squirrel's 57 Chevy one ton

[squirrel]

Thanks for the suggestion, it make sense...

[Brian Lohnes]

Jim, I know Bobby and frankly if he's making sense, we're all screwed.

Just kidding. He has cool junk that you would really dig and he's a smarty pants guy like you are. Both he and I are working on Caveman Tony to keep the traditional suspension in his truck rather than go the weiner Mustang II route.

Brian

[squirrel]

heh...he said weiner ;)

Robots started up again, lots to keep me busy. I did reseal a camper jack today, need to do another, and work on attaching them better to the camper. So I can get the darn thing out of the doorway

[nesabo]

Cool, will you do a build thread on the robots? :D

Seriously....

[squirrel]

Hopefully we'll get some info up on the robot team's forum

but there isn't really anything there yet about the new robot.

http://www.project1726.org/forums/

[AFFORDILLAC]

Been diggin the truck so far, but the interior shots made it....had no idea they were that usable inside. Very kool project!

[Birdman]

Hey, Jim, this may be off-the-wall, but hear me out...

How about using an airbag system under the camper? They might be the correct height necessary to clearance the cab roof, and with a single control, the entire camper could be lifted and supported to slide on/off the bed. There are many sources available for a new set-up, or you could scour e-bay, craigslist, etc. for a used set-up. One under each of the 4 corners would work excellently.

Engineer a pair of rails attached to the bags, one for each side, for the camper to ride/slide on, or even a single flat plate attached to the 4 bags and you've got yourself a system that will do all of the raising and lowering for you! The only head-scratcher would be where to put the pump. I'll leave that to you, since I've figured out everything else!

[squirrel]

Pump is easy, I have a compressor at my shop

but I don't know what would hold up the bottom of the air bags while driving the truck under or out from under the camper? A sketch always helps....

Anyways, I got the 3 jacks working and with some front/back diagonal bracing. The camper is sitting on them right now (with the steel sawhorses an inch below to catch it if it falls). It's pretty wobbly side to side, but it should be ok for loading the camper if I do it quick

I'll probably make a riser platform for the camper right now, and set it in the truck if I can. The bottom of the camper needs to sit about 4-5" higher than the current floor of the truck bed, so the overhead will clear the cab. I'm just going to make a quick 4' x 8' thingy out of 2x4s, one vertical over one flat along each edge.

I took some pics of the jack reseal thing, but I'll post that later. For now...a pic of it being supported by the 3 jacks.



back to work! I had to come inside to get my framing square

[Birdman]

The entire set-up would be mounted in the truck bed, either permanently or in a removable frame and the camper would slide across the top of it.

The pump thing was not about where to source one, but where to mount it.

[squirrel]

I know, I was hinting that I probably don't need to remove the camper except when I'm home at my shop

Anyways, I got the camper setting on the truck! Wasn't too bad.

First I made the pallet so it would clear the cab roof



then I raised the camper, backed up the truck, and moved the front sawhorse back a bit



I had to keep raising the camper as I went back. The loading instructions for the camper are adamant about keeping the nose higher than the rear. Makes sense...that way it will slide in, not catch.










and ta-da! it's loaded



Big block and even sized tires front and rear will help get the nose down, but I may want to add spring spacers (blocks) in back to get it up a bit for when it's loaded with water, stuff, etc. Seems it's pretty common with these things to need to raise the back of the truck, even with a modern dually one ton.

The springs are still arched the right way, they just don't sit high enough on the frame, because of how the perches are. 2" blocks should fix it.