Freightliner M2 Build

[hot rod]

Congrats on the 3.99! Amazing how much differnt .01 second can make you feel when you can say "We have a 3 second car" instead of a 4 second car.

Great progress. I have a couple of questions I've been head scratching over, that it looks like you solved. I have the same vision for a slide out grill, but none of the production sliding drawers looked like they did what I wanted them to do in the opening I have to work with, plus stupid expensive. Looks like you fabbed something up for that, but I can't really see how it works in the pictures.

Also, what is your plan for finishing the wheelwells? Mine is framed the same way with square tubing, and also have .040 aluminum walls, and I've been trying to figure out how to make a nice round opening that is both supported (as in something solid behind the aluminum for the curved edge) and then some sort of trim to make it look finished nicely.

[gearhead94]

What are you using for the outside panels??

[rockrunner86]

Originally Posted by gearhead94

What are you using for the outside panels??

Same question here plus what are you attaching them to the frame work with?

[RLPRACING]

Originally Posted by hot rod

I have the same vision for a slide out grill, but none of the production sliding drawers looked like they did what I wanted them to do in the opening I have to work with, plus stupid expensive. Looks like you fabbed something up for that, but I can't really see how it works in the pictures.

Also, what is your plan for finishing the wheelwells? Mine is framed the same way with square tubing, and also have .040 aluminum walls, and I've been trying to figure out how to make a nice round opening that is both supported (as in something solid behind the aluminum for the curved edge) and then some sort of trim to make it look finished nicely.

As for the grill, you are right about the cost of buying something. It wasn't in our budget. So we built ours out of angle iron. If you zoom in on the right side of the pic with the grill in the compartment from my last grill post, you are looking at a piece of angle iron, a piece of Teflon, a gap for the grill slide angle iron and a block of steel welded on top to act as the top of the track. This track goes back to the frame rails, maybe 30 inches. On the pic in this post, you see how we did the grill slide. The grill had holes in the side so we used those and we drilled two new ones in the back. I wanted the grill to slide out as far as possible to get it away from the coach walls so the slides go under the truck frame rails till it gets to the compartments on the other side. Around 5 ft. The front of the grill ends up about 3 ft out of the compartment giving about a foot of rear clearance. We need to add a stop and attach a handle to the front of the grill to help pull it out. Its doesn't pull as easy as a ball bearing slide but it works.

As for the wheel wells, we added a couple pieces of tubing in the corners at a diagonal to help support the aluminum. You can see them in my last post. Have not drew it out yet but I only want about 1/2" of aluminum at the top and the sides because of the support issue. Once cut out, I'm going to slide that chrome plastic edging over it. That's what's in my mind now so we will see if that will work and I will post more later.

[RLPRACING]

Originally Posted by rockrunner86

Same question here plus what are you attaching them to the frame work with?

We are using 4' by 10' .040 aluminum. Go back a couple of posts and you will see pics of the stuff we are using to attach them. 560 3m adhesive for the panel to steel tubing and UHB tape for the panel to panel seam. The tape is cool stuff. You would bend the panel all to hell to get them apart. Better get it in the right spot on the first hit! I'll post some pics tomorrow of a panel I put on today.

[RLPRACING]

Here's how we attached the panels. Not saying this is the perfect way to do it, just our way.
I use an abrasive disc to clean up the surface of the steel. Cleaned it and the panel with isopropyl alcohol and then let that dry a few minutes. Put a bead of the 560 adhesive and place the panel I place. We would lightly clamp it in place using a board in most places so not to mark the panel. If the spot is going to be covered we did clamp directly to the panel but very lightly. In most cases, we then let it sit an hour before removing the clamps to do the next panel. This time after the adhesive on, a strip of the UHB tape is placed where the panels overlap. Don't remove the red tape until the panel is in place and at least partly clamped. Then careful reach up under the panel and remove the tape. We used a roller to press everything down starting on one corner and moved upward. Hope that's somewhat clear!

[RLPRACING]

All the panels are on. We put a small window on the front of the box behind the driver so the passengers on the drivers side can see forward.

[hot rod]

Good thinking on the small window. I wish I had thought of that.

[RLPRACING]

The exhaust has now been lengthened to exit in front of the rear tire. Custom tip is now at the local chrome shop.
Roof trim has now been installed and what a pain it was. I had hammered the roof aluminum over the edge to help prevent leaks, So it had puckers in it and was not bent to a full 90 degrees. Trying to get everything to line up and only using screws on the side was a challenge. Stainless steel screws are tough to work with so that didn't help. Also installed the front and rear upper marker lights.
We also cut out the well openings in the panels.
Cold and rainy weather is now slowing us down. Biggest push was getting the panels on before this hit which we did so I'm happy about that. I need to get the compartments painted soon so we can install doors. I think I'm going to take the weekend off! I don't think we have had two days off in a row since we started this project.

