4500 Camper/Jeep Hauler Build

[gprguy]

Busy few days. Been working away at the tie down reinforcements as time allows. Both rears and the driver's front are done, I need to do the passenger front/mid and then it'll be on to the next thing.

Here's the underside of one of the rear rings. The idea is angle iron for starters..



And then a piece of 3/16" plate below those, bolted to the tie down. All of the forces on these rings are pulling upwards, so putting the plate below the angle makes sense.



The welds need some more work (I hate welding overhead), but this should be plenty of metal - it's more reinforcement than the same rings use on my enclosed inTech trailer and those are designed to carry a similar amount of weight tied to them.

From above with temporary hardware - all 8 holes are in use.



The rears are both identical. The passenger front is a little more complicated because some fool put an aluminum crossmember in the way.



That one is also finished, so it'll be on to the last one tomorrow. But first, I took a detour today to play amateur machinist.



The next and hopefully last part of the bed build will be to make a stop/lip at the front of the bed for the camper to push against. More on that later, but one of the bolts to fasten it down is right above the midship fuel tank where it's not easily accessible to put a nut on it. So instead of the 1/2" fasteners with nuts that will hold down the majority of the front stop, this particular one gets a 5/8" bolt and threading the spacer itself. The spacer material is 1" DOM with 1/2" ID. To tap it to 5/8" it has to be drilled out to 17/32" as seen above. That was the quick part..



Tapping it took about an hour, but it came out great.







That's one beefy stainless bolt.

Back to that last tie down mount tomorrow.

 

[gprguy]

On to the last tie down. This one is next to the tire carrier and most likely won't be used for holding the camper down. At least not the current camper. So it needs to be reinforced but not necessarily as much as the others. It's also a bit of a tight area, I don't want to get near the tires, and I also don't want to create a pocket for the wheels to throw crap into before I have time to build some fender liners.



Started out with a bit of angle in the front - had to clearance it some as the tie down is closer to the crossmember than the others.



Then I added the usual 3/16" plate, but I welded it a bit more thoroughly this time instead of the plug welds.



For reinforcement on this one I decided an angle kicker would work well enough and keep away from the tires.



And that's it, more or less done. When I take the aluminum deck off there's a couple more bits to weld, but that's true for all of the tie downs.

On to the front lip/stop tomorrow.

 

[gprguy]

Quick update - I'm a couple days behind schedule due to the holiday and some seized bolts - but it could have been a lot worse. I managed to get all the seized bolts free today with no damage to the bed, pretty much a Thanksgiving miracle if there is such a thing. Hopefully I can take it to powder on Wednesday, but we will see if anything else goes sideways.

Anyway - I needed to take the aluminum deck off as there was no practical way (believe me I tried) to get the mag drill to sit solidly on the front edge with the aluminum in the way. So with that unbolted and slid back half a foot or so, it was on to drilling 1" holes through the top and bottom of the front tube with an annular cutter.



Repeat 7 times and create a lot of shavings, and here's the result.



The spacing is a little odd, but it's what is needed to avoid frame rails, aluminum bars, etc.

This is the general idea - the thick wall DOM tube is to bolt a large piece of aluminum angle to with 1/2" through bolts (and one 5/8" bolt that I threaded earlier). This will form the front lip of the bed where the camper bumpers can push against. The spacer on the left is put through and it'll stick up 1" to match the aluminum frame.



Here's all of them roughly in place, including the threaded 5/8" one which is right above the midship fuel tank (no access to get to a nut on the backside).



And the bed roughly back in place - I need to get it properly aligned tomorrow morning.



Once I get the bed aligned again I can get the spacer and angle clamped above, drill through and then get the spacers tacked in place.

 

[gprguy]

The aluminum deck is back on, so back to work on the front lip. First thing to go on is a 5/16" thick 3" wide spacer, which also ends up being my drill template. So a long morning of drilling through the steel spacers and through the aluminum.



6 more times and my arms are burning.



Next up, use the spacer as a drilling template to transfer the holes into the most expensive piece of metal I've ever bought - 5x3" 6063 1/2" thick aluminum angle. No pressure..



Again, repeat 6 times..



After that it was just cutting it to length (measure 7 times on the expensive chunk of aluminum), and then bolt it into place.





The holes still need to be countersunk but I can do that later when the frame is at powder coating.

I am really close to done with the fabrication needed before powder - the only thing left other than my list of tiny odds and ends is to trim down the front deck board to fit and weld it in. Hopefully I can do all that in two days and drop it off on Wednesday. Stay tuned..

 

[gprguy]

"Done". At least for this part of the project.



I've already started taking the aluminum deck off again and will finish up the last welds on the steel deck I couldn't get to tomorrow. Then it's loading it on to the trailer.

