Custom Hitch, Original Flatbed Removal

My truck came with a commercial style hitch:

It is a little hard to see in this picture, but it hung down way too low for my purposes and was also very heavy duty. I decided it needed to go, as did the flatbed.

I chose to get rid of the flatbed because it:
-Was elevated very high off the frame and I want things as low as possible.
-Dropped down in the back, as you can see
-Totally restricted up-travel of the rear suspension
-Had a headache rack that would have been in the way
-I found someone to buy it for a decent price.

The guy I sold the flatbed to got the hitch as well.  In hindsight, I may have been better off leaving the hitch on there and cutting/welding it to suit my needs.

Regardless, he got the flatbed and the hitch assembly.  This left the end of my frame rails a little beat-up, with junk welds from the people that installed the flatbed, some rough grinding/cutting from the flatbed buyer, and a rusted out rear cross member.  The rear cross member, which also serves as the rear mount for the diesel tank, had a valley in it that held moisture and rusted through in some places.  This is the only significant rust I have found on the truck.

I decided to take out the cross member and replace it with a new one that would also serve as my new hitch system.

Easier said than done.

Plasma cutters are not fond of chassis coatings, they are not so great at being used on a vertical surface, and when you are using them with a plastic fuel tank within inches.......they are not the ticket.

To get the rear cross member off I had to grind some welds from the hitch installer and then drill out, I think, 12 rivets that Ford used to secure it.   Don't quote me, but I think I used a 9/16" bit after center punching the rivets and drilling a pilot hole.  You are near 9/16" steel when you have the frame itself and a rivet head on each side.  I tried air chisels and hammers and in the end drilling was the only way, mostly upside down.

Drilling metal upside down sucks, holding the drill in the air, hot metal shavings flying around.....glad to be done with that.  Buy a full face shield, and apron, and welding sleeves if you are going to try it.  I recently bought a set of step drill bits at Harbor Freight, so they are probably junk, and they work great. They would not be the best for drilling stuff this thick, but they would get you to the half way point easily. 

Once I got that sucker out, I began to build my custom hitch which would serve as:

-A regular hitch, 2.5" receiver
-An adjustable bumper mount for when the camper is on/off the truck
-A winch mount
-Part of the system holding the rear most brackets for the spring flatbed mount.

I used a huge hunk of 3/8" thick steel tube that was, pretty sure, 5"x3", must weigh 50lbs. Add to that 3/8" plate for the ends and two 2" receivers and one 2.5" receiver.   This picture gives you the basic idea:

 The larger, middle, receiver is to serve as a normal receiver would, the two smaller, outboard, receivers will serve as a bumper mount or winch mount.   I'll be making a winch mount that has the two 2x2 pieces of steel that plug into those receivers.  The same receiver set-up will be in the front bumper, so I can move the winch front to back.  

After welding and paint (2 coats POR15, 2 coats Rustoleum truck bed liner) it all looks like this and you can see my shoes are grey.   I tack welded everything and then had a pro finish it up.  The thickness of the material and critical nature of the welds trumped my manly motivation to do it myself.

Here is the hitch installed (terrible picture):

The hitch is bolted to the frame on each end with three 9/16" Grade 8 bolts and one 1/2" bolt that runs vertically and passes through the frame twice.  So, essentially 5 connection points per side.  I sleeved the portion that the 1/2" bolt runs through so that moisture could not find its way into the main beam of the assembly.   There are two holes that are tapped 1/2", 13 tooth, into the bottom of the hitch.   This is where the "skid plate" that holds the fuel tank bolts into for the rear connections.  I had to buy news bolts, the factory ones were an odd thread I could not match a tap to.  I did not use Loctite on these, but it would not hurt.  Use a lock washer at least.

Before installing the hitch I ran compressed air through it to dry out the inside.  Before I installed the fuel tank bolts I stuck the red straw on the WD-40 can into the holes and blasted away in all directions, hoping to give the inside an oily coating should moisture ever find its way in there.  This is one of the few times somebody probably used WD-40 for one of the intended uses.