[TexasFocus18]

I am very impressed with this build! Did you happen to calculate how much weight you are adding? I want to build this almost identical on the smaller GVW chassis. My trailer is 30' with RV tounge so I need my truck to be 34' max length. Are you opening up passage between cab and box?

KEEP POSTING! Fun to watch!

[RLPRACING]

Originally Posted by TexasFocus18

Did you happen to calculate how much weight you are adding? I want to build this almost identical on the smaller GVW chassis. My trailer is 30' with RV tounge so I need my truck to be 34' max length. Are you opening up passage between cab and box?

I have no idea how heavy this will be but its a freaking lot. The frame work is way more than a standard RV. A friends of ours RV was in a fire last week. All that was left was the main chassis. No steel frame work in the sides or top. The cabinets we are using will be Kraftmaid for home use which will weigh more than RV type stuff.
I gave up on being legal length. We will be around 75 ft. when we are pulling our main race car trailer. We will be 63ft when we use it for vacations and take the 24ft trailer with the street car in it.
Yes, we cut a pass through hole in the cab. We ended up with more gap between the two so we had to use the wide accordion boot. I had all ready ordered the 3.5" so if you need it, I'll make you a deal on 20' I have. We are leaving the cab air ride which causes a bit of an alignment problem. We have it with the cab slightly higher on both top and bottom so if it looses air, it will not fall enough to pull the boot off.

[RLPRACING]

Had some great weather for Ohio for this time of year so we did get some stuff done over the past week. Though will the rain and high winds we had on a couple days, stinking leaves everywhere as you will see in the pics.

Cut the door opening and primer painted all the lower cabinets. Followed that with black paint the next day.

[RLPRACING]

Interior steps welded in place, door hung along with the exterior electric steps. Late night on that one as you can see in the pic. Screwed up on my calculations and the first step and the step into the coach will be shorter. My wife thanked me!

[RLPRACING]

Floor has been insulated with one inch foam board and then sprayed Great Stuff around the edges to seal it. Not pretty but effective. 3/4" flooring put down. Pic is the lay out of the shower and the toilet. All drain lines have been run and the vent line has been brought up to floor level.

[RLPRACING]

Is it me or the system, but I can't post any pics to update the build.

[RLPRACING]

We now have the compartment doors in place. We got our windows and compartment doors at Bontragers Surplus in White Pigion Mi.. Quite the place with a lot of stuff and doors/windows sitting outside. So that stuff is dirty and may have minor scratches but with most at under $20 each, its hard to pass up. So I still have the cleaning step to do but with the weather turning cold and leaves blowing into the compartments, I didn't want to take the time to clean them now.
Got all the bottom trim on and most of the corner trim on. Still need to put the plastic insert into the trim.

[RLPRACING]

We are reusing our generator from our last trailer. Its an Onan 5500 with low hours but its gasoline. Love to have a diesel but can't spend another $8K+ right now. So that means fabricating a gas tank which Robert has now done. Pic was after he had tack welded it together.
On rainy days I have started putting insulation on the bunk area walls over the cab and putting wood strips up the corners so the interior paneling will have something to attach to. I'm using construction adhesive to put it in place.

[RLPRACING]

I bought 3 awnings at the same time this summer to get a volume discount. Two went on the trailer and third is for the Freightliner. Got thinking about the layout yesterday and did some measuring. The awning is 17 ft. so with the hardware, I think that makes it 17'3" wide. That puts one arm on the front corner and the other in the rear of the wheel well. It needs to be 3-6" longer. Beside buying a new one....any ideas how to make this one work? Anyone know of extenders for the top part? Internet searches I have done have come up empty.

[Bob86ZZ4]

Great pictures and work. Those storage doors look nice. Do they have gas charged supports to keep them up? Or are you going to put some sort of brackets/clips to hold them open? I think gas charged would be best. But I wouldn't put those little plastic clip things that a lot of class C's use. My previous camper had them and I didn't like them. They don't hold that good and they break.

For that awning am I understanding that they are manual type with the long support arm bolting to the siding at the bottom with a pivot point there? If that's the case what about making a metal arm that bridges the wheel well opening? That could provide your base mounting location. Of course it would need to be removable to get the wheels off. Is there no other way to shift the whole thing forward or rearward to make it work? I think I'd go find a nice automatic awning instead. They don't extend nearly as far down the side of the coach. I have an automatic and my brother has a manual on his trailer. So much better to have the auto.

[Bob86ZZ4]

I was just looking back through old pictures on page 1. I'm worried your rear leveling jacks aren't going to give you enough travel to do much lifting. Is that an optical illusion? I think mine are mounted closer to the pavement and I've had times where they reached the end of their travel and I still need more. I carry a whole bunch of pieces of micro-lamb to use for shimming them up. I don't know if micro-lamb is the correct term for it. It's that engineered stuff that framers use to make a wide opening. Like above a garage door or large window. It's like plywood but much thicker and more dense. It's the only stuff I've found that holds up to the abuse I put on it. And it's free. Just keep dumpster diving wherever new construction is going on. They always toss pieces of it.