New guy looking for guidance

Converting Cargo Trailers into TTTs

Re: New guy looking for guidance

Postby NO David! » Fri Dec 07, 2018 5:09 pm

Interesting.

So a sick friend sent a text last night..."Are you available to help move furniture tomorrow?". "Sure, what is it, when and where?" Rain in the forecast, so I pulled the trailer up to the garage, out with the kayaks and mountain bikes, rotated upper bunks against the wall, moved a few ring anchors on the e-track, and presto, my covered "moving van" easily handled a Queen bedroom set. With my 7' wide, I was able to load all the furniture using one rear door, (didn't remove the Air Conditioning closet). I ended up with a walk path inside after the dust settled. Couldn't have done it as easily with a 6' wide.

Not saying our cargo conversions should beheld in reserve for furniture moves, but it sure beat 3 pickups, rain, and plastic blowing around. It continues to amaze me how useful and versatile these things are. Oh, and as fishboat said, yes to the extra height, mine is 6" additional, of course the Queen mattress fit through the door easily, 72" high opening, with room to spare.
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Re: New guy looking for guidance

Postby Agfadoc » Sat Dec 08, 2018 1:04 am

Ok, I think I have narrowed it down.

I think I want to build a 7 x 16 Legend with the drop out bed like this one, maybe in Pewter...

Image
Image

Anyone have a drop down bed like this? They are 81 x 48 basically. I love the idea, but wonder of the quality and longevity.

Lets face it, if it rains, you have to roll your awning out to dry if you have one, so, this wouldn't be much different.

And it looks pretty cool, freeing up all that floorspace....
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Re: New guy looking for guidance

Postby Agfadoc » Sat Dec 08, 2018 1:17 am

Or I go without the fold down bed and do a queen bed lift.
I asked the people at garage smart about their lift motors, but this guy seems to have a great idea with the shocks

Youtube link not working in the site...

Cargo to Camper Conversion bed system
https://youtu.be/t6V8nzRNBfo

This color... No messing around with canvas...just go stealth like this.
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Re: New guy looking for guidance

Postby dirtsailor2003 » Sat Dec 08, 2018 2:07 am

Ever owned a tent trailer? The pop out is pretty much the same thing. A pain in the
A$$. Fine if you live in an area where it’s dry all the time. Not much of it’s not.

Lots of room for leaky failures and on going maintenance.

Have several friends that have those on their professional made toy haulers and they all leak when closed up (dust and water) and since they can’t ever get them dried out moldy.





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Re: New guy looking for guidance

Postby McDave » Sat Dec 08, 2018 6:55 am

Agfadoc wrote:Or I go without the fold down bed and do a queen bed lift.
I asked the people at garage smart about their lift motors, but this guy seems to have a great idea with the shocks


That guy did an excellent job with his conversion and especially the lift bed. He is a very talented and handy young man. That is a great example of what can be done.

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Re: New guy looking for guidance

Postby Padilen » Sat Dec 08, 2018 8:13 am

When I watched that video, a while ago. I noticed he had the rear doors open to get bed up/down.
Not what I'd want to do. But everyone has different goals.
The struts, the tracks and springs all work. Just setting in up correctly for your use is the difference.

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Re: New guy looking for guidance

Postby Agfadoc » Sat Dec 08, 2018 9:29 am

dirtsailor2003 wrote:Ever owned a tent trailer? The pop out is pretty much the same thing. A pain in the
A$$. Fine if you live in an area where it’s dry all the time. Not much of it’s not.
Lots of room for leaky failures and on going maintenance.
Have several friends that have those on their professional made toy haulers and they all leak when closed up (dust and water) and since they can’t ever get them dried out moldy.


Yes…. I know, the hassle will likely freak me out down the road. You’re right… scratch that idea, I want to get away from a pop up environment as much as possible. That’s what led me to sell mine, I can’t fall into that trap again.

McDave wrote:That guy did an excellent job with his conversion and especially the lift bed. He is a very talented and handy young man. That is a great example of what can be done.
McDave


It’s a nicely done trailer. He has some mad skills, and likely access to a good shop. If I were home every night, I think I could build something like this, or so I think….

Padilen wrote:When I watched that video, a while ago. I noticed he had the rear doors open to get bed up/down.
Not what I'd want to do. But everyone has different goals.
The struts, the tracks and springs all work. Just setting in up correctly for your use is the difference.

The struts are cool, but my experience with them in the cold is that they don’t last very long, and rotating them so the seal is in the opposite direction used to give them longer life, not sure about todays struts, but I see replacements in the future and intermittent strengths throughout the seasons.

Does anyone have a reference to the cable layout for something like this guys bed lift system?

Ceiling Bed Part 2

https://youtu.be/ZwdCn3h46h8

I thought maybe I could use one of these Garagesmart lift motors in a pully config (They are a DC motor, but use an AC to DC converter that they sell for garages).

https://garagesmart.com/collections/sto ... orm-lifter

it looks like they could be driven directly from 12V DC.. 50 lb direct load, 100lb with pulley... I have reached out to them to verify, but to use a momentary switch (or your BT smartphone) to drive a cable system like the guy has in the youtube video would be pretty slick. Pin the top rail in travel or up mode, and have the bed platform rest on stops like he has may be the line I will want to go.

