Telescoping RTT "build"

chacou

New member
First off, been lurking for about two or three years, so finally sharing with the community.

Context: We (wife, two young kids, dog, and I) used severance package from getting laid off last April due to Covid related layoffs at the tech/e-commerce company I worked for to buy a 2004 Ford Excursion, 6.0L Powerstroke. I know, "6.NO!", but a bunch of the issues had been addressed with service records such as EGR delete, HPOP, oil cooler, air flow, etc., and it was only a short drive away in CO. Springs, and only had ~166,000 miles, and most importantly captains chairs for the kids w/ a functioning DVD player and well inside our budget. Chris' Excursion build is an inspiration for sure, first thing I did after addressing some of the issues my Ford mechanic pointed out was to ditch the stock crossbars and put a Rhino Rack Pioneer Platform on the roof and a Tepui Autana 4 "ruggedized" RTT on top of that. It got us out and about to some new spots in Colorado and much more comfortable camping at our usual spots. However, we quickly discovered the #1 reported downside of the RTT is very true, once you secure and set up camp, you're more or less stuck. Kids want to go into town for ice cream, nope. Need to drive to a trailhead, nope. Pretty much all our camping friends have hard sided campers but either 1) never use the amenities they paid for, ie: interior kitchen, shower, toilet, etc. and/or 2) have plenty of space at their home to park and store the camper when not in use. We don't have much driveway/garage space, so having a 24' camper than can sleep 4 was out and we like to actually camp, ******** in the woods, cook in the open air, etc. Expedition trailers were my goal, small, lightweight, store all our gear so we can quickly hitch up and go and not fill up driveway. Aside, we're not doing any serious overlanding or wheeling, but we do like to explore forest service roads and get back off the beaten path, just not exactly Jeep trail intense. Mostly things that allow for mountain biking, hikes, fishing, sup, rock climbing, etc. ;)

A good friend/neighbor is a hobbyist welder with all the toys, he's pretty good and happy to have any excuse to spend time in his shop. So, I had been considering building from something like a HF frame or finding something like an M1*. BUT, combing Craigslist yesterday I saw this custom built trailer for sale, I was first in line, and picked it up this morning.

It's 10' x 6' overall with a telescoping rack that the prior owner/builder had a Tepui tent on as well. He used it to haul his dirt bike and mountain bikes for camping but was going to build himself something enclosed. 6' x 4' bed, 4' tongue, rolling on 15" wheels and a 3000lbs Northern Tool Torsion axle. Very stoked and it's a great starting point. I'm very stoked on the burly steel frame, and that it is ready for telescoping action so we can use our tent's annex, on the Excursion roof it was too tall to use the annex, it also has a beefy 2" rear receiver, probably try out one of our many bike racks. I'm already envisioning camping and being able to use the Ex as a shuttle vehicle for big descents.

First things will be:
- Pull the wheels this weekend and grease the hubs, not making any noises on the drive back up the hill from Denver and feel fine now, but just want to be safe. He said they were last greased in 2018. Oh yeah, can't even notice this thing behind the Ex!
- Probably gas struts to assist with raising the RTT rack for camp, and lowering for drive. It sits about 5'5" off the ground all the way down and about 6'6" extended. Sits on coder pins in holes of the steel frame. So thinking something like 60lbs strut for each corner, but need to do my calculations. Following some other threads on here about doing this. Currently it does require two people working together or it binds, figure it's like couples therapy, gas struts would help, especially when the tent gets up there. Some of the electric actuator designs are intriguing as well. I'm an software engineer and enjoy solving these kinds of problems, so we'll see where this goes. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.
- Replace the current tongue jack with a swing away just to get a bit more clearance up there.
- Add fixed stabilizing jacks to the corners, thinking something like the electric highway signs, or possibly something like up-side down bottle jacks. Taking suggestions ;)
- Enclose the front "bucket" and wrap around to fenders to minimize road crap flying up on the deck.
- Move the spare tire and add a box/mount for propane tank and general crap for now but eventually some batteries/electrical bits on the tongue.
- Some tie down points for bins/tarp.

