Quote:
Originally Posted by ScrapIron
I have seen RV's other people have done where they utilized a standard front axle and regular wheels on the front and i just dont like the way it looks or the fact i would need to carry two spare tires or risk being stranded with no spare.
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Reading through this reminds me of me in 1990... I feel your pain.
I took a brand new shortbed 1/2 ton Nissan pickup, mounted a new 1500lb 6-pack cabover camper on it, with the goal of using it for summer family camping and fall/winter hunting.
A spare tire in case of an 'off the beaten path' was a must, as was keeping with more or less factory parts, in case an out of town repair was needed.
The camper was great, but the ride bordered on dangerous. Scratch that, it WAS dangerous. The factory passenger car tires were not up to carrying the load, with under rated sidewall stiffness, too soft leaf spring pack that helpers couldn't help.
Rather than sell everything off in defeat, I made an improvement plan, setting off on an ambitions journey to turn my 1/2 ton Nissan into a dually. A minitruck that could safely carry the camper that I now owned, on the brand new truck I was committed to.
I ordered aftermarket conversion dually steel wheels, aftermarket fenders and matching 2-stage paint, 6 new 14" E rated M&S aggresive tread tires on their way. It all sounded good, until parts started showing up.
I sent the first set of fenders back, the mounting flange covered the factory gas door, a non-starter. The wheels were weird, the inner bolted to the factory non-floater rear axle, and outer wheel bolted to the inner wheel using some goofy proprietary bolt pattern. Wheel bolted to a wheel, bolted to the axle flange. This meant my truck would have (3) different types of wheels. This meant if I wanted to carry a spare tire, I'd need to come up with something that would either fit three different bolt patterns and offsets, or carry three spares! Even when you plan, this stuff isn't easy.
Regrouping 2.0: 1 Ton dually trucks existed, I'd seen a couple of them, they used a true full floating rear axle and 'normal' dually wheels. I located one 400 miles away on a Thursday morning. The guy swore it was taken from a low mileage wreck, they supposedly opened it up and inspected the 3rd member reporting "it's awesome, bro!" which he felt justified in asking the $800 'I won't budge' selling price, a little high I felt, for a used truck axle.
I loaded up my wife and 6mo old baby in the camperless truck and drove all night, stayed the in a fleabag Riverside motel (near wrecking yard row) and picked up the rear end Friday morning. We made the turn-n-burn 400mi drive home that same day. Oh, it gets better...
In my case, the wrecking yard saw me coming. A week into the project, I more closely inspected the inners of the axle, realizing they sold me a completely abused POS. The ring and pinion were toast, same with the bearings, 1 hub was bad and needed replacing.
I later shamed the wrecking yard into replacing the 'beat to shit' 3rd member they'd sold me at a premium price, with one 'he just happened to have in stock, bro'. It arrived via Greyhound Bus with beautiful gears and a limited slip differential. The patina of the replacement 3rd member was an
identical match to that of the rear end they just sold me... hey, wait a minute
My parts list now included new wheel bearings, brakes, 3 replacement wheel studs and a replacement Nissan dually hub $$... the slope kept getting more slippery by the minute. I wound up machining the one used hub, salvaging it as the axle face had been hammered on, and wasn't going to seal properly
I sent the aftermarket wheels back, and found 7 genuine Nissan dually steel wheels. 7.
At the end of the day, I had a great camping rig that I drove and camped out of for 10yrs, that had a rebuilt LSD rear axle using Nissan parts, factory Nissan dually wheels in all locations, great tires, a dually spare common to all 6 locations, carried in the factory underbed location, and a new leaf spring pack that held up the camper, exactly what I set out to build.
But man, just like reading my account, was it ever painful