M116A3 Build

[lfhoward]

Spare tire winch update:

Today I got under the trailer and installed it. I measured carefully several times before drilling, so that each hole was right where it needed to be.

Getting started by bolting on the Chevy/GMC C/K 2500 spare tire winch.


Next came the new crossbeam I made with angle iron. The tube fit perfectly.




And crank it up.


There is not much loss of ground clearance. I'm very happy with how nicely the tire tucks up under the trailer.


And by doing this mod, I just got a whole lot of room back inside the cabin of my camper!

[pchast]

Looks good!
Does it rock at all?
Do you need another brace in the front?

[lfhoward]

Looks good!
Does it rock at all?
Do you need another brace in the front?

I can make it rock a tiny bit front to back. I’m hoping it won’t wobble much as I drive on the highway and possibly loosen the cable on the winch. I will probably put a ratchet strap on it before I use it for the first time with a bit of slack and then see if it stays snug. The ratchet strap would be cheap insurance. I could install another parallel brace on the back side, but I would need to move the brake line to to that. Hoping it’s not necessary.

[noseoil]

Looks really good. I'm old enough that I wouldn't want to wrestle that spare up under the frame, fasten a nut on a stud & try to tighten it with one hand. I got a scissor jack & made a wood plate to hold my spare in place on the jack, but the cable lift would be a bit better & easier to use. Looking good, as usual. I think this build turned out very well & is a great use of the trailer, should last for ever too!

[lfhoward]

Thanks Tim! Those tires are indeed heavy, and I would not have been able to bolt one to a crossmember manually. They are 31” tires, but can you believe the trailer came with 37’s?

Thanks for saying the trailer came out really well. I’m very happy with it too! Here is my wish list of what’s next, since a camper is never really done:

- Install side utility doors
- Propex heater, with underslung propane tank
- Fresh water tank
- AGM batteries

Hoping to go camping later this month.

[featherliteCT1]

That spare tire rig turned out real nice.

[lfhoward]

That spare tire rig turned out real nice.

Thank you Featherlite!

[lfhoward]

Today I tackled two electrical jobs that needed to get done.

First, I replaced the trailer to Jeep wiring. The military cable was a direct swap.


You can see the rubber around the old one was deteriorating.


Second, I swapped in new deep cycle batteries. The original ones were from Feb of 2015 according to the stickers on them, and they just wouldn’t hold much of a charge anymore.


Here is the trailer as she sits tonight. The next job will be to cut out the aluminum and install the side utility doors. Now I have good batteries that can run my router via the inverter.

[noseoil]

We were building about the same time on ours & the Trojan AGM (group 27) is starting to drop its charge bit faster now. I can probably get this season out of it, but it will need to be replaced next year, so it looks like the "expensive" $250 Trojan lasted about as long as your batteries did. The 100AH did its job & performed well enough with the 100 watt solar panel, all in all a balanced system which worked flawlessly & ran lights, the DVD player, radio, TV & coffee grinder for fresh coffee every morning. No complaints with the way things have worked out in our system in more than 20,000 miles of camping & towing.

I just looked at a new lithium-ion 100AH battery. For that $899 (ouch) I'm just going to use a another 100AH AGM deep cycle battery again. Thinking a Wally's World deep cycle or a Costco will do the job well enough & last another 5-6 years. The Trojan is up in price a bit, but I may just do that again, still thinking about it.

Nice to see those 3 batteries all snug & happy in the tongue box again!

[lfhoward]

We were building about the same time on ours & the Trojan AGM (group 27) is starting to drop its charge bit faster now. I can probably get this season out of it, but it will need to be replaced next year, so it looks like the "expensive" $250 Trojan lasted about as long as your batteries did. The 100AH did its job & performed well enough with the 100 watt solar panel, all in all a balanced system which worked flawlessly & ran lights, the DVD player, radio, TV & coffee grinder for fresh coffee every morning. No complaints with the way things have worked out in our system in more than 20,000 miles of camping & towing.

I just looked at a new lithium-ion 100AH battery. For that $899 (ouch) I'm just going to use a another 100AH AGM deep cycle battery again. Thinking a Wally's World deep cycle or a Costco will do the job well enough & last another 5-6 years. The Trojan is up in price a bit, but I may just do that again, still thinking about it.

Nice to see those 3 batteries all snug & happy in the tongue box again!

Hi Tim! It's interesting to find out that your Trojan AGM is starting to fade as well. It sounds like you've worked yours consistently harder over the last 5 years than I have. Mine has had some long periods of dormancy (sustained by my 140 watt solar panel), and some pretty intense periods of use during particular camping trips. They were getting to the point where they looked fully charged but once a load was put on them they dropped down fairly quickly. I wasn't able to run power tools from my inverter anymore because of the voltage drop. I am planning on installing a Propex heater before winter, so I needed a battery I could count on to keep it running.

The three 75 AH Group 24 marine deep cycle batteries in my tongue box are fairly inexpensive (about $1 per AH with sales & coupons at my local auto parts store) which makes them not too painful to have to replace. I seriously looked into getting an AGM with higher capacity so that I didn't need 3 batteries (they are 135 lbs! on the tongue), but the low cost and the fact that I didn't need to change any of my previous wiring design were reasons I stayed with the current option. This time I got the "pro" version of the marine deep cycle batteries because they are supposed to last 30% more cycles. We shall see!

