268 replies to this topic

[Boonie]

Zoomad,

 

Thanks for expressing the thinking behind much of what you have done. You are right about me probably not using my rig in the same way you do, but our concepts remain the same. Keep it light, but durable. Keep the weight we carry low. As I stated early in my post I believe in preparing for 90%, not 100%, of what I MAY encounter and I change my plans when I encounter the remaining 10%.

 

Last night I watched Tim's video on his cabinet build, so with his experience and Vic's, I'll go with 1/2" in the cabinets. My overhead is longer than the original Grandby, but shorter than yours. At the back of the cab my bed rests directly on the Jeep top which I have supported directly on the roll bar and since my camper is a permanent mount it can be supported at the front as well by my light bar, so I may try 1/2 there also, but I am in the 250 lb range!

 

Like you suggested I'll wait until I get further along in the build or even after I start using before I decide to add airbags to the rear.

 

Keep the rubber side down,

Boonie

[Zoomad]

Yeah, I'm a little more on the hard core off road side of the scale.  I'm not going to beat the snot out of it on a full blown rock crawling trail, but I'm not shy of a good trail at least until the trees get tight.  But you are right, the same rules apply. Keep the weight down and as low as you can.  

 

We went a little overboard on the cabinet for sure since it really only needs to support itself and is not structural to the camper.  But I didn't want it coming apart in the boonies on a long trip either.  The current bench was built with lessons learned from the first version.  The main one being was to make version 2 to be more of a complete box with only a slight cutout for the wheel tub.  Version 1 really only had 3 sides and was attached to a vertical board that was attached to the edge of the bottom board for the side of the camper (the board that gets bolted to the bed rail to attach that side of the camper to the truck).  What I didn't understand was the amount of movement that still occurs between the camper and the body of the truck. It isn't much, but it was enough for the front board to pull away from the board attached to the camper.  I ended up having to make temporary repairs after only a day on the Mojave Road.  By having the version 2 made as a complete box with a single hinged lid I only attached it to the floor and not to the side.  The box is much more rigid and since it's only attached to the floor and not the side and the floor any movement between the truck and the camper won't try and rip it apart.  So far the concept has proven to be very durable.  

[Zoomad]

Been a little busy in the quarantine.  I really wanted to tint the windows in the camper as the sun has already started to bleach the curtains.  I've never done any kind of window tinting ever before.  That shows.  I got a cheap kit off of Amazon with 35% tint and got after it. 

This shows I probably went too light on the tint.  Bottom pane is tinted, top is clear. Not much difference. 

 

Looks a little darker installed. It's a 20ft job for sure.  

 

 

 

I also got the step plate I had made welded in and painted up.  

 

 

I had to patch some holes in the beer can thick exterior from our silly attempt at Blanca Peak last year.  How the "off road" camper only came with a skin not much thicker than a can of Coors light is mind boggling.  I've got plans to rectify this when I reskin the camper, but for now patches are gonna do. 

 

This hole went all the way through to the inside even busting through the interior paneling.  Note to self, stay out of Juniper trees.   

 

 

 

Outside of an oil change, it's ready for the Desert trip this year.  Validation run up to the hills this weekend for camping systems check and it's go time in under a month. 

[Zoomad]

The desert trip is behind us now.  We had a lot of fun, dealt with some serious breakage too. Here's the full trip report:

 

https://www.wanderth...ael-swell-utah/

 

The following weekend after the trip I ripped the 5.3/700r4 combo out of the truck too.  I had a guy from another forum with a 77 K5 with another FWC make an offer for the combo that would replace his original carb'd small block that won't run in the heat.  

 

The 8.1 5-speed swap is now currently in motion.  

[Mighty Dodge Ram]

Is this all happening at the BigAssGas Garage? Must be a busy place these days...

Edited by Mighty Dodge Ram, 13 July 2020 - 04:42 PM.

[Zoomad]

Is this all happening at the BigAssGas Garage? Must be a busy place these days...

The final swap is.  He's planning on working on the K10 later in the fall/winter.  Right now that means he has some issues to work out on his Suburban that have been nagging him.  He can keep working on it, while I'm plugging away at home on mine to prep it.  Mainly I've got to deal with the clutch/brake pedal swap, pull the seats, console and flooring.  This way we can have clear access to add the hole to the floor for the 5-speed.  

 

I've got some wiring to clean up since I have better access with everything out of the way that I'll deal with too.  Once I'm ready we'll tow it over to Larry's and we should be able to knock it out in a weekend or too.  I'll have all the parts ready and Larry will have already prepped the engine for install.  

[87K5]

What is the big wooden structure on the front and back side of the camper, is that the factory top lifting setup? I have read through your build on another couple webpages before I found out about this forum. 

 

Trying to figure out what all mine is missing and needs.

 

Does the bed have anything slide out section or extension to make it wider? If not, I may add that feature into mine.

[Zoomad]

Yep the wooden items on each end are the lift panels. Mine was wasted on the front when I got mine. Ended up using a single section of 1/4" plywood hinged at the bottom. I've replaced the front again with one made out of bent electrical conduit. It works very well and is a common mod on these campers on this forum.

Mine does not have a bed extension. Mine is almost 4 feet deep from the front to the back though. I'm a big dude and have more than enough room to spread out without needing more. I wouldn't have room for a second person up there. In all my research on the blazer style campers I've yet to find one that had a bed extension in it. Two reasons I can think of for that. One, the bed is wider than a similar normal FWC camper of the time. The second is the small cabinet over the window with the slider doors. It goes right up to the bed and would be in the way of the bed extension. If you take the little cabinet out you would have all the room you need.

So you picked up a Blazer camper recently? Where did you get it? What kind of shape is it in?

[87K5]

Yep the wooden items on each end are the lift panels. Mine was wasted on the front when I got mine. Ended up using a single section of 1/4" plywood hinged at the bottom. I've replaced the front again with one made out of bent electrical conduit. It works very well and is a common mod on these campers on this forum.

Mine does not have a bed extension. Mine is almost 4 feet deep from the front to the back though. I'm a big dude and have more than enough room to spread out without needing more. I wouldn't have room for a second person up there. In all my research on the blazer style campers I've yet to find one that had a bed extension in it. Two reasons I can think of for that. One, the bed is wider than a similar normal FWC camper of the time. The second is the small cabinet over the window with the slider doors. It goes right up to the bed and would be in the way of the bed extension. If you take the little cabinet out you would have all the room you need.

So you picked up a Blazer camper recently? Where did you get it? What kind of shape is it in?

 

 

I am picking it up this week. I will link to a post after I get it, take some pics and have a chance to inspect it. Unfortunately, I have not seen one of these in person and going by the pictures my wife was concerned about the small bed platform. I am sure the first mods will be to extend the bed platform lol.

Edited by 87K5, 20 August 2020 - 08:44 PM.

[Zoomad]

I am picking it up this week. I will link to a post after I get it, take some pics and have a chance to inspect it. Unfortunately, I have not seen one of these in person and going by the pictures my wife was concerned about the small bed platform. I am sure the first mods will be to extend the bed platform lol.

Reason I ask is I've been watching as they come up for sale. One just got sold out of Cheyenne Wyoming a couple of weeks ago that my buddy missed out on. A green camo paint job on the Blazer and camper.

Another one was for sale in Seattle that was all brown.

I pull all the pics on the ads for my collection, so I might have a pic of it.