It was a Jeep...built in to a camper... I call it "The JEPER"

[DownhomeMoto]

Well I have started to build my very first, one of a kind, hope it works out in the end, Jeep into a Camper. I started with a 92 XJ, the body was rough and it was wheeled hard but I think it will work great. I'll completly gut it, cut the front clip off at the firewall. Then I'll put the tounge on it. It will have a subfloor for in floor storage that will also double as our sleeping area, as well as a kitchen out the rear hatch. It will sleep two (me and my wife) and hopefuly haul all our gear we need to go camping. All the inside stuff will be made out of wood to keep the weight down. It will also have a radio, battery (w/ solar pnl) working windows, running water and 3500Lbs trailer axle w/ elect brakes. Well wish me luck... here are a few pictures and a quick "what it should be" drawing. I'll update the thread as I buld.

As a side note... I'll also have a few parts for sale along the way. Thanks for looking.... DH

 

[FlexdXJ]

Its a cool Idea but not the first.

 

[DownhomeMoto]

Its a cool Idea but not the first.

Thanks, but never clamed to be the first...

 

[JunkJeep228]

Good: Its unique, fairly cheap, and you can take parts off it when needed for the towing rig.
Bad: 2500lbs, 6'x4'x4'=small cant stand up in, and its really hard to get that funky dirt/gear oil/funk smell out of an old cherokee.

 

[DownhomeMoto]

Good: Its unique, fairly cheap, and you can take parts off it when needed for the towing rig.
Bad: 2500lbs, 6'x4'x4'=small cant stand up in, and its really hard to get that funky dirt/gear oil/funk smell out of an old cherokee.

I'm thinking it should be just under 2000 lbs... I hope...As for size... well it's like a teardrop trailer....I hope to able to tow it just about anywhere I want to camp. Only time will tell....

 

[JunkJeep228]

Yeah, i was exagerating a bit. I think it'd definatly be a head turner, especially if you paint it to match the tow vehicle.

 

[BenDiesel]

The folkrum is to far back. Will be extra tongue heavy. Still cool though

 

[VAhasnoWAVES]

The folkrum is to far back. Will be extra tongue heavy. Still cool though

my thoughts exactly. this was typically the problem with others who had the same idea.

my remedy would be either chopping a 2 door down to accept a 4 door door. gah, that was a mouthful. or the other option would be using a manche bed. both of which would never work for me though, being 6'2". fun design though, too much hassle for my taste. if you take your time invested as payed labor hours, you could have a very comfortable pop up.




oh, and using the trailer for parts and taking them off if it is irrelevant. "oh, i got an extra rear axel under my trailer in case i break my rig on the trail." ok, you take your axel off of the trailer and its going no where either.







just some food for thought...

 

[kastein]

Yep... fulcrum is wayyyy too far back. You won't have fishtailing with that much tongue weight (you want about 10% of the trailer weight to be on the tongue from what I understand) but you will be severely limited in payload capacity.

 

[DownhomeMoto]

Thanks for the feedback guys. this is a design as i build, build. i have three ideas of places to cut the front off depinding on how much weight the front is. all weight should be right above the axle. this is more of a cool build as opposed to and easyest way to get a camp trailer. on a side note the motor and trans are coming out this weekend...

 

[DownhomeMoto]

Well drivetrain is out. Man that's got to be at least 1000 lbs.... ok 800lbs for sure. So now its on the gutting the inside. Once its all gutted I'll go weight it befor I cut the front clip out. Then I'll have a better idea of my shell weight. Well back to the fun... and here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure....

This is a Jeep Tailgate tent I got for the kitchen area...

SHe wanted to help....

92 AW4 with Np242... has 200k on it whats it worth?

Lots of room now... I think the front end just got 4 inch taller....

 

[moto_ridah]

Looks like you are off to a good start. Even with the front clip gone, you are going to be looking at a lot of tongue weight. I would strip the entire dash out so its just the bare firewall, then patch all of the holes up. You might also look into replacing some of glass with lexan or plexi and you would be able to get rid of the regulators. You can build sliders into the windows for ventilation as well.
Good luck.

 

[PhotographerMike]

A few weight saving ideas after looking under my '89 and at your sketch.

Replace the rear quarter and hatch windows with lite sheet metal, you won't need to see through them.

How about this for storage and weight; Remove the body pan between the "frame" rails from the firewall to where it curves up for the rear axle and fill with sheet metal. You would probably need a decent brace at front, but 1 inch square tubing should support the floor area.

I wonder how the headlight/grill/bumper assembly would look mounted at the firewall??

 

[kastein]

Pretty lousy, unless you widened it significantly... you don't realize it when looking at a whole vehicle but the nose is a good bit narrower than the A-pillars are, and a lot shorter vertically as well.

 

[GrimmJeeper]

I have nothing to add, other than a full watertank taking up the space behind the axle where the gas tank was originally would help transfer quite a bit of weight off of the tongue. I love big projects like this, interested to see where it goes!

 

[NorCalChris]

Wow. I like it. If possible I would fit a larger water tank. And possibly add some weights back there like they on the front of tractors.

 

[DownhomeMoto]

Thanks for all the feed back guys... I'm going to cut the floor out to get rid of the trans hump. I'm going to look into lexan for the glass. As of right now the front will be cut off right before the door mount points on the a piller. I will panel the front off after.

Soes anyone know what spring to use in the rear that move the axle pin fwd? Just a thought if I need to.

Thanks again guys... more work to come..

 

[DownhomeMoto]

So heres an update on the Jeper. First a side note. I sold my XJ and Bought a JK Unlimited. LOve that thing!!

So back to the Jeper. I got the front cut off and the hump cut out. With the front doors completed and installed I was able to lift it with no problem. My guess would be it's about 150 lbs on the front. But once I removed the front door that thing almost became tail heavy. It's about 50 lbs on the front. SO I'm working on gutting the front doors and will reinstall them. I'm also looking at building a fiberglass front for it. Here are some Jeep distruction pictures.

First the new Jeep....

She's waiting for the Doctor...

Let the cutting begian...

No nose

Now the face lift... or fall...

A little skin cancer...

As she sets now

So next is the work on the doors and closing up the front. Man this is so much fun!!! Thanks DH

 

[JAS]

I was thinking use the XJ gas tank for extra fuel and put the water tank under the floor in the transmission hump.

 

[Shane_92-XJ]

I was thinking use the XJ gas tank for extra fuel and put the water tank under the floor in the transmission hump.

thats a great idea