NOW 2017 Leprechaun 260ds
2005 Forrest River Cardinal 29rkle FW
1998 Lance 980 11'3" TC
2017 CHEVY 3500 SRW 6.0
B@W turnover ball @ companion Hitch
Honda eu3000 generator mounted on cargo rack
Crestliner 1850 Fish Ski boat mostly fishing now!
It takes about 5 seconds to install each jackstand and insert the cotter pin. I machined the 1/4 inch plate and 0.2 inch wall 1 inch tube on my cnc mill (going to miss having that on the road) such that everything was a precision fit. I still used 1/32" oversize ID tubes on the receiving end couplers to give a little slop :-).
Seems to work like a champ (The jacks are rieco-titan models) of course the camper is still just a steel frame right now.
![[image]](http://i1051.photobucket.com/albums/s435/IGBT/jackmount1.jpg)
![[image]](http://i1051.photobucket.com/albums/s435/IGBT/jackmount2.jpg)
![[image]](http://i1051.photobucket.com/albums/s435/IGBT/jackmount3.jpg)
Keep up the great work.
Steve.
'07 Ford Ranger XLT Supercab diesel + '91 Shadow Cruiser - Sky Cruiser 1
'98 Jeep TJ 4.0
'15 Ford Fiesta ST
'09 Fiat Panda 1.2
Here's a question maybe you or someone else here can answer:
A lot of times on standard campers, they have a small area that hangs off the back side of the bed and sits lower. This is usually where the door is. I would like to incorporate this design into my camper (an area that hangs off the end of the bed and sits lower to the ground so the stairs don't have to be so high). My reasoning is that I can have the door and stairs going up the center (as you look in at the back) and use the space on either side for the potable water and waste tanks. This would allow me to put the toilet directly over the top of the tank and simply have a bottom drain to which I could hook a standard RV sewage hose to.
Can anyone think of a reason why this wouldn't work or what requirements (other than DOT stop/turn/tail/reverse lights) would be necessary for this overhanging section? This would give me a 8'X12-13' main floor, plus the cab-over sleeping loft.
![[emoticon]](http://www.coastresorts.com/sharedcontent/cfb/images/wink.gif "wink")
Nice work - I like the horizontal tubes that avoid having the swingout for the jacks. Slick idea - and thanks for the update. Your answers regarding aluminum pretty much matched my guess (primarily that having a giant chassis makes weight ummm...less of a big deal.
![[emoticon]](http://www.coastresorts.com/sharedcontent/cfb/images/smile.gif "smile")
)
h2o4unow wrote:
I'm also thinking of building my own camper for my flatbed. The truck is an '89 F-450 with a 10' flatbed.
Here's a question maybe you or someone else here can answer:
A lot of times on standard campers, they have a small area that hangs off the back side of the bed and sits lower. This is usually where the door is. I would like to incorporate this design into my camper (an area that hangs off the end of the bed and sits lower to the ground so the stairs don't have to be so high). My reasoning is that I can have the door and stairs going up the center (as you look in at the back) and use the space on either side for the potable water and waste tanks. This would allow me to put the toilet directly over the top of the tank and simply have a bottom drain to which I could hook a standard RV sewage hose to.
Can anyone think of a reason why this wouldn't work or what requirements (other than DOT stop/turn/tail/reverse lights) would be necessary for this overhanging section? This would give me a 8'X12-13' main floor, plus the cab-over sleeping loft.
I'm also thinking of building my own camper for my flatbed. The truck is an '89 F-450 with a 10' flatbed.
Here's a question maybe you or someone else here can answer:
A lot of times on standard campers, they have a small area that hangs off the back side of the bed and sits lower. This is usually where the door is. I would like to incorporate this design into my camper (an area that hangs off the end of the bed and sits lower to the ground so the stairs don't have to be so high). My reasoning is that I can have the door and stairs going up the center (as you look in at the back) and use the space on either side for the potable water and waste tanks. This would allow me to put the toilet directly over the top of the tank and simply have a bottom drain to which I could hook a standard RV sewage hose to.
Can anyone think of a reason why this wouldn't work or what requirements (other than DOT stop/turn/tail/reverse lights) would be necessary for this overhanging section? This would give me a 8'X12-13' main floor, plus the cab-over sleeping loft.
My only negative thought on this is that you want minimize weight behind the rear axle. Putting your holding tanks at the extreme rear guaranties that you are putting 100% of that weight on the rear axle plus unloading some of the front weight to the rear due the leverage effect.
Jfet -
A couple of questions (mostly because camera angles are deceiving):
1. Will you be able to reach the jack stand cranks from the ground when the TC is sitting on the truck?
2. Are the locking pin holes far enough out that the exterior skin will not interfere with the pin operation?
3. With what are you going to seal the inside of your jack mount tubes to prevent it being access inside to infestation?
Chevy Sonic 1.8-Honda Passport C70B-Host Mammoth 11.5-Interstate Car Carrier 20-Joyner SandViper 250-Kawasaki Concours ZG1000-Paros 8' flatbed-Pelican Decker DLX 8.75-Ram 5500 HD
h2o4unow wrote:
I'm also thinking of building my own camper for my flatbed. The truck is an '89 F-450 with a 10' flatbed.
Here's a question maybe you or someone else here can answer:
A lot of times on standard campers, they have a small area that hangs off the back side of the bed and sits lower. This is usually where the door is. I would like to incorporate this design into my camper (an area that hangs off the end of the bed and sits lower to the ground so the stairs don't have to be so high). My reasoning is that I can have the door and stairs going up the center (as you look in at the back) and use the space on either side for the potable water and waste tanks. This would allow me to put the toilet directly over the top of the tank and simply have a bottom drain to which I could hook a standard RV sewage hose to.
