Anyone put a camper on an M37?

[Jess]

Jim, that's a cool model and pretty handy to use for your camper mock ups. On the side mounted spare, the other military option to mount on the door is a pain, with unlatching the tire carrier and then opening the door. I think a side mount further back would seriously restrict your rear vision. A passenger side mount might work, but have the same restriction if you have a mirror on that side. One other mount that I had seen was on the front of the truck, which while not military, would get it out of the way and make it easy to access if needed. I think there was a picture in the album on here but I'd have to search. The truck was sold off, so I can't get a current picture for you. I do recall it did not have a winch and may have had a local fabricated bumper. I'd love to have a 3D printer and a laser cutter for building model stuff. Unfortunately, I already have to much 1:1 scale stuff around and have to do something with those first.

Have fun...

[jim lee]

Actually.. Its hard to see, but the spare is cut into the side of the camper like the WWII WC ambulances. So it would be no worse than the camper itself for obstructing rear vision. My M37 has the bed mounted spare so I needed somewhere to put the tire when the camper is installed. Also, a friend of mine who's also interested can't fit the door spare through his garage door. So it's out as an option for now.

Getting this far has gotten me re-motivated to work on the 3D some more and refine the shape. I'm also thinking I may be able to hide water tanks in front of the rear fenders in the bed of the truck. Drop the tanks in first, then slide in the camper box over them. Makes for more room inside withe the tankage outside the box.

-jim lee

[k8icu]

Cool project and the 3d modeling is an excellent idea. The only thing I would say about the side mounted spare tire is you are looking at mounting a M37 tire at about head level for an average person around 6 feet tall. If you had to do that by yourself I could see it being difficult and even dangerous. It looks to cool for words but, you might want to rethink that is all I'm saying. Have you tried getting measurements of a commercial drop in camper and see if they would fit?

[jim lee]

Took better measurements remodeled the box and got the truck model somewhat completed.


3D printing the new camper box.













The height was set by making the upper bunk 36" tall. I just figured that would be fine. I do wonder if its enough or could be cut down some. And yes, the tire's stuck on there with masking tape for now.

Thoughts?

-jim lee

[CSCameron]

Looks great! Maybe put the spare on the back? It definitely wouldn't look as cool, but you wouldn't have to have a cutout for it and it might be easier to get to. Might have to off set the door a bit though? Just thinking out loud...

Another thought is to mount the spare on the hood a la land rover, or in front of the grille???

Good job!

Clark

[isaac_alaska]

Looks like you could increase the living space a bit by extending the camper back over the tailgate and using the tailgate as an extended floor. Maybe a jackstand in the center of the tailgate to keep it from getting bent?

[k8icu]

What would the height of the whole thing in real life? Just guessing but if all scaling is correct you might be like 14 feet tall and that might cause some driving issues. Other than that when do you start working on the real thing? I still wonder if it wouldn't be easier in the long run to use a commercial drop in camper and modify it for use in the M37?

[Jess]

Jim is on the right track in building something made to fit the M37. There aren't any commercial units that would work without major structural modifications and if you know how campers and trailers are slapped together these days, most wouldn't hold up to modifications. Box width, distance between the fenders and cab height are all factors. A compact truck camper would have the scale but are too low in the bed unless you block them up, which defeats the idea of full utilization of the box and a low centre of gravity. The commercial alternative would be a custom unit like those built by companies in Colorado and maybe the Alaskan units, if they do customs. Jim has the capability to build it, once the design has the bugs worked out. Height would be my concern but you do see some pretty big units on the back of 1 ton PU trucks these days. The model makes it easy to visualize what could be and simple to scale off the measurements.
I'll be watching this with great interest.

[jim lee]

Thanks for the comments!!

Spare tire.. Its a bit of an issue. I always kinda' ignored it 'till today. We had to move a boat keel and used the truck. The guys pulled the spare out of the bed and leaned against a wall. "Ah" I thought "Lets see just how easy its going to be to lift this tire.." Yikes! Those wheels are heavy!

Suggestions so far.
A) Door mount and your done.
B) Box side mount. Looks cool, need some method to lift the silly thing.
C) Rear mount. Could look cool, need to move door. Same lifting issue. Maybe off bumpettes?
D) Hood? How do you check the oil or add water?
E) In front of grill. Maybe? Have to look into that.

Height, its 3' above the cab canvas. Not a problem at all.

Weight. This is one area I think we have the commercial units beat. In "theory", the shell, no equipment, should be less than 300lbs. (I'm the boss and I'm also saying I'll believe it when I see it.) But at least we have total control over the end product weight. According to the M37 spec., total all up weight for off roading is 1,500 lbs. That's the number we're going to shoot for. And, this number needs to include beer.