As I mentioned earlier, the rear ends of the frame were hacked up all the welding and grinding they had seen.   The original owner of the truck sprayed some type of chassis coating on the truck.  I needed to protect the ends from corrosion.  The trouble was that some spots had paint, some chassis coating too, and there are lots of rough edges.  After considering a few options I decided to clean the ends as best I could, although not trying to get to bare metal.  I used Simple Green and plastic brush after first using a wire brush.  I got it all decently clean and then sprayed it with Eastwood Anti Rust

This products is basically a black (I think you can get amber too) wax/tar/goop coating.  It is not rubbery and I see no way, as is sometimes the concern with rust protection coatings, that water could get behind this stuff.  It is not a rubber coating, like a tool handle, it is more as if you smeared a hard grease over metal.   I have not had the truck out in the elements so I cannot speak to the long term effectiveness, but it went well, looks good and it seems like it should work.


It was a nice option to cover over rough metal that was painted in some spots, bare in some spots, and covered with a similar product in some spots.  I overlapped the spray onto the sections of the frame that had pristine coating on them, so I have good continuity of coverage.   I did 3 coats, each with about 24 hours dry time.

Hopefully, in the terrible picture below, you can see the nice coating it gave.  It does not really run, that is how uneven my frame rails are.   I do not recommend this coating for applications were it will be rubbed, impacted, etc.  It does not seems like a very tough coating, although decent.  The corrosion protection is the selling point.

Chassis Brackets for Spring Mounted Flatbed

I originally had intended to make a 3 point mount for my camper, similar to a Unimog's.  This type of mount eliminates the transfer of twist in the frame to the truck bed, or the camper on it.  It is important to protect the camper from twisting, the chassis flexes quite a bit when on uneven ground, so that cabinets stay fastened, walls don't crack, doors don't jamb, etc.  It also allows the frame to flex freely, which supplements the suspension.

After being educated by the group at Expeditionportal.com, I decided to use a spring-based mounting system.  I basically decided to copy what the M35 (Duece and a Half) uses.

The basic advantage over a 3 or 4 point system is that the load is spread over the entire length of the frame, and it is probably easy to build a spring system than a 3 or 4 point system.   Having the load spread over the entire length of the frame is needed for the truck with lighter and/or not boxed frames. (This is all relative of course and the F-450 has a huge frame by many standards)

To replicate this system I purchased angle iron, actually steel, 5"x3" and 1/4-5/16" thick.  I cut it to the necessary lengths, added extensions where the frame had the depth to allow it, drilled holes in the plate that allowed me to use existing holes in the frame, painted them, and bolted them on.   It took WAY longer than it should have, as everything seems to do.  I was able to fit six mounts total, 4 of them with room for two springs and 2 of them with room for one spring.

I used Grade 8 hardware all around, in 7/16, 9/16 and 3/4", all in 2" length.  You can see in the picture above how the bolt in the upper right corner is smaller, I was able to use all existing holes in the frame which preserved the paint, the strength, my time and drill bits.   The frame is 8" deep at this point, so I welded a 3" plate on.  This bracket, along with one just like it on the other side, are directly behind the cab.  

For the two brackets in the middle of the frame, which each have room for one spring, I had to get a little creative.

I used the same angle steel and welded on a 1/4" strip of steel, with a 3/8" spacer at the end, and bolted it up within the leaf spring perch.   Because the leaf spring perch is not as deep as the mount springs, I will need to cut one down and will probable try to fit a small section of spring above the angle steel that will come off of the flatbed structure.  Again, I used Grade 8 hardware and existing holes, with one 3/4" bolt into the frame and a 9/16" into the cross member.


For the rear most brackets, I incorporated them into the custom hitch that I built.

These got 3 x 9/16" bolts.





For all the hardware I used a lock washer and in some cases I also used a lock nut.

The brackets were coated with two coats of POR15 and two coats of Rustoleum aerosol can truck bed liner.   I am not happy with the coatings and will speak more about that later, it may be my fault.

