off road camper build

[joe lane]

good evening all, right to get this blog started i will tell you whats going on,

i am a great fan of getting away for the weekend laning/wild camping or even glamping and the regular outings at billing, and the overland show at stratford this year, i have been building an extension on the back of the house for the last year and a half, slow i know. so i have had a decent break from the lanes,
my last build was a magolina roof tent copy, which i have used loads of times ( untill i washed the thing in a mild soap water) and lost the water repellant propertys, still i have had some great nights out, and would go out again, anyway the reason im here.

i want to build an off road camper, so where do you begin, well i looked at trailers , sankeys, farm trailers, all sorts of military trailers and just could not find anything i could use, there were plenty of trailer axles with land rover pcd hubs so i looked at engineering adapters to change to land cruiser fitment, still some mileage on that idea ,

well after cruising through fleabay i found an rear axle from a nissan nivara, same stud pattern, and the thing that caught my eye, the axle was not the traditional casting type then milled afterwards, this axle was a 75mm 5mm walled steel pipe so to speak, great i can chop the diff out of the middle and fab in my own tube and set the track the same as my 80 winner all round, well thats what i thought, there was a bit of work involved but that is the fun part,

i have posted this blog on another site and found no response except tim, who i hope will pick it up on here
here goes please ask questions and if you have any ideas let them flow im a ground worker in construction, and love being able to fab up my own equipment from roof tents, winch bumpers,roof racks, and side exit exhaust,
this camper is being built by me and my infamous brother in law paul.
as the wife comes out some times for a spot of wild camping i have to fit some luxury like hot water, toilet, shower, heat, and power i dont want a souped up caravan, i want to build the b----- thing to go where i want it to go and park where i want

i have some pics just got to see how the hell i post, bear with me, and apoligies for the spelling and grammer

View attachment 10327View attachment 10328
this is our first problem to over come, a floating half shaft, with one bearing in the hub end, this was not enough and i wasnt going to take the chance running on one, so i searched for a bearing to fit in the original axle tube to carry the shaft so i could cut off the excess, what a pain there is a limit to what you can buy, the only one was 62mm out side and 32mm internal the shaft was 33.75 so we had to get it in to the lathe, this will get some laughs,



i managed to get hold off a 75mm steel tube with a 5mm wall to use as a sleeve, i drilled out the middle and fitted an oil filler point as the new bearings are open faced and i need to lube



this is the bearing fitted and the shaft cropped, all the old brackets were cut off and reused as i want to use the original brakes, it was welded in so it wont move and it sits against the shoulder we turned down in the lathe

the welding is buy paul hes first class, the 19mm holes were just to get that extra fix the the original axle outer tube

job done, these wheels are 35inch and im getting excited, you will have to remember this has not been down on paper so we do discuss as much as possible and we do get some silly mistakes.

the next bit was to fab the mounts for the springs.... easy bit

we had tube lying around for the bushes and some 4mm flat for the hangers, well thats what im calling them, profiled,drilled, folded, then welded on to the chassie, which is a 100mm x 50mm box 4mm wall


the chassis is finished at 2.4 long x 1.250 then out riggers taking it out to 1.800 wide


this is the biggest square we could find to set up the chassie 8x4 marine ply

the chassie now set we went about the a frame, which has to be long for the angles shes going to be getting in to.

the last time we set up an a frame we used string lines, b-----ks to that i got me a laser and it went as sweet as a nut once we set up center on the chassie

you can see the laser beam on the rear of the bradley hitch, this is only set upside down for welding purposes

well thats all for now gents catch you all soon

 

[stumog]

nice one joe good ideas there. been thinking of a trailer myself. can i have some details and pics of the bradley hitch.is this the ring type? i have found the ones on a sankey are a little knocky and have heard of destroyed cross members so i am stuck on a tow hitch at the mo.
stu

 

[AndyCook]

This is going to be a great project to follow, well done i look forward to more.
I remember ypu tent build blog on the other site.

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[Chris]

Great work there Joe. Nice idea. I see you have a Chester lathe. So do I. But I have a slightly larger version which also comes with a mounting plate to replace the chuck. The wheel studs would have bolted directly through the slots in the plate and all you'd have needed was a centre on the other end of the shaft. A travelling centre would have been good too. But you've cracked it so what the heck. Well done. That pipe is red band, pressure tested gas pipe and it machines very nicely. I use loads of it.

