M1088 camper conversion

[ckouba]

It's buttoned back up now but I can next time I have the cab up (passthrough is bolted back together and the grille is back on). It's easy enough to explain though...

If you look behind the grille, you'll find the lines up to the heater core in the dash. One of them already had a splice in it for what looks like a filler connection, and that's where I spliced it in (and removed that thing). It makes for long lines back to the habitat but was certainly the simplest.

There is a further thing I would do next time and will likely go back and do sometime. Splicing in serially as I did, the heat to the whole loop is dependent on having the heater core valve open. This may result in additional heat in the cab in the summer, so instead of splicing in serially, I may just T in at that junction and run the water heater in parallel from both the heater core feed and return.

 

[TheRealJohnnyB]

I'm pretty late to the part however where did you source the springs for the frame to frame mount? Is that 1/2" all thread connecting them?

Never mind: Found them on Grainger

 

[ckouba]

can you snap a shot or two of where you tapped your hot water from now? I've got to tap in a diesel coolant heater eventually so am curious.

Here you go, George... Sorry it's not the best pic but it's pretty simple. I have 1/2" for the water heater and the OEM hoses are 5/8" so it required a little rigging. I couldn't find a combination 5/8 x 1/2 T fitting, so I had to convert between sizes to make the hoses connect.

The top hose is the send line which I have going straight through the T and the line to the heater core goes up from the T and back to 5/8". The sloped line is the return from the camper body with the heater core return T'd in at the top. I would have used a 5/8" T if I could find one, but I didn't, and then I also wanted the flow to favor the water heater so the additional restriction doesn't bother me.

Another note, the heater core valve being turned on DOES push heat to the vent function as well, which is what motivated me for this revamp.

 

[ckouba]

Good news- can confirm HOT water is now available at the galley sink!

The interior build out is still on pause- we have been trying to use the camper while the PNW weather is still appealing. This week we were supposed to go off for a few days, but I took a left turn working on the CTIS system which held us up ~48h. Rick helped me enormously with troubleshooting, but it's still not functioning yet. Plenty more to learn but hope to have it working shortly.

Getting the rig back together and finally not releasing air from the CTIS, we still had 48h to play with. I loaded up the wife and pup and headed out toward the Mt Hood neighborhood via Hood River. Upon starting south on OR 35, I remembered the the ORBDR paralleled the main road, so we drove over to it and did the first ~30 miles or so of it. It was a fun excursion, about 18 of those miles being off pavement, but it reinforced the reality that a rig this large on FS roads in the NW will get pinstriped. It took quite a bit of abuse as some of the branches were quite clingy or beefier than expected. I am struggling with not actually liking this but realizing I need to get over it to enjoy the rig.

The second part of the trip was an overnight at Cloud Cap Saddle campground, with another 9 mile off-pavement run to camping at 6k'. Views were enjoyable but we're still plagued with fire smoke out here and it was pretty hazy.

All in all, the rig ran like a champ again. An issue I had been dealing with was user error when re-connecting fan clutch air which left my fan constantly engaged. After fixing that, it was noticeably snappier in every situation, with the obvious benefit of being WAY quieter. The Eco hubs continue to be fantastic in my mission profile, even with having the 3.07 gears at the axles. While I wasn't rock crawling by any stretch of the imagination, there were some slow, steep, or sandy sections and it handled everything with grace. No regrets here.

As far as mileage, I ran 238 miles with 35.4 gallons of fuel (filled at same pump, to same level in tank). Doing the math, that's 6.72 MPG. Of those 238 miles, somewhere between 36 - 38 of them were off pavement, and our overall altitude envelope was from ~100' ASL to ~5,900'. We were on pavement from the low point to ~1,000', and then we climbed to ~4,400' on dirt, descending on pavement back to ~2,900' before climbing to the last 9 miles of dirt from 3,800' to 5,900'. I wish I knew more what the impact of the off-road monkey business was but the reality is that it doesn't matter. The truck is running through its intended mission profile and doing it with ease. I will do a highway run here eventually, just to get an idea of what it can optimally do, but I understand it's not a Prius.

A few pics to prove it happened:

It was super windy overnight and conveniently seemed to blow the smoke somewhere else, so we enjoyed a bit of a hike on Sunday.

 

[TechnoWeenie]

~7MPG isn't bad at all, all things considered. Most roadgoing RVs at that size are pushing 8-10 MPG tops, so...

 

[TheRealJohnnyB]

Time for some vinyl to protect to the frp.

 

[aw113sgte]

Time for some vinyl to protect to the frp.

Pretty sure he is using ACU or similar, aluminum covered plastic core.

 

[ckouba]

Pretty sure he is using ACU or similar, aluminum covered plastic core.

Confirmed. ACP or e-panel, which is .008 alu skin covering .120 HDPE with another .008 of alu to make the sandwich. No FRP on it. No wrap will be either. I am just going to get over the fact there are times when it's a 10 pound bag on a 5 pound road. The wifey even already said it looks good with a little patina on it and that it's like we've been out using it.

~7MPG isn't bad at all, all things considered. Most roadgoing RVs at that size are pushing 8-10 MPG tops, so...

Yeah, not really surprised at that number either, given exactly your point. My remaining curiosity is to see what it actually gets on the pavement, as the honest truth is a significant percentage of my use case mileage will be paved, likely on interstates to get to interesting places.

