Offroad popup camper build (13 Viewers)

[Atoyot1031]

Here's a view of the cradle after it's welded in place on the frame.


The stock stabilizer jacks welded in place sans the tiny feet they came with.


The stabilizer jack with the adjustable extension and the 6"x6" new foot.

 

[Atoyot1031]

Lastly, here's a pic of both rear stabilizer jacks with the extensions and sand feet.


Until, I get the tongue stabilizer jack taken care of, I won't know if the three jacks will suffice, but if need be I can add two more of the stabilizer jacks that I put in the rear on the front of the box.

I need to finish up the water tank, tongue stabilizer jack, then onto the box itself...


Nick

 

[swampman]

sweeeet.. this is the route i was going to take with my old palamino pop up but the sucker was just too damn big.. i really like what you did with the stabalizer extensions.. so simple. for what its worth i would prolly go with 4 of them .. just relying on the tounge jack might make her tippy.. and you might not always find level ground to set up on.. could your extensions be made with another sleave to give you evem more extension (or shorter ) for that just in case situation? keep up the good work man i will be watching this build for sure

 

[Coastline]

Very nice. I'm looking to build one along this style for myself this spring. A few years back I attempted to build light weight laminated trailers for off road but a little bigger than this as a business. Built a few and still have one left and still have sore spots when I sit down from blowinig so much on the endeavor. Bottom line there is, beware of partners.

I will probably go with 14" rims and torsion axels with re-positionable hubs to give a very high clearance -- about 14" with out the extra weight of the larger tires and springs.

What are your plans for a toilet and water - fresh, gray, black? I thought I would use a portable head and storage bags to eliminate the gray and black tanks or, at least have a much smaller waste tank and have larger fresh water capacity.

 

[Atoyot1031]

sweeeet.. this is the route i was going to take with my old palamino pop up but the sucker was just too damn big.. i really like what you did with the stabalizer extensions.. so simple. for what its worth i would prolly go with 4 of them .. just relying on the tounge jack might make her tippy.. and you might not always find level ground to set up on.. could your extensions be made with another sleave to give you evem more extension (or shorter ) for that just in case situation? keep up the good work man i will be watching this build for sure

Thanks. I'm getting the tongue jack on tonight. So I'll assess the stability and I have enough of the box steel to make two more leg extensions if need be. I'm gonna give these stabilizers a go as is with the additional adjustment I've built in, but that is a great idea having an additional sleave. It would be an easy add-on later if needed.

What are your plans for a toilet and water - fresh, gray, black? I thought I would use a portable head and storage bags to eliminate the gray and black tanks or, at least have a much smaller waste tank and have larger fresh water capacity.

When I bought this little popup, it came with a Coleman flushing portable toilet. I've always just gone in the woods, but my wife and daughter will prolly appreciate this addition.

I'm finishing up my 35 gal fresh water tank hopefully today as well. There will be no grey or black water tank. The fresh water will just service my sink and run a hose heading out. I went with a laundry sink faucet as it comes with an aerator that is an adapter for a hose fitting so I can spray myself and the family off outside the camper and whatever else. Plus it was ~$20 at Lowes.

 

[REZARF]

Very cool, you should cross post over in the trailer forum, lots of good info there as well.

Drew

 

[Advrider]

Atoyot1031,

Great thread, we've also been looking for years at those same popups and thought the same thing, to light duty!!! We also have had to change from Adv motorcycle camping to truck camping to now needing a van & a trailer, with 4 kids you need a lot of space & crap! So we have little choice but to do what your doing to accommodate our large family, there's nothing out there for families of our size that can try be taken off road, or hold up to the kids abuses, even just going to the flat tops for a weekend is really hard on equipment!
So this year we have already hit the RV' Show and came away with a few more idea's for our build. I'm looking right now for a cheap but still in half way good condition popup (is there such a thing?) to do almost the same thing to pull behind our Sportsmobile (also home done to accommodate our family & sports). SMB's also can be a little light duty at times as well, their cabinet construction, pluming, suspension, etc., so once again I thought I would do it myself, boy after writing this a reading it, I just must be a glutton for punishment, haha.

We'll watching eagerly to see how yours comes out, thanks for posting an please keep posting as soon as possible, the wife and I are hooked.

Also on a side note, I'm from Aspen, we were trying to figure out where your shop was, at first I thought it was maybe the AABC but maybe not with all the golf carts, maybe it at one of the new courses? Regardless, a lot has changed since I left in 2003, Aspen has gone and gotten it self all grown up, I have to admit, I miss the old days in town, but everything changes, were right over the hill in SLC, boy do we really miss town.

Keep the killer work coming,
Advrider

 

[Atoyot1031]

Update time.

Frame primed...




Painted...

 

[Atoyot1031]

Now that I've got the frame nicely painted, it's time to screw up the paint and get back to welding. My receiver tube showed up, and I finished the work for my front jack.

Here's a couple shots of the receiver tube. We had cut a hole with the plasma cutter. With the hand sledge, I was able to smack the tube right in with no additional grinding.





Here's a couple shots of the male portion of the front jack mount. Originally, the jack was fixed on the tongue. I didn't want it haging down obviously, and it would interfere with the new position of the propane.

 

[Atoyot1031]

So the front jack was welded to a plate that bolted to the tongue. I cut off the plate with the sawzall (BTW, I found that out of all the sawzall blades I went through, the Lenox were by far the best). I also grinded the tube smooth, and cut off the bottom inch or so of the jack leg as it was deformed from 30 years of use.

