Hadn't really thought about that, guess I've been lucky with tires. I do plan to have covers for those pockets, for if I want to haul a different vehicle, maybe those covers could even do double duty as ramps.
Only up the street to the RV place to see if they could suggest something to make the suspension set a little higher, maybe some wheelie bars :looney:
Hard to tell how it handles, I am a little bummed, the trailer hitch is 2 1/2" lower then it was with the MH body on there. So the Jeep is quite a bit heavier then the body was. Makes me wonder how it will pull the passes now.
Was it hard to get the jeep to back out of those front wheel pockets? Seems like they're kinda wedged in there. Future plans call for something for the tire to rest on at the bottom of the pocket? After a lengthy road trip, I could see those tires sinking farther into those pockets and really cause some headaches....... :dunno: The pocket design definitely makes the load secure though....... :thumbup:
Seems to me a pair of load handler air bags above the leaf packs would take care of the weight issue.
I wouldn't worry about the front wheel/rear wheel difference - you should be able to hit a junk yard to find another motorhome and pull a front hub set and another pair of wheels to match the rear and be all set. Colorado Auto Salvage down here has a large truck section full of 'em.
Put a 10K winch on cab-end of that flat bed and that thing would be a saweet scrap car hauler...........
Was it hard to get the jeep to back out of those front wheel pockets? Seems like they're kinda wedged in there. Future plans call for something for the tire to rest on at the bottom of the pocket? After a lengthy road trip, I could see those tires sinking farther into those pockets and really cause some headaches....... :dunno: The pocket design definitely makes the load secure though....... :thumbup:
Seems to me a pair of load handler air bags above the leaf packs would take care of the weight issue.
I wouldn't worry about the front wheel/rear wheel difference - you should be able to hit a junk yard to find another motorhome and pull a front hub set and another pair of wheels to match the rear and be all set. Colorado Auto Salvage down here has a large truck section full of 'em.
Put a 10K winch on cab-end of that flat bed and that thing would be a saweet scrap car hauler...........
I thought it would be hard to pull out of those tire pockets too, but it came out easy, but I think I'll just put some 1" square steel in one side of that opening to make it a little smaller, :idea: or maybe I should get 37's
I was talking to the guys at Denver Spring today and think I'm gonna get some new springs for it.. about 3" more height is what I want.
Front wheel difference? They are all the same wheels.
I like it!
But....that rear overhang will kill you. You will probably want to cut off anything behind your wheels and build small ramps (and you may not even need that for your Jeep.) Can't recall the last time I pulled out the ramps to
get my Jeep on a trailer.
Yep that rear overhang is definately gonna get shortened, and I'm working on the ramps, 42" long ones will also do double duty as covers for those tire pockets for when I need to haul other vehicles, although not many other vehicles are going to fit on there, I think.
Negative there Ghostrider........ you've got two different style wheels going on between the front and rear.
You've got 3/4 ton 2wd front wheels currently. In order to carry just one spare that will work front and rear, you'd need to swap to a dually conversion front hub and wheel combo like on the front of this dodge motor home:
Super easy swap and like I said, should be able to get the stuff dirt cheap from the salvage yards. Probably best to get everything from the knuckle out just to be sure - the disc caliper brackets and calipers might be different if the hub is bolted to the brake disc, but earlier versions were like a big wheel spacer, just bolted to the front lugs as a wheel adapter like such:
I'm curious if you have different tire/rim sizes as well. The majority of the early dually wheels were 16". You might have 15" fronts and 16" rears......... but I could be wrong there......
It's not done by any means, but most of the frame work is done, rear ramps were shortened about 9", suspension is setting how I want with 2" blocks added (temporary), and the XJ's front tires are a little higher and not quite so wedged in place now.
Ramps are built and they will double as covers for those tire pockets, and store underneath the front tires of the XJ when it's on there
I have a few more support pieces I want to add and alot of expanded metal to put on. I also have some D-rings to weld on and then maybe I'll be able to test drive it with the XJ on there and see how it does.
Looks MUCH better now Terry. It needed that 9" chopped off the back - looks symetrical and purpose built! :thumbup:
I like the ramps too. The fact that you can cover the tire holes allows you to potentially haul other vehicles on there....... except WrenchMonkey is right...... if you're using the ramps to load a vehicle, you can't put them under the front tires until the vehicle is loaded....... :dunno:
What about changing the design up just a bit and make the ramps pull out from the end. Make some "L" channel slides for the ramps to slide in/out on and put stops at the end that will allow the ramps to pivot and drop down when pulled out. Load the vehicle, then push the ramps back in and pin 'em.
Depending on the vehicle, it might be long enough to use the ramps to pull the vehicle up on the deck short of the tire pockets, then move the ramps, that works on the XJ, but a longer vehicle, maybe not.
But truthfully I don't think I'd mind if all that fits on there is the XJ or something similar, the rig could be a little too popular if you know what I mean.
