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Atl-atl's K5 Blazer Four Wheel Camper "The Crawlin Cabin" documentation thread!
- Thread starter Atl-atl
- Start date
I’ve pulled out of my driveway with my previous fold down spare tire still folded down. To realize that, put it back into place and realize I left my phone on the front bumper only after I felt the truck drive over something. Yep, I drove over my phone. With both left side tires.
Sucks it happened but it can be fixed.
Sucks it happened but it can be fixed.
Put together a flat tow setup to see if my RV will be able to tow the Blazer. Spent ten days driving from Flagstaff to Durango, Silverton, Ouray, Telluride and back to Flagstaff using the RV as a home base either parked at an RV park or wild camped and then used the Blazer to drive around town, go on adventures etc. Pretty stoked about this new setup. Going up the higher passes gets pretty slow at times ~30mph for the steepest grades above 10k feet but highway and normal two lane driving 65mph is easy. The attention it gets is off the charts. Individually these rigs are eye-catching but towing a camper with a camper is a whole new level. Driving across the reservation from Cortez CO to Kayenta AZ there were gnarly storms and a 30-40mph headwind. Hand calculated MPG over the 120 mile stretch was 4.13!! Thats a new record!! 
Here is a picture of the setup. Tow bar is a Roadmaster Flacon 2. This is a cool tow bar because it doesnt use a standard hitch with a ball. It directly mounts inside your receiver and has a pivot and swivel to get the flexibility it needs. This is essential for the type of offroad driving I do when seeking out remote camp spots etc. The only downside to this setup is all of the pieces involved have play and when you add up the drop receiver, brake, tow bar and d-ring adaptors there is enough play that the towed vehicle moves around quite a bit.
Roadmaster Falcon swivel.
For brakes I went with a Readybrake system from NSA RV. Its 100% mechanical and there are very minimal failure possibilities. There is spring loaded mechanism inside the silver sleeve that pushes forward when the towing vehicles momentum slows enough for the towed vehicle to push forward. This mechanism pushes the black lever on top which tugs on a cable that is attached to the towed vehicles brake pedal. My blazer happened to already have a hole in the firewall immediately behind the brake pedal so running the cable/housing to the front of the truck was super easy. The whole system is incredibly basic and just works. Its so much better than the alternatives like a huge box that you put in front of the drivers seat that pushes on the brake pedal, needs to be moved/stored every time you want to drive the towed vehicle, needs power to run and relies on sensors inside the box to know when to push on the pedal.
I used a basic set of magnetic tail/brake lights that plug into the 4 pin harness on the RV and stuck them on the back bumper of the Blazer.
If I decide to tow the Blazer more frequently I will definitely make some changes to this setup so the towed vehicle settles down. Ill swap the tow bar for one from NSA that has their ReadyBrake integrated. This will eliminate one link in the chain that causes sway. Also whenever I get around to building the front bumper for the Blazer Im going to integrate D-ring mounts that are high enough so I can ditch the 4" drop receiver. This will eliminate another link in the chain. Lastly I want to figure out how to wire the stock Blazer tail/brake lights so I can plug them into the 4 pin of the RV so I can ditch the magnetic trailer lights. In the end our trip was a success and I couldnt be happier about being able to bring both rigs on the same trip without the hassle of a trailer.
Here is a picture of the setup. Tow bar is a Roadmaster Flacon 2. This is a cool tow bar because it doesnt use a standard hitch with a ball. It directly mounts inside your receiver and has a pivot and swivel to get the flexibility it needs. This is essential for the type of offroad driving I do when seeking out remote camp spots etc. The only downside to this setup is all of the pieces involved have play and when you add up the drop receiver, brake, tow bar and d-ring adaptors there is enough play that the towed vehicle moves around quite a bit.
Roadmaster Falcon swivel.
For brakes I went with a Readybrake system from NSA RV. Its 100% mechanical and there are very minimal failure possibilities. There is spring loaded mechanism inside the silver sleeve that pushes forward when the towing vehicles momentum slows enough for the towed vehicle to push forward. This mechanism pushes the black lever on top which tugs on a cable that is attached to the towed vehicles brake pedal. My blazer happened to already have a hole in the firewall immediately behind the brake pedal so running the cable/housing to the front of the truck was super easy. The whole system is incredibly basic and just works. Its so much better than the alternatives like a huge box that you put in front of the drivers seat that pushes on the brake pedal, needs to be moved/stored every time you want to drive the towed vehicle, needs power to run and relies on sensors inside the box to know when to push on the pedal.