One "trick" I used to mark the holes on the plates, for drilling, was to clamp the plate to the frame in the final position.  I then took a socket that fit just exactly in each hole that I wanted to mark.  I then dipped the end of the socket in spray paint, with the longest extension clipped in the socket.  I then pushed the socket through the existing hole in the frame and make a nice circle of orange spray paint that was centered and let me drill fairly accurately.  All of my hardware is 1/16" smaller than the hole it is in, to allow a little bit of wiggle room.  The hole(s) in each bracket for the spring bolt to bass through are 3/4", the bolt itself will be 1/2" or 5/8".

Sunrader Teardown #2, Goodbye Toyota Chassis!

After working hard to get the camper body off the chassis, it was time to sell the chassis to a scrapper and free up the work space.  Thanks to John B. for working a long nite with me to roll the chassis out, it took quite a few moves of the jackstands and hacksawing, but we got it done.

If you are undertaking this yourself I have a few suggestions:

-Get 6 jackstands that are tall, Harbor Freight has good ones cheap, the 6 tons, and a high reaching jack.
-Have a sharp hacksaw as you may need to cut some of the steel bars the camper rests on.  A cut-off wheel can help too but it is tight quarters with sparks flying
-Take the tires off a set of the rear rims and roll the chassis out on two steel rims, to get the chassis as low as possible.

You really need some help for this process, John would pull the chassis forward and I would watch and listen for the issues.  It probably took 20 moves to finally get the chassis out, as one part would hit another or a jackstand would have to be repositioned.  We moved a few inches at a time.


We did have to remove the forward gas tank, cut off the rear bumper, and remove the propane tank, blackwater tank and some associated plumbing.  I am going with a composting toilet so I was not too concerned with it.


By the time we were done I just decided to sell the truck to a junkyard.  After paying to have tires remounted, reattaching the gas tank, and getting the truck titled, I probably would be break even and selling it to the yard got me a small check and my space and time free with one phone call.

I've got big goals for the project by the end of November so stay close. 

Toasting our night or hard work and successfully separating the camper and chassis.  Yes, that is a bottle of Saki, real tough guy stuff.

Sunrader Tear-Down. #1

Once I had the 'Rader, it was time to rip it off the Toyota chassis and start remodeling.

Before I continue, my only drive with the 'Rader way the roughly 150 mile drive from Duluth to Minneapolis.  There is one hill leaving Duluth that really does simulate mountain driving, minus the thin air, and the 'Rader had to go really slow.  Once we hit the flatter sections, 65mph was a reasonable cruising speed.  On to the good stuff.

There will not be tons of detail here because the tear-down has actually been really easy.  As I write this, the camper is nearly ready to be jacked off the chassis after about 10 hours of solo work.

So far there have only been minor hiccups.  Two, maybe three special tools have been needed, beyond a full socket set.

Special items you might want:

 - Square drive screw driver (aka Robertson Type), not sure of the size.  There are hundreds of these screws all over the 'Rader, mainly where the camper connects to the chassis.

- Filet knife for cutting the butyl rubber and sealant between the chassis and cab.  The long flexible blade works perfectly.

- Nut splitter.  In many cases (propane tank, blackwater tank, etc.) there are nuts on bolts that you need to take off.  The trouble is you can't secure the bolt by the head, so when you turn the nut the bolt turns too.  The head is sandwiched between the top of the chassis and the camper floor.  I suggest lubing the bolt and hoping the nut turns without spinning the bolt.  If the bolt spins you can use a nut splitter to split the nut and it falls off. These are hard to use sometimes when you are upside down, but they get the job done.  A breaker bar or pipe fitted over a ratchet, to add torque, can be of help.

- Headlamp...it is dark under the camper and a headlamp makes everything easier.  The underside of my 'Rader is rusty and covered in crud, so clear safety glasses have been nice too, keep the crap out of my eyes.

