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truckasaurus · 05-01-2015, 06:46 PM

I was really excited to pick up the steel for the frame but it turned out to be less fun in reality. The cut pieces couldn't be safely loaded in my truck bed so everything went on the sketchy old chassis! Also, bear in mind the chassis is about 34 1/2' bumper to hitch and this stuff was hanging way out the back. I'm going to say there wasn't 15% tongue weight. For the curious I bought 1483 Lbs of steel and expect to use 1263 Lbs.

Next up is plasma cutting the outrigger profile, 18 times. This is all new to me so should be interesting.

nmbosa · 05-01-2015, 07:49 PM

That's awesome! I'm looking forward to following this build. Did you get rid of the O'lander? Five years on from our restoration, I can finally imagine doing another one, but Mary would kill me if she knew I was even considering taking on another shell-off.

Norm

Quote:

Originally Posted by truckasaurus

I was really excited to pick up the steel for the frame but it turned out to be less fun in reality. The cut pieces couldn't be safely loaded in my truck bed so everything went on the sketchy old chassis! Also, bear in mind the chassis is about 34 1/2' bumper to hitch and this stuff was hanging way out the back. I'm going to say there wasn't 15% tongue weight. For the curious I bought 1483 Lbs of steel and expect to use 1263 Lbs.

Next up is plasma cutting the outrigger profile, 18 times. This is all new to me so should be interesting.

truckasaurus · 05-01-2015, 08:36 PM

Ah yes I sold the Overlander last year. With a little child to cater to I justified selling it and putting the money towards materials for the Sovereign which has bunk beds.

The twist is that the family I sold it too wanted bunk beds so we built them together and now the Overlander is great for a family and stayed local.

The second twist is that they have become good friends and the Sovereign chassis is being built out at their farm where there's a lot more space than I have in the city.

The key to a second project is buying a cheap (relatively) trailer and sneaking it home under the radar. Smaller would work better......

bellastream · 05-02-2015, 12:59 PM

Awesome can't wait to see the chassis come together.

truckasaurus · 05-14-2015, 03:08 PM

Part of a hobby/ obsession like this is learning new stuff. Whilst I have never welded a thing in my life I am keen to try; just not on a big project like a gimungous trailer where mistakes could be serious. Instead my welding pro FIL will be unleashed next weekend. So I decided to get a little prep work underway and rented a Miller plazma cutter for the day. It's true love, this tiny machine is absolutely amazing! ($88 for the day).

I cut 18 pretty decent looking outriggers out and just need to clean them up ready for fitting up.

Looking at the pic they seem huge but are just 6" x 2" 11 Gauge box.

Hittenstiehl · 05-16-2015, 07:31 AM

Very impressive looking outriggers.

mimiandrews · 05-16-2015, 08:14 AM

Cool!
After the frame is done, use the scrap you cut off of those for practice and get your FIL to teach you how to weld. It takes a lot of practice to get really good at it, but the basics are not hard to learn and the skill is handy to have.

truckasaurus · 05-24-2015, 08:57 PM

We got stuck in this weekend and made some good progress. I even dabbled in a little light MIG work myself :-) (2 inches of bead).

It's all looking nice and plumb and most of the tube is in place awaiting a few angle crossmember towards the rear. Next up we'll tidy up and flip her the right way up and get the outriggers, suspension and coupler on.

I'm reusing the front hold down plate for posterity but unless I can be talked out of it I want to use a current narrow body Airstream bumper, it's nearly as tall as the 6" chassis, bolt on and shiny.

The eagle eyed observers may note that the front street side outrigger is missing on the old chassis. It actually just fell off as I towed the frame out to the farm which is reassuring considering it is a structural attach point for the shell.

bellastream · 05-24-2015, 09:02 PM

Looking great I wish I had a place big enough to do a shell off like this.

truckasaurus · 06-08-2015, 08:19 PM

I bit more progress this weekend. Bolting up the suspension felt pretty good. Outriggers are up next.

truckasaurus · 06-29-2015, 07:27 PM

A busy weekend; day nine saw the build completed. Kind of sad to see most of the old chassis prepped for recycling; weirdly we noticed the axles were solid 2 1/4" steel bar!

Next up is the weigh scale followed by a thorough degrease, etch and multiple paint coats.

I found it interesting to see just how much steel shifts around during a build and I'm glad I didn't try this out on my own.

It was also my first stab at building axles and brakes but so far so good.

We welded the Andersen WD brackets up and I think she's going to look pretty tidy with new paint.

truckasaurus · 07-04-2015, 08:36 PM

I know chassis shots are an acquired taste but I've got to include some with paint.

I tried out the Andersen hitch and it felt good and silent. I also snagged some BAL X chocks which I'm liking a lot and add another layer of security.

Plenty of tire space and decent unobstructed clearance.

Next up is a little bit of top coat then it's plywood time at last

I wore a respirator all day long which had the side benefit of filtering out all the smoke from Saskatchewans forest fires which would have kept me indoors.

bellastream · 07-05-2015, 08:03 AM

Wow that looks great

Drathaar · 07-05-2015, 08:57 AM

Great thread! It looks like you're going to have a wonderful, quality trailer when you're finished!

perryg114 · 07-05-2015, 10:06 AM

Looks good, how much did you beef up the frame compared to the old one? You will find some detractors here who think beefing up the frame is not a good idea but I think they are wrong.

Perry

truckasaurus · 07-05-2015, 11:06 AM

Thanks all. I went only half crazy with the beefing up. 6" x 2" tube all around but 3/16" wall thickness for the mail rails and crossmembers at the axle-less axles, 1/8" wall for all other crossmembers and outriggers. A little 1/4" plate for the axle reinforcement gussets and 1/8" 2" x 2" angle for a couple of intermediate crossmembers, bumper tabs and wheel well supports. It's heavier but retains some flex too.

nmbosa · 07-05-2015, 10:30 PM

Looks sweet! Keep posting the detailed photos of the progress.

boubou · 07-11-2015, 06:04 PM

nice project

I know i'll muss change the frame too ... so I like to see what you have done.
What kind of MIG welding machine did you use & witch gas did you use?

truckasaurus · 07-11-2015, 07:18 PM

It's the father in laws welding set up and is based around a massive generator and a DC lincoln mig. We mostly used the mig with CO2 but it got windy on and off so there was some stick used too. If my wife had more confidence in my welding a massive chassis as my first project I was going to get a Miller 211 and run C25 but that'll be next time

truckasaurus · 07-17-2015, 08:26 PM

I saw a post on another thread a while back where the poster said something along the lines of "spend days researching every insulation material and end up with pink fibreglass". Well I researched flooring material endlessly and chose HDO. Which was then made unavailable in my area. I researched options again and couldn't decide between Monopan, Coosa, SpaceAgeMaterials Tough board or aluminum skinned ply. In the end I snapped and bought FormPly. Super cheap, no voids that I could find and one side phenolic impregnated paper. $400 rather than $3000 so I don't mind a little extra prep work.

Today I spend 8 hours cutting the 8 boards and dry fitting them. Other than making a nice little router jig that cut perfect arcs only to find that Airstream didn't and just copying their "shape" instead it all went smoothly.

I test fitted one wheel well and although it looks a little silly with stock 15" rims and undersized tires I hoping it'll do the job.

Next up is prepping the floor for install....