How many lbs. of gear, beer and snacks do people want to carry?

Bathroom, We're thinking no. Thoughts? Anyone?

Extending over the tailgate, I like that idea a lot. The main reason is that it allows full length bunks along the walls. Some people really like to keep it inside the tailgate. That's fine too. I don't see offering either as a problem. Also, tailgate loading isn't an issue. It just sits there up or down. It doesn't support any load.

Build quality. Well, from what I've seen, the bar's set pretty low in the RV world. We can build the bits we build to custom boat quality level. But, what about the equipment? Stoves, lights, etc. We can't control that so there has to be a lot of thinking about what to use.

Also, would people be interested in just the box? This way they could finish it off any way they choose. As far as I'm concerned, the box is the tough part to make. ( you need molds, glass shop with vacuum pump etc.)

Will we build one? Well.., that's the question ain't it? Talk is cheap so we can dream for a bit. Tim/Tom, my workers want to do it really badly. They could probably build one in their sleep. We'll just see how it goes.

Thanks again for the comments and suggestions. Its the best way to get a lot of new ideas fast.

-jim lee

[CSCameron]

Thanks for the update and response to the suggestions!

Yeah, that spare tire/wheel combo is heavy and that is with the stock 9.00x16 tire. It's really heavy with an 11.00x16 or other larger diameter tire. Mounting on the door would be the simplest way to go. Putting it on the passenger door would be the easiest for the driver. There will always be a driver, not so with a passenger? Other locations will require some sort of lift/crane to be incorporated? One other idea would be to build a pocket/drawer in the bed under the camper. Raise the floor at the back of the camper to accommodate the spare? Might be able to put some tools/recovery equipment/pull out steps there also? This location would also help keeping a low center of gravity.

Keep at it, love it!

Clark

[Jess]

Jim, for comparison in weight, I have a 2014 Palomino pop up truck camper on a 3/4 ton GMC Sierra. It is just a bit longer than the 8 ft box and weighs in at 1600lbs. The design will fit a short box 1/2 ton but I already had the truck. We have pressure water, hot water heater, furnace, electric jacks and electric roof lift, toilet with black water tank and outdoor shower. I ended up buying it new and had the dealers shop do a bunch of 'remedial' stuff before taking it away. These are low end builds but for me, not an too big and investment and above all, I can drop it onto a dolly and roll it inside the garage. We have a cabin in the islands and don't use the camper much so its safe inside. The toilet was something the boss wanted but on out Alaska/Yukon trip last year, we never used it once. We always managed to find somewhere along the way or where we stayed, mostly state and territorial campgrounds, with the odd RV park for laundry and long showers...

If I was building something, I think I would consider the toilet as the space above can be stacked with totes for storage if you don't use it. The occasion you need it, it would be welcome. It depends on where and what with who that could make the decision. The spare would be either on the door or ahead of the front bumper on a custom bracket. Having the length over the tailgate should not make much difference on departure angles for offroad. The extra length would let you have a decent double bunk below and cabinets down the other side. As you had mentioned, water tanks could be made to fit the void space ahead of the wheel wells and hooked up after the camper is in place. I have one that we had made to do just that, but its for gray water from the sink and used when we can't just have a bucket under the drain hose. For you overhead bunk, you could copy the slide out that many smaller campers use. This lets you have a bigger bed than the overhead size, using appropriately sized cushions. RV appliances, just like marine stuff are available in various qualities and would just take some research. Some propane boat stuff might be the ticket also

Since you have the technology, skills and pace to build this, I think it would be a very neat project. Have fun...

[billy]

I love the tucked in spare tire!
Really cool

[k8icu]

I vote for toilet. Much easier at 3 in the morning to go in side the camper then to have to get shoes or boots on and go outside of the camper. But then again I'm getting to be an old guy so this is old guy talk..

Just a thought. You could rig up a little winch system to lift the spare into place. Maybe even use a M35 spare tire mount modified for the M37 tire. You could maybe even use it in your WWII Ambulance mount idea. Here is a video of one in use though the guy made a special wheel thing for it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atYOye_gpC8

Just a thought as I said.

If you have the means to make something like this you should go for it. I'm a long way from getting my truck on the road, but when I do I would consider buying one of these if they were available.

[isaac_alaska]

Add a couple flanges on the bumper for the spare to set on, and then hold it in place with a T bar clipped onto the winch cable where it meets the chain

[Cal_Gary]

Complements of mg1978:

Thanks!
Gary