LMTV Question

[j_boucher]

So I built an M116A3 a few years ago and turned it into a small square top that has gone over 20K miles with no Issues

The wife has enjoyed it so much that she now wants to roll out for a few years of traveling. I have a chance to trade an older vehicle of mine for an LMVT 1078, My first thought was to put a truck slide-in camper on it and have tons of storage but based on the tilt cab I may have to modify the length of the bed, other option was a 16 ft or 19 airstream Bambi thought it would look cool. 16 is 11 ft after cutting the tongue and 19 is 15 ft after cutting the tongue


I'm not looking to do extreme stuff lots of fire roads and or back roads to start with, I guess my question is will this type of travel disintegrate these types of campers quickly or should I wait and find a habitat . The wife wants to hit the road Jan 25

Appreciate the help

 

[VPed]

I am not sure about the airstreams in particular but I put a HiLo on my M927. I think the key is to not have the trailer flex with the truck frame. Mine is attached to the bed which is designed to stay relatively flat while the truck flexes. Here is the link to my build: https://www.steelsoldiers.com/threads/vpeds-stretch-m927.213148/
I have off-roaded quite a bit without compromising the trailer.

 

[j_boucher]

I am not sure about the airstreams in particular but I put a HiLo on my M927. I think the key is to not have the trailer flex with the truck frame. Mine is attached to the bed which is designed to stay relatively flat while the truck flexes. Here is the link to my build: https://www.steelsoldiers.com/threads/vpeds-stretch-m927.213148/
I have off-roaded quite a bit without compromising the trailer.

Thanks for the reply , Cool setup you have , I was curious how you mount it to the trailer bed , I thought of doing the same type concept

 

[Mullaney]

So I built an M116A3 a few years ago and turned it into a small square top that has gone over 20K miles with no Issues View attachment 912655

The wife has enjoyed it so much that she now wants to roll out for a few years of traveling. I have a chance to trade an older vehicle of mine for an LMVT 1078, My first thought was to put a truck slide-in camper on it and have tons of storage but based on the tilt cab I may have to modify the length of the bed, other option was a 16 ft or 19 airstream Bambi thought it would look cool. 16 is 11 ft after cutting the tongue and 19 is 15 ft after cutting the tongue
View attachment 912656

I'm not looking to do extreme stuff lots of fire roads and or back roads to start with, I guess my question is will this type of travel disintegrate these types of campers quickly or should I wait and find a habitat . The wife wants to hit the road Jan 25

Appreciate the help

.
Wow! That would be a heck of a lot of work to get yourself on the road by January 25th. Not sure what sort of shape the M1078 is in? You will definitely need to replace the rubber under the cab of the truck. On the engine and those support biscuits that support the cab as well.

 

[j_boucher]

.
Wow! That would be a heck of a lot of work to get yourself on the road by January 25th. Not sure what sort of shape the M1078 is in? You will definitely need to replace the rubber under the cab of the truck. On the engine and those support biscuits that support the cab as well.

Sorry should have been more specific Jan 2025, The truck is in good shape I know the guy and he has had it a while I've seen him drive it around town alot

 

[hike]

I started with the idea of doing just this with a 19' or 20' Bambi or Caravel. Then I found the RV Globe Trekker flat pack kits and torsion free frames. Still haven't pulled the trigger though like the idea of staying with all my work and quality as opposed to stapled together.

One debate I keep having with myself is: torsion free frame or set upon the existing bed? Swapping the bed out drops almost 2,000# of weight—

 

[j_boucher]

I started with the idea of doing just this with a 19' or 20' Bambi or Caravel. Then I found the RV Globe Trekker flat pack kits and torsion free frames. Still haven't pulled the trigger though like the idea of staying with all my work and quality as opposed to stapled together.