- Cut-off wheel.  If you are going to remove the blackwater tank you will need to cut the interior perimeter of the flange that the toilet bolts to.  This is the part under the wax ring.  I used the one below, Dremel item 543, worked great.  It is not rated for metal, one that is might be nice for stubborn nuts and bolts.  Here is a free lesson:  Only use the bit in the clockwise direction.  If you don't the screw comes undone and the screw and wheel fall (possibly into a blackwater tank, yuck).

 So far I removed the toilet and blackwater tank (switching to a composting toilet and this will make the chassis lift off easier), the propane tank (rusted to oblivion, easier chassis lift off), the screws and sealant between cab and chassis, disconnected one of the two gas filler necks, the airbag fill ports, the electrical connections, a few drain tubes, 3 of the large lag bolts that go through the floor to the chassis, the single seat mounted behind the passenger seat (concealed a lag bolt), the screws connecting the 'Rader body to the running boards, and the outer dually wheels.

Removing the outer dually wheels should make it easier to roll the chassis out. I will have jacks along the perimeter.

Here are a few pictures.  As I said before, it has been easy sailing to this point, so nothing really critical to point out in the pictures. 

Got The 'Rader!!

After keeping my wanted-to-buy ad on Craiglist, I finally got a hit.  A local, 21', 1987 Sunrader.

I feel that I got a decent price, and it was just two hours away, I combined picking it up with a Boundary Waters Canoe Area trip.

Special thanks to Brizz, Bayla, Havila, Orionna, Faith, Kyle and Tom for taking the detour to Duluth to pick her up.  Here is a picture of the crew.

Here is the 'Rader.  I never took a good picture before I put in in the garage and started tearing it down.

Front Axle and Unit Bearings

Since I decided to run a larger and heavier than stock tire (Continental MPT81 335/80/20) I needed to address the weakness in the Dana 60 front axle.  The axles have a unit bearing or unitized bearing in the version which is in my truck.  I first heard that this could be an issue when reading about the Turtle V truck.  A friend of mine with an F350 and near stock tires and the same axle also had issues on two occasions.

The bottom line is that the front bearings can fail and if they do you are looking at significant costs and downtime just to return the truck back to the stock, weak, condition.

With the large, heavy tires that will be on the truck, I decided to bite the bullet and buy a Dynatrac Free Spin Kit for my truck.  I decided to also upgrade the front U-joints to a greaseable/serviceable version.  Mine were squeaking anyway, two birds......   I had manual hubs, if you have electronic-shift -on-the-fly (ESOF) you will loose that and have manual hubs.   The "free spin" is nice for the ESOF trucks because it stops your front drivetrain from spinning when in 2 wheel drive, saving fuel and wear.

If you order the Free Spin Kit, I suggest you order directly from Dynatrac.  I got expertise, a good price, and free shipping.  The F450 hubs require special machining, which Dynatrac performs in house.
I went with the Warn hubs, rather than the Dynatrac hubs.  This saved me about $450 dollars.  I feel that Warn makes great products, the Dynatrac would be nice, but I am not in need of their extra robustness. 

The kit:

FO60-3X1104-E

0

1

Free Spin Hub Conversion Kit, 99/04 Ford F-450/550 4x4, Warn Premium Hubs, Machined for Stock Adapter

The U-joints:
Dana Spicer SPL55-4X

With the Free Spin Kit and upgraded U-joints, I am confident my front axle is ready for the MPT 81.  Being serviceable, the stock bearing are not, should give that much more life and reliability to the front axle.

Automobile Service Company in Saint Louis Park, MN installed the kit for me.  I was happy with the work.  Dynatrac offers detailed installation instructions on their website.  Installing this kit is apparently pretty straight forward, but I decided to have a pro do it because of my time/space/energy considerations.  It only takes a pro a few hours with all the right tools and knowledge, worth it in my book.

This mod is not fun because you can't tell anything is different.

Somewhere in my journey I will be many miles from a service center and be grateful my wheels are happily turning.