The holy grail of batteries seem to be the lithium, in terms of being light weight and having high charge density. I saw how expensive those are too! I am thinking I'll have another look the next time my batteries need replacing and maybe the cost will have come down. My solar charge controller is only good for charging flooded or AGM batteries, so I would need to upgrade it too to be able to charge lithium batteries. Too much $$$ at this point in time.

Thanks for checking in and keeping track of my build!!
Lauren

[lfhoward]

Today I installed the drivers side utility door, which gives access to the electrical units: fuse box, inverter, charger, and transfer switch. It was a long hot day, and I’m tuckered out. But I am glad to report that I did it all using solar power and the new batteries, so this was a carbon free mod.

This is where the utility door goes.


I drilled from inside to create a hole for the router. I’m committed to the project now, like it or not!


Routing clockwise, very carefully.


There was a stream of hot aluminum shards going everywhere!


The metal rectangle is out! I protected the equipment using a strategically placed piece of cardboard.


The next step was to measure and cut the aluminum sills for the door opening. The screws are stainless and are countersunk.


Sikaflex 221 is my waterproofing of choice. I really slathered it on the wood prior to laying down the aluminum strips. Then screws hold everything tight together.


Doors went on next. I used foam rubber weatherstripping on the back side of the door trims. I could also install a second weatherstrip on the trailer side if needed, but didn’t do that tonight.


The final product.


I have some tweaking to do, as the door sticks a bit. But hopefully it will be waterproof in tonight & tomorrow’s rain storms.

The passengers side door is a project for another day.

[lfhoward]

After a lot of rain and flash flood warnings, I checked on the trailer door today.

It was mostly waterproof. The front corner of the door didn’t seal properly, leading to a small leak.


I built up the leading edge with Sikaflex so that the foam weather seal would have something a bit higher to press against.


Not too bad, but this is probably not a permanent solution. Should work for now though.


I am thinking about having some kind of aluminum gutter on the front and top, to reduce the amount of water this door seal has to deal with.

[lfhoward]

I had an EBay package arrive today!

It’s a previously owned Propex HS1600 heater.


The 1600 model is similar to the modern HS2000 except probably it produces a little less heat. (That’s ok as my trailer is only 8x6x5 feet.) This model doesn’t have an intake hose, but rather uses the grille as an intake.


Here’s the info on it, plus a view of the propane inlet.


The combustion air intake and exhaust pipes on the bottom go through the floor.


I’m keeping my eye out for a good deal on a horizontal propane tank, and will install this heater sometime before winter. I have to do a little troubleshooting on the heater unit first. The reason it was a good deal is it isn’t igniting like it should. I have some ideas of things to check.

For future reference:

The HS1600 manual:
https://www.propexheatsource.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/HS_1600_Vehicle_Instructions_issue_5.pdf

How one person fixed their 1600 that was not igniting:
https://vandogtraveller.com/propex-compact-1600-campervan-heater-not-igniting-fix/

[lfhoward]

Today I hooked the HS1600 Propex heater up to a 12 volt battery on my workbench to try and determine what was wrong with it. The seller said it wouldn’t start, which I assumed meant it wouldn’t ignite. On the first try it made a horrible screeching noise and I disconnected the power. Next, I took the cover off to see what was causing it.



I was able to determine that the fan was rubbing on the rear housing, which was causing the racket and no doubt also causing low air pressure. A little bending of the housing, which was slightly dented in, and the fan was free to spin again.

I checked for all the points of failure I could think of.
- The fan spins nicely
- The white and black airflow sensor spins freely. (There is a solid state replacement available to retrofit older units if this fails.)
- The valve that opens and closes the propane works fine. With a finger on the propane pipe, I could feel it open and close when it should.
- The igniter appears to work fine also. It makes a series of electrical clicks as a piezo igniter should.
- The thermostat seems to function as it should, according to the owners manual.

Could bending out a dent that interferes with the fan be the simple fix this heater needed?? If so, that would completely rock! I will have to reseal the housing with high temperature silicone when I reassemble it.

I don’t have the adapter I need to connect the heater to propane yet. There is a 5/16 copper pipe coming off the elbow, which I’m sure I could flare properly as I’ve done brake lines before for my Jeep. I have a double flaring kit. The elbow itself is no doubt English threading, incompatible with American threads. However, a flared connection would solve the compatibility issue.

Does anyone with a Propex want to weigh in on what I should do next to get this connected to propane? I won’t be installing it in my trailer until I am sure it works to generate heat.

[tony.latham]

Does anyone with a Propex want to weigh in on what I should do next to get this connected to propane?

Here's the write-up I did on mine. You'll find the part number from McMaster-Carr.

viewtopic.php?f=54&t=72075&p=1265680&hilit=propex+installation#p1265680

Are you sure that's not an HS2000? Every photo I've seen of the HS1600 is that they are orange.



But yeah, I think the lack of air pressure in the burner box certainly could tell the brain not to light.



Tony