Very nice! It's always cool to see the end result of somebody thinking out of the box. What's your front axle rated at, 13,200?

 

WOW DH. Swweeeeet Ride indeed. 8)
Those panels fit really nice up there.
Awesome Job on the whole deal.
I guess it time to serve up some " crow" for dinner.

 

I'm going to try and answer all the questions for you guys, but if I miss one feel free to re-ask.
Also thanks again for all the compliments


Mike3, the wheelbase is 265" and it weighed in at 20,300lbs with half fuel, and full water, so I suspect it could be around 22,500lbs ready to go, but I'm not sure. I will be weighing the entire set up when I get my trailer

Steve O the panels have an air space of 3" and try as I might, I could not insulate it well enough to stop heat loss through the roof. I think the panels up North may be on highly efficient home that don't allow heat loss and snow melt, but thanks for the heads up, I might have to go up and sweep out under them after a storm.

I am hoping to be able to scale around 46,000 to 47,000, I'm not really concerned about weight though, I have seen a good percentage of loads come up in the 15,000 to 44,000 range, so that's what I'll be shooting for.
The mattress is a piece of foam, and it has a sheet on it and I store the comforter,sheet, and pillow in a storage place under the bed (sorry no pic on that) that fit it, in the interest of floor space, I chose to have the bed as tight to the wall as possible..
As far as comfort goes,...come on man,...you're talkin' to a guy who lived in the Grand canyon for 3 weeks,....this thing is a cloud compared to that.

ash initially the RV place charged me $3,500 to do the work but then gave me a 75% refund because they screwed up the A/C drain and it ruined the first attempt at this interior (they also went out of business a few weeks ago,.....wonder why??). What you see in the pictures is all done by my girl and I. A ceiling fan would be neat, I saw some new high end RV's with that in them,..but my roof height is only 75",...too low for a fan.
A Pete with a 100" sleeper, that's going to be a nice ride 8) !!
To answer your question about the cost from your thread, the solar system cost around $2,500.

Gman, believe me,...I like to hang out inside this thing,..its just like home but smaller.
The sleeper was built by a company called Dixie Trailers in Clearwater Florida. It was pure coincidence that I bought this truck and only lived 10 miles from the people who built the sleeper. I took it to them for some new aluminum skin, and they told me the story.
10 years ago the guy who owned the truck yanked off the 48" that was on there and then had Dixie build this sleeper for him. He never did anything to the inside except for a bed and a shelf. Then he hired a driver who ended up stealing the truck and hiding it in a barn in Kentucky for 4 years. When I bought it the vin# on the side was different from what it was supposed to be, and I went through hell clearing the title.
Dixie never built another,..so its one of a kind.

Double I was at the Pilot 55/70,......now I'm at the Iowa 80.

Rev,...that's just Steve O's way of communicating :roll:

Rank, no more for me,..this was a one time project and believe me the ones that the other guys make are waaay nicer,....but mine was waaay cheaper

no worries, I think the front axle is at 13,200 (I have the spec sheet, and 13,200 rings a bell), I forgot to double check it, but since the fifth wheel is between the tandems, I don't think too much weight will carry to the front, so I never considered it an issue.


I think it was Will Smith,..tell you what,..I'll pop in Independence Day and check :wink:


Kurbski,..no crow, this took way longer than I ever expected,..I can understand all of you loosing interest,....I almost did as well.

 

nice ride DH!! :lol: :lol:

Like I said "high tech redneck"

We can only carry about 46000....heavy old trailer with a side kit....but we are doing fine out here in lumber country!! :wink: :wink:

The load we have now pays over 4.00 a mile!! :shock: :shock: and weighs 7,000 lbs 8)

tootie

 

Much of your weight on the front axle comes from the tractor. I don't know what engine you've got but with those set-forward fuel tanks and the other weight, you might be pretty heavy toward the nose. You'll be fine with a 13,200 just remember that if you need to keep that rating, you have to run H-rated steers. In case you didn't know already :wink:

 

Gman, I myself have also seen that double sleeper pete you are talking about and it was also in Ohio when i saw it, I ran across it a t a pilot one night and just kinda had to stand there on the way back to my truck and look at it for a minute or 2 and figure out what was going on with that thing, it was pretty cool to see, very different and odd but pretty neat.
And Doghouse, that is one fine sleeper you have hooked up on the cornbinder there.

 

It looks like your 5th wheel is pretty clean right now except for the grease in preparation for your trailer. Now would be a good time to consider a Teflon washer and clean off that grease?

I shouldn't talk about the mattress. Mine was ordered special and is pretty much rock solid with no give at all.

Give me your truck now!

 

Tootie,
I had planned on getting a sub 10,000lb aluminum trailer, but even after all the searching and research, I still ended up with a 10,400lb chaparral.
I knew if I went with steel, I would be totally screwed.
I can't wait to weigh in and see exactly how much I can scale.


No worries,
I have 100gal fuel tanks and a DD 60 11.7, it feels a bit heavy on the nose so I am also looking forward to actual seeing the weight on each axel when I get my trailer Saturday.
I hope I didn't build this thing too heavy, guess I got carried away.

Jager,
Gotta love these old cornbinders!!! thanks for the compliment!!


Steve O,
Yeah the fifth wheel is clean but I'm going to wait till I get back to Florida
to clean it off, because I know the trailer is a mess and I sure don't want to clean it up in 15 degree Wisconsin. I'm just gonna back up, hook up, and get outta town ASAP.

 

You're truck is no heavier than mine,I weigh between 21-22k depending on how much fuel I have on.

I range from 32,800 tare to 34,200 depending on which type of trailer I hook onto.

 

One thing I used to clean the grease off the trailer was a piece of plexiglas. The sharp edge was great for scraping it down. A steam cleaner would be better though.