4500 Camper/Jeep Hauler Build

[gprguy]

This is a wild build with majority of WAYYY over my head. But love seeing LJs, have had 2 Rubicons myself. I recognize your Jeeps, are/were you on JeepForum at all? There was a khaki LJR that was built in your neck of the woods with Currie axles if I recall, wasn't sure if that was you or not but dont hide those LJs from us Jeep people!!!

Thanks! Yeah, I was at one point, same username, but it would have been a while back. We mostly built our LJ's between 2008 and 2010 or so. Wheeled the heck out of them till 2015 when we moved cross country, and since then it's been a lot of other things instead of wheeling (building a house, a shop, camping) but we are finally getting back into it. Fingers crossed we can get back to Moab next fall. My wife's Jeep still has the stock rubi axles, mine has Spider 9s.

I still have a ton of plans for both of our Jeeps, a kind of 2.0 for both, but that'll be a few years out. Gotta get this truck wrapped up first.

 

[Blythkd1]

I think you'll like the Centramatics, they've worked well for me on multiple trucks, including duallies. Just don't get any balance beads anywhere near them, they don't work well together. Been there, done that.

Awesome build btw. Been following since the beginning. You're really taking "making the truck your own" to a new level!

Can't wait to see your Kelderman review.

 

[gprguy]

Thanks. I don't trust balance beads.. I know they are used frequently on big trucks, but something about the beads flying around in there when there are TPMS sensors as well.. Just doesn't sit right with me.

I did drive the truck a little yesterday with only two wheels on the back. It looks ridiculous, but it actually rides really nice. Makes me think that without the 4 stiff tires back there the kelderman really gets to work better. I am thinking once the weight of the bed gets on there, and especially when our 5,000+ lb camper gets on there it may ride pretty sweet.

 

[jsalbre]

That will be fantastic - that was my project a couple years back over the winter. Only room for 400w of solar on our camper's roof, and we have 400ah of batteries with a nice full Victron setup. It's a total game changer for boondocking.

View attachment 66956

View attachment 66957

Victron is the only way to go.

 

[Thorvald]

Victron is the only way to go.

+10000 percent! Don’t forget to look for a small local Victron dealer, the fellow I buy from is routinely 10 to 20% cheaper than all the big dealers. He operates out of his house and saves all that overhead.

Depending on what you’re running, you mean, you only need the 2000 VA unit, that is what I went for my trailer runs air-conditioning just fine and every other appliance. Just can’t run both air conditioners at the same time but never run into that problem up here in the communist cold country of Canada.

I also just added the Renogy Rego 400ah battery for next year so should be able to boondock for ages.

 

[jsalbre]

+10000 percent! Don’t forget to look for a small local Victron dealer, the fellow I buy from is routinely 10 to 20% cheaper than all the big dealers. He operates out of his house and saves all that overhead.

Depending on what you’re running, you mean, you only need the 2000 VA unit, that is what I went for my trailer runs air-conditioning just fine and every other appliance. Just can’t run both air conditioners at the same time but never run into that problem up here in the communist cold country of Canada.

I also just added the Renogy Rego 400ah battery for next year so should be able to boondock for ages.

View attachment 67032

I’m my “small local Victron dealer”. I do solar installs on RVs and overland vehicles.

 

[gprguy]

Distractions...

So, the truck tows great - even its current unfinished state with only 4 wheels on it. Found this little gem and brought it home today.



I've got a thing for Jeep trucks and always wanted a Comanche. Hopefully I can not get too distracted from finishing the big truck..

 

[Great White North Eh]

Distractions...

So, the truck tows great - even its current unfinished state with only 4 wheels on it. Found this little gem and brought it home today.

View attachment 67112

I've got a thing for Jeep trucks and always wanted a Comanche. Hopefully I can not get too distracted from finishing the big truck..

Show us some more of that unit please! Inside, under hood etc. Love them. They were quite rare around my part of Canada, even when new for some reason. The salt ate what there was pretty quickly.