The trick to this build is having somewhere large enough to work.

Keep it up, we're expecting greatness here.

 

[joe lane]

good morning to all.

nice one joe good ideas there. been thinking of a trailer myself. can i have some details and pics of the bradley hitch.is this the ring type? i have found the ones on a sankey are a little knocky and have heard of destroyed cross members so i am stuck on a tow hitch at the mo.
stu

think this quote thing is right
stu this bradley hitch is off a sankey trailer its the overrun version with ring and all, i understand what you mean by, here we go a new term, hitch knock, i have dry fitted the nato hitch and it seems a very good fit, if there is a problem i will reinforce the rear member or im sure you can fit some kind of cushion, there dosnt seem to be that much play, im sure i will find it when towing, so i will be looking in to it

good morning andy im getting up your way soon, looking foward to some beautiful country.

good morning chris, i did have the traveling center, you just cant see it, as we were only turning the top 50mm we had a small bit of off center at the hub end but not that much at chuck end, so i thought it was worth it, i didnt want to strip for a visit to the local engineers it worked in a fashion lol

love the lathe, this ones pauls a three phaze with converter, not much power on the big stuff, i got an old myford slightly longer bed, dont no how we managed before, milling machine on the shopping list at some point i thinks
and the famous red gas pipe, we finished a rather large job in cambridge the m,e skipped loads and i took advantage, my front winch bumper has a length fitted.
it gets every were.

right on with the build.

View attachment 10350View attachment 10351
this is the bradley hitch with over run not sure but i learned there are two types, the fixed one might be the problem stu refers to with hitch knock
i did have a look at other systems, the aussies have some great kit as the market there is a lot bigger but these are tryed and tested and are known to vosa

View attachment 10352
and the right way up, the angle is 100mm x 100mm x 8mm rather large, this was also aquired from an old build, i plan to put some storage on there, just dont no what yet.

View attachment 10353
shocks fitted, i didnt realise that the shocks sat either side of the axle, one in front and one behind i thought we put it back together wrong, slight panic,
we mounted high up on the chassie rail as we dont no what the final weight is , or flex, (we will see), i think im going to be writing that alot.
i used 24mm bolts a 25mm spacer to bring the shock out square then finished with a large washer for cushion against the rubber

this is the hand brake set up, we used the original mounts, lined up then welded, then we ran the cable up the side under the a frame the original was to short so we used some 6mm threaded bar with solid bar drilled then treaded as an adjuster.

the pics should explain better than me, the off set is like this to pull squarish and not to the side, the mounts were cut from 4mm flat , the bar is 20mm drilled over size then an 8mm bar through the middle, finished with locking nuts, this is by far the easiest way i think to set up the hand brake/overrun brakes do you think this is heavy enough, the tabs might be the weak link ( we will see )


thats the welding finished, now my favourite bit, rub down and degrease, i went for black hammerite to finish, i did toy with the idea of yellow only because we had some left from an old trailer build
any of you that went to the overland show in stratford this year would have spotted the first trailer built for off road


this is a farm trailer jack, or so it stated, not to happy with it , still some lateral play, its a handy idea, it folds up out of the way when not in use ( black looks nice )

and now for the wood work

but in true eastenders fashion thats all till next time

 

[Chris]

Get the miller Joe. You will never look back. Mmmmnn slots. I'm ordering a rotary table for mine so I can do curved slots too. Get one with a DRO. It's like magic.

 

[yogi]

Impressive build so far! Very impressed.

There are 2 things that would concern me as a farmer with a lot of experience of abusing trailers!!

firstly because you've used angle iron rather than channel on the front of the chassis where the hitch attaches, I would be wary of rotational forces even with the NATO hitch. I would be tempted to weld a brace across between the tow chassis member to try to reduce this.

secondly, and you have said it yourself, the 'jockey wheel' set up. Its very far out of centre for stability and has a very small footprint unless used on concrete/tarmac solid flat surface. Why didn't you use a wheel type assembly? It also allows easy(er) movement of the trailer manually when unhitched from the vehicle, which can be a godsend if someone parks on top of you, or if the vehicle gets stuck to enable recovery of the trailer.

