1 Bored Clerk's Garage Built Camper

You could design your fenders to be a fender/ladder/step/seat/tabletop.

See - it wasn't a mistake, it was forward thinking!

 

And rock slider! They are beefy. Haha

 

Better to be overengineered right?

 

Some 220 grit sanding, acetone wipe, then tack cloth right before...


First primer coat inside and out. This will cure for the day then I'll give it a second coat tomorrow morning.

Now on to the subframe. Time to mock it all up and get it ready for powdercoat.

 

Back on that metal game!


A few little mods to make these brackets fit tight
Got all 4 of them mocked up. Fit looks reasonable for welding
Drilled the mounting holes in each end. These will locate the cross member in the existing bed mount holes in the truck frame
A few slight mods to the main aluminum cross braces and then fit them into the long main channels that will support the camper. I also fit the steel angle cross braces underneath. Made sure they were centered and square.

Then I added four layers of painters tape to the aluminum main channels. This is to mimic the thickness of a layer of powdercoat on every piece. If you clamp everything tight, you'll be in trouble when you powdercoat.

Then I tack welded the brackets to the steel crossmembers while they were in place under the aluminum sub frame. Then I removed them and finish welded everything.

That's about it for today. Tomorrow will be a second coat of primer on the camper and fitting the sub frame to the truck and continuing the mockup process.

 

I put a second coat of primer on the camper then got to work on mocking up the subframe.


Here are the main pieces set in place. No fasteners, just making sure it all works.




It all fits together. I really wish those top fender plates weren't .25" thick but I think it'll be okay. It's a lot of leverage. But I'm going to add all of the crossmembers (4) to tie in both fender mounts to each other.

 

I wouldn't worry about the thick fenders.

They may help against a side impact someday.

 

It's just the stress it adds to the system. It's a lot of extra weight dangling out there. I'm sure it'll be fine.

For better tire coverage, these will stick out one inch on each side of the camper. Not sure how I feel about that yet. I didn't have an issue with the coverage with the flatbed ending right at the edge of the camper. Fixing something that ain't broke?

 

Probably protect the box a bit better as it is now.

 

First coat of paint on the exterior and interior. Tomorrow, I'll sand this and put on another coat. Hopefully two gets me where I want to be.

I need to take a break on camper stuff and do some work. The next step on the subframe is to build up the fenders. I may get to that later this evening.

 

Progress has been a bit slow. Kind of a crazy week. Plus it was pretty hot and I don't love working in that weather...especially when the sun is beating down on me.



But, over the week, I did cut and drill all of the fussy brackets needed to mock the fender up. The other fender will probably take me about a half hour. Looks pretty good.


And I'm still deep in the part of this project I've been dreading: brackets. I do not like repetitive work. Anyway, more cutting, more drilling. No biggie. I NEED to get this done and ready for powdercoat this weekend. I need the truck road legal next Saturday.

 

Finished mocking up both fenders

I also drilled a lot of holes in everything I could reach for the bolts that will hold this whole thing together.

I continued my progress down the bracket hole. I really hate repetitive stuff. Have I mentioned that before? Four more of these are in process but I'm over it for today.

I also bought a ton of fasteners so I can put this thing together later this next week (hopefully).

Tomorrow will be spent removing the subframe from the truck and drilling all of the bracket holes that I can't reasonably reach as it sits. I'll have a few other brackets to make and holes to drill tomorrow as well. Then take it all apart and round all the corners, ease all of the edges and chamfer all the holes. Plus a little sculpting in a few places.

 

Estimate on how many hours you have into this?

Go back to the day before you spent any money or time on this, but retain all of your current knowledge on the project. Would you start it again?
It's super awesome and cool what you have built, but that's alot of time, and money as well.

 

As far as total cash outlay, less than a 4WC shell pop up. As far as time, stress, joy, tears and blood? Incalculable. I do love the afterglow of a successful project. I think that's why I keep doing it. I don't know if I would build another camper from scratch again. That being said, I already have one roughed out in my brain for a full size truck just in case.

 

@1 Bored Clerk
I’ve been meaning to ask: what type of rear leaf springs are you using for your suspension set up?

 

All Pro APEX EXPO springs. With their special timbren bumpstops, u bolt flip and basic fox shocks. They were rated for 3" lift with a constant 500lbs in the bed. The springs are probably a tad bit soft for the load but not soft enough to change out.

 

Excellent. Looks like it’s the right mix for what you’ve built.

​

 

Very close anyway.

 

I'm beat...




Lots of mock up, measure, mark, drill, repeat endlessly.


But here's everything ready for powdercoat! This was HOURS of fussy messing around today. A bit of trimming, lots of deburring, stuff like that.


And here's the Twenty-freaking-four custom hand made brackets. I HATE repetitive and fussy work. But it's done. Everything goes off to powdercoat tomorrow morning!

Fingers crossed that my measurements are accurate and my design is sound.

Oh, and it was encouraging that, other than being bulky, I could fairly easily lift this when assembled and carry it from the truck to the garage on my own...without the fender assemblies. But it's fairly light which is great!

 

Parts are out for powdercoat! I should have them back in a few days. I wonder if I move my butt to finish the paint on the camper if I'll be able to get that mounted before my bikepacking trip? Leaving this Saturday for a week and a half.