CK5
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'91 K5 Four Wheel Camper
This is the build for my 1991 V1500 Blazer, AKA the K5.3. It started out life being sold to the U.S. Government with a 350 TBI/700r4/241 combo. 4 years with a 5.3/700r4 Combo and now moving to an 8.1L Vortec and NV4500 5-speed.
I am. You'd think the stiffest springs on the planet wouldn't sag. But I'd beg to differ. That's with a LS up there too. Wait till the fat block is up there.
You need the round adjustable type.
Don't we all. I would love to do that, but that may be way down the road.You need the round adjustable type.
Ok, open admission here. I'm a crappy carpenter. So I needed help. My buddy Shane did me a solid last year whipping the lower bench up in an afternoon. We both knew it was enough to get by. Before summer runs this year I had to get the help of another since Shane was busy building his new house. My Co-worker Ron is a retired construction/cabinet maker. He's an older guy working part time for me as our porter at the shop. He's one funny dude too. So after talking to him and showing him some pics of the old version and the truck itself we hatched the plan. We decided to use 3/4" plywood as the material and create a fully enclosed box (minus the cutout for the wheel tub). It would be built at his place and since it was one unit lifted in (3 of us!) and set into place.
Part of the issue on the old one was the narrow sleeping space, while fine to sit on it was causing me to sleep with one arm hanging off. So we needed a way to have the sleeping platform be extended by a bit to make it wide enough to sleep comfortably. My idea was to add a section to the inboard edge of the lid and have it hinge open to the walkway and extend the platform that way. Ron came up with a slick way to have supports fold flat and basically self deploy on hinges when the section is folded out.
One of the support flaps.
The other two.
Section folded out.
Much more room to sleep on. Part of the idea was to set the level even with the camper side on the bedrail, which gives another 6" of room .
Lots of room to stash stuff. I joked it could double as a coffin. I have a sick mind..
I'm torn on how to finish it. I thought about using something like speakerbox carpeting to cover it. Now I'm not sure. Paint? Stain it? I'm not sure.
Part of the issue on the old one was the narrow sleeping space, while fine to sit on it was causing me to sleep with one arm hanging off. So we needed a way to have the sleeping platform be extended by a bit to make it wide enough to sleep comfortably. My idea was to add a section to the inboard edge of the lid and have it hinge open to the walkway and extend the platform that way. Ron came up with a slick way to have supports fold flat and basically self deploy on hinges when the section is folded out.
One of the support flaps.
The other two.
Section folded out.
Much more room to sleep on. Part of the idea was to set the level even with the camper side on the bedrail, which gives another 6" of room .
Lots of room to stash stuff. I joked it could double as a coffin. I have a sick mind..
I'm torn on how to finish it. I thought about using something like speakerbox carpeting to cover it. Now I'm not sure. Paint? Stain it? I'm not sure.
RubberFloorMat
1/2 ton status
My blazer has some pretty slickncustom cabinet in the back, one side houses a 10” sub, the other is just a stash spot for junk.
If it ever gets out of paint, I located a really slick marine grade stain that I plan on using. It’s called one time.
https://onetimewood.com/marina/
If it ever gets out of paint, I located a really slick marine grade stain that I plan on using. It’s called one time.
https://onetimewood.com/marina/
I personally would paint or stain the outside. You can just wipe it off to clean.
On the inside, if you put things in there that need some padding while traveling, I would put thin carpet in there. It should help keep some things from rattling.
Just my thoughts.
On the inside, if you put things in there that need some padding while traveling, I would put thin carpet in there. It should help keep some things from rattling.
Just my thoughts.
Either carpet, or if you think it's gonna get really (muddy) dirty often, bedliner.
Pretty fun building your own custom camper setup. I'll bet you get a lot of satisfaction when it's all said and done.
RubberFloorMat
1/2 ton status
So I was getting tired last night but have you considered peel and stick floor tile type material? It’s cheep, pretty abrasion resistant. Maybe go over it in stain and stick it on where it can be seen. Just a thought.
They have sone really nice barn wood looking vinyl flooring now too that would look cool maybe.