Soudproofing the Cab

I wanted to make the cab a little more comfortable for the passenger, both acoustically and thermally.
Along those lines, I ordered:

30 Sheets of RAAMmat BXT II (56.25 sq ft) and 4 1/2 yards of Ensolite IUO Peel and Stick Foam (62.43 sq ft)

from RAAMaudio.com

For the time being, my plans are to apply this system to the floor and behind the seats.  This system is a peel-and-stick system.  Two layers, RAAMmat which is a tacky, rubbery, layer that deals with vibration, and the second layer is Ensolite foam, sort of like a camping mat.  This helps with noise and heat.

First things first, take out the seats, carpet, and the fascia over the area behind the seats.

-To remove the seats you will need a Torx 55 bit (I read you need the Torx 55+(sounds like a retirement home) but as far as I know mine is just a 55 and it worked fine)), a 3/4 socket with some depth to it and some extensions and maybe a breaker bar.  I sprayed things down with WD-40 a few days ahead of time and things came out fairly easily.  There is nothing to it really, the bolts and nuts are obvious, just have some extensions ready for your ratchet.  Lift the seats out when they are loose, they are not that heavy.  ***My driver's seat has a wire connected to it, probably for the airbag, that unclipped easily.

Once the seats are out, I had a floor mounted tool tray behind the drivers seat to remove.   It takes a 5/16 socket, mine had 3 fasteners, easy.

There are two little plastic pop fittings that require a small Phillips to get out, these are basically under the driver and passenger's butt and help to hold the carpet down.

All it takes to remove the shift boot for the transfer case is a Philips...if the screw heads are not corroded to oblivion.  I ended up having to mutilate the plastic surround to get it off.  So, I had to order a new one (Ford part # F81Z*7277*BC).  I tried drilling and pounding and eventually threw in the towel and destroyed the plastic trim that hold the shifter boot to the floor.  The new part was really three, the solid plastic trim piece, and the inner and outer boots, as well as the four mounting screws.

The transmission boot screws were not corroded, but harder to access.  I put a long Phillips bit into a 1/4 socket on a small ratchet and was able to access the back screws.

I had to remove both shifter levers, the tranmission had 2 x Torx 40 fasteners and the transfer case had 2 x 11mm (I thought Fords would be all non-metric?)

I cleaned all of the flooring I could access with a surface cleaner in preparation for the peel-and-stick RAAMmat.

The area under the driver's feet had some decent corrosion.  I bet wet boots kept that area sufficiently wet to cause some premature corrosion.  I applied Permatex Rust Treatment spray after taking a soft wire brush to the rust and then vacuuming everything clean.  The Permatex product worked ok, it turns the rust into a black, paintable surface.  I then covered that with spray paint (you can see the grey paint near the driver's feet in the second picture).

The factory carpet and insulation seems decent.  I was kind of surprised, I guess my project won't make as big of a difference as I thought it was just a thin layer of carpet.  There is some rubber backing on the carpet, some felt like insulation and some thermal insulation on the transmission hump.

The carpet came up easy from underneath the trim.  Once the carpet was all out, I power-washed it.

The area behind the seats rattles like a drum, hoping for a big improvement here.  To access this I had to pull out 3 or 4 plastic pop fittings, they look like Christmas trees once pulled.  They pull easy by hand or pried with a flat-head and can be re-used.   Next you will need to remove 2 brackets that are for attaching baby car seats.  I am not sure if these are 9/16" or 1/2" bolts, but both sockets worked on them.  The fascia is semi-rigid and pulled right out easy.

At this point the truck will be pretty bare, vacuum and clean as much as you can so the "stick" in peel-and-stick sticks.

Then it was time to peel and stick the RAAMmat, which is butyl rubber with aluminum backing.  The stuff sticks great and is easy to install.  The directions called for, I think, 50% for typical areas and 100% coverage for trouble spots.  100% coverage for the Ensolite and 200% in hot spots.

Here is with the RAAMmat installed:

Then the Ensolite over that

I forgot to take pictures of the carpet over the Ensolite, but you can imagine.

The verdict is still out, as I have comp insurance and have only driven the truck about 5 miles, I'll make an update when I can really test the insulation and if I do any sound work to the doors, hood, etc. 

