Build pics!
Here's a current picture of how Dackwagon looks now. The camper is mounted on the rear frame rails of the truck, but completely separated from both vibration and torsional stress of the truck's frame, (which twists to maintain axle articulation, which is what keeps the tires ON the trail).
Got some blue paint on it, too!
The camper.
Here's some pictures of the camper. It's an Aliner Scout hard-side pop-up camper. I wanted hard walls for the Cape Cod National Seashore. In order to get an OSV permit, (oversand vehicle), you need to have certain items to get yourself unstuck. In order to camp overnight on the beach, you need to be self contained and have an enclosed camper. In other words, no tents. They also don't allow trailers overnight on the beach. Also, I didn't want the top of the camper sticking up above the truck's cab. It's already as aerodynamic as a brick, so why add to it? By traveling with the camper folded down, it also protects it from branches on the dirt roads of northern NY and New England.
I found it in Vermont, and haggled the owner down to $2800, a bargain in the covid-driven vehicle prices these days. Below you'll find original pictures of the camper from the Craigslist add, pictures of the custom folding potty cabinet, and some pics of camping at Ausable Point State Park, (our favorite campground).
On to the pics!
Here's a little gif I found online of how the Aliner raises and lowers. First, the two roof panels lift up to make the peak, then the A walls lift up.
Inside there are four little black flip-levers that lock it all in place. Really simple design. There are bungie cords that connect the two roof panels, and various shapes of open and closed cell foam strips at all the seams, all easily replaceable.
First glimpse.
I found a line drawing of a newer model of the Fuso 4x4 truck. The cab shape is a little different, but dimensions are the same.
I added a black and white pic of an Aliner using Picsart, then added the colored bits to hash out what I wanted. Shortened the trailer tongue, drew in the mounts, overlayed an aluminum ladder to represent the slide-out stairs we'll be using, and bingo! Dackwagon was conceived.
First Mock-up.
I was lucky to fine a good sideview pic of the same year truck, and a good pic of an Aliner. I didn't try to recreate any mounts in this one, just tried to get relative dimensions right so I'd know roughly what it was gonna look like.
As you can see in the top pic, there's a drop in the Fuso frame just behind the cab. This must be accounted for when building any type of bed, (more on that below).
One of the things that always bugged me when crawling a truck through the woods on old dirt roads is having this long engine hood sticking out in front of the windshield. Always hated it. Bigger pick-ups are the worst! There's SO much wasted space sticking up right where you need to see for tire placement. In more technical rock work, you need a spotter to keep you on the right line. Madness! Not to mention it's wasted space on the truck frame itself. What IS it about the American obsession with long truck hoods!? If you're going fast in the desert, it's not as much of a hindrance. But in the woods? It's in the way.
Having driven cabover Jimmie's, (GMC), in the military, and cabover MH model Macks for UPS, I am decidedly a cabover kinda guy. NO LONG HOODS FOR ME!
Found this image on Expedition Portal. It's a website and forum dedicated to overland travel. VERY informative forum. If you're thinking of building something custom for traveling the backcountry, spent some time searching there.
The pic to the left depicts a typical partial subframe. Commercial 4WD vehicles are different from passenger vehicles. Their springs must be stiff enough to carry more weight than your typical 4x4, sometimes many tons more. Stiff springs don't flex very well off road, so they need to be designed differently.
To achieve axle articulation, they employ frame twist. This allows the truck to keep all 4 wheels on the ground. If I hard-mounted the relatively flimsy Aliner camper to the Fuso frame, first trip down a dirt road would tear the camper frame apart.
Imagine a sheet of plywood with a sheet of glass sandwiched on top of it. Now grab the plywood by the corners and twist. Alone, the plywood flexes slightly. Bond the glass to in, and it would shatter immediately.
Here's a great pic demonstrating frame twist on a medium-duty commercial truck frame. This is an Isuzu. 4WD Isuzu’s aren't available in the US.
As you can see, by twisting it allows both axles to remain on the ground. You need that to maintain traction. We've all seen pics of jeeps and trucks with one wheel up in the air. Great for a photo shoot, but not so great for traction.
Imagine what would happen if you simply bolted a flimsy camper to the back. It would twist it apart on the first uneven surface!
This twist MUST be allowed for in a custom build like this.
Here's my solution to the ‘frame twist’ issue. As you can see, it incorporates the ‘fishmouth’ feature from the yellow mount above. The Fuso builders guide suggests oak planks for padding, but I went with urethane strips. These were cut from a larger sheet I found on ebay. The U bolts have die springs sandwiched between the frame and bottom plate. This will allow the frame to flex as needed, without transferring the torsion to the subframe, which is coming up next.