Please they aren't criticisms, they are just a couple of thoughts I've had

 

[joe lane]

hi yogi,

thats the whole point posting on here, i want feedback good or bad, and i dont mind the critics either , the flex is not some thing i thought about i honestly thought it would be all right, i have to weld on a member for storage purposes or even put a shorter one just behind the hitch, just another thought it could bind up my hand brake/overrun brake. so it looks like a go. good man.

with regards the jack on the front, i might get another, but im planning to chop off the bottom plate, fit an internal sleeve with a couple of bearings so i can slide in an over large jockey wheel, just for the purpose of moving i get the best of the two ideas i know what you mean about abusing trailers im in ireland 2 or 3 times a year, parents are getting on so i get to bring the turf in, old mans got a trailer with twin wheel wagon axle i think its older than him, it still hauls a good load.

later

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

You might already know this but new trailers have to pass an IVA test now, even home made ones unless it's a caravan and then you've got till 1st Jan 2014 to finish it before an IVA is needed Is this something you built a while ago and only just got round to showing us?

 

[joe lane]

hello john, long time,

this was built last year the time stamp on the camera is way way wrong... lol out of pure interest what have the new builds got to look forward to regards regs ?

 

[joe lane]

hi again,

heres a good question at what point is it finished, is it when you tow it for for the first time, i can see a little jaunt in the making

 

[yogi]

Hi Joe,

As regards the flex I had a twin axle trailer here a few years ago which was almost exactly the same in front as yours and I had to weld it twice along where the front cross member (for the floor or front of body) joined the V part and eventually figured it was because of the stress from rotational forces here.

If you don't want a cross member to foul the handbrake (this trailers brakes were fubared long before I owned it) it would also be possible to weld a second piece of angle iron inside the first one to brace it.

Now doulble axle trailer was obviously bigger but it was only a small double horse box I mainly used for moving stuff rather than horses because I also have a lorry. I think with the lower stability of a single axle in your case those rotational forces will be stronger (relatively) and more frequent for sure if your going off the tarmac as I assume you are seeing as your on a 4x4 website in the overlanding section

I like your plan for the jockey wheel!

What part of Ireland are you from?

 

[joe lane]

hi yogi, small place outside westport and castlebar called partry

as for the flex im going to weld in a piece anyway, thanks for the heads up

later joe

 

[clivehorridge]

My constructive thoughts so far are in respect of the top shocker mounts. I would think the mountings would shear over time. Shock mounts are notorious for putting a lot of strain on the mounting and with so much of a "moment" between the shocker and the chassis, I would want to see the free end brought back to the chassis to eliminate flex. A diagonal/triangular fillet with a 90 degree tab drilled to match the mounting bolt would do nicely, if you understand me.

 

[joe lane]

hello all

welcome clive, thats a good point, i can do that certainly, when thinking about it the week point will be the wall of the chassie, thank you, i still have some 4mm flat to sought that out,

later joe

 

[Chris]

Cough, you mean you have sorted that already Joe, quite some time ago. Then what did you do next on your trailer build. Can't wait until you put the finished pictures up.

 

[joe lane]

hi,

thats the problem chris my pics were taken by this super super camera with really hi res, and me being me it takes me ages to to downsize them for your viewing. im still only a builder with no knowledge of all this tech stuff.
but the latest batch are ready only this evening by chance.

hay chris just noticed you have hot water setup, what system are you using ?

 

[joe lane]

hi
hay clive, just thought i welded a bolt on to the chassie, im gonna have to cut that off and weld a nut on instead, unless i bolt on the outside support will look at it any ways.

 

[Chris]

I have the Kampa gas powered system and I love it to bits. Even managed to shower a blonde in a field once. That's another story.

But as it's not a builtin in system as such, I think I am going to go with a heat exchanger on the new truck. The free hot water system or whatever it's called. Heat for free? I just need to work out where to put a water tank and how big.

Anyway, back to your build! Actually in a trailer, the Kampa system could be really neat and semi built in.

 

[AndyCook]

Going to try and incorporate my kampa geyser gas shower system in my hilux build. Wife loves it, although in morocco we often just had cold showers with it as it ws too hot.
Plenty of room in a trailer build for a shower

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