Next, I found some tube that fit over the male/trailer side of the mount. I have a cheap tube notching jig, but it only works on tube up to 2" in diameter. It was super handy on my roofrack build, but not so much here. So I rigged up my drill press with ~100 clamps and a 1 5/8" hole saw bit (minus pilot).

The notching worked well, and so did the corresponding holes for the pin to lock the jack into position.

In the first pic, you can see where the jack was originally mounted.





Here is the completed jack with extension leg. I built the extension leg just like the extension leg for the rear stabilizer jacks with multi-position holes and wire pin release.

 

[Atoyot1031]

So a friend gave me a pair of Rancho shocks to use on the project. I purposely didn't try to mount them until the end of the frame portion of the project, as the location of the water tank and the rest of the suspension took priority. However, once I completed the rest of the suspension and the water tank, I was really pressed for where to fit these things. The water tank will be nicely centered side to side and front to back, but is so large there's not much room.

Anyways, the last week I definitely overthought this whole problem. So last night, I deceided to get my brain out of the way, and just start welding.

Here's what I came up with...

Here are the upper mounts welded to the inside of the rear crossmember. They are just 2"x3/16" plate. I cut them 2 1/2" long, welded inside and out.


Here's a side view.

 

[Atoyot1031]

The trick with the lower mounts was that the back of the water tank cradle interfered with a straight shot to the axle. Also, the angle was fairly large. In my experience, the ideal shock angle is straight up and down as that is the motion that is being absorbed, the up and down travel of the axle. However, I have confgured shocks at various angles and found that so long as the angle isn't too great, the effectiveness of the shock isn't noticeably affected.

So I grabbed some of that square tube that I used to extend the stabilizer legs, and that same 2"x3/16" plate, and got to work.

I cut the plate 3 1/2" long so that it would over lap the square tube 1 1/2". I also utilized my make shift tube notcher again, this time with a 3" hole saw to match the curvature of the axle tube. I welded the plate and test fit the shocks. The lower body of the shock was going to interfere with the corner of the plate, so I ground it to a rounded 90.

Here's a couple pics of the lower shock mounts before I welded them to the axle.





Here they are welded to the axle.


A rear view.

 

[Atoyot1031]

Lastly, here's how the donor shocks look in place.

Overhead...



and a rear view...

 

[Atoyot1031]

In regards to the 35 gallon water tank, the tank I purchased I chose because it had the largest capacity with the lowest profile. It also had the hook-ups for the fill and vent on the top of the tank versus the side.

With the final position of the tank, the original hook-ups for the fill and vent would be coming up in the middle of my floor. So I cut the tank open, installed some bulkhead fittings to the DS of the tank, reconfigured the cradle a little, and patched the tank with a chunk of poly cutting board and some 3M marine adhesive.

Here it is test fitted in the cradle.


From this view, you can see the hook-up for the tank drain on the rear.



Teaser for the electrical system...

 

[Vitesse_6]

Looking great!
I would love to build my own trailer, Keep up the awesome work

 

[latinoguy]

Great job. I always wondered when someone would try modifying one of these pop up trailers into a worthy off road version. Can't wait to see the finished product.

 

[Old#7]

I so want to do this too, glad you are the guinea pig for us all. Can't wait for more.......subscribed!!

 

[Rock_Wagon]

Looking great! Only 36 days till Canyonlands and we get to see it in action.

 

[Atoyot1031]

Very cool, you should cross post over in the trailer forum, lots of good info there as well.

Drew

Thanks, I've done so. Yer trailer came out awesome! Did we do Kane Creek together at CM 08 with the Toyota Trail Team?

Also on a side note, I'm from Aspen, we were trying to figure out where your shop was, at first I thought it was maybe the AABC but maybe not with all the golf carts, maybe it at one of the new courses? Regardless, a lot has changed since I left in 2003, Aspen has gone and gotten it self all grown up, I have to admit, I miss the old days in town, but everything changes, were right over the hill in SLC, boy do we really miss town.

Keep the killer work coming,
Advrider

Thanks! I've been in Aspen since 97. A lot has changed, including me, my camping needs, and oh yeah, the addition of a wife and family! Your getting close on the location...

Looking great!
I would love to build my own trailer, Keep up the awesome work

Brian, the wife will hopefully be contacting you with a B-Day present request for me. Cruiser rings (and associated silversmithing) rock from you and yours!

Looking great! Only 36 days till Canyonlands and we get to see it in action.

Will, please don't remind me of my remaining time frame.

Of course all I have left to do is completely rebuild a popup camper complete with cabinets, galley, wiring, plumbing, carpentry, skinning, yada, yada, freaking yada...

Oh well, if I give up on sleep from now until then, and swear off my family and job, I'll be fine!

Talk at you soon,
Nick

 

[Atoyot1031]

Last detail on the frame was that I had to drill a hole for propane and electrical to get to the galley.

Here it is.


Time to start building the box.

I used 3/4" ply that I cut at my buddy's shop on his computerized table saw to ensure exact cuts. I sealed all of the wood with spars polyurethane. Then I primed the underside and ends with primer, and sprayed the underside with truck bedliner.

Here's a shot of the subfloor prior to installation, but after the bedliner has been sprayed.


Here's a shot of the subfloor installed. I used (over 60) 1 1/2" stainless steel sheet metal screws (pre-dilled of course) to secure the subfloor to the frame.


Finally, I installed sheet vinyl flooring over the entire subfloor. Here are a couple shots.


Overhead


Currently, I have the cuts complete for the lower box walls. I am using birch plywood for the walls. I will be staining and sealing the inside walls, and sealing the outside walls and edges as well as skinning the outside walls with aluminum. This will provide much better structural integrity than the original foam skinned walls.

Welding complete, time to play finish carpenter.