 

[gprguy]

It's been about 6 months since I started the bed and it's finally at the powder coater today.







Should be able to pick it up before xmas. Until then, there's plenty of wiring and plumbing to work on.

 

[gprguy]

Oh one more thing I forgot to mention.. We are signed up for the Truck Camper Rally Feb 12-16th in Quartzsite. The truck won't be "done" but it should be done enough. It'll be our first time there - looking forward to it!

2025 Truck Camper Adventure Quartzsite Rally Tickets Now on Sale!

Tickets for the 2025 Truck Camper Adventure Quartzsite Rally are now on sale on Eventbrite. An educational event with an emphasis on safety and

www.truckcamperadventure.com

 

[buzzuti]

Oh one more thing I forgot to mention.. We are signed up for the Truck Camper Rally Feb 12-16th in Quartzsite. The truck won't be "done" but it should be done enough. It'll be our first time there - looking forward to it!

2025 Truck Camper Adventure Quartzsite Rally Tickets Now on Sale!

Tickets for the 2025 Truck Camper Adventure Quartzsite Rally are now on sale on Eventbrite. An educational event with an emphasis on safety and

www.truckcamperadventure.com

We will see you there!

 

[gprguy]

We will see you there!

Fantastic!

Now that the bed is out of my hands for a couple of weeks I need to get a few odds and ends done before the bed gets bolted on to the truck. First off, the air tank is temporarily mounted and plumbed on the janky fenders. I was hoping to get the bracket for the air tank back earlier and mount it proper under the truck, but it's not going to happen until the flatbed is back.



Luckily it won't be there long. Tomorrow I'm going to work on the wiring for the air control system and hopefully it won't be long until that is running again. I am really looking forward to having the auto leveling back, I think it's been close to a year since I had to remove it to build the big cabinet.

I've also started working on something I've been looking forward to for months now, but avoiding because I didn't want to get distracted from getting the bed done. Modeling and making a mount to integrate the CHMSL with its cameras into the back corner of the box. I've been printing prototypes for a couple of days and think I'm getting close - I'm still adding some tweaks and figuring out what I want to round off and what I don't. This is just printed in plain old PLA in draft quality - the final piece will be ASA-CF and I hope will look pretty slick.

It's made in halves since that's what fits in my printer.



A couple of hidden rivets help hold it together while installing it.



The CHMSL sitting in place.



I'm still trying to decide if I'm going to fill in around the edges of the CHMSL with some raised curved areas to more match the flange of the light. The mounting surface is actually flat, so leaving the flat angular look is an option too. Not sure yet and it'll be hidden by the camper half the time anyway, so it may not be worth the bother.

 

[gprguy]

No pictures (because they'd be boring) but another big milestone today - I've finished trimming down the wiring harness for the whole air control system to fit it's new home and that all works again, the truck auto levels for the first time in about a year. I was able to ditch about 80% of the harness and despite that it all still worked first try.

Tomorrow I will probably quickly install the Cerbo GX because I'm working in that same general area, and then it will be on to plumbing the hydraulic legs.

 

[gprguy]

Finished up the Victron related wiring today. That wraps up the wiring except for installing the AC outlets and the solar receptacles, which is something I'll tackle in the spring or something.



So that entailed hooking up the battery side of the MPPT, setting up a relay to control the Orion XS (the engine detection works great, except it can't tell the difference between the alternator running and my trickle charger so that solves that issue) and wiring up the Cerbo GX along with all of it's communication cables. I need to swap the MPPT VE.direct cable out with a shorter one, but other than that I think it's clean enough.

With the new Cerbo I also got to try out the new UI for the first time.



I don't hate it. It's definitely an improvement. In my camper I've used GUImods on that Cerbo for years, so I'm sure I'll miss something from that but this isn't too bad..



Having the new Orion XS with actual communication to report it's charging status into the system is pretty sweet.

Tomorrow I need to get it up on the lift and start routing hydraulic hoses (finally!).

 

[buzzuti]

Finished up the Victron related wiring today. That wraps up the wiring except for installing the AC outlets and the solar receptacles, which is something I'll tackle in the spring or something.

View attachment 80151

So that entailed hooking up the battery side of the MPPT, setting up a relay to control the Orion XS (the engine detection works great, except it can't tell the difference between the alternator running and my trickle charger so that solves that issue) and wiring up the Cerbo GX along with all of it's communication cables. I need to swap the MPPT VE.direct cable out with a shorter one, but other than that I think it's clean enough.

With the new Cerbo I also got to try out the new UI for the first time.

