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Post Posted: Wed Jun 12, 2019 3:52 pm 
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I recently picked up an old 1970s pop up camper to do a full rebuild on and mess around with some fancy suspensions stuff.

As it’s a bit too big for Zooks I was debating whether to do a build thread in here or not.
But I think some of you might enjoy seeing what I’ve got planned for this thing I figured I might as well chuck a few posts in here as things progress.

Besides, we can’t have that big fucking ugly thing of Sheps as the only active trailer build in here.... :P

So here’s my ugly old thing that someone else decided to name “Rusty Balls”.....

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The chassis is pretty clean, despite what the stupid name might suggest, there’s no major rust under here.

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Obviously the canvas is totally gone, no saving that stuff.
The interior had be redone sometime in the past.

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Not that this really mattered much to me..... :)

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And now after a wonderfully toxic bonfire we can start to make plans for this thing.

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Post Posted: Wed Jun 12, 2019 6:29 pm 
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Nice, keep posting mate!

I've been half heartedly looking for one of these to turn into a slide on camper for a ute. I reckon knock off one of the sliding bed things, build some doors into the sides so you can get to the storage that normally goes under the seats and have it so you can slide the fridge outside with it all folded up.

I camped in one once when I was little and I'll never forget the 6 zillion cranks to get the bloody thing set up. :lol:

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Post Posted: Wed Jun 12, 2019 8:34 pm 
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Cheers mate.
The plan is to do a slide out fridge from the side in front of the door and a slide out kitchen from the side panel behind the wheels.
But that’s all still a long way off.
First there’s a ton of rotten timber to be removed.

Basically what I bought here is the alloy side panels, bed slides and wind up system. Pretty much everything else will be changed in some way.

Some bits because I want to, other bits, like these because I have to...

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Post Posted: Wed Jun 12, 2019 9:48 pm 
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Looking at that wood might need to change the name to Rotten Balls :)

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Post Posted: Thu Jun 13, 2019 5:26 am 
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pete_79 wrote:
So here’s my ugly old thing that someone else decided to name “Rusty Balls”.....


Is that "Rusty Balls" or "Rusty Bails" - the image looks a lot like the bails off of a set of stumps.

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Post Posted: Thu Jun 13, 2019 7:22 am 
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Joe wrote:
Looking at that wood might need to change the name to Rotten Balls :)

Haha, that’s gold. They certainly are some festy ones for sure... :)

fordem wrote:
Is that "Rusty Balls" or "Rusty Bails" - the image looks a lot like the bails off of a set of stumps.


Yes they are a set of bails, with a cricket ball hitting them.
I guess the previous owner loved his cricket and judging by the antenna cable that was run though the roof, there was probably many mind numbingly boring hours spent sitting in this camper watching that game.... I hate cricket...

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Post Posted: Thu Jun 13, 2019 7:28 am 
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But this thread isn’t all about rotten timbers and boring sports, we’ve got more important things to discuss.

Like airbags....

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And remote control systems....

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And triangulated 4 links.....

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Post Posted: Thu Jun 13, 2019 7:59 pm 
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Nice also i reconigse this camper now its the 1970 finch you picked up and posted on myswag also in regards to the airbags that should make it neat.

Glad to see it arrive here.

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Post Posted: Mon Jun 17, 2019 9:29 am 
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Following.

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Post Posted: Mon Jun 17, 2019 12:27 pm 
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The disassembly phase is almost complete now.

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Post Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2019 7:51 pm 
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Smashing it....

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Post Posted: Thu Jun 20, 2019 10:35 pm 
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Far out not much left

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Post Posted: Fri Jun 21, 2019 8:58 am 
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And going to be even less soon.....
But I’m hoping to get time to order my steel this weekend so I can start on all the fun stuff. ;)

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Post Posted: Fri Jun 21, 2019 5:07 pm 
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I am pretty keen to see how this turns out

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Post Posted: Wed Jul 03, 2019 2:32 pm 
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Keep going with this, an interesting project, thought about something similar a few years ago but shelved it. Now I'm interested again =- keep posting pics.

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Post Posted: Wed Jul 03, 2019 7:06 pm 
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Well I guess I’d better get this thread up to date then....

I wanted to jam a set of 33s under this thing and after stripping it all down I cut off a couple outriggers and mocked up the tyres to see if I could make it work.

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Unfortunately the 33 12.5r15 tyres where too wide and I was going to have to cut out a good chunk of the body.
Then the floor was going to be too high even when sitting on the bump stops and there was also going to be a bunch of compromises with my slide out kitchen.
And finally these tyres weighed almost 40kg each....

