The truck and I.
It doesn't matter which way you put it - this Xmas season is punishing the waistline!
I can't understand how I got it quite so wrong!
I think was just a little blase (sorry I can't figure out how to do the accent on that "e") about the ability of the truck to carry any amount of weight I cared to put on board.
After all the other trailer campers I have built only weighed less than 1.5 tonnes each. Surely an 11 tonne truck can carry anything I want to put on it.
I think it may all be part of the "old timers" disease - I can't even remember whether I mentioned some of this stuff elsewhere. So if I have just ignore it . . .
Some time back not long after the skin went on I weighed the truck. The tare was originally 5 tonne and the gross is 11 tonne so I have about 6 tonne to play with.
On this weighing there was 2.8 tonne on the front axle and 3.2 tonne on the rear axle and I still had about 50mm before the secondary springs (on the rear) made contact.
Seemed fine to me.
Gradually the back end began to sink as more and more work was done, and not quite equally side to side either.
And I haven't filled the tanks, finished the cupboards, put in the fridges, installed the bed, made the bike rack, spare tire rack and the list just keeps on going !!!
So I went and weighed it again the other day: 2.9 tonne on the front and 4.4 tonne on the rear giving a total of 7.3 tonne. ( I still haven't figured out how to weigh each wheel yet!)
The problem seems to be that the majority of the weight ends up on the rear wheels. Legally I am allowed 6 tonne on the rear but it's beginning to visually drag the rear end a little already. The pivot mounting of the body allows it to "rock and roll" in the most alarming manner when going over rough ground and I'm beginning to think that maybe I should have mounted the pivot at the rear rather than at the front (there are arguments for both arrangements). Still the European built versions are this way around and they seem to have the most experience and I have some video which shows them moving around about the same.
Don't you hate it when you start questioning your own decisions??
Still I have had a quote for new uprated rear springs (let's face it - the truck will probably be loaded at 90-100% of it's capacity for the rest of it's days) and I should just carry on and finish it and then do what ever I need to when it's all done.
So in that vein . . .
The fridge slide cut, rewelded, repainted and now fitted.
It carries my weight fine . . .
All the door and drawer fronts are made and painted so I thought I might see what they look like installed.
The first ones fitted and looked good. Then I thought about the amount of damage the rest might get while finishing all the inside work so they are staying out until everything else is done inside.
I had also temporarily fitted some gauges in the bathroom wall. Unfortunately the tank gauge was longer than the wall was thick so that was never going to work. Also they looked very different which was merely annoying so a rearrangement was necessary.
The hot water system switch was moved into the bathroom near the toilet tank gauge as there is some visual similarity to them and hot water in the bathroom seemed logical . . .
The tank gauge and the airconditioning control were also moved to the air return duct face which allowed plenty of room behind for them to fit into and made them slightly less visually intrusive at the same time. Bonus.
A new piece of laminate will cover the old hole and leave plenty of room for the light/fan switch for the bathroom.
Now I just have to move the Xmas lard arse out to the workshop for the next bit . . .
No comments:
Post a Comment