View attachment 80152

I don't hate it. It's definitely an improvement. In my camper I've used GUImods on that Cerbo for years, so I'm sure I'll miss something from that but this isn't too bad..

View attachment 80153

Having the new Orion XS with actual communication to report it's charging status into the system is pretty sweet.

Tomorrow I need to get it up on the lift and start routing hydraulic hoses (finally!).

I like the new Victron UI.

Added a couple of Ruuvi temp sensors for the fridge and freezer, mopeka on the propane and fresh and grey, and all integrated with the Cerbo which is super nice!

 

[gprguy]

I like the new Victron UI.

Added a couple of Ruuvi temp sensors for the fridge and freezer, mopeka on the propane and fresh and grey, and all integrated with the Cerbo which is super nice!

Good to know, that was one of my questions - I have Ruuvi sensors on my camper Cerbo and having those displayed nicely was a big part of GUImods for me.

 

[jsalbre]

The Ruuvi sensors work great, though they are obnoxiously expensive. I’ve been trying to get some of the Venus OS code modified so it’ll work with much cheaper Govee sensors, but I’m not much of a programmer and unfortunately haven’t had the time to dedicate towards figuring it out.

 

[buzzuti]

The Ruuvi sensors work great, though they are obnoxiously expensive. I’ve been trying to get some of the Venus OS code modified so it’ll work with much cheaper Govee sensors, but I’m not much of a programmer and unfortunately haven’t had the time to dedicate towards figuring it out.

Yeah $40 a pop!
We had some real cheap one before that were like $15 however I could not integrate them with Cerbo without some heavy lifting.
I am a programmer, and once upon a time I would have ripped VenusOS up and down and known every corner of that os.
But older now and I am lazy.
Don't want to spend the time tinkering/ trouble shooting software when I can just get something that works.
From experience, once you lean into those types of customizations they never let you go.

Here is the view on the Cerbo touch...

 

[jsalbre]

Yeah $40 a pop!
We had some real cheap one before that were like $15 however I could not integrate them with Cerbo without some heavy lifting.
I am a programmer, and once upon a time I would have ripped VenusOS up and down and known every corner of that os.
But older now and I am lazy.
Don't want to spend the time tinkering/ trouble shooting software when I can just get something that works.
From experience, once you lean into those types of customizations they never let you go.

Here is the view on the Cerbo touch...

The Govee sensors I’m talking about are already broadcasting on BLE like the Ruuvi sensors, so I don’t think it’s be very difficult to get working with a small amount of coding knowledge. Bonus is they actually have temp and humidity display on them, which is great for fridge/freezer.

Sorry for the thread hijack!

 

[gprguy]

Did the truck's first oil change (at 2300 miles and... 2 years since it was built) in preparation for hitting the road in the near future. Also finished plumbing up the hydraulics and filled that system. The leveling legs are just as cool as I had hoped, they lift the truck effortlessly. I can't wait to pull into a campsite, lower the air suspension, push the auto level button on the hydraulics and be set up.

A while back there was a question of whether I could change a tire using the legs. It's close in the front but not quite - if I used some blocks I bet I could get the tires off the ground. The back isn't quite as close, but it's not that far off either. The photos below are with all the jacks fully extended.

 

[Great White North Eh]

Did the truck's first oil change (at 2300 miles and... 2 years since it was built) in preparation for hitting the road in the near future. Also finished plumbing up the hydraulics and filled that system. The leveling legs are just as cool as I had hoped, they lift the truck effortlessly. I can't wait to pull into a campsite, lower the air suspension, push the auto level button on the hydraulics and be set up.

A while back there was a question of whether I could change a tire using the legs. It's close in the front but not quite - if I used some blocks I bet I could get the tires off the ground. The back isn't quite as close, but it's not that far off either. The photos below are with all the jacks fully extended.

View attachment 80228

View attachment 80229

Block er up! We want to see her go higher!

 

[gprguy]

Still working on odds and ends as powder coating is behind schedule. Was hoping to have the bed back this Friday but it's going to be just after the new year. They were able to get me the air tank bracket however, and I am really pleased with the quality.



Too bad it's going to be hidden under the truck.



11 gallon Hornblasters tank bolted in place and plumbed.



I added a pull drain to the bottom - the system has a dryer, but I'm sure it'll gather some condensation over time. For the moment it is routed over to the side.



And the pull ring is hidden down on the running board.



I think I can improve this, but I will probably wait until I get some new steps that aren't chrome.

 

[gprguy]

Started on the last big project that needs doing before I get the bed back - enclosing the gas tank fillers and wiring up the camper outlets (one standard 7 way, one Lance).





Now I just need to trim all the edges/corners and do some wiring. Hopefully I have enough leftovers from the cabinet to get that done this week.