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Is my Expedition camper too tall?

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Bringing my newly built Total Composites expedition camper home after finishing building most of the camper with the Hunter RMV team, I discuss the EarthCruiser subframe, my camper to subframe mounting method, the chassis frame rail heights and subframe thickness and the rear suspension adding several inches of height to the total camper height. I review the amount of Koemmerling Koropop adhesive sealant used, drilling and tapping the composite camper floor for the subframe, marking out the electrical conduits and awning mounts, plans for my under-camper mounted storage boxes and ground clearance between these, the Hero transfer case, and Dynatrac axles, as well as having to air down the 37" Toyo tires in order to safely drive the camper into my garage for the first time due to the added height of the frame over the measurement I received from EarthCruiser, and hopefully how this should be remedied as weight is added as my DIY expedition camper is being built out on my customized EarthCruiser CORE #4 Mitsubishi Fuso 4x4.
I share with you my build-out experience, estimated weights of the Total Composites camper, and how I dealt with the slight bow in the camper floor. And I show you my mounted CruiseNComfort air conditioning condenser. I plan on using my expedition camper on this truck chassis for long-term domestic and global travels with its Offroad all-season capable expedition truck with four-wheel drive for full-time DIY RV travels, adventures and exploration.
Next up I review my camper design and discuss why I have squared departure angles.
#VanLife #MitsubishiFuso #ExpeditionTravel #VanTripping #ECB #HeroTranserCase #Subframe #DeaverSpring #4x4 #Overlanding #ExpeditionCamper #ExpeditionTruck #MountainBlueBirdtheVan #Camperstorage
‪@toyotires‬ #HunterRMV ‪@EarthCruiserOverlandVehicles‬ ‪@methodracewheels‬ ‪@CruiseNComfortUSA‬ #Koemmerling ‪@totalcomposites484‬ #diycamper
www.VanTripping.com
KC@VanTripping.com

Опубликовано:

25 фев 2022

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Комментарии : 25

@livingworkingoutsidebox 2 года назад

I'm taking a bit to binge a few videos I've not seen yet. Hopefully the increased session time will help activate the algorithm to push your videos out more.🤙👍 Thanks for going over the way you thought out the camper body storage boxes 📦

@vantripping 2 года назад

Thanks for watching!

@CruiseNComfortUSA 2 года назад

can't wait to see more!

@vantripping 2 года назад

Thanks! Lots more coming as this build progresses.

@allanhugh2044 2 года назад

Welcome to the world of trucks, albeit light trucks. In general, for chassis rails, you will see the chassis height listed in the manufacturers technical drawings. Generally they give two unladen heights, which are above the rear axle and at the end of the chassis rail. However in your case, this would have to come from the Second Stage Manufacturer, not Fuso, so you are sort of between a rock and a hard place. If you have run your truck over a weighbridge as just the cab chassis, you should find that the front axle is heavier than the rear, as you add weight this will even out and hopefully you can get a pretty even balance for a sweet handling truck. Our NPS has 2880 kg on the front axle and 3020 kg on the rear with the rear being 140 kg heavier. This is fully loaded, as we consume fuel and water we have dropped up to 420 kg (weighed) with the front and rear axles coming closer to each other, but with the rear axle still carrying slightly more weight, so fortunately, we have been able to retain the good handling all the way from minimum to maximum touring weight. Not much room for solar panels with that garage entrance/door height issue, that is, assuming you will be putting panels onto the roof of the camper box. Coming together nicely.

@vantripping 2 года назад

Thanks for your shared info. I read thru the Fuso specs, body builder's guide (all 200+ pages) and all drawings and dimensions dozens of times and put key measurements into a spreadsheet and calculated finished heights, lengths, widths, etc. after the axle, suspension and tire swap by EarthCruiser. I made over 13 calls, emails and texts to EC to get the finished chassis rail height, and finally what I got was correct for the front yet off by over 4" for the rear, which they didn't provide that it would be higher in the rear or that that was the total frame rail height. The lack of information, correct information or the effort to get this pertinent information was intensely frustrating and led to my camper being taller than expected by a few inches, so now I am focused on getting it built out so weight is added to soften those rear springs and bring the height down. Now after spending several thousand dollars to raise the entrance of my garage, I will have clearance for rooftop solar panels, but not as much clearance as expected unless the suspension compresses more. More on that as I build it out. Thank you for sharing your weights--that is helpful. What do you think is the ideal weight balance front to rear for best handling on this platform?

