My Build Thread: M909 Recreational Vehicle

[TurboMustang370]

Wow! You really went professional on the exhaust stack, I just rammed a 4" piece of exhaust tubing and band clamped it on the angle. Makes me want to redo mine Looks great!!!

 

[hailstone]

Like the stove/ sink combo. Where did you get it? Keep the pictures coming. Like what you have done so far.

 

[cbrTodd]

It's been a while since I've posted anything, largely because I've been busy trying to get work done on the truck. I've gotten the interior a little closer to 'finished', and taken the truck on a few short trips.



I've also gotten the toolbox made for the back. It is made from 1/8" steel and holds the tail lights and back up lights.

 

[cbrTodd]

When I figured out that my shutterstat wasn't working, I took it apart only to break the thermal module in the process. I'm waiting on my replacement to arrive, but while I was into the cooling system I decided to go ahead and flush everything out and add a coolant filter system. It was very easy thanks to a few threads I found on here. In addition, I'd heard that the air supply fitting to the shutterstat sometimes has a filter inside it. Mine was one of these, which I discovered after I had already broken the shutterstat. It had a sintered bronze filter in it, and it was plugged solid with corrosion. I drilled it out into a regular fitting without thinking to take any pictures first. For now, the truck is still driveable, but without the fan since I have the air supply blocked off. Functionally it's the same as it always had been since I have owned the truck apparently. I'm thinking about adding a ball valve to the air line if I have to make any trips before the new parts come in - at least that way I could turn the fan on if I needed to.



All the jugs of undesirable colored liquids (in addition to the 5 gallon bucket) are what came out of the cooling system during flushing *after* disposing of the original coolant. The coolant itself looked fine when checked at the surge tank. For anyone who has assumed that their coolant condition was good based on good condition coolant up top, you might want to reconsider. I believe it just had a bunch of sludge at the bottom of the radiator because what I got out of the block drain seemed much cleaner than the radiator after the first few attempts at flushing it. I went back with the Zerex G5 coolant because it was all that Napa carried that had the Cummins approval on it. After refilling and doing a warm up to circulate things, it now tests at -45F on my tester, and with the filter installed, it should stay cleaner longer.

 

[cbrTodd]

The last thing I've been working on was to get the primer covered up before winter time. I'd originally planned on doing the full 3 color woodland camo, and I still may at some point, but I like the way it looks solid green for now so it's going to stay like it is for now. Here are some pictures after 2 coats of Rapco 383 green CARC substitute. I used a little over 2 gallons of paint through my Devilbiss paint gun to get it where the pictures show it here. I painted it Tuesday and took the masking off Wednesday night but by that point it was too dark for pictures. I'll try to remember and take more in the daylight tonight. Hopefully it's almost ready for Haspin, which is coming up fast.

 

[Another Ahab]

It's been a while since I've posted anything, largely because I've been busy trying to get work done on the truck. I've gotten the interior a little closer to 'finished', and taken the truck on a few short trips.

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My hat is off to you, cbrTodd, your interior is shaping up REAL nice; looks great!

It looks terrific either way, but just curious if that's actual ceramic tile on the floor, or if that's sheet-vinyl goods of some kind?

 

[cbrTodd]

My hat is off to you, cbrTodd, your interior is shaping up REAL nice; looks great!

It looks terrific either way, but just curious if that's actual ceramic tile on the floor, or if that's sheet-vinyl goods of some kind?

Thanks! The floor covering is just peel and stick Armstrong brand floor tile from Lowes. They were cheap and give me the ability to replace them when one gets damaged. I've already had to exercise that option once after a sharp corner on my tool box cut one.

 

[peashooter]

Wow, awesome Job! I like the Bumper, counter cabinets, all of it! What is that rectangular thing on the right side of the flip out storage area under the counter top?

That box looks like it belongs on the 5 ton truck, very well done.

 

[cbrTodd]

Wow, awesome Job! I like the Bumper, counter cabinets, all of it! What is that rectangular thing on the right side of the flip out storage area under the counter top?

That box looks like it belongs on the 5 ton truck, very well done.

Thanks! That's my volt meter for checking the status of the 'house' battery. It's just a cheap China made piece so it's lower than my good meter's reading by about 0.2 volts, but it's a pretty constant offset so it's still useful. I think it may even be adjustable but I've just learned to mentally deal with the offset.



I guess I didn't mention it earlier, but I put micro switches and 12V LED strip lights inside the cabinets and drawers so that when you open one up, it automatically lights up inside. One thing I've learned about RV's in general is that they can be quite dim inside, and that problem only gets worse when you have a truck like this one with the black out covers up. Having lights inside the cabinets at least lets you find what you're after without having to fool with any other light sources. It's been quite handy while camping out in the boondocks when I didn't want to fire up the generator to turn on the main lights, too (I still have a couple interior lights on 12V, just not near as much light as I do in 120V).

 

[cbrTodd]

It's been a while since I posted anything so I thought I'd share a few updates.

I got uncomfortable with the tires last Fall when I found some dry rot cracking near the edges of the tread, so this Spring I changed the tires out for Michelin 395's that I had (on MRAP wheels). Of course that meant I had to unmount them and switch them over to my combat wheels. That was a chore!



