quite as advanced.

I tried to learn Solidworks many years ago and while I was able to do some things (my roll cage on my Jeep is actually the first thing I laid out in Solidworks) it was a bit overwhelming and overkill for what I needed.

Fusion's pretty simple - sketch in 2D, extrude the drawing to 3D, then modify/sketch further to add details, lather rinse repeat.

 

[Brutal_HO]

I use Fusion 360 (the free version) for all my stuff, including the sheet metal and CNC Plasma/mill/etc. For the 3D prints I export the design from Fusion to Prusaslicer to slice/format it for the printer - Fusion has a built in slicer but I haven't tried it yet, I've heard it's not quite as advanced.

I tried to learn Solidworks many years ago and while I was able to do some things (my roll cage on my Jeep is actually the first thing I laid out in Solidworks) it was a bit overwhelming and overkill for what I needed.

Fusion's pretty simple - sketch in 2D, extrude the drawing to 3D, then modify/sketch further to add details, lather rinse repeat.

I do the same for all my 3D print design and some of my wife's laser cutting. Fusion360 and Prusa. Though I do have a Creality Ender-5 Plus printer.

Learning to do embossing was fun.

 

[gprguy]

Might as well throw in an update since I am not going to be able to get much done the next couple of days due to other commitments. First thing was to finish the trim along the top edge of the box. I also had to mock up some trim (not seen here) along the back edge to get the fitment right.



Riveted and sikaflex'd in on both sides.



Now it's on to trimming the door frame to finish fixing it in place. That involves making and fitting a lot of trim as seen below.



Tedious, but also satisfying.

At this point I have both top pieces and both bottom pieces done (although not trimmed to length).



I've also started on a side piece. Once I get that all fit and drilled they will get glued and riveted, and then it will be on to some doors.

 

[gprguy]

I've had my head down for the last week, just trying to make progress and get the doors done. The doors aren't done yet, but the door frames are.





Before sealing and rivets, I needed to get the stainless piano hinges mocked in and the holes drilled.



And here is the finished product, sikaflex'd and riveted. Was a lot of work but I'm happy with it.



I've now started building the doors themselves, which will be a light gauge steel frame (powder coated) skinned with aluminum, just like the box itself. I've started by roughing in the top piece that attaches to the hinge, and I'll just fit the rest around the frame with appropriate spacing.



Need to spend a little more time fiddling with that tomorrow to get it aligned perfect on both sides, and then start making the rest.

Meanwhile I knocked off a little side project that's been ignored for a while. On my silly looking tailpipe I wanted to add a brace so all the weight isn't on the pipe joints. A couple of CNC cut stainless tabs with some bolts and washers for use during welding:



A little amateur hour TIG welding later (I'm actually ok at straight joints, but too much of a novice for pretty curved joints with limited access so far) along with some silicone washers, a stainless bolt and a stainless high temperature locking nut, and this should help give some support while still allowing a little thermal movement.



Once that was done, the tailpipe was reinstalled and the other mounting tab I added a few weeks ago is bolted up to the bottom of the tire carrier with the final silicone bushing and hardware.



I'll be curious to see how this mount fares. It has a little give for vibration, but not a ton of movement. If it needs reengineering down the road I'll figure a new plan but for now I'll see how it goes.

 

[gprguy]

Big progress today. Spent the day building door.. skeletons? They are the frame for the doors, but that sounds too much like the door frames that are already done. Whatever.



Basically just fitting 3/4" steel square tube around the door frame with 1/8" aluminum spacers to leave clearance for weatherstripping and such.

All fit up on the driver's side.



Tacked up with a cross bar as well, that will help mount the latches.





And the big moment...



I've been waiting a long time to see that door flip up. Lather, rinse, repeat for the passenger side.



Next up is finish welding these and then adding some brackets for latches, gas struts, etc before they get powder coated and skinned like the box.

 

[gprguy]

Finish welded the door frames with some creative clamping/jigs.



These are the backing plates for the latches I made on the CNC Plasma and then bent the two sides for stiffness.





I'm using these compression latches from McMaster. This was a test latch, the ones I bought to install for real are locking.





And then finish welding the backing plates on both doors.



Not pictured is a big rivnut I added to each door for the gas strut. I dropped both frames off to get powder coated today, should have them back next week.

In the meantime, it's time to start the aluminum deck and its substructure.

 

[gprguy]

Aluminum deck is coming along - the idea is a 1" high subframe that will bolt/attach to the steel frame, and then the deck boards on top of that. My Dad is in town so we made quick work of cutting out some square and rectangle tube for the border and a few other long bits.



