Our new popup camper

[paddlenbike]

Looks great Steve! And I am the same way with projects, it takes me forever because I get side-tracked with cleaning up everything else around what I'm working on.

I love that desert landscape too.

[Robinhood4x4]

This will be a short update. Made a run to the steel place and got some supplies to extend the stabilizers.

Cut the steel.


Weld 'em up.


Here's 3 of the 4 extenders done. I realized I needed the fourth square to use as a drilling template for the stabilizers on the camper, so that one will have to wait until later. You can also see the beginnings of a steel plate target I'm making for fun in the desert.


That's all for now.

[Robinhood4x4]

Got done with the stabilizer extensions, but I fear the back ones are too long. I made them so that on level ground the stabs will be in the middle of their stroke, but it looks like they're too long to allow them to swing up and down.

[Crinale]

nice.. These stabilizers make me think of my project I need to work on... my off-road tent trailer project.

[Robinhood4x4]

Finishing up some loose ends with this phase of the project. Since the larger spare tire won't fit in the normal spare tire location I had to put it under the tongue. But since the nuts for the propane J hooks get screwed on from below, I had to come up with a different way of holding down the propane tank. Something else that was in the way of the spare tire was the propane regulator so that had to be moved too.

Starting with the J hook replacement, I bent up some flat stock in the shape of the original J hooks. Here, I used the vise and a big hammer to knock a 90 deg bend into the flat stock, then used another piece of flat stock to help create a nice sharp bend.


Here's the finished product.


Next came the mechanism to hold the spare tire to the tongue. Just a grade 5 bolt tack welded from the back to a piece of angle iron. The other pin is to help locate the bracket and the hitch pin is to hold the bracket to the wheel to make it easier to lift the tire up to the tongue.


Here's a picture of everything installed.


You can also see the new bracket I made which moves the propane regulator higher, out of the way of the tire. I never did like how low that thing hung down anyway. All the hitch pins through the bolts prevent the wingnuts from backing out.

Overall views



Now that I am truly done with the suspension phase, the next step will be to mount and wire the new LED flood lights.

[Marc P]

Can you come over and mod mine now?

[paddlenbike]

I like your modifications, they're all clean and well thought-out. A tent trailer is on my wish list. Heck, pulling a tent trailer around is how I justified the supercharger, so surely it would be prudent to get one, right?

[Robinhood4x4]

Thanks, I've been trying to up my game in the professionalism department because usually when things look professional they are done correctly and safely.

Of course, that also means everything takes 4 times as long. I spent almost my entire christmas vacation working on the trailer and didn't get anywhere near the things done that I wanted to.

Marc, sure thing, I'll be over just as soon as I get done with mine!

[paddlenbike]

Of course, that also means everything takes 4 times as long.

That is the story of my life.

[Robinhood4x4]

I've been promising lights, and lights you shall have!

Last year I ordered these LED lights from amazon, but back then they were on sale for $22 each.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
18 watts, 1350 lumens each. I intended to use 2 for backup lights and 2 for work lights mounted to the roof.

First things first, wiring. Or in this case, fixing the original sucky wiring.

The main breaker is this thing with exposed terminals.


Seeing as how it still works, I didn't see the need in spending $20 for a new one, so I just wrapped it in heat string tubing. Much better.


As for the light wiring, I ran it through the frame, but at every connection I had to make, I waterproofed it by coating it in several coats of liquid electrical tape, then heat shrink tubed it.



For the reverse switch, I used a single pole, double throw switch which is wired to be On, Off, or Automatically switched on when I put the truck into reverse. I found a box at radio shack so I could waterproof all the connections and mount the switch in a protected area of the tongue


Here's one of the LED backup lights