Here's the front camper mount. Remember, as the rear of the truck frame twists to keep the tires on the dirt, the camper will have to rock side-to-side in order to follow it. What better way to do that than a hitch ball. Which it already has, right?
We shortened the trailer's tongue to get it as far forward as possible. This will also help with departure angle, as well. (I left a little extra space for future upgrades).
Standard trailer hitch from the scrap pile fit perfectly, padded with urethane as well. Hopefully this will limit most of the vibrations from truck to trailer.
So, everything that touches the truck is padded and flexible to eliminate transfer of torsional twist from reaching the relatively delicate camper frame.
On to the ‘cradle’.
What better way to support or suspend a camper? It's own suspension, of course!
Rather than trying to reinvent a way to let the camper bounce as it needed, I decided to let the welder doing all the work decide how best to support the camper over the fishmouth rails. He came up with a gusseted cradle that surrounds the entire torsion axle. Pretty ingenious! It's completely welded to the fishmouth rails, supported by heavy wall tubing, has gussets to support it, and has box-like brackets that hold the panel bearings, which hold the ends of the torsion swingarm.
So, the front of the camper rides on a hitchball, (just like it was designed to do). The back of the camper rides on it's own factory suspension, (just like it's designed to do).
That camper will go down the road like it always has, not even knowing it's not on wheels anymore!
Locator plates. Marked A and B in the pic, these are welded to the subframe, but NOT the truck frame. On the inside of the plates, against the frame, are more urethane panels held on with countersunk machine bolts from the inside. You can see the bolts sticking out. Their purpose is to keep the back of the camper centered side-to-side. The urethane will allow the fishmouth to slip up/down along the side of the frame as needed, as the truck frame twists. We're talking about minimal movement in this area because it's directly above the truck axle, but I wanted to allow for it.
You are now up to date on the build! Below I'll post more pics of how in looks right now. Coming up, longer wind poles to help with raising it, and slide out stairs!
Like these - - - - - - - >
09/02/2023 Update - Just some updated pics showing the camper opened up.
09/21/2023 - Update. We extended the wind poles to make it easier to lift the roof panels from the ground. I asked to have the ends curved to match the curve of the armrest inside the door. Once I remove the dark window tint, it'll be easier to see, and hopefully will be a cool design feature. This also involved moving all four mounting brackets down to the corners so we could reach them from the ground.
I kinda like the way the wind poles flip up at the end. Great place for beach towels, or to tie a clothesline between!
10/20/2023 - Update. A couple pics of the truck parked at Clark & Son Automotive. Rear main seal, super singles, brake plunger and shoes
10/21 /2023 - Update.
HUGE UPDATE!
It's mobile!
10/28/2023 - Update. Here's the extended wind poles. In their stock form, they serve 2 purposes. First, they obviously hold the forward roof panel so the wind can't blow it open. Yes, there are small black levers inside that hold the panels in place, but a heavy wind will lift the roof right off. The wind poles prevent that. Their second use is to assist in lifting the roof, but now that the camper is higher off the ground, we felt we needed a little more reach. I also asked to have the ends curved to match the curve of the armrest inside the doors as a 'design feature'.
10/30/2023 - Update. Nothing major, but really helpful! I asked the welder to cut the bottom step off the driver's side, and weld it to the second step. This brings it up 1½", which makes it easier for me to get my bad leg up into the cab. This thicker step tread, combined with the rim step, and the two grab handles, really help me get into it.
11/1/2023 - Update. Nothing major, just some small steel blocks. These are welded to the top of the fishmouth subframe, and their purpose is to prevent the large, sprung U bolts from sliding forward or back as the truck frame twists to maintain ground contact of all four tires.
You can also see the blue urethane pads between the fishmouth subframe and the truck frame, as well as the ones between the side locator plates and the subframe, (Remember, these side locators are not through-bolted to the truck frame. It is a slip joint.
11/01/2023 - Update. Tires! These came in to Clark and Sons. Ordered from militarytires.ca up in Ontario. $120 a piece, which is a GREAT price for these regroovable Michelin XZL's! Size is 8.25R16, so they're roughly 35” tall. I wanted 9.00r16's, but they're impossible to find now, so these'll do!
11/10/2023 - Update. RAT'S NEST!
Trying to track down old and new wiring harnesses, and getting all the lights working. Plus, wiring the camper running lights into the truck lights.
HUGE NEWS!!
11/11/2023 - Update. IT'S NOT THE REAR MAIN SEAL THAT'S LEAKING!