I used a basic set of magnetic tail/brake lights that plug into the 4 pin harness on the RV and stuck them on the back bumper of the Blazer.
If I decide to tow the Blazer more frequently I will definitely make some changes to this setup so the towed vehicle settles down. Ill swap the tow bar for one from NSA that has their ReadyBrake integrated. This will eliminate one link in the chain that causes sway. Also whenever I get around to building the front bumper for the Blazer Im going to integrate D-ring mounts that are high enough so I can ditch the 4" drop receiver. This will eliminate another link in the chain. Lastly I want to figure out how to wire the stock Blazer tail/brake lights so I can plug them into the 4 pin of the RV so I can ditch the magnetic trailer lights. In the end our trip was a success and I couldnt be happier about being able to bring both rigs on the same trip without the hassle of a trailer.
Wouldn’t the stock brake lights come on anyway since you’re applying the brake pedal with the cable?
yes but no turn sigs
True dat
Holy crap its been almost 3 months since Ive updated this thread. Its not for lack of progress, just lack of time. The biggest project I completed was a new front bumper. So here is Front Bumper Part 1 of 2.
Ive been thinking about how to build this for years. Before I did the motor swap I bought an Engineered Vintage behind bumper winch mount and had planned to use it as a base for a bumper. After staring at the front of the truck with no bumper and a 1 inch body lift for years Id finally had enough. What I decided on was actually modifying the winch mount so I could tuck the winch up closer to the bottom of the radiator support. I wanted the winch and front bumper to tuck in and up as high as possible. I dont like the way any of the "period correct" bumpers looks for K5s so I got to work. Whats nice is the frame rails on a K5 are approximately 24" apart and most truck winches are 21-22" wide. So I got some steel and got to work mocking things up. The starting point of the entire bumper is a pair of weld on shackle mounts from SDHQ which I will also be able to use for hooking up my tow bar. I welded them to some 2"x2"x1/4" wall tube and tied them together with 1/4" plate that runs down the outside of the frame rails. The shackle mounts wound up about 30" wide which is perfect for a tow bar. In conjunction with the frame plates that are part of the Engineered Vintage frame mounts the front frame horns are now sandwiched by 1/4" plate for about 12 inches down the length of the frame, tying in the steering gear and using almost 20 grade 8 bolts to sandwich everything together. I dont think its going anywhere. I did have to cut off some of the winch plate material so that the winch could suck up against the bottom of the radiator support. Not a big deal though because the top of the bumper, which is what the winch actually mounts to, is all 1/4" steel. This is probably getting really confusing so here come the pictures.
First things first I got this sweet band saw "table" from Swag Offroad which has completely changed my fabrication abilities for the better. What a difference this makes. Gone are the days of taking forever to cut 1/4" plate with a cutoff wheel or a chop saw!!
Anyway, on to the bumper pics
I kept the same shape/lines as the rear bumper where it steps up just after the frame rails and then has a 1 inch taper up as it goes outwards. I also added a 1 inch taper backwards as it goes to the outside and I think turned out really nicely.
I used the Engineered Vintage winch plate to mark the mounting holes and fairlead holes which worked perfectly.
Finished product ready for powder
Ive been thinking about how to build this for years. Before I did the motor swap I bought an Engineered Vintage behind bumper winch mount and had planned to use it as a base for a bumper. After staring at the front of the truck with no bumper and a 1 inch body lift for years Id finally had enough. What I decided on was actually modifying the winch mount so I could tuck the winch up closer to the bottom of the radiator support. I wanted the winch and front bumper to tuck in and up as high as possible. I dont like the way any of the "period correct" bumpers looks for K5s so I got to work. Whats nice is the frame rails on a K5 are approximately 24" apart and most truck winches are 21-22" wide. So I got some steel and got to work mocking things up. The starting point of the entire bumper is a pair of weld on shackle mounts from SDHQ which I will also be able to use for hooking up my tow bar. I welded them to some 2"x2"x1/4" wall tube and tied them together with 1/4" plate that runs down the outside of the frame rails. The shackle mounts wound up about 30" wide which is perfect for a tow bar. In conjunction with the frame plates that are part of the Engineered Vintage frame mounts the front frame horns are now sandwiched by 1/4" plate for about 12 inches down the length of the frame, tying in the steering gear and using almost 20 grade 8 bolts to sandwich everything together. I dont think its going anywhere. I did have to cut off some of the winch plate material so that the winch could suck up against the bottom of the radiator support. Not a big deal though because the top of the bumper, which is what the winch actually mounts to, is all 1/4" steel. This is probably getting really confusing so here come the pictures.