Can anyone think of a reason why this wouldn't work or what requirements (other than DOT stop/turn/tail/reverse lights) would be necessary for this overhanging section? This would give me a 8'X12-13' main floor, plus the cab-over sleeping loft.
I'm also thinking of building my own camper for my flatbed. The truck is an '89 F-450 with a 10' flatbed.
Here's a question maybe you or someone else here can answer:
A lot of times on standard campers, they have a small area that hangs off the back side of the bed and sits lower. This is usually where the door is. I would like to incorporate this design into my camper (an area that hangs off the end of the bed and sits lower to the ground so the stairs don't have to be so high). My reasoning is that I can have the door and stairs going up the center (as you look in at the back) and use the space on either side for the potable water and waste tanks. This would allow me to put the toilet directly over the top of the tank and simply have a bottom drain to which I could hook a standard RV sewage hose to.
Can anyone think of a reason why this wouldn't work or what requirements (other than DOT stop/turn/tail/reverse lights) would be necessary for this overhanging section? This would give me a 8'X12-13' main floor, plus the cab-over sleeping loft.
you can mount lights on the camper near the bottom so that is non-issue really.. if you build it I would be sure to use full length floor "joists" for strength to mount the step box to and be sure to mount as much of your weight to the front of camper..batteries/furnance and so on..
if your truck is 14,000lbs gvw you could even use 2x4 joist for strength..
Jfet nice nice jack mounts..and i bet you'll miss your shop on the road i would
![[emoticon]](http://www.coastresorts.com/sharedcontent/cfb/images/cool.gif "cool")
1999 F550 truck conversion
Bedlam wrote:
Jfet -
A couple of questions (mostly because camera angles are deceiving):
1. Will you be able to reach the jack stand cranks from the ground when the TC is sitting on the truck?
2. Are the locking pin holes far enough out that the exterior skin will not interfere with the pin operation?
3. With what are you going to seal the inside of your jack mount tubes to prevent it being access inside to infestation?
Jfet -
A couple of questions (mostly because camera angles are deceiving):
1. Will you be able to reach the jack stand cranks from the ground when the TC is sitting on the truck?
2. Are the locking pin holes far enough out that the exterior skin will not interfere with the pin operation?
3. With what are you going to seal the inside of your jack mount tubes to prevent it being access inside to infestation?
1) Should be no problem for me to reach the cranks, I am 6'7" :-) But I do not think they will need to be that high that a more vertically challenged person would not be able to reach them.
2) Yes, I made sure the pin holes have 1/4 inch clearance past the exterior skin. I am slow but I do tend to measure twice, cut once.
3) I was thinking plastic caps on the inside, but maybe on the outside as well when the jacks are not on the camper. A bit more trouble to have to keep track of the caps on the outside when you want to install/remove the jacks, but it would keep dirt/wasps from nesting in the holes.
Good questions though! All of these except #1 crossed my mind and were a concern.
Jfet wrote:
1) Should be no problem for me to reach the cranks, I am 6'7" :-) But I do not think they will need to be that high that a more vertically challenged person would not be able to reach them.
2) Yes, I made sure the pin holes have 1/4 inch clearance past the exterior skin. I am slow but I do tend to measure twice, cut once.
3) I was thinking plastic caps on the inside, but maybe on the outside as well when the jacks are not on the camper. A bit more trouble to have to keep track of the caps on the outside when you want to install/remove the jacks, but it would keep dirt/wasps from nesting in the holes.
Good questions though! All of these except #1 crossed my mind and were a concern.
Bedlam wrote:
Jfet -
A couple of questions (mostly because camera angles are deceiving):
1. Will you be able to reach the jack stand cranks from the ground when the TC is sitting on the truck?
2. Are the locking pin holes far enough out that the exterior skin will not interfere with the pin operation?
3. With what are you going to seal the inside of your jack mount tubes to prevent it being access inside to infestation?
Jfet -
A couple of questions (mostly because camera angles are deceiving):
1. Will you be able to reach the jack stand cranks from the ground when the TC is sitting on the truck?
2. Are the locking pin holes far enough out that the exterior skin will not interfere with the pin operation?
3. With what are you going to seal the inside of your jack mount tubes to prevent it being access inside to infestation?
1) Should be no problem for me to reach the cranks, I am 6'7" :-) But I do not think they will need to be that high that a more vertically challenged person would not be able to reach them.
2) Yes, I made sure the pin holes have 1/4 inch clearance past the exterior skin. I am slow but I do tend to measure twice, cut once.
3) I was thinking plastic caps on the inside, but maybe on the outside as well when the jacks are not on the camper. A bit more trouble to have to keep track of the caps on the outside when you want to install/remove the jacks, but it would keep dirt/wasps from nesting in the holes.
Good questions though! All of these except #1 crossed my mind and were a concern.
For the outer caps, just make something out of plastic with all 3 caps connected together and hold it in with the same pin. Less loose pieces that way.
if your truck is 14,000lbs gvw you could even use 2x4 joist for strength..
The truck used to have a tow body on it and has the rear axle mounted almost at the back of the frame. It's a 2.5ton axle so not worried so much about the weight distribution. It's almost better to have it back there as just about everything else is going to split it's weight equally between the front and rear axle. Good idea with the floor joists...that would allow me to insulate the floor a little better too. Don't want to take over this thread too much...I'll probably post my own when I'm a little closer to starting the build.