931 camper. The Arrrggh-V

[colelkhunter]

As of late I have had the idea of wanting an camper and a 5 ton. So why not have both in one truck? The plans stand thus. M931 with S280 shelter or other, it has yet to be determined as I am having a little trouble nailing one down. I need a few things from the fellows here if you have the time and a tape measure.

1.) those of you with 395's on the 900 series trucks, I need a measurement of how high the tires are over the back frame rails. When I remove the 5th wheel from my truck and slick it off, I am sure that I will need to add space over the frame rails for the tires to clear. I plan to do this with a continuous piece of steel from front to back. It will also be left a little long for a small deck on the rear. The bottom of the S280 is flat, so it will either be bolted together or welded to the "Skids" and bolted to the frame.

2.)One thing concerns me. Where to put the spare tire. What have you guys come up with on your trucks being built this way.



This will not be a long drawn out project. I plan to be using it in the fall. It will get the basics rather quickly. Air ride seats, battery relocation, interior upgrade, Coms in the form of either a Vic 1 setup or some other noise cancelling intercom. Then the work on the box will begin. Honestly I can camp in it with very little mods, but I want it comfortable to drive and operate for longer periods first. Pics to follow.

Parts I am looking for:

S280 shelter
1400x20's and either HEMMT or 5 ton combat wheels

 

[wreckerman893]

Long time no see man.

Do you have a truck yet?

My M927 is for sale and if you put a S280 shelter in the back you would have 8 feet of "back porch" behind the shelter.

 

[Recovry4x4]

I think the project could be greatly simplified with the addition of a deuce bed on the truck.

 

[Karl kostman]

S-280 can be a little challenging to get now days I bought one for the same purpose you have in mind and had to go to LA to get it, price was good and the unit is in great shape but shipping was expensive. It seems that most of the Comm units in the US are in that area so that is where I would start concentrating my efforts. I have the 280 in a Deuce right now and have the AC units removed, I am working on gutting them and plan to install a generator inside one and a normal sixed AC unit in the other, please post pics of your progress any ideas on this conversion will be helpful to me and what ever I can do to help you I would be more than happy to do. Good luck and I look forward to seeing your progress
KK

 

[colelkhunter]

Wreckerman,

I took a little break from the internet and unplugged for a while. Didn't really have anything going on so I was just lurking around, watching the hate and discontent flow when people build something against the norm. You know me, I'm all about making the purists cringe. I see you have a pair of possums now, when they have kittens, I want one. I recently picked up a CHERRY M931 just for this project.

Recovery4x4,

I have considered using a deuce bed and that idea is now dead for many reasons. I do not want to be able to remove the camper. I want it bolted and secured to the frame of the truck. It needs to be as low as possible and still clear the tires for offroading as I plan to have a deck and storage on top.

Karl,

I will post pics as soon as some progress is made. I have it all sorted out in my head and on CAD, just need to locate the parts that I need to make it happen. Number one is the S280 shelter or something similar and military. I have a lead on one or two, just need to nail them down and get them home. It will be a fairly easy build I think. Getting everything in place first, then finishing the interior as time and funds allow.

 

[colelkhunter]

Noticed today that the 931 was running a little warm. Leaning on 200 degrees, checked everything when I got back to the house and could not find a problem, Coolant looks good, that kinda thing.

 

[59apache]

If you don't want to remove the shelter, you should build a 3 or 4 point subframe.

3 punkt lagerung - Google-Suche

no problem to keep the clearance to the wheels, less stress on the shelter and the frame and better off-road capabilities... just my 2 cents..


this is the route i would go without truck bed.

 

[SCSG-G4]

59apache is right, be careful attaching an S-280 directly to the frame. The frame flexes, the S-280 does not (and return to it's original shape). I got my 280 several years ago at Ft. Gordon. The other 10 in that auction went to a single bidder - they were being loaded three at a time onto flatbed trucks, but I don't remember where they were going.

 

[Karl kostman]

When I saw your post concerning attaching the S-280 (or like) shelter directly to the frame rails my first thought was this is NOT going to work very well. Remember the amount of frame flex that goes on in these trucks, well that flex would more or less destroy just abotu anything that was attached directly to the frame rails, the 280 is built out of alum. I can absolutely guarantee it would not last long ON ROAD and anything even approaching OFFROAD would be a disaster. Your going to need something in between the frame and whatever you put on it, remember the springs on the front of the Duece bed, they are there for a reason, some kind of buffer is most definately going to be needed!
KK

 

[colelkhunter]

1.) those of you with 395's on the 900 series trucks, I need a measurement of how high the tires are over the back frame rails. When I remove the 5th wheel from my truck and slick it off, I am sure that I will need to add space over the frame rails for the tires to clear. I plan to do this with a continuous piece of steel from front to back. It will also be left a little long for a small deck on the rear. The bottom of the S280 is flat, so it will either be bolted together or welded to the "Skids" and bolted to the frame.

