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76 K5 Blazer Chalet - Put the ol girl out to pasture, literally.

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Blingy high dollar dipstick is now in and appears to have stopped the big leak, but now the pan has a little drip. If I keep putting shiny stuff under the hood I'm going to have to wash the thing. Also, ever since I put the thing back together I've had a loud bang when I put it in gear. When I was under it I noticed one of the tranny mount bolts was gone and the other loose. Guess I never tightened those, so I got a couple new mounts, grade 8 bolts and loctited those suckers. Most of the bang is now gone.

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Before I replaced all the engines gaskets I was losing a quart of oil every tank or so. Crap was dripping out all over the place. This is def. much better.
 
having thoughts of pulling the camper off and building a custom trailer to mount the camper off. Truck would then get a back seat, tailgate and softtop. I'd leave the custom rear bumper. With the bumper extensions I'd have appx. 18"x70" between the tailgate and spare carrier to mount a hitchhaul type carrier for cargo.

Truck would be easier to drive, get better mileage, and I could buckle all my kids in safely. Also, all my stuff wouldn't be bouncing around and rattling inside when driving through the pasture.

Trailer project, if done right, would be built to match the truck profile and have an 8 lug axle so I could run the same 37" tires. Also, I'd have to enclose the front of the trailer, so I could drop a line straight down from very nose of that, and give the camper about 40 cubic feet of room in the nose to play with. Probably would use that to build a bunk that matches the height of the current beds to make a queen sizish bed and use the space underneath for storage accessed by exterior doors. Kind of like an rv.

Very rough rendition of camper compliments of Craig. Rear bumper / tire carrier would be gone and the front part of the camper would be boxed in. Also, not sure if I'd try to find a cheap blazer to convert to a trailer, or just find an axle and frame and build up from there

ChaletTrailer.jpg


Somebody please tell me to leave well enough alone.........
 
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Well I would tell you that but unfortunately I think that would be sick.

I'm doing the exact same thing just not using a chalet. I'm using a color matched squarebody longbed trailer with a matching softopper as my camper.

Same wheels same 35" tires same lift etc, just like what you are thinking.

DOOOO ITTTT!
 
Oh yeah and call me if you need a hand doing it, we can use your trailer as the guinea pig :hack::weld::grind:

:D
 
Dangit, looks like the camper will be pretty easy to get off. I'll let you know if I go to work on it.
 
Oh I just happen to have a cucv that will be going to the junk yard once its parted out. Would you be able to put the camper top on a long bed truck bed. If so I would save the bed and frame for you and I have a spare 14 bolt lying around thats nothing special.
 
I've always wondered, is it safe for people to ride in the "back" while driving a Chalet? I have four kids and we are desperately trying to find something to use for the shorter road trips we make to Fargo every few months. Right now I have a 19' motorhome, but I dont think we are going to keep it as I cant practically use it any other time. We have looked at 15 pass vans, but since my Burb is getting cut up next spring, a Chalet would be a slick replacement. The kids have legroom to stretch, but we still have 4wd for winter driving, and the parts are compatible with my other Burb (kinda). The Burbs just dont quite have the legroom the kids desire, but this would be easier to drive than the motorhome. Whadya think?

/hijackover/
 
cabledawg said:
I've always wondered, is it safe for people to ride in the "back" while driving a Chalet? I have four kids and we are desperately trying to find something to use for the shorter road trips we make to Fargo every few months. Right now I have a 19' motorhome, but I dont think we are going to keep it as I cant practically use it any other time. We have looked at 15 pass vans, but since my Burb is getting cut up next spring, a Chalet would be a slick replacement. The kids have legroom to stretch, but we still have 4wd for winter driving, and the parts are compatible with my other Burb (kinda). The Burbs just dont quite have the legroom the kids desire, but this would be easier to drive than the motorhome. Whadya think?

/hijackover/
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I've done it, but they sit facing each other across the middle of the truck. The seats aren't the stoutest and there's only 2 lap belts. The sides of the camper are fiberglass with a little bit of steel frame. They'd probably be ok, but if it rolls you have to worry about the stuff in the camper bouncing around or cabinets coming loose.

Probably not the safest, in my opinion. That's part of the reason I'm looking to yank it. 3 kids and a wife and I've got safe capacity of 2, and unsafe of 4.
 
I've thought about selling it as is. It's just too cool and I've done too much work. Thinking building the custom trailer is a good way to retain the coolness and get more utilization. It better be cool, as the $$$$ amount won't make much sense....
 
I've yet to even hear anyone mention this idea other than myself let alone actually seen it so by rarity alone it will be very cool.

Plus everybody loves matchy matchy truck campers.
 
Yeah, my other idea was to put a Chalet top on the back of a cut up Burb, but if I'm going to go through that much hassle, I'll just get a crew cab and a small slidein camper.

I dont mind driving the motorhome. Amazingly, it's not much longer than the Burb, and still gets 10mpg, but my wife will never drive it and it is quite tall, even for a 19' class c. And a motorhome isnt something you'd take to ge shopping in town, so it just sits in a lot most of the time. With the 15 pass van or a SUV/camper setup like the Chalet, I could still drive it around town easily.

I guess I just have to figure out which is more important, the kids comfort or ease of driveability..............


BTW, I just went through all the pics and your Chalet looks pretty wicked. I honestly expected military comm stations to line the inside when I saw the first few pics of a lifted olive drabbed rig :D
 
You can NOTTTT get rid of that thing! You've put way too much into it, and it is just way too badass to sell. I think texasrebel had a great idea of putting it on the back of a longbed truck. make the bed and frame into a trailer, throw an 8 lug axle under there, then you have a few feet in the front of the bed to do what you want with it!
 
texas4x4rebel said:
Oh I just happen to have a cucv that will be going to the junk yard once its parted out. Would you be able to put the camper top on a long bed truck bed. If so I would save the bed and frame for you and I have a spare 14 bolt lying around thats nothing special.
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We might need to work something out.
 
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