[TASSIETOYUKI]

Well, for my 300th post i thought that I should show you guys and girls what it is that I have been working on flat out for the last 2 and a bit months on. Unfortunately the Suzuki has been neglected in this time but should be under the knife again soon. There will be a big gap missing from the photo's because I was too lazy to take pics.

Now this is not designed to be towed behind the Suzuki, (it is the same width and shaped to suit my Landcruiser, no coincidence there) it will more than likely way more than the GVM of a Sierra when completed. Originally it was to be independent suspension but i thought that it was not really necessary so it now has a heavy walled 65mm square axle with parallel bearings instead, 10" electric drums with 16x8 rims and 305/??r16 10 ply tyres.
GQ patrol pan-hard rod, 80/100 series front springs and shocks and Pajero control arms. (i wonder where I got the idea to use these from )

Has 1 queen sized bed and 2 bunks lots of storage and 110L of water.
all of the kitchen will slide out of the front from under the bed like a camper trailer. Still allot of work to do but this will give you a good idea. Will post up current photo's tomorrow

Sketchup pics, Design has changed slightly since building started



Chassis flipped over


Control arm to chassis mount

Panhard mount


Eldest helping with the painting prep work

[4WDNROX]

Looks fantastic...well at least as far as we can see...lol. seems like a good excuse for neglecting the Zuk. Good job look forward to seeing it as it progresses

[eldo]

looks the goods, should of made it to fit the zook inside

[zukenutter]

Wow!! That's a big project, it tops my camper trailer that's for sure. Looks like it would weigh more already, like you say definitely not going to be dragged behind the Zuke

[banga]

yeah doesn't look half bad alot different to what i'm used to looking at i work australian offroad campers we do 2 offroad carvan's they have full independant suspension coils and twin shocks. check them out on the web site. you might get some ideas not tryin to be a sales man or anythin personaly i think ours are a bit heavy to be an offroad carvan.

[Fatzook]

looks good but wheres' the Independant suspension?

[TASSIETOYUKI]

4WDNROX wrote:

Thanks for the kind words.

eldo wrote:

Like the way you think, but I will be more worried about that when I get my truck done.

zukenutter wrote:

Yep would prob weigh more now but is really quite light at the moment.

banga wrote:

I "may" have taken some of my insperation from the earlier of these vans. They do look top notch, BUT. I can't for the life of me work out how these vans become so heavy.

Fatzook wrote:

Umm.. too lazy... so went with coil sprung beam axle instead. After much thought and discussion i decided that independent suspension was not necessary due to the van pivoting off the center line through the coupling. It would still have been cool to say "I have made independent suspension for my caravan" but unless you are running very soft spring rates i do not see any "real world" advantage. Any movement at the extremities of the van will cause the whole van to move due to no resistance from the lack of an opposing axle to work against.

[zukenutter]

TASSIETOYUKI wrote:

so went with coil sprung beam axle instead. After much thought and discussion i decided that independent suspension was not necessary due to the van pivoting off the center line through the coupling. It would still have been cool to say "I have made independent suspension for my caravan" but unless you are running very soft spring rates i do not see any "real world" advantage. Any movement at the extremities of the van will cause the whole van to move due to no resistance from the lack of an opposing axle to work against.

I came to the same conclusion when planning mine. The only advantage I could see with ITS (Independent Trailer Suspension...LOL) was on a rough higher speed surface where a bump hitting one wheel would not send feedback to the other, which is negligible anyway.

I chose to go leaf so I wouldn't need shocks as the friction between them adds a dampening effect. My build was all about weight saving to avoid having to fit brakes.

I imagine the guidelines for your build are a lot more involved than mine which fit to the minimum trailer build specs in Qld.


When I run up a ramp the trailr suspension stays static

[TASSIETOYUKI]

Ok so I dragged it out side last night so i could do some sanding of the filler. I was working towards a deadline (that i missed ) and got a bit carried away, which resulted in a bit of warpage. At the moment it is very well balanced and i can move it around by myself as in the photos, on the drums (the only way it will fit in and out of my shed door) quite easily. If i lift the draw bar up until the rear touches the ground, I can actually lift the whole thing up off the ground

So here are some more pictures

Big door on this side is for battery access, small for camp chairs



Just previewed this post and realised my boy is trying to shoot me

Small door in front for camp chairs, Big door for kitchen slide out. Door at back for general storage see below


There is just enough room for me to sit up on the lower bunk


This shelf goes up next to the queen bed. The cutout holes will be just above the doona height. There are partitions between the holes and they are as deep as the outer face.

[zukenutter]

Very impressive and it's an inspirational lesson for the little fella as well. He'll always remember when daddy built a caravan under the house. Are you keeping track of costs for posterity? What is your day job?

[TASSIETOYUKI]

Thank you. Ahhh.. the cost. Well when you start looking at the consumables used, it gets quite scary. Including all of the parts that have, the bill comes to about $6500. All of the steel used was purchased in AUG 2008 so prices were still up a bit then To finish it off i still need to get the canvas for the pop top roof done, gas struts for the roof, water pump, faucet and hoses, 3 mattresses, internal lining and insulation, internal lights, pinch weld seals for doors and a new annex. I did buy an annex off ebay, one of those Chinese jobs that are made from tent type material. I am really impressed of the quality of this annex for the price, BUT I did make one HUGE mistake. When working out the size I needed, I failed to take into account how much I had shortened the body overall and how I had decided to slope the rear wall in. So story short my annex is too long . I did only buy it as a stop gap, but I will now have to buy another.