One debate I keep having with myself is: torsion free frame or set upon the existing bed? Swapping the bed out drops almost 2,000# of weight—

The RV Globe Tracker seems like a good way to go, I agree my own work will last longer , took me about 4 months to build up the M116A3, I'm hoping to keep the price from going crazy, I've found some of those airstreams I can get pretty cheap on auction with some hail damage

 

[tennmogger]

Search around for pictures of Alaskan Campers ("It raises, It Lowers") installed on LMTVs. You could actually be ready for 2024 . Such a camper requires no build-out. It is ready to move in. Use the tie-downs on the LMTV bed.

I have been running one for years, direct mounted on the original bed. There is slight flex in the LMTV bed, but the Alaskan has not complained. Flex of the camper resembles the flex of the lower half of a shoe box. a "solid" frame camper could not handle any flex.

A 10 ft NCO (non-cabover) Alaskan leaves a 2.5 ft back porch. Lots of room along the sides for tool boxes, extra water, fuel, propane...

A telescoping camper keeps overall height reasonable. The 7' width leaves a little space for a buffer on the sides so you don't lose trail ability, and the setback protects the camper.

Hi-Lo campers, one comment, a friend put one on a MB-1017A truck, with a torsion-free sub-frame, and the camper fell apart. Cabinets fell off the wall, etc.

My opinion, you need a torsion isolating frame under that Air Stream (nice camper!!)

 

[tennmogger]

You might enjoy this video made by Gordon and Angela White with Truck Camper Magazine. Ok, it's pretty corny but it was fun.

Bob

 

[j_boucher]

Search around for pictures of Alaskan Campers ("It raises, It Lowers") installed on LMTVs. You could actually be ready for 2024 . Such a camper requires no build-out. It is ready to move in. Use the tie-downs on the LMTV bed.

I have been running one for years, direct mounted on the original bed. There is slight flex in the LMTV bed, but the Alaskan has not complained. Flex of the camper resembles the flex of the lower half of a shoe box. a "solid" frame camper could not handle any flex.

A 10 ft NCO (non-cabover) Alaskan leaves a 2.5 ft back porch. Lots of room along the sides for tool boxes, extra water, fuel, propane...

A telescoping camper keeps overall height reasonable. The 7' width leaves a little space for a buffer on the sides so you don't lose trail ability, and the setback protects the camper.

Hi-Lo campers, one comment, a friend put one on a MB-1017A truck, with a torsion-free sub-frame, and the camper fell apart. Cabinets fell off the wall, etc.

My opinion, you need a torsion isolating frame under that Air Stream (nice camper!!)

Pictures of your setup? I was actually looking at videos of the torsion isolating frame , when you sent this , That and the airstream seems to make a good pair

 

[VPed]

Thanks for the reply , Cool setup you have , I was curious how you mount it to the trailer bed , I thought of doing the same type concept

The trailer sits on the bed, on crossmenbers I fabricated. At the front, it is attached mostly in a horizontal direction (slight downward) with turnbuckles to eye-bolts on the bed. Two turnbuckles diagonally or about 45 degrees from the truck centerline are used. This pulls the trailer tongue forward into the front wall of the bed. I replaced the ball hitch assembly with a rubber pad to push against the front bed wall.

At the rear, turnbuckles pull mostly sideways, slightly rearward and downward.

My stock truck bed functions as the “torsion isolating frame” mentioned by others. The bed on an m939 is bolted to the frame at the rear but uses long springs at the front to allow the frame to flex independent of the bed.

I did have to add more screws to hold overhead cabinets but I think all travel trailers need this as they are not designed for off-reading. The trailer structure is holding up with my setup.

 

[VPed]

Alaskan campers are nice but pricey and torsion isolating frames don’t look cheap either. The HiLo was given to me and since I did not cut the frame, I could return it to trailer duty with little effort.

 

[coachgeo]

.....

My stock truck bed functions as the “torsion isolating frame” mentioned by others. The bed on an m939 is bolted to the frame at the rear but uses long springs at the front to allow the frame to flex independent of the bed.