I've had it out a few times this year, including the Haspin rally. It's behaved well other than the notoriously inaccurate fuel gauge. Other trucks may be different, but I've found that my truck in particular has an unbaffled fuel tank that holds about 65 gallons of fuel when there is about an inch and a half of air space at the top of the tank, and it can / will suck air with 8 gallons of fuel left in the tank. Now that I know this, I can plan fuel stops better in the future.



Lastly, I found an air leak at the compressor head gasket. I decided it was time to pull the compressor and check gaskets. I bought the 3801808 compressor kit just in case. I'm glad I did. When I pulled the head off the compressor, I found deteriorated gaskets, a broken spring, a spring that was worn almost through, and a cracked shim plate. I have no idea how it still pumped at all! I've still got to refill fluids tonight and test it out but I'm excited to see how it does.



That's all for now. I hope to be able to work on it more this Summer. Hopefully I'll be able to get the black and gray water tanks in this year.

 

[grendel]

Looking good man.

 

[cbrTodd]

It's finally started to get warm here, so I've been able to get back to work on the truck. I finally finished up the wiring on the light bar / A/C unit wind deflector unit that I made and partially installed last Fall. You can never have too much light, right? I had the overhead console and new backup camera finished in the fall but apparently never updated here.

Overhead console / light bar progress as of last fall (before I wired up the light bar and installed the go-light)


Current status - the pictures don't show it clearly, but it's pretty close to my goal of having light 360 degrees around the truck when everything is turned on. I'm hoping that the overhead clearance lights and warning beacons will help oncoming drivers realize that a large vehicle is approaching. I live on a narrow road so every bit helps!

 

[Nomadic]

Wow, amazing. So cool

I'm wanting to do something like this, but I need desk space too so I can work and sleep out in the country. I might need more room.

 

[Another Ahab]

Wow, amazing. So cool

I'm wanting to do something like this, but I need desk space too so I can work and sleep out in the country. I might need more room.

Maybe go the big game hunter route, and get collapsible furnishings that can set-up outside.

Try living safari style. That'll free up your indoor space.

 

[71DeuceAK]

Fascinating! I, too, would like to do something like this, but I'm leaning toward building a box in the bed of an M927 or M928.

 

[Nomadic]

Maybe go the big game hunter route, and get collapsible furnishings that can set-up outside.

Try living safari style. That'll free up your indoor space.


View attachment 678046

There are many days I'd like to do that. I could fit a nice monitor and keyboard on that desk

 

[71DeuceAK]

For me, mine needs a desk, considering I'm still a college student. LOL. I like the M909 idea, I may consider setting up that way if I don't find an M927 or M928 to build a box in the bed of.

 

[Another Ahab]

If you ever take the rig to Africa, just be real sure and make nice with all the local kitty-cats over there.

Some of them got a little attitude.

 

[olly hondro]

I like the concept

With the inside sheet metal repair essentially done, I started the modifications to actually make it into an RV. The first order of business was mounting the air conditioner. I bought a 6k btu window unit from Menards and made a bracket out of angle iron to mount it to the front wall where the window used to be. I included a downward tilt on the unit towards the outside, which makes the condensate drip outside instead of coming back inside with you. I closed up the remaining opening with a simple sheet metal panel and some polyurethane caulk - nothing special.

With the air conditioner mounted and work ongoing on the outside paint strip / priming job (yes, I juggled all of these tasks at about the same time instead of doing one at a time), I got a call back from the crane operator asking if that day would work for him to come and swap truck beds for me. Since this was just going to be a side job for him, I agreed, and he did about an hour's worth of work to move an M109A3 body where a 14 foot dropside bed used to be and vise versa. I'll let the pictures do the talking here. It was as smooth of a process as I could have imagined, and was worth absolutely every penny it cost.

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I can appreciate what you are doing there: I started with an M109A3, switched the box over to an M35A3 to get the CAT+Allison. The 5-ton looks like a more stable platform. Your driving impressions having driven both? Does it "feel" top heavy like the 109 did?

 

[cbrTodd]

I can appreciate what you are doing there: I started with an M109A3, switched the box over to an M35A3 to get the CAT+Allison. The 5-ton looks like a more stable platform. Your driving impressions having driven both? Does it "feel" top heavy like the 109 did?
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In the spirit of full disclosure, the vast majority of the driving that I've done in the camper on either chassis was on paved roads. I've always thought that taking it over too rough of terrain would be tough on the cabinets and other wood work. When it does go off road, I take it slow, and really haven't had it on any extreme hills. So, in my driving, I never noticed either one feeling top heavy.

With that being said, I do think the M939 chassis is an improvement over the M35 / M109. The brakes on my deuce work great, and I've always kept them properly adjusted and with good shoes, but the air brakes on the 5 ton still seem to stop better. The ride is pretty rough in either one since the 109 box isn't very heavy, even loaded with the water tank full and all my gear on board. I tend to run about 58 mph in the camper as it is now, and I've had the deuce clocked at 60 mph flat out on level ground. The 5 ton does accelerate much quicker though, and would definitely go faster if needed, but I don't choose to do that.

I know that's probably not much along the lines of what you were asking, but I hope it helps!