This means we WON'T have to drop the transfer case and transmission! It was a turbo oil supply return line that's leaking. $2.00 O ring fixed it. Saved a thousand bucks in labor costs.
02-15-23 - UPDATE
Just a couple vids of Kris moving Dackwagon from back storage up to the shop.
2-20-23 - Update
Clearance and marker lights.
I wanted guarded marker and clearance lights on the camper. The metal above and below the LED will protect them from branches dragging them off in the woods. These are Optronics from eBay. Nice work, Robbie!
BRAAAAAAP!
02-23-24 - UPDATE!
Bought some 12vdc air horns off ebay. They don't require an air compressor. Boy, are these things LOUD! Rob did a great job with the install.
4-25-2024 Update
Sorry it took so long to update the progress, been having some health issues, and we were waiting on parts. This is about brakes on the rear axle. 4 new wheel cylinders, and four new brake shoes. You can see how much and how long it's been leaking. Also installing the 8.25R16 Michelin XZL's. New tranny filter and mounting assembly, (filter is remote, meaning not attached to the tranny, but connected by fluid lines). Other things that were done:
Installed Wolfbox rearview mirror system
New backup camera to head unit
2nd 12v power port on dash
Airhorn switch overhead
Complete lube job
06-04-2024 Update
The mechanical and electrical work is done! Everything works, thanks to Rob, Kris, and Bill at Clark and Son Automotive in Keeseville NY. Talk about a versatile bunch of guys. I saw late model vehicles being worked on, as well as old muscle cars, racecars, commercial delivery vans, and my Fuso 4x4 truck, all in their shop at the same time. If you have a machine that makes noise, I'm sure they can fix it! Here's a list of what was done:
Oil leak at turbo return line
New A/C radiator fan
New tranny radiator fan
Taillight wiring
Clearance lights on truck roof
Clearance/marker lights on camper
Full service, (all fluids and filters changed, new fan belts)
Tranny filter bracket assembly changed
Air horns installed
Overhead console wired for both switched/constant 12vdc
Installed Wolfbox rearview camera system
Installed new backup camera for head unit
Rear axle brake shoes, both sides
Real axle brake cylinders, both sides
Repacked or replaced all seals and bearings on the rear axle
Five 8.25R16 Michelin XZL's installed on rims, balanced, and mounted, (33” tall, 8¼” wide, pizza cutters!)
Oh yeah, and it's registered and insured! Just needs an inspection, (got a headlight out, so I'll have to get that swapped first). Truck is at the welders to make the slide-out stairs, a rear bumper, and a little tweaking on the subframe. Can't inspect it til the bumper is done, too. So VERY close to camping!
ON TO THE PICTURES!
(Remember, all pics are clickable to the full size image!)
06-19-2024 Update
Stairs! Way above, there's a vid of another guy's stairs. They're perfect because they collapse flat and stow under the camper in minimal space. This is my version of them. They are built with thicker wall aluminum.
Rear bumper and camper stabizer shelves.
The rear bumper had to be added to make it legal height. I didn't want to reduce the departure angle, but I had no choice. Only lost a couple inches. The two shelves on top of the light boxes are a spot for the stabilizers on the camper to land on. By playing with the height of either or both, I can level the camper both sideways and front/back.
7-5-2024 Update
The cage and the carriage.
The cage is the steel part that encloses the stairs and carriage assembly. It's all steel because it'll be welded to the camper frame. It's basically two eight foot long C channels with flat stock cross members for integrity. It'll also be secured to the bottom of the camper floor in the door area, because that's where all the weight will be.
The carriage is what's attached to the stairs, allowing them to slide into the carriage for travel. Like the stairs, it's all aluminum. It has cheap, easily replaceable skateboard wheels I found on ebay. They have sealed bearings.
The only contact between the cage and carriage will be the urethane skateboard wheels, so no trouble with galvanic corrosion between the dissimilar metals.
Also got a couple pics of the new tranny filter and mount. They were rusted so bad, they were fused together. Trying to spin off the filter caused the mount to tear apart. All fixed now!
PAINT!
OK, it's just rattle-can Rust-Oleum, but it's a good blue, dontcha think?
11/26/24 - UPDATE
Huge apology for not updating the page. Camping season hit, and we were off! Hope everyone understands, it's a camper first!
That doesn't mean that we didn't get a lot do done, though. First, some camping pics…
CAMPING PICS!
Fenders, steps, and paint.
I'm a huge fan of Rust-Oleum paints. Easy to use, sticks well, holds up well, and cheap. Blue is Rust-Oleum 2X Ultra Coat Paint-Primer. The black is Rust-Oleum Rust Reformer, which sticks extremely well to the black plastic Fenders.