I did have to add more screws to hold overhead cabinets but I think all travel trailers need this as they are not designed for off-reading. The trailer structure is holding up with my setup.

ahhhhh.. so your bed uses captures spring setup...same as the LMTV M1079 does. (and more and more modern overland bigger rigs do to.) Perfect platform to clamp a camper box too.

Extra screws- Bill Caid had similar cabinet etc. issues with his camper(s) strapped even onto the more agile pivot frame on back of his Mercedes 4x4.

 

[coachgeo]

Travel trailer. as camper box.. my untested .02

re-fab trailer tongue so it is just under front or barely extended from it.
mount trailer ball in front or rear of truck chassis bed area to match (matters which way you face trailer)
remove trailer's wheels
re-fab the trailer's own suspension to be the needed "Torsion isolating device"
put brackets on truck chassis to match the mounting points of above to trailer suspension mods
put camper up there- bolt up brackets to trailer suspension and ball. maybe add some other shocks and/or limit straps to trailer suspension
go camping

 

[VPed]

I considered using a hitch ball as the front anchor but that would be more intrusive in the bed when the camper is not on the truck. Since my camper is easily removed (like a slide-in truck camper), I did not want to interfere with that function. Since the trailer had surge brakes, the hitch added a bit of length to the trailer so it would not fit in the bed with the tailgate up. An additional concern is how high up the trailer has to sit. Non-collapsible trailers can easily become over-height, especially with roof mounted AC.

Using the trailer frame as the isolator is a good idea if losing the bed and mountin to the truck frame is possible.

 

[coachgeo]

I considered using a hitch ball as the front anchor but that would be more intrusive in the bed when the camper is not on the truck. ...
Using the trailer frame as the isolator is a good idea if losing the bed and mountin to the truck frame is possible.

appears your willing to think a little out of the box...... so dont limit yourself to leaving ball in bed. Various was around that including flip down ball.

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[serpico760]

Search around for pictures of Alaskan Campers ("It raises, It Lowers") installed on LMTVs. You could actually be ready for 2024 . Such a camper requires no build-out. It is ready to move in. Use the tie-downs on the LMTV bed.

I have been running one for years, direct mounted on the original bed. There is slight flex in the LMTV bed, but the Alaskan has not complained. Flex of the camper resembles the flex of the lower half of a shoe box. a "solid" frame camper could not handle any flex.

A 10 ft NCO (non-cabover) Alaskan leaves a 2.5 ft back porch. Lots of room along the sides for tool boxes, extra water, fuel, propane...

A telescoping camper keeps overall height reasonable. The 7' width leaves a little space for a buffer on the sides so you don't lose trail ability, and the setback protects the camper.

Hi-Lo campers, one comment, a friend put one on a MB-1017A truck, with a torsion-free sub-frame, and the camper fell apart. Cabinets fell off the wall, etc.

My opinion, you need a torsion isolating frame under that Air Stream (nice camper!!)

It occurs to me is it a trailer already has everything you need to have a torsion free frame! The trailer hitch and the suspension for the tires. You can make a mount for the trailer hitch, much more secure than just the regular ball, Mount that whole section hard to the frame of the truck. Remove the wheels and mount the suspension to the frame of the truck. Do it right in a way that is undoable in the future and you haven't even ruined the trailer to be a trailer again in the future!

 

[tennmogger]

Travel trailer. as camper box.. my untested .02

re-fab trailer tongue so it is just under front or barely extended from it.
mount trailer ball in front or rear of truck chassis bed area to match (matters which way you face trailer)
remove trailer's wheels
re-fab the trailer's own suspension to be the needed "Torsion isolating device"
put brackets on truck chassis to match the mounting points of above to trailer suspension mods
put camper up there- bolt up brackets to trailer suspension and ball. maybe add some other shocks and/or limit straps to trailer suspension
go camping

Hey Geo, like the idea of making a camper a three point mount by having a single point in the front, supported by the tongue structure. Then support two rear corners of the frame.