I just did a quick calc of the weight and as it sits there plus the roof, doors, wheels and brakes it would be about 700kg. 300kg of that is in the sheeting (which includes the floor)and doors. The whole sheeting is 1.2mm cold rolled steel that is spot welded at 75mm intervals and fully edge welded so to form a monocoque. It is also spot welded to the chassis at 75mm intervals as well.

For my job I am a qualified mechanic but I have been working with metal for fun since I was about 13. I have now been in spare parts for 7 years. The last 2 at the local Honda car dealership. (Gotta love working in a sole dealership) We used to be a Suzuki dealer too, but that ended well before I started here. I do have a Sierra parts manual at home that lists all the part numbers for the factory PTO and cable diff locks though )

[zukenutter]

No matter what the cost it will be heaps cheaper than buying a ready made + a whole lot cooler.

[shep]

very flash mate looks a bit like a kimberley karavan but a bit cheaper then there
70k start price

hint hint
http://www.auszookers.com/index.php?nam ... pic&t=5505

[TASSIETOYUKI]

Shorley I would not be welcome to bring a Landcruiser on an Auszookers meet up????? Or is this an unofficial meeting

[shep]

TASSIETOYUKI wrote:

Shorley I would not be welcome to bring a Landcruiser on an Auszookers meet up????? Or is this an unofficial meeting

haha i am probably gunna have to drive my mitsi and anyway is there anything official about
auszookers.

[TASSIETOYUKI]

shep wrote:

TASSIETOYUKI wrote:

Shorley I would not be welcome to bring a Landcruiser on an Auszookers meet up????? Or is this an unofficial meeting

haha i am probably gunna have to drive my mitsi and anyway is there anything official about
auszookers.

Hmm.. Im sorry about you having to drive a Bits-a-shity

Official about Auszookers??...... umm I will have to get back to you on that one

[BUZOOKA]

that looks like its comming along nicley



i wanna use the back of a soft top sierra for my tralier so it sits in the zooks wheel line

[steve]

Looks awesome tassie, geess a bit of work in there eh!

I didn't see you mention a fridge, i could be blind though. Are you using a caranvan fridge or just the usual camp fridge? and how about a car stereo in the caravan?

[TASSIETOYUKI]

BUZOOKA wrote:

Thanks for the words

steve wrote:

Thanks steve. I live in tassie, a heater is much more important than a fridge

The lack of a fridge was always part of the plan. Although the 3 way in my current camper is very good and economical, I want to keep the weight down in the caravan and they do take up allot of room. I will be getting an engel/waeco style fridge that will live in the back of the cruiser. That way when we go on day trips away from the camp site, or go into a town we will have the fridge with us. We do take a tropical ice box with us as well so that will stay at camp. Sounds good in theory to me but as I have not camped this way, before time will tell.

I will have a system devised so that when I am in camp the fridge will run off the caravan battery which will be charged via a permanent solar panel on the roof..

[zookernator]

Jeez.. this has came along way since i was last in your shed Jon!! Good work!! Will catch up for drinkies real soon

[TASSIETOYUKI]

yes we will have to catch up..

[Joe]

Well done matey this is gunna sweet when its all done........ i want a suzuki sized one

[TASSIETOYUKI]

Well.. this was supposed to be finished before Christmas but..
On Tuesday night I spent the money I had set aside for the rego, canvas etc on an early christmas present.

Now i don't think it is going in the Suzuki, maybe in my Landcruiser but most likely in my F-off big truck. I brought myself a dirty, big 6.2l chev v8 diesel. Cost me a ship-load less than from the importers and appears to be in really good nick, complete with adaptors and clutch etc to suit a landcruiser 5spd.
So that is why you haven't seen me for a few days, still gettin over the hiding she gave me..

[zukenutter]

so the whine I can here is coming from your living room and not my transfer case

[BUZOOKA]

we got any advances on the camper yet mate quite keen to see how it turns out


CHEERS ZOOKA

[TASSIETOYUKI]

Hmm.. ahhh.. nope
Been having too much fun, spent last week fixing my quad, then all the Christmas parties, work at dads farm, playing with the kids and puttin stickers on the Suzuki...
really should pull me finger out and do some work on it hey

[bogfrog]

Lookin' Good Tassie' You have been working hard can't wait to see her in her in all her glory, great work mate

[TASSIETOYUKI]

bogfrog wrote:

Lookin' Good Tassie' You have been working hard can't wait to see her in her in all her glory, great work mate

[zukenutter]

Did you get to work on it over the Christmas period?

[TASSIETOYUKI]

zukenutter wrote:

Did you get to work on it over the Christmas period?

Yeah.. I did get a little bit done. Not worth talking about though. I only had the public holidays off, and we spent them at my parents place. Had to work longer days during the same period because of other peoples holidays so not as much got done as i would have liked. It will get there though