Dirt. It sees a lot of dirt. Hopefully my dust prevention measures taken between the back wall of the camper and the gate opening where it sits against works. That will limit to dirt coming in through the door. That kind of has me thinking against the carpet even though that would quiet it down a little.
Like anything else I'm not done with it, but it's tremendously satisfying using it. Plus it attracts attention regularly. On the street or on the trail. It's not pretty and shiney but to some people they think it's cool like I do. Had one wave at me at the stoplight by my house and give me the thumbs up. Gives me a pretty good grin for a while. It's even better if my wife is riding along. I had a family in a utv stop us on Tin Cup pass last year so they could take a pic of it. Pretty cool.
That's an idea. But not sure how well it would stick. I know they have the really short pile indoor/outdoor carpet in squares like that. I need to toy around it.
tomford
1/2 ton status
After the last wheeling trip it was very apparent that some type of grab handles are needed to aid entry on both sides of the truck. I've thought about it and a couple of things came to mind. I'm not sure exactly what tipped me off to look in this direction, but I started looking at Jeeps. Gasp! I know, but you can't deny the metric ton of new parts coming out daily for the JK's and still for the TJ's. I found something in a google search for grab handles and most of the time you find the nylon webbing style that attaches to roll cage tubing with velcro around the tub itself. That isn't going to work in my case, but it got me to Rugged Ridge's website. Seems as if the 4dr JK's already have some type of grab handle over the rear door from the factory. I guess the style isn't enough "off-road" for some so Rugged Ridge came up with a bolt in solution with the same look with the velcro style. Pretty simple, nylon webbing, rubber handle with a filler inside the webbing and a couple of grommets to bolt through. Genius! Here is a solution that is infinitely adjustable to match up spacing to existing holes like I have over the passenger door or set up for the a-pillars or driver's side over the door.
Here's what I'm talking about.
I picked up a pack of 4 handles on Amazon for $9.00 plus shipping. Under $20 to my door. They aren't Rugged Ridge and might actually be patent infringed copies I unwittingly bought without knowing. I say this, because if you were watching any of the feeds that came from the SEMA show last week, 5 or 6 Chinese based vendors got busted at the show for knock-off products. Rugged Ridge's parent company noticed strikingly similar products in another vendors booth and got SEMA brass and the US attorney involved to shut it down mid-show. So I probably bought fakes and if they were the cheap ones I bought probably got yanked out of Amazon. Still, the real Rugged Ridge versions are only $9.99 for two. It's not a bad deal.
The roof mounting is going to be fairly straight forward. The A-pillars are going to be a little more challenge due to the shape. The basic idea I've kicked around with one of my techs at work is not using nut-serts since the glass is in the way for using the tool. The plan would be drilling holes near the pinch weld (where the weatherstrip pushes on). Since the cross section of the pillar is not just a box shape but actually comes to a point right at the pinch weld and the inner and outer edges are closest to each other and shouldn't require any sleeving to maintain strength. I haven't drilled a hole yet, but I may take my cordless drill to the boneyard and cut a hole just to make sure the theory is right before I add another hole to the truck.
Do you have a link to the handles?
Thanks
These are the ones I bought.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01FLYEY4W/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I had also bought a pair of these for my nephew's JK Jeep. Looked the same as the ones I bought.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01FLYEY4W/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
tomford
1/2 ton status
I made a crappy attempt at painting the headlight bezels yesterday. Annoyed with fisheyes I closed the door on the garage and played with some of the video from our desert trip last year. I posted it on the thread for the trip, but figured I'd put it here too.
You did more this weekend than Dave’s done in two months!!
Totally and I even failed at that. I got tired at seeing the mismatch of the de-chromed bezels and the chrome grille. So the fusion paint got pulled out for the plastic and I got to work. As always in painting the devil is in the details in prep. I suck at prep. My scotchbrite pad must have had something on it and even though I cleaned both of completely, it must have left a residue that instantly fisheyed when paint hit it.
Oh well. I'll hit the parts with some 320grit and fog it again.
I hate it when that happens
FTFY