@allanhugh2044 2 года назад

@@vantripping Weights are and will be different for different vehicles, but there are some reasonable guidelines. With a 4x4 light truck, having the rear axle heavier than the front axle by somewhere between 5% to 10% heavier, seems to be about right. By having that small weight difference the steering axle will not be that overloaded under braking, and unless you are doing a crash stop everything is usually pretty good. I really learnt to drive trucks in the Army, I already drove all sorts of things prior to being called up, but the military driving training was excellent. The trucks I learnt in were 4x4 and 6x6, this is a video of the development of the 4x4 truck I drove. I also got to drive it a couple of times as depicted at 24 minutes into the video. That truck is fully loaded right up to it's specified maximum weight and this was one of two prototypes being tested. Eight years later I was driving the almost identical successor to this truck in interesting situations; occasionally just like what is shown. click on to 24 minutes. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Roj2G5uNptA.html In the case of our truck, the front and rear axle difference of approximately 5% to 6% makes for a very good handling vehicle, that said, it's still a truck.

@vantripping 2 года назад

@@allanhugh2044 Thank you for sharing your experiences with weight distribution front to rear and also the video and your experiences with that truck--very cool.

@forename_surname 2 года назад

easy to knock the box backwards, just let someone tired drive under a too low overhang! great details and nice dry, factual and plenty geeky info! perfect, appreciate it! Looking forward to layout...

@vantripping 2 года назад

Yeah, good point. Hopefully that will never happen. Thanks, much more to come.

@midnite22767 2 года назад

Hats off to you for taking on a project such as this. Really makes you appreciate why campers on this level cost what they do. Its hard to believe EC got something as simple as the height of the frame rails so wrong. Maybe you already covered this in a previous video, if so I apologize but in your research did you ever consider ordering an expedition box/body by an established company like Bimobil or Blissmobil or another company of this caliber? Obviously, cost would be significantly higher but it would be more of a plug and play set up. And yes it wouldn't be exactly like you wanted but there are compromises with any overland vehicle. Thanks for documenting your build. Makes me realize I don't have the knowledge to take on such a project alone.

@vantripping 2 года назад

Thank you! Yes, a lot of work and much more to come. EC did measure the top of frame rail correctly, but didn't comment that the rear sat 4" taller than the front where they measured, so that thru off my calculation. Hopefully another 1 to 2" of that and possibly even 3" will be reduced as the rear suspension compresses with the weight of the build.

@vantripping 2 года назад

I wanted to buy a pre-made product, and did speak with the companies you mentioned @Blissmobil & @Bimobil as well as others, but none could/would make the gear garage as large as I need/want it for bikes and other outdoor gear. It's a frustration that I've heard from many people, and probably why most like me are doing self-builds, as we can't get what we want from the builders, who all seem to build the exact same thing, and think all customers would just throw a few clothes in the gear garage and don't actually get out into the outdoors to recreate. It's a problem with the builders not really listening to what the customers want and heading to the market vs just copying the market. So, I'm self-building even though I'd rather not, but in exchange, I compromise time for more of what I want.

@mohammadibrahim6394 2 года назад

Awesome 👌

@vantripping 2 года назад

Thank you! Cheers!

@vladimiran5655 2 года назад

Looks so good!!

@vantripping 2 года назад

Thank you!

@calvofrancisco 2 года назад

Awesome build! I’m impressed… looking forward to see the interior floor plan design. Did you have the opportunity to measure the total high?… I have a 1998 Fuso pre DEF and I’m planning to build something similar to yours. Thanks for all the info you give to the Fuso community. Saludos!

@vantripping 2 года назад

Yeah, I'll share that layout and design in my next video. Full height calculated at 137" from ground with the rear frame rail ~44" above the ground. As the rear suspension gets compressed as the weight of the build is added, this should reduce by 2 to as much as 3 inches.

@effie2206 2 года назад

Lots of work but the result looks amazing. Looking forward to see the layout design, lift in the back for the bikes ??

@vantripping 2 года назад

Even better than a lift for the bikes, and skis, and paddle boards....

@TaylorVanBeek 2 года назад

Another awesome video man! That such a sick rig! I just got done building my camper in the bed of my f350 truck. You'll have to check my channel out. Keep up with the awesome content!

@vantripping 2 года назад

Thank you much!! I'll check out your channel.