I've reached out to the Legend dealer again for price on a plain Jane 7x16 tandem. Still a pretty penny, but would give me more room to do what I want.
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Re: New guy looking for guidance

Postby flboy » Sat Dec 08, 2018 9:43 am

Agfadoc wrote:Ok, I think I have narrowed it down.

I think I want to build a 7 x 16 Legend with the drop out bed like this one, maybe in Pewter...

Anyone have a drop down bed like this? They are 81 x 48 basically. I love the idea, but wonder of the quality and longevity.

Lets face it, if it rains, you have to roll your awning out to dry if you have one, so, this wouldn't be much different.

And it looks pretty cool, freeing up all that floorspace....


I like the idea of those drop out beds, but if you ever decide to take it out west in Grizzly Country, some parks will not let you camp with that deployed and they are very expensive and take alot of structural modifications to the CT.

I like the "drop down from ceiling bed" the young guy did with the gas struts. I did the same except I have tracks that cause binding. One day I will take off my track and rebuild the bed lighter and do the same. Right now it works okay..but his version is much better.

Some things to consider as I thought very seriously about this in my planning stages:

* Drop down beds achieve the same thing as that drop out bed in that you can use the same space for living and just drop it down for sleeping; however, no big hole in side and hard sides for security when sleeping.

* Also, you do not have to stow it everytime you leave camp for a little while. Anyone with a pocket knife could gain access. Yes... someone can cut locks.. but at least that will not damage the camper itself.

* Cannot stealth camp in a Walmart parking lot or etc. and deploy.

* Poorly insulated so heating and cooling will take a lot more energy.


Just my 2 cents.
Last edited by flboy on Sat Dec 08, 2018 9:51 am, edited 1 time in total.
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YouTube Video of Finished 6x12 Trailer:
https://youtu.be/6_-8cVdWUIA
YouTube Video of 7*18 with 2ft V-nose Trailer:
https://youtu.be/MUcMM86LA2g
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Re: New guy looking for guidance

Postby Agfadoc » Sat Dec 08, 2018 9:51 am

Hey Flboy,

Sorry man, I've watched so many videos they are beginning to blend all together. Your setup rocks.

Do you have any details on your pulley setup for your bed lift?

Thanks!
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Re: New guy looking for guidance

Postby flboy » Sat Dec 08, 2018 9:57 am

Agfadoc wrote:Hey Flboy,

Sorry man, I've watched so many videos they are beginning to blend all together. Your setup rocks.

Do you have any details on your pulley setup for your bed lift?

Thanks!



Thanks... I do not have pulleys... using gas struts with tracks. Tracks cause binding and it takes two people to lift evenly so it will not bind (it would work best without tracks).. I leave it in one position in any case since my trailer is 7.5" tall and I can get the bikes in and out and use space underneath without going all the way to the ceiling and use bed without taking out bikes while on the road (my goal anyhow).

I could redo it by taking off tracks and adding two more struts like in that other video.. but no real good reason for me to do that as is in my case.

When I added the tracks at first, I was thinking pulleys/springs and etc. for later.. but better to keep it simple if you ask me. I was learning as I went and now I know what I would do.

Good luck with your build. :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
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YouTube Video of Finished 6x12 Trailer:
https://youtu.be/6_-8cVdWUIA
YouTube Video of 7*18 with 2ft V-nose Trailer:
https://youtu.be/MUcMM86LA2g
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Re: New guy looking for guidance

Postby McDave » Sat Dec 08, 2018 11:52 pm

Agfadoc wrote:Does anyone have a reference to the cable layout for something like this guys bed lift system?

Ceiling Bed Part 2

https://youtu.be/ZwdCn3h46h8



Thinking something like this, check out my computer art skills... :thumbsup:

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Re: New guy looking for guidance

Postby Agfadoc » Sun Dec 09, 2018 7:26 am

You've got skills alright... Much better than I would have drawn.

So it's just like a popup roof lift from Fleetwood, I think they called it a wiffle tree or something. 4 independent cables to a hub pulled by a single motor or crank.
My popup had adjustable nuts at the hub so you could adjust the throw of each cable.

So I could use 4 eyebolts and a 3/16 piece of metal with a center pull as the hub and use one (or two) of the garagesmart motors to lift the bed depending on weight of the bed.

Sweet, thank you!
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Re: New guy looking for guidance

Postby Agfadoc » Sun Dec 09, 2018 10:00 am

So does this make sense? I think my weights are correct.

Image

If the bed was 180lbs as an example, it would be 45lbs on each corner
This should 1/2 the weight at each corner?
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Re: New guy looking for guidance

Postby Agfadoc » Sun Dec 09, 2018 10:43 am

that's not going to work.. nevermind
Last edited by Agfadoc on Sun Dec 09, 2018 12:37 pm, edited 4 times in total.
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Re: New guy looking for guidance

Postby Agfadoc » Sun Dec 09, 2018 10:53 am

The bed would be rotated for a side to side in a 7' though and you would have to use twice as much cable to go the same distance, bummer. To raise 4' you have to move 8' of cable in my example.

Maybe use opposing garage door tracks facing outwards with rollers on the outside to keep it positioned and be able to pin at the top with solid base on each side to rest on when you get in at the bottom?... It should work.

I went way overboard with the weight, but 75 lbs for the frame, 50 lbs for the matress plus bedding.. plus buffer? Maybe 150 is more realistic.

Back to the drawing board.

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