As cool as it would have been to be rolling on 33s, I just didn’t want to have so many compromises.

So I picked up a set of 31s on some suitably retro alloys and moved on with the fab work.

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Next I made trusses to go under my new drawbar.
Some speed hole porn for gwagon... :P

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Then slotted.

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Then cut into halves to make trusses.

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They’ll end up going something like this when I’m finished.

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But first I had to cut and bend the new drawbar/chassis and plate the joins.

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And as it stands today.
This afternoon I finally brought the main body into the shed and quickly mocked up the new drawbar/chassis.

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Post Posted: Wed Jul 03, 2019 7:45 pm 
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Globes! Armsup

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Post Posted: Thu Jul 04, 2019 9:08 pm 
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sideways wrote:
Globes! Armsup


Fuck yeah Armsup Armsup

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Post Posted: Thu Jul 04, 2019 9:23 pm 
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Tonight I roughly mocked up the axle and one airbag to see how much I need to cut out of the massively over sized mounting plates.

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This was as far as I got before my brother-in-law rocked up and shoved a beer in my hand.
I haven’t seen him for a year or so and we’ll probably be drunk for the next 4 days while he’s here.
Don’t expect too much action happening on the trailer until he leaves and I can sober up again... :cheers: :D

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Post Posted: Thu Jul 04, 2019 9:56 pm 
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You had me at speedholes.

Cool project. I dig it.

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Post Posted: Fri Jul 05, 2019 3:13 pm 
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Joe wrote:
sideways wrote:
Globes! Armsup


Fuck yeah Armsup Armsup


GLOBES! Armsup Armsup Armsup

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Post Posted: Sat Jul 06, 2019 5:13 pm 
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Managed to hide from the BIL long enough to sort the airbag mounts.

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It’s going to look something like this when it’s done.

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I’ve ended up being 30mm higher at bump then I had hoped, but that’s just the way it worked out after I finished the brackets and stuff.

Now I’ve tacked in the axle at what I hope to be average ride height.
There’s a bit over 125mm of travel in the airbags, so I’m working on riding at half way, logic being half travel up, half travel down. Could be stupid logic, but I’m going with that for now.

I thought I’d play around with my links at this height and once I’m happy with that I’ll drop it down onto the bumpstops and make sure everything clears.

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Now it’s time to light the fire and give that bottle of American Honey that we cracked last night a good nudge..... ;)

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Post Posted: Sun Jul 07, 2019 6:37 pm 
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We finished up at 4am this morning and was way too hungover today for any proper work on the trailer.

So I (very slowly) made a set of trestles to replace the cheap saw horses that the trailer frame is currently balancing on.

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I just saw a bottle of Fire get put on the table.
Honey last night, Fire tonight, man my liver hates me right now......

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Post Posted: Tue Jul 16, 2019 8:15 pm 
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More speed holes.

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More grinding and more welding.

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Post Posted: Wed Jul 17, 2019 7:15 am 
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pete_79 wrote:
More speed holes.
Armsup GWS will be pleased .. :lol:


ummm ...

where'd you get your speed holes from? ... they appear to be thicker than the ones GWS has ... ?

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Post Posted: Wed Jul 17, 2019 9:42 pm 
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Very neat fab work Pete. Not much into campers but the work that has gone into this is great to watch unfold. Nice work!

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Post Posted: Sat Jul 20, 2019 8:44 pm 
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Cheers Brenno.

Today was a good day and more fun fab stuff got done.

Control arms are sorted.

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Roughly set up the axle and quick test fit of tyres, happy with the clearances.

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Axle is now all setup properly and ready to weld out.

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And finally, I’ve now got all of the parts assembled and tacked everything in place ready for a big day on the welder tomorrow.

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Post Posted: Sun Jul 21, 2019 7:44 pm 
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Big day on the welder today.

First up was the stub axles.

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And the mounting plates for the brakes.

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After that I added a couple of extra braces under the upper arm mounts and weld all of the out.

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Then reassembled everything, tacked in the lower arm mounts on the axle and chucked the airbags to cycle it through the motions.

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Really happy with how it’s all turned out.
The final bits to go on the axle are the air bag mounts, got these fitted up this afternoon and welded it all out.

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Post Posted: Mon Jul 22, 2019 9:49 am 
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Awesome Job, love watching this build!

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Post Posted: Wed Jul 24, 2019 10:21 pm 
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Got the trusses tacked on to the drawbar tonight.

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And finished off the gussets on the upper control arm axle mount.

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