Expedition Camper by IrbisOffroad (1 Viewer)

[IRBIS]

Hi my name is Oleg and I live in Denver. I finally decided to build an expedition camper for myself. For those who don't know me I have a Toyota Off Road shop: Irbis Offroad. You can check out my website at irbisoffroad.com. The main idea for the camper was that it should be based on a Toyota and be very reliable, self-sufficient, and good on power. We tried to build it from the stuff we already had in the shop or the storage yard. I had plenty of 4 Runners and Land Cruisers and I understand that Land Cruisers would be the most reliable but the speed and gas mileage is not too attractive. After that I took a look at my shop truck. It is a 2001 Toyota Tundra with a 4.7 4X4 Automatic. That looked very promising.
That is what I had at my storage yard, a 76 Chinook. It runs and drives perfectly, all complete. It had a few minor damages in the fiberglass camper.

 

[IRBIS]

The wheel base on the camper compared to the Tundra was very different and the wheel wells were in different places. That is why I wanted to cut the bottom part of the camper, to make a completely flat floor inside and take the wheel wells out. Because of the height of the cabover piece I have to build some subframe underneath of the camper. That wooden temporary subframe is just to pre-fit the camper on the Tundra.

Here is how the original camper looked on the Tundra:

 

[IRBIS]

Let me lay out some general plans for the camper. It should be a very comfortable, but very capable expedition camper for short trips as well as long traveling. The engine as I mentioned is a V8, 4.7, automatic transmission, with shift on the fly 4X4. The rear axle will be replaced for full floating axle with disk brakes and e locker, custom rear leaf spring with an airbag support and probably OLD MAN EMU shocks. I want to give it max lift on the suspension of about 2.5 to 3 inches. The tires will be 255-85-16.
I plan to have a winch in the front and rear. There will be on board air, dual battery under the hood and two or three deep cycle batteries in the camper. Snorkel, propane heater and stove, CB and Ham radio because I finally passed my test and got the license.
I mentioned the subframe I built under the camper earlier and I called the space between the frame and camper "basement" and I'm going to try to install all equipment and heavy accessories in the basement to try to keep COG down.
If anybody has some suggestions they are always welcome. Nothing radical on the paint, probably some clean white with a silverish lower portion and maybe back of the camper.
Front bumper: It looks like ARB Sahara but after serious lyposuction and replacement of cheesy chrome tube with 1 3/4 inch DOM tubes.
Here are a few more pictures.

 

[Bad Mojo]

It sounds like you have a plan. It will be interesting to see how this build turns out. Best of luck with it.

 

[bugsnbikes]

Chinundra!!!!!

 

[Bogo]

I see plenty of room under there for utilities. On the other hand all RV appliances I know of like heaters and water heaters can't stand to be immersed ever. On the other hand an engine coolant heated hot water tank like the IsoTemp water heaters by Webasto doesn't care that much. They do have some electronics, but it is only a thermostat for 120/240VAC operation. The output water is mixed with cool water so they require a pump pressurized water system.

For heaters a "diving bell" can be placed over boiler units like Espar's Hydronic. May also be possible to make a diving bell for an Espar Airtronic air heater. Both types have petrol fired versions. They just don't have the range of sizes as the diesel fired units. The other option is to just mount em high enough it don't matter.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

That looks awesome.

 

[arndog123]

Cool.

 

[Bogo]

That looks awesome.

I think so too. For a bit I wanted to do something similar, but I'm now thinking less wind resistance and a bit smaller. So many ideas...

 

[askeyey]

This one will be fun to watch grow up.

 

[IRBIS]

I started work on the rear bumper. The bumper is going to be incorporated into the frame and not removable. The hitch is built-in and for the corners I used the same 1-3/4 DOM tubes. First I built the center piece and welded it to the frame. I bent the four corner pieces:

I cut six short pieces and fish-mouthed them.

I used my frame machine as my welding table, clamped the corners to it and finished welding the corners.

Here are the corners, fit and welded to the vehicle:

Here is how the vehicle looks with the complete bumper:

I know it's not much but that rear bumper took me all day.
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[IRBIS]

Here are some updates. Sorry, there aren't any exciting pictures. It's just alot of routine work. Cutting, welding, pre-fitting. Here is the vision for the rear tailights and storage in rear bumper.

To finish the work on the basement and bottom of the camper, I took the camper off and flipped it upside down. I replaced the floor in the mudroom with new 3/4 inch birch plywood. I re-fiberglassed everything and bedlined it.

While the camper was off, I finished building the subframe for the rear winch. I boxed the frame rails and cut off the original cross member for the spare tire, which made just enough room for the second gas tank.

That's all for now.

 

[askeyey]

Looks awesome. What is the plan for powering the rear-winch? Would it be worth it/appropriate to tap in to the deepcycles you are putting in the RV or are you just going to run off the dual battery under the hood.

What is the charging plan for the RV's deep cycle batteries?

 

[askeyey]

Another thing that occirs to me, is that if you are putting two or three batteries in the RV why not just forgoe the hassle of setting up the dual batteries under the hood and just run one charge controler and battery isolator set up in the RV. Seems like you would have so much more space to work and have one less battery under the hood getting cooked.

Just brainstorming. I can't stop thinking about this truck.

 

[Bogo]

Another thing that occirs to me, is that if you are putting two or three batteries in the RV why not just forgoe the hassle of setting up the dual batteries under the hood and just run one charge controler and battery isolator set up in the RV. Seems like you would have so much more space to work and have one less battery under the hood getting cooked.

This is the plan I have for my MicroRV project. Three or 4 batteries for the house bank. That will allow them to be reconfigured into a string for emergency welding. Also it provides a few days no engine run time.

 

[sandcruiser]

looks like a good start to a fun vehicle.

I'd be nervous about putting jerry cans under the rear 1/4 panel- seems like one of the most-abused points on a longer vehicle. I suppose that with enough armor, it could be safe. However, moving the weight to between the axles will be better for handling and might be safer, too.

An on-board air tank or something similar could be put into the space in the bumper.

Keep the pictures coming!

 

[Bogo]

I'd be nervous about putting jerry cans under the rear 1/4 panel- seems like one of the most-abused points on a longer vehicle. I suppose that with enough armor, it could be safe. However, moving the weight to between the axles will be better for handling and might be safer, too.

A place I'd thought of putting jerry cans is just behind the cab in front of the rear wheels. The would be carried above the sliders in a carrier designed to hold two of three of them on each side. I have some Google Sketchup images in this thread: https://forum.ih8mud.com/expedition-builds/246441-cad-googles-sketchup.html

In this cutaway image you can see the red jerry can just behind the cab. The compartment would be only externally accessible. There are other images in the thread.

 

[IRBIS]

Sorry for the delay, I have been really busy. I went on a road trip and you can see the details of that trip here: http://www.risingsun4x4club.org/foru...ad.php?t=10531

Here are some updates on the camper. I finished up the underbody boxes, and the side boxes will be built later.

I cut the cab back wall for the walk through. I reinforced it with 2 inch. DOM tubes.

I also finished the fiberglass work on the camper and attached it to the cab. I tried to make a smooth transition on the sides between the camper and the cab.

I started to fix all the dents and did all the body work. The side moldings were removed as well. Now I'm going to prepare it to get painted.

After the camper was attached, I also cut the roof to make the walk-through more comfortable.

Still more to come...
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http://irbisoffroad.com

 

[sandcruiser]

love the walk-through! very cool.

 

[hawkeye]

looking very good. what are your plans for inside?