The reason, the inspiration, the plan....

Why am I building this vehicle?  Around 5 years ago I started reading websites like Wanderthewest.com and Expeditionportal.com and I was hooked.

These websites, with their awesome trip reports, introduced me to the idea that real adventure can still be had in USA (and also in many other places as well).  Sailing rocks, native ruins, hot springs, meadows, mining history, wildlife, and much more.

So... I bought a Toyota Tacoma and ordered a truck camper from All-Terrain Campers and have been really pleased with the combination.  This picture is of my set-up going down the Lippencott "Road" in Death Valley.

What changed? I would like something larger and with more creature comforts.  There will be at least 3 of us, plus the dog, and that fills up the Tacoma and ATC pretty quick. I also want to be able to bring friends and family with me and in comfort, so they are more likely to come with!

After my Unimog infatuation relented enough I started looking at Earthroamers.  Earthroamers have big shortcomings when compared to a Unimog based camper, but also big advantages.

The Unimog is a better option, hands down, in every off-road consideration.  The Ford F-550 based Earthroamer is a better option, hands down, in every on-road consideration.  The
Earthroamer also offers modern safety, reliability, aftermarket support, parts availability in North America, and creature comforts.  Additionally, the Earthroamer is no slouch off-road, it just can't match the King-of-the-Hill status of Unimog.

If I was not a family man, I would have a Unimog.  What I purchased will become ( after wheels, tires, a little suspension, lockers, etc.) Clark W. Griswold's version of a Unimog... you get the idea.

Introducing....! My 2002 Ford F450 4x4 (standard cab, manual, diesel, limited slip, manual t-case, 140" wb... etc.) with a paltry 45,000 miles and in great condition considering it is a Minnesota vehicle.

Her name is, "The Rubester (roob-ster)." 

A friend of mine has the equivalent F-350, which shares nearly all of the key components, and has been very pleased with it, except for the Dana 60 front axle (foreshadowing??).  I specifically sought out the 7.3 diesel found in the 1999-2003 (some 2003's) for its reputation as simple and reliable engine.

Why not just buy an Earthroamer?  The first reason is the cost, at least $100,000 to get into a used one and the sky is the limit on new ones.  I am not saying they are overpriced, they are very high quality, limited production vehicles.  Regardless, the price is very prohibitive.  The second reason is the romance of building it yourself.  I want it to be mine, understand?   The cabin your grandpa built is different the one a stranger built.    

The only thing about this truck that is a shortcoming, and I think that is overstating it, is that it has leaf springs.  There is the option to convert the front to coil springs or do air springs all around, but I feel the leafs will serve me well and making any significant changes would not justify the cost.  I am inclined to leave things as stock as possible, the truck is proven one and it is hard to match reliability and practicality of what the factory offers.  Plus, it is free to leave things as they are.

Now that I have the chassis purchased, the next thing to do is get a Sunrader.  Then, I'll chop, sweat, weld and swear as I work to combine the camper portion of the Sunrader with the Ford chassis.

The shortcoming of the Sunrader, for my purposes, is the Toyota truck they are mounted on.   They are no 4x4's in the larger Sunrader, the truck is near capacity with the RV empty, the ground clearance is not there, and more.  I think Sunraders are awesome, and so is the Toyota chassis they are built on.  However, for my purposes it is not a good fit.  If you liked to stay on-road, the Sunrader is a great option.

The strength of the Sunrader, for my needs, is the molded fiberglass construction.  Compared to your typical stick-frame RV the Sunrader is lighter, stronger, drier, requires less maintenance and with last longer.  Why not build them all this way?

Currently, I am looking for a local Sunrader, but have only found them in far-away places.   I might be traveling far if nothing comes up locally in the near future.

In the next few weeks I plan to have the front axle upgraded, install cut-out fender flares, remove the flatbed, install soundproofing in the cab, purchase new tires, purchase super single rims and rent a workspace.  

I'll keep the blog updated as things progress.  Thanks for reading.