The reality is the meager traveling accommodations which this replaces (an E350 extended body cargo van) only got ~12.5 MPG with nowhere near the hospitality and capabilities of this rig. I am more than happy with the current setup knowing that those same 8-10 MPG coaches don't offer anywhere near the access which this rig affords. I am all in on it!

 

[TheRealJohnnyB]

I could have sworn I saw this somewhere but what tubing size and wall thickness did you use on the habitat?

 

[ckouba]

I could have sworn I saw this somewhere but what tubing size and wall thickness did you use on the habitat?

Hi Johnny,

The raw materials for the main structure were in this post:

M1088 camper conversion

I’m building my own box. 2x3 steel for the main frame with 16ga studs. I’ll sheet probably with frp or aluminum. Rear tire carrier with storage too. I thought I didn’t want to tow, but just realized not every trip is an off road adventure. Lots of local trips I’d like to take a dirt bike or sxs...

www.steelsoldiers.com

The 3x6's are the foundation and .180" wall. The lateral 2x3's in the floor are .120 wall, as are the perimeter tubes (2x3 horizontal & 2x2 vertical). The remainder (by and large) are 1.5x1.5 .80 wall (I think) for the wall studs and such. For a frame of reference, I believe it is overbuilt at this point and would build the next one quite a bit lighter.

If you have specific questions, drop a line and I can expound upon my opinions.

 

[ckouba]

Quick update:

My mirrors had always been a little floppy. I made a pair of supports to tie the outside door skin to the inside door skin and that made a world of difference. For others considering the same mirrors, I would recommend mounting them as close to the lead edge of the door as possible (more structurally rigid).

Pic of the pass side:

close up:

Properly sized bolt will be swapped, this was all I had lying around last night so I used the large nut as a spacer to achieve tension.

I also reviewed the solar system and finally got the inverter/charger connected and providing 110 to the hab. This was definitely an exciting development.

I finally wired power back to the winch for the spare tires and can now use it to lower and raise the spares without shore power. This gets me independent for changing a flat now! Probably should have done that sooner but glad to have crossed that bridge. With power in the cargo bay, I can now also install some lighting in there too.

I had set up the CTIS per Ronmar's manual system and it was working flawlessly, until it wasn't. Off to troubleshoot that today. I am hoping that lots of time without working, then being exercised extensively may have caused an issue which will hopefully be easily rectified.

 

[Reworked LMTV]

Quick update:

My mirrors had always been a little floppy. I made a pair of supports to tie the outside door skin to the inside door skin and that made a world of difference. For others considering the same mirrors, I would recommend mounting them as close to the lead edge of the door as possible (more structurally rigid).

Pic of the pass side:

close up:

Properly sized bolt will be swapped, this was all I had lying around last night so I used the large nut as a spacer to achieve tension.

I also reviewed the solar system and finally got the inverter/charger connected and providing 110 to the hab. This was definitely an exciting development.

I finally wired power back to the winch for the spare tires and can now use it to lower and raise the spares without shore power. This gets me independent for changing a flat now! Probably should have done that sooner but glad to have crossed that bridge. With power in the cargo bay, I can now also install some lighting in there too.

I had set up the CTIS per Ronmar's manual system and it was working flawlessly, until it wasn't. Off to troubleshoot that today. I am hoping that lots of time without working, then being exercised extensively may have caused an issue which will hopefully be easily rectified.

Did the same with stainless.

 

[Ohiobenz]

Are you using my mirror install kit for your setup? I like the bracket idea and will look into adding that.
If you are using my kit, did you change the template location? Just curious.

 

[ckouba]

Are you using my mirror install kit for your setup? I like the bracket idea and will look into adding that.
If you are using my kit, did you change the template location? Just curious.

Nope, all of my own creation. I had a few slabs of alu laying around for backing plates and put the appropriate holes in them to spread the load on the inside. I located the mirrors pretty far forward on the door to try and tie into the increased structural stability near the hinges but it didn't do the full trick. This solution shores them up nicely.

 

[Reworked LMTV]

Are you using my mirror install kit for your setup? I like the bracket idea and will look into adding that.
If you are using my kit, did you change the template location? Just curious.

I used your kit, but still saw some wobble so I added stainless.

 

[Ohiobenz]

I used your kit, but still saw some wobble so I added stainless.

I like the idea of the brace. Going to see if I can add that. Maybe one longer bolt to attach it to. Definitely worth looking into.

Nope, all of my own creation. I had a few slabs of alu laying around for backing plates and put the appropriate holes in them to spread the load on the inside. I located the mirrors pretty far forward on the door to try and tie into the increased structural stability near the hinges but it didn't do the full trick. This solution shores them up nicely.

Did you wire it all up yourself also? Kudos on DIY!

 

[ckouba]

Did you wire it all up yourself also? Kudos on DIY!

Yep. I picked up a Ford mirror remote switch and took it apart to decipher its functionality. Once I figured out what was switching which wires, it went pretty smoothly.

 

[Ohiobenz]

Yep. I picked up a Ford mirror remote switch and took it apart to decipher its functionality. Once I figured out what was switching which wires, it went pretty smoothly.

Did you work out the heated function as well?

 

[ckouba]

Also, the big update for today- the CTIS is fixed. A line had come off a 90 degree bulkhead fitting. I think it was just too short, so I replaced it with a little extra to give as well. All back up to speed now.

A massive tip of the internet hat to Mr Ronmar. He is incredibly generous with his time and information. Thanks Ron!

 

[ckouba]

Did you work out the heated function as well?

Nope. At least not yet. I may revisit that decision later though....