"off-roading" - frame twisting in a C
What is the maximum diagonal height difference that the suspension will accommodate without twisting the frame? Found a great boon-docking site, but the "jeep trail" road was off-camber and rose ab...
Forum Discussion
A few more quick comments. The real question is, are you trying to get your existing Class C over the odd bit of washboard or a high embankment or are you (as I am) designing a camper for extended bad road use?
If the former, go slow and easy and you may find that your vehicle is more capable than you imagine. But be careful, without a limited slip rear diff you can easily lose traction and, perhaps even more important, most Class B and C that I have seen have very "dirty" undersides - lots of fragile things, like sewer fittings, genset exhausts, etc., just waiting to be pulled off and broken.
Beyond that, it is a question of when you run out of suspension and the forces pass to the frame and, from the frame, to the camper. At that point, it is a question of camper strength. Twist things enough and you can get roof leaks and cabinet breaks, etc. Notoriously for the off road crowd, most Class C's are built to be a large as possible for as little cost as possible, not to be as strong as possible.
This leads to a lot of very impassioned posts to the effect that "all serious off road campers have a pivot frame," usually accompanied by a picture of a Unimog based vehicle.
-- Perhaps, but the Australians, who have lots of washboard, don't use pivot frames.
-- The Bengal/CX Tiger has a very conventional mount; the wooden camper floor sits on six steel cross members that are literally welded to the truck frame. That said, I don't think that there has been a documented camper failure in the twenty five years they have built the beasts. There have been cabinets pulled out and the odd roof leak, but down where the molded roof joins the aluminum camper frame.
-- Pivot frames fail can and pivot frames do nothing to isolate from washboard. Geeks may enjoy this thread: http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/110780-Is-this-a-Unimog-failure-or-a-GXV-failure-(Pic-included) Some mildly cautionary tales about a couple who traded their Tiger for a Unimog camper. Would the Tiger have fared better? Perhaps not, but it would not have had THIS failure.
The new Tiger Siberian and Malayan models are playing with a form of pivot mount, especially needed on the larger Siberian on the more flexible Ford frames. As expected, however, this adds weight, cost, and height. ;-(
If the former, go slow and easy and you may find that your vehicle is more capable than you imagine. But be careful, without a limited slip rear diff you can easily lose traction and, perhaps even more important, most Class B and C that I have seen have very "dirty" undersides - lots of fragile things, like sewer fittings, genset exhausts, etc., just waiting to be pulled off and broken.
Beyond that, it is a question of when you run out of suspension and the forces pass to the frame and, from the frame, to the camper. At that point, it is a question of camper strength. Twist things enough and you can get roof leaks and cabinet breaks, etc. Notoriously for the off road crowd, most Class C's are built to be a large as possible for as little cost as possible, not to be as strong as possible.
This leads to a lot of very impassioned posts to the effect that "all serious off road campers have a pivot frame," usually accompanied by a picture of a Unimog based vehicle.
-- Perhaps, but the Australians, who have lots of washboard, don't use pivot frames.
-- The Bengal/CX Tiger has a very conventional mount; the wooden camper floor sits on six steel cross members that are literally welded to the truck frame. That said, I don't think that there has been a documented camper failure in the twenty five years they have built the beasts. There have been cabinets pulled out and the odd roof leak, but down where the molded roof joins the aluminum camper frame.
-- Pivot frames fail can and pivot frames do nothing to isolate from washboard. Geeks may enjoy this thread: http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/110780-Is-this-a-Unimog-failure-or-a-GXV-failure-(Pic-included) Some mildly cautionary tales about a couple who traded their Tiger for a Unimog camper. Would the Tiger have fared better? Perhaps not, but it would not have had THIS failure.
The new Tiger Siberian and Malayan models are playing with a form of pivot mount, especially needed on the larger Siberian on the more flexible Ford frames. As expected, however, this adds weight, cost, and height. ;-(