Partially welded that up today, before I noticed that I was pretty much out of argon after the welding shop had already closed. So not too much more TIG welding beyond this until Tuesday unfortunately. I'll have to make do with cutting/fitting till then.



I also started building the mount for the front fuel filler so I'd be able to line up some of the inner bars.









The mount will get some kickers down off the back and eventually I'll sheet metal around it to close it off. The rear fuel filler will be more or less a carbon copy.

 

[gprguy]

Plugging along. Added the angle bars to the front fuel filler. Not fully welded since I am conserving the last dribble of gas in the bottle (though it did finally run out at the end of the day today).



Since I am so low on argon I looked around for some MIG projects to knock off. I added some 1.5x2" angle between the hitch mounts so the aluminum would have something to rest on in that area.



Then it was time to do some planning to figure out how to get this thing road worthy in a reasonable amount of time.. I decided the new plan is to finish up a couple of things on the aluminum deck that need positioning with it on the truck, and then get the bed off to finish it - it'll be a lot easier to access the center section. After the bed comes off, we'll finish the cabinet so the truck can be roadworthy again. Then it'll be back to the bed to deck it and finish it up.

So with plan... Z or so in mind, I got as far as I could on the rear fuel filler till the bottle went dry.





You might be asking - why does the rear filler not line up with the fuel tank inlet? That was my original plan, to more or less put the filler on the back corner of the deck - but that would block the city water connection on our current camper. Move it forward a little and it'll interfere with the tie down, so it needs to go farther forward. The Ram fuel filler kit for the chassis cab comes with two 90 degree elbows, so I might as well use them. This should open up a little extra space for the toolbox that will eventually go underneath as well.

Back at it tomorrow once I pick up a new argon bottle.

 

[gprguy]

Did some more finish welding now that I have argon and added a few more minor bars. I also picked up the door frames from powder coating, they look great.



I've been a little sidetracked on helping with a couple other projects that are due next week, but I expect to start skinning the doors this weekend.

 

[gprguy]

"This weekend" was slightly optimistic, but I am now done with the other project and got back on the truck today, and the truck will be the focus. Not too many pictures but we bent up the skins for both doors..



And I'm well along with doing the trim on one side.



Hopefully the doors can be installed this weekend, and then the next step will be removing the bed so we can finish the rear wall of the cabinet and get the truck drivable again.

 

[gprguy]

Passenger side door is mostly done - still have to cut the holes for the handles and do the side rivet holes.



Going to get the driver's door to this point and then move on to those last items.

 

[gprguy]

Yesterday's progress - got the driver's side door caught up to where the passenger side is, and then for fun set it in place. This is just sitting in the hole, not attached to the hinge or finished.



Then I started on cutting the holes for the latches - one side done, one to do today. I am hopeful I will be gluing and riveting the doors by the end of the day.

 

[gprguy]

We spent a long day of gluing and riveting today, but here's the end result. There's a lot of extra sealant that needs cleaning and scraping, that'll be tomorrow's plan along with taking the flatbed off so we can start fitting the rear panel for the cabinet.

 

[gprguy]

Big day today, got a little further than expected.

Got the flatbed off for the first time in months. My plan is this is the last time it's coming off - next time it'll go back on will be after powder coating and for good.





Next we rough cut the rear cabinet wall. Still a ton to do here, but that is the next major project to get the cabinet weathertight.



And last, we bolted the passenger side door on.



Still needs a lot of sealant and fingerprints cleaned off, but it fits. The plan is to do the driver's side door tomorrow - my fingers are chewed up enough for one day.

 

[gprguy]

More progress - got the other door mounted. Again, needs fitting, cleaning, weather stripping, etc etc..





Pretty happy with how that's turned out. I am really looking forward to getting the struts and latches finished up.

But, no time for that quite yet - have to keep jumping around to get to the finish line. With the bed off of the truck already, we rigged it up on the forklift so we could get the truck up on the lift instead.





The main reason is to built the mounting plate for the air tank built which I want to get powder coated along with the bed. It's a 12 gallon tank from Hornblasters, the biggest tank I could find that I could put in unused space under the truck.





I'll jump back and forth between the air tank mounts and finishing the cabinet (door finishing touches, and then the rear panel). Once that's all done it'll be back to finishing the bed. Need to also do some more electrical work and get the hydraulic hoses made for the landing legs.