New Haul and Tow RV transporter build

Well Taxes are filed, my 2010 accounting is caught up, my truck is still wrecked, insurance wants to do a half azzed repair and it may be months to sort everything out so I'm starting on the new truck build.


For those that didn't catch this in my crash thread.

The victim........ a $6500 1999 Freightliner FLC112 Century mini condo. This truck has 13' from the back of the cab to the center of the rear axle so there will be no frame stretch. My wheelbase will be 272" when done moving the drive axle to the tag axle position.

This truck got 14.7 and 13.6 mpg bobtailing home 3100 miles from Coburg, Oregon...... That is hand calculated, no B.S. The lieometer was showing 12 - 12.5 the whole trip. On the last fill just west of Indianapolis I crammed the tanks to see how bad I could make the fuel milage and could only stuff 60.42 gallons in it on that 821.5 mile leg.... That was the 13.6 mpg number.



Specs

• CAT C-12 445 hp engine
• Jake brake / cruise control
• Fuller RTLO 16913 13 speed double overdrive transmission
• 3.42 rear gear ratio
• differential lock
• Single rear drive axle with 20k tag axle
• Aluminum Frame
• All aluminum wheels
• 255 70R 22.5 tires ..... 36" tall tires from the factory ;-)
• 48" double bunk integrated mini condo sleeper
• Dual 100 gallon fuel tanks with Arctic Fox tank heaters
• Air ride
• Air ride cab
• Dual air ride seats
• 160" cab to rear axle.

I started on it Saturday. Removed the mudflaps, tail light assembly, pintle hitch and tag axle. The tag axle was a factory installed axle and uses the exact same suspension and hangers as the drive so moving the drive back into it's place will be easy.
















P.S. Hey GEO, I just scored a NEW 2010 model Gianttech CAT250D 3 in 1 TIG, MMA, Plasma machine on evilbay for $426 bones. Wanna play.

Cool I was wondering about you, I guess I Missed the crash thread....

Just wondering why would you remove the tag axle? wouldn't it be better for hauling to have two axles on the ground vs one? Is it because of some DOT ruling that keeps you under some class? maybe?

OH Goodie another Mikey build thread

Russ said:

OH Goodie another Mikey build thread

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I was thinking the same thing...I missed the first thread until the build was completed, so it'll be fun to follow this one from the beginning

argve said:

Just wondering why would you remove the tag axle? wouldn't it be better for hauling to have two axles on the ground vs one? Is it because of some DOT ruling that keeps you under some class? maybe?

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I don't need that much weight carrying capacity, the campers I load on the deck are only between 2500 lbs - 5500 lbs. For as light as I run it's just extra weight, higher cost for tolls, extra moving parts to break, something else to hang me up on curbs, snow and mud, more rolling resistance which = less fuel mpg, $1600 worth of extra tires to wear out and something else for the DOT to nit pick during an inspection.

I am almost light enough to just run single tires in the rear like a 3/4 ton pickup. If I can keep the drive axle scaled around 5500 - 6000 lbs empty, I will knock off 2 more tires on the drive axle. The truck scaled out at 15700 when I bought it. 9500 on steers and 6200 on the drives

Tonka,

So a single drive tire, would you run a "Super Single" or just a single regular sized tire, and have the "hi-rail" look going? Just curious..... I see alot of big trucks out there with super singles now..... especially tanker trucks, which I think would benefit from duals to help resist the sway introduced by a moving/shifting liquid load.......

snicklas said:

Tonka,

So a single drive tire, would you run a "Super Single" or just a single regular sized tire, and have the "hi-rail" look going? Just curious..... I see alot of big trucks out there with super singles now..... especially tanker trucks, which I think would benefit from duals to help resist the sway introduced by a moving/shifting liquid load.......

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Not running super singles, there is no benifit for me and they are too tall at 41" vs the 36" tires I have on it. I'm just taking off the inside drive tires, you won't hardly notice it under the fenders and mudflaps.

I don't need 20k tire capacity in the rear or the expense of sinking $2k into just 2 tires and wheels.

Some pretty interesting specs on that truck, small engine, ultra light, tag axle, what kind of fleet did it come out of? What was it used for?

Being from "up north" the only thing that bugs me is the aluminum frame, they usually don't stand up to the winter time "mixture" that they use up here, on my KW I have had to replace some of the cast aluminum suspension parts, due to the "mixture", the steel frame is holding up fine though other than the rust.

The frame on yours looks pretty good though, at least they are easy to drill

Didn't do any physical work on the truck today, all mental. Was working on the final plans for the bed and then went shopping.... A lot of shopping


Purchased

• All of the steel for the bed
• 8' Aluminum low profile ramps
• 75' of 3M Reflexive conspicuity tape
• 4 lasso tire straps w/ flatbed rail style hooks on the ratchets
• Koneta Ultra rubber quarter fenders
• White 6" oval LED reverse lights
• 2" amber LED marker lights
• 2" red LED marker lights
• Amber 6" oval sequential LED turn signals for the rear
• Splash stop RV shield - Hula skirt
• D-T Aluminum 6" drop adjustible dual ball hitch
• Foot pedal for the TIG welder
• Argon Flowmeter
• 3 way brass valve
• and paid for the welding machine I purchased the other day on evilbay

That's enough damage to the budget for today. I should be back onto the axle swapping tomorrow and hopefully have it about done when this stuff rolls in.

maniac said:

Some pretty interesting specs on that truck, small engine, ultra light, tag axle, what kind of fleet did it come out of? What was it used for?

Being from "up north" the only thing that bugs me is the aluminum frame, they usually don't stand up to the winter time "mixture" that they use up here, on my KW I have had to replace some of the cast aluminum suspension parts, due to the "mixture", the steel frame is holding up fine though other than the rust.

The frame on yours looks pretty good though, at least they are easy to drill

Click to expand...

Very little corrosion on this truck. She an old Sherman Brothers Heavy Trucking power unit and was used for heavy haul in the northwest US and Canada. Tank and flatbed mostly. She was set up for pulling doubles with a pintle hitch, air and electric all the way to the rear for draging back a dolly. The frame is also about 3' longer than most road tractors which is a big + for me.

Ok, back to work.

Got a lot done today. Unloaded my stuff strapped to the frame deck. Removed the deck plate on the frame, Removed the fifth wheel, pulled the wiring harness and airlines up to the cab, took off the Wabco air leveling system, removed the drive axle and then moved it back to it's new position and bolted it in.

The drive axle is only bolted on to the suspension hangers. I have some frame work to do prepping for the drop frame section before I can put the air bags, shocks and track bar back in.

this is like dejavoodoo all over again.... only this time there's no Geo, no DOT bunk swap, no broken gantry and it looks like it's moving along quite a bit faster

A lot of work in one day..........especially by yourself......I'm tired just lookin'

I wonder are the fifth wheel pins the same on a camper as they are on a semi? Just wondering.....