Thread: Spudboy's super-sized camper replacement for a 130 - and no it's not a Unimog!

Originally Posted by spudboy

Hi SlugBurner,

No advertising deal! Just thought it would be a good logo to have on the site since it is MAN truck I'm building. The blog is built in DNN (DotNetNuke) which is a neat CMS system. I work in Visual Studio, so am just exploring how DNN works.

The canopy sits on the main chassis rails, for the whole length of the chassis. It sits inside the cheekplates of the spring assemblies.

The sideplates with the round steel bar only act as locators, so the chassis can flex underneath the canopy. So, in a left or right direction, it is locked. In a backwards and forwards direction it is locked. but in a vertical sense, it is free to move up off the chassis rail when needed. The springs are there to limit the up/down movement a bit. Does that sort of explain how it works?

I'll wait for a progress shot to confirm how the system works but from looking at it the pin stops horizontal plane movement and the springs allow some movement in the vertical. From what your saying the cheek plates are the attachment points and I figure they will be attached to the base of the walls or the frame supporting the canopy. If so I got it.

A milestone day today. The canopy is sitting on the chassis, and it looks a lot like a proper camper now



To follow up on how the two are fixed together, this is a shot of the spring brackets now welded to the canopy. The wood blocks keep the spacing even and they'll get taken out tomorrow.



The airconditioner got fitted today too, which was a stroke of luck seeing it was 43 degrees outside.

More picture and so on here: The canopy is finally on the chassis

Looks fantastic,

what was the ECU prognosis ??

How do you change the kinematic bolt / spring if needed, I think they might have been better with the heads down & nuts on top ??

Actually - you have a very good point there - Damn. The only way I'll get them out is to cut them and re-insert up the other way Oh well, too late to change that bit now. Just have to hope I never break a spring.

The ECU issue was a fuse in the end. There are 3 fuses that protect the electronics. 2 are easily visible. The third was hidden by a wiring loom. They must have initially sent out the apprentice because he'd never heard of this other fuse. So, body-builder is refusing to pay towing fee, as they should have diagnosed the fuse issue first up. Apprentice now knows about all 3 fuses. Who said education was cheap!!

Hey David, hows progress on the truck?

Have you seen this video
http://www.unicat.net/video/GOINGTHERE.WMV

in some of the river crossings / uneven ground check out how much the rear body moves in relation to the cab, Amazing how much chassis flex they appear to have.

would love to see a go-pro vid of subframe mounts from underneath

That's not flexing, this is flexing

U1300 Articulation NWMF 2010 - YouTube

What do Unicat use to mount their boxes on, the flex in the chassis on the big white MAN going through the river is incredible. I would not have expected that from a box mounted on springs with about 2" of travel at best but it must work for it to flex like that. How is the cab mounted, same way?

Originally Posted by goingbush

Hey David, hows progress on the truck?

...

Progress came to a standstill last week when the temperatures were up around 43 degrees. Not nice for working "outside".

This week has seen the installation of the bed and the gas cooker, and nearly the kitchen sink (if only I could decide where I wanted it).

The bed sits on a neat ventilation system called Froli, which is normally used on yachts to stop the bottom of the mattress from going moldy. Got the bed all installed and tested it out for a night, even though it was just in the front yard!

We've taken it down to Goolwa Beach (about 100Kms from here) and also across to Aldinga Beach (same distance). Was too gutless to go beach bashing. The thought of it getting bogged was more than I could bear on its first outing It drives very nicely, and will sit on 100KM/h when the road is smooth and wide. On narrow, bumpy, twisty roads you feel all of the 9 tonnes of weight behind you, and the speed is much more moderate. On normal Adelaide Hills roads it happily sits on 85-90Km/h. When I get more experience driving it I'm sure I'll tackle things with more confidence.

Plonked in the gas cooker today. Easy/simple job, but it feels like a bit of progress nonetheless.

Here's a couple of photos. The Froli bed system:


Bed all set up:

The mattress was an Ikea special. It was out for half price, so I grabbed it. It is only a standard double bed size, but it is plenty big enough, and extremely comfortable.

Cooker and nearly the sink installed:


Links to more info on the blog: Setting-up-the-bed and Cooker-and-kitchen-sink but they're not very exciting posts....

We've had a couple of German visitors this week too, so that's distracted us from doing building things.

I discovered each of them independently (one at the Mercedes dealer in Adelaide and one via some other German friends) and it turns out they know each other! They both travelled from Germany to Australia in their campers and ended up in Adelaide a week apart.

Got lots of good ideas from checking out their vehicles. One had a Mercedes 4x4 and the other a MAN.





They are both heading across to Perth via different paths, so if you see one of their vehicles stopped, say G'day. Both very interesting couples.

A bit more info here: Visitors-with-big-campers