Micro camper from Ranger service body

[holyford86]

A Jenson box, that’s high class! I just got a new helmet on closeout from them.

I used them to buy parts to upgrade my Walmart Mongoose last year, great company to deal with and quite reasonable prices

 

[sgtsandman]

This project is a similar situation, it's over 7 feet tall and 5.5 x 7. Once it's done (real soon) I'm going to weigh it out of curiosity.

Definitely a good idea. I was surprised how heavy my trailer weighed the last time I checked it. It will also help with weight distribution and getting a proper 10% - 15% tongue weight. I thought I was tongue heavy but it turned out I was pretty spot on and it helped a lot with getting the loaded weight distribution right.

 

[holyford86]

Definitely a good idea. I was surprised how heavy my trailer weighed the last time I checked it. It will also help with weight distribution and getting a proper 10% - 15% tongue weight. I thought I was tongue heavy but it turned out I was pretty spot on and it helped a lot with getting the loaded weight distribution right.

Before we replaced the tongue on it, it had zero tongue weight (Yes, actual zero, could balance the trailer on the axle with no jack touching the ground) and now it has about 50 or 60 pounds of weight with the box and batteries there. Once I stick the mounts for the cans there it should add 20 pounds more without cans and whatever water/fuel weighs when they're full.

 

[holyford86]

Well, time for a long overdue update on progress, I got a chance to use the camper twice and discovered a few things I need to add or change, nothing too crazy though. I sleep better on the cheap mattress in this thing than in my house, haha. Life has been changing a little bit and I haven't had as much time to spend in it as I would like but I hope to spend a couple more nights in it before snow falls.

I ended up making a couple screen panels that are attached to the inside of the door frames with magnets as the windows weren't enough and I'm not sticking a roof vent in. I will be adding a couple more windows, one in each rear door, I'll pick them up on a black Friday deal like last year.

It needs more storage, the tongue box is nice for big things like my batteries, grill, stove, and propane tank. I'm going to construct a roof basket that goes inside the unused space on the roof for things like folding furniture and additional tents and such if necessary. Inside I'm going to add a couple of shelves, one on each side going the full length for things like books, phones, cards, etc. I may see about utilizing the massive amount of dead space underneath for storage as well, I could do an 8 to 10 inch tall compartment running almost the full length of the frame if I wanted to.

I also need to enlarge the wheel openings and add a sway bar (ranger rear bar is too small) but that's not a big deal, I think I'll check out some chassis cab stuff at the junkyard for a bar sometime soon as well as the frame width should be similar.

 

[holyford86]

Another update before much action on the other update, I decided I didn't want to carry around a table to do things on and there's some dead space between the floor support cross members. I found a good deal on some 60 inch drawer slides rated at 500 pounds for the pair. I'll cut an access hole and install them to the floor supports so I can just slide out a 60x14 table whenever I feel like it.
Did I mention these things look ridiculous when fully extended?

And I also picked up another pair of windows for the rear doors as well, should brighten up the interior and add some more much needed ventilation.

 

[holyford86]

Finally had a bit of time to do something on this thing and got my water/fuel storage racks stuck on the tongue, this allows me to paint the frame and make the whole thing look a bit more finished. We also welded some aluminum brackets underneath to attach one of the giant drawer slides to.
Once I get a decent weekend I'm going to get the frame painted and the slides installed, then work at boxing them in and sealing that up so it doesn't get filled with road dirt. More progress made. I was hoping to use this around my birthday (5/14) but it looks like memorial day weekend may be more attainable, fingers crossed.

 

[holyford86]

A little progress from the last couple of weeks. Installed the windows in the back doors, fitted some wood panels to the inside of the doors at the same time. Even though all of the doors were filled with spray foam, the insides of the doors would get crazy hot in the sun, so I decided to add the wood which makes a huge difference. Also cut and fit some channel for some more wood for some small storage shelves.

I'm going to be pulling all of the panels and shelves back out this week to sand and polyurethane them, I'll also be adding some aluminum strips to the front of the shelves to keep things from falling out of them. I may also add a shelf connecting the two in the front but I haven't made up my mind just yet. What would you do? I should also note there is no structure to attach the shelves to in the small angled portion of the top front, so that would have to be overcome.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Add the shelf. There is never enough storage...

 

[holyford86]

Add the shelf. There is never enough storage...

I like the way you think, I think I'll add one. I'll be able to make it deeper to store larger things. The shelves on the side are only a bit over 6 inches wide.

 

[RobbieD]

I really like how it's turning out. You've done it justice, and it's unique as hell.

I'd also add more shelving.

 

[holyford86]

I really like how it's turning out. You've done it justice, and it's unique as hell.

I'd also add more shelving.

I'm really trying to do the best I can, thank you for the kind words. It's quite amazing where it was when I bought it and how it looks now.

I'm gonna add the shelf

 

[Jim Oaks]

I like it. Plus you have all that space on the roof. Get some Apache cases from Harbor Freight to stick up there. I'm adding one of there rifle cases to my rack.

 

[holyford86]

I like it. Plus you have all that space on the roof. Get some Apache cases from Harbor Freight to stick up there. I'm adding one of there rifle cases to my rack.

About 2/3 of the roof space is taken up by solar, but the last 1/3 will be a roof basket once I get a chance to do so.

 

[holyford86]

Also, I added the shelf, you can't see it well but it's there

 

[RobbieD]

Looks good. All that it needs, is an elf.