 

[gprguy]

Show us some more of that unit please! Inside, under hood etc. Love them. They were quite rare around my part of Canada, even when new for some reason. The salt ate what there was pretty quickly.

Spent most of today getting it unloaded and making a spot for it in the shop. It's inside now, probably for the first time in years, drying out. It's in remarkable condition - a couple dents, a broken tail light where the passenger back corner got hit, but it's straight and rust free except for some surface rust here and there. All the badges are intact which amazes me. It needs a lot of maintenance and doesn't start at the moment, but it turns over just fine and I'm told it ran fine before it was parked a year or two ago.







Interior's in really good shape too, just needs a good cleaning and probably a new driver's seat and maybe some new carpet.





Underhood needs some work, the usual 1980's mess of poor wiring and vacuum lines.



Plenty of time to deal with all of that, I need to get back to the big truck tomorrow and maybe I'll see if I can get this to fire up this weekend once it dries out a bit.

 

[Enve46]

Love the Comanche! Build thread just got even better

 

[Great White North Eh]

She’ll make a good little runaround for sure. Kind of too bad it’s not a diesel or a I6. Love the 80,s stock wire wheels. A bit of bodywork and then paint it factory Cherokee Black Cherry and it would be ……well CHERRY!! Enjoy

 

[gprguy]

Long term the 4 banger will get replaced with something, that is for sure - hopefully it has some life left in it for now though.

 

[Great White North Eh]

Well then …other than the weight problem 4TB would be KILLER.

 

[Enve46]

Love to see the paint dry. Id either do a quick polish on it or even use one of the many clear coats you can put over patina. I love the originality look on that. For engine if you're swapping, a mild 4.0 stroker would be a cheap easy swap. Either way you go with it, can't be wrong!

 

[jsalbre]

Well then …other than the weight problem 4TB would be KILLER.

Hah, a 4BT in that thing would make it do nose stands all day!

 

[gprguy]

Happy New Year everybody.

I took the holiday week off thinking I'd be able to make tons of progress, but between the Comanche distraction and having to work several nights anyway, I really only managed to get moving the last couple days.

I have the rest of the wheels back from powder coat, need to get the tires remounted. So far the truck is still refusing to pick up the two TPMS sensors on the rear inners despite multiple trips of 20+ miles at over 20mph consistently. I am not sure what to think about that - hopefully the truck gets its act together when all 6 sensors are there. If not, that's going to be interesting.

I finished rebuilding the front wall of the cabinet in steel. It still needs to be finish welded though.



I added a little more triangulation, but otherwise it's the same. I am pleased with it. The rear wall is getting close to done too, I need to build the upper rail still which will be a little different than the front.



Hopefully we're getting close to this looking like something. I am very eager to get started on the flatbed.

 

[Drumminguy81]

just a thought on the tpis sensors, I swapped wheels on my 3500 a while back and the new sensors would not register on the truck. They were aftermarket autel sensors, I ended up using a scanner to read and write down all of the sensor ID numbers then used alfa obd to manually enter the numbers to the truck. Worked like a charm, so this may be an option if you cant get them to register.. Though I am not sure how different the 4500 is. Ironically I just swapped wheels again and this time went with a set of brand new oem sensors, they registered automatically within 20 yards of driving.

 

[gprguy]

That is more or less plan B, although I am using OEM sensors. The kick in the pants is I have photos of 5 of the sensors and their codes for which wheel is which.. The 6th for whatever reason I forgot to grab a photo of before the tire was mounted. Thanks for the info!

 

[Great White North Eh]

When the winter rims with Mopar sensors were swapped on our 2023 Cherokee they would not read. After multi miles took it back to the dealer and they got them working. So if you have a good dealer that might be an option.

 

[gprguy]

Small milestones - the rear wall of the e-bike garage (I think I'm going to start calling it that instead of a backpack cabinet - sounds cooler) is built. It and the front wall still need finish welding, and they both need some drop down sections added to house the air and hydraulic control systems but that'll come later.



It's basically a 13" wider copy of the front wall with the addition of a drop down in the center to make room to mount the stock CHMSL. Next up, a lot of finish welding and grinding.