As you can see from the first post, I have a plan in place to build a seperate frame to support the shelter. The frame will have the appropriate give to allow the shelter to move as the truck moves. Most likely this will involve rubber mounting the frame to be built for the shelter. The framework will be bolted to the shelter to allow it to float and move on the truck frame. I don't have an M109, but I would be interested to see how it is connected to the frame of the truck.

59apache,
that is a cool link, I have seen a couple of those trucks while planning mine. I am not sure that I will need that much articulation as this will most likely never see anything near that rough of offroad challenge. I have given thought to using airbags under the shelter, but while making it better off road, I fear it would be too shakey for road use. I am still researching this and investigating some options. I am thinking that a rubberized body mount of some size will allow it to shift and roll plenty.

 

[59apache]

i've seen it in your first post, the reasons for my thoughts are:
the original mount truck bed flexes, too. it warps.
a shelter doesn't allow any warpage
if you tie it down on a bed, it's sort of more flexible than a bolted on shelter.
the same is with a subframe that is make like a original bed, c-rails, subframes, bolted on the rear frame and bolts with springs at the front.

if you are doing only light off-roading, you'll be fine.

 

[colelkhunter]

After some consultation and a little figuring I am pretty sure that I will be tying the shelter to the frame of the truck via air bags. Today I was able to locate smaller 5" airbags used on air ride truck cabs at my local big truck parts house. These are about 50 bucks each and have a working load capacity of 2600 Lbs each. I am also planning to use limiting straps to keep any lateral movement in check. This is only a real concern for extreme angles, but who knows what I will get into. This should isolate the shelter from the truck frame with the addition of my before mentioned skid that will be built and installed under the shelter. It is a project and thus i am sure things will change and get adapted. Parts are starting to come together and this will be off and running soon.

 

[nf6x]

Hmm, the air bag approach sounds promising to me. I would make sure to find some way to spread the load along the shelter's bottom rails, because I think they were expected to sit on flat surfaces like truck beds or level ground, so they may not deal well with point loads. This is in contrast to things like sea containers, which are designed to be fully supported at the corner castings. How many air bags do you think you will use?

Edited to add: I overlooked your mention of the skid. I assume that would turn the point loads of the air bags into a distributed load along the shelter bottom rails.

 

[colelkhunter]

To be honest I am not very familiar with what the underside of the s-280 shelter is going to look like structurally. I am pretty sure that "landing pads" will have to be fabricated and bolted to the bottom of the shelter to distribute the load. a 12"x12" piece of 1/4 plate should handle this nicely. The underside is aluminum, so the steel will have to be bolted underneath. Keep in mind this may change when I actually get an S-280 here...

 

[nf6x]

If my memory is correct, the underside of my S-280-sized shelter has three rails on the bottom, each running from front to back. One along each edge, and one down the center. It has a separate set of mounting points installed on the ends for attaching a mobilizer dolly, when installed in a truck or sitting on the ground its weight would be distributed along those three rails.

 

[Hoefler]

I have a Craigs Systems 280 like enclosure. Fits in back of a Duece perfectly-three rail bottom, robust door and big. Abandoning my camper project. Enclosure is in MN.
Pete

 

[colelkhunter]

Made a little progress today getting the old crusty exhaust cut off the truck. I was able to get the new system mocked up an relocated to the cab side for a temporary mounting location until the box is mounted to the truck. When this is finished tomorrow I plan to start relocating the air intake snorkel on the drivers side of the cab. I want to have the cab as close to the box as i can and not have one interfere with the other. I was also able to get most of the bolts out of the fifth wheel and ramps. Tomorrow is welding the exhaust in place and removing the spare tire carrier. I am hoping to have a shelter nailed down soon. Pics to follow.

 

[indy4x4fab]

Subscribed, keep up the good work.

 

[colelkhunter]

Few pics of the new 5" exhaust mocked up. Found a good deal on this muffler at truckpro. Man this 5" stuff is expensive! Muffler was relocated temporarily further on the cab until the shelter is installed. It will then be moved to the box. I will add a tip to the muffler after the box install to make sure it clears the top or route it out to the side. It sounds great! Exhaust is a lower tone and growl now. At speed it isn't noticable at all. Reduced the noise on road as well. Anyway. here are the pics.

 

[Durango_USMC]

Looks good.