First things first I got this sweet band saw "table" from Swag Offroad which has completely changed my fabrication abilities for the better. What a difference this makes. Gone are the days of taking forever to cut 1/4" plate with a cutoff wheel or a chop saw!!
Anyway, on to the bumper pics
I kept the same shape/lines as the rear bumper where it steps up just after the frame rails and then has a 1 inch taper up as it goes outwards. I also added a 1 inch taper backwards as it goes to the outside and I think turned out really nicely.
I used the Engineered Vintage winch plate to mark the mounting holes and fairlead holes which worked perfectly.
Finished product ready for powder
Was this at Dino’s this last weekend? I swear it was you.
Once I got it back from powder I mounted the winch and started to test fit the bumper.
The winch didn't clear the "wings" of the Engineered Vintage frame plates so I had to cut them down. Thankfully I was able to cut them flush to the frame rails without getting rid of any mounting holes I was planning to use.
Here they are trimmed, painted and mounted back up.
I picked up a cheap 12,000lb Badlands winch from Harbor Freight that has a removable control box so I mounted that to the frame and wired it all up. The winch hangs upside down but its 2 1/2" higher up than the Engineered Vintage mount so the "bottom" of the winch sits higher than the bottom of the frame rails which was the goal all along. In the future Ill build a bolt-on skid plate for under the winch that has a cutout for the free spool lever.
And the final result. I love it so much!
The winch didn't clear the "wings" of the Engineered Vintage frame plates so I had to cut them down. Thankfully I was able to cut them flush to the frame rails without getting rid of any mounting holes I was planning to use.
Here they are trimmed, painted and mounted back up.
I picked up a cheap 12,000lb Badlands winch from Harbor Freight that has a removable control box so I mounted that to the frame and wired it all up. The winch hangs upside down but its 2 1/2" higher up than the Engineered Vintage mount so the "bottom" of the winch sits higher than the bottom of the frame rails which was the goal all along. In the future Ill build a bolt-on skid plate for under the winch that has a cutout for the free spool lever.
And the final result. I love it so much!
Yep I was there Friday.
I thought so! It looked great.
Looks solid! Nice use of our BBWM mounting brackets!
I missed you at Dino's!
Does that rig have a bodylift?
I missed you at Dino's!
Does that rig have a bodylift?
Thanks! I didnt see you guys either. There was so much to see/do haha. It does have a 1" body lift which is one of the reasons I decided to build my own bumper.
So I drove the Blazer yesterday for the first time in a couple weeks. It was running perfectly when I parked it. It seemed to have developed a misfire and sounded like it had a weird/new exhaust leak. So I was rolling around underneath trying to diagnose and I came across this...
Also got some sweet vintage looking KC Hilites installed. Ill have the Blazer at the Vintage Offroad meet at FourTillFour Coffee in Scottsdale tomorrow if anyone happens to be in AZ.
Also got some sweet vintage looking KC Hilites installed. Ill have the Blazer at the Vintage Offroad meet at FourTillFour Coffee in Scottsdale tomorrow if anyone happens to be in AZ.
Squirrel steal your wire?
Haha I dont know. The wire is still there it was just unplugged and arc-ing to the header. It was locked inside my shop and there are definitely no squirrels around there. Maybe a feral cat.
I did see wire a few inches above.
Was it routed too tight?
Nope they have plenty of slack. I have no idea how they could have come loose. They press on and click very positively. Its like someone snuck into my shop and unplugged them.
I remember having those KC lite covers back in the day and you always had to be worried about someone stealing the covers. These days that's probably not an issue since they're not the "cool" LED lights.