Eventually:
- Water tanks
- Deep cycle batteries and solar panel, lights
- More enclosed storage
- Cut off the torsion axel and add some spacers to give it a bit of a lift. Maybe look into coil/damper or leafs for suspension. I'm not too familiar with torsion axel suspension and it doesn't seem like it would be that burly one rougher or washboard forest roads. Thoughts? Just did some reading and it sounds like torsion axles are a slight improvement over leaf springs, and I don't think I have the space or want to go high enough for coil/damper, so maybe just add like a 1" spacer or just beefier wheels/tires, the hubs are 5 x 4.5 so need to do some more research there.
- Replace the tires, possibly wheels too, they're ok condition, but something a bit larger and more beefy would be nice, but I also don't want to increase the ride height too much as I've read on here about having too high center of gravity.

Ex mods:
- DIY pressurized solar shower on the Excursion's Pioneer Platform and possibly other goodies since the tent can be moved off of it!
- A/T tires, the General Grabber HTS the previous guy had just put on, so it's hard to change out tires that are just fine. But something more aggressive is really what I want, and where we live I'd have more piece of mind having something with the snowflake
- new shocks/springs, the current ones are just about shot and I've been putting it off since my mech suggested it
- Bluetooth/Android Head unit, and I'd like to figure out a hack to either use a Plexus or similar media server on the truck to replace the DVD player. Although it is kinda fun sitting in the back watching old Seinfeld episodes while warming up between ski runs
- HD alternator, we did have the alternator go on us just outside Crested Butte and got a O'Reilly replacement in a pinch. I've got my eye on a Mean Green HD though, and then just keep the O'Reilly as my backup
- front and rear bumper; I'd love to follow Chris' lead and love the idea of that dual swing arm Buckstop Bumper to get the spare out of the truck
- new slider bars, ditch the running boards. plastic on the top is an ACL tear waiting to happen in the snow

So many ideas on here, and just very excited about this! If you've read all that, thanks! I tend to ramble, but hopefully future updates will be much much more brief.

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The_Squid

Member
Looks like a great little trailer. I would only question the need to have it telescoping a one foot difference for towing. Why bother?
 
Nice start!

Do you have gas stuts to help with lift? Looks like it extends closer to 6 inches than a foot? If it doesn't go up high enough to walk under without ducking then there is really no reason to telescope.
 

Ryannnz

Member
Here’s my electric linear actuator design;

Adds 20” of height atop my M1102 trailer.

Let me know if you have specific questions - it was a ton of fun to put together!


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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Knifeknut

New member
Here’s my electric linear actuator design;

Adds 20” of height atop my M1102 trailer.

Let me know if you have specific questions - it was a ton of fun to put together!


ea5061135d4e3592e3abd8cebe69710f.jpg

d41b58ac7a96a3aabfa9df8f7d7eb99b.jpg

333d919565332c839877efb6543868dd.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
The wife and I really enjoyed your build! The timing of it was great too because we literally just picked up an m1102 the day the last video was uploaded.

Gotta admit, pretty sure we are going to do something very similar/borderline identical. We live out in Atlanta and go to Western CO and Moab, UT every year. So the smaller frontal area while dropped would be most ideal, while the high up base camp setup would make for even more fantastic views while up in the mountains. Granted its going to be pulled with a vehicle that has the aero of a brick, JLURD, but every little bit helps.

Really appreciate you guys documenting the build and giving all of us some great ideas. Did you by chance weigh the trailer post rack installation?
 

chacou

New member
I received 4 x 60lbs gas struts from McMaster-Carr with the M6 threaded ends and 9.8" stroke length, so ~220lbs lift assist should be good (tent is Tepui "ruggedized" Autana 4, which is about ~210lbs). The existing telescope is only about 6.5", but it can go much higher than that, and I need it up 7" at least so I can walk under the RTT when deployed, and we want to ensure we can use the RTT annex, which we couldn't on top of the Excursion because it sat too high up. We're also keen to be able to use the space in the trailer, under the tent, when extended for another shelter option. I measured and marked so it'll be using about 9.25" of the stroke length. I'll be drilling new holes for the pins/new ceiling height and will adjust from there, if I don't need the full extension I'm planning on use a ratchet strap to be able to adjust my ceiling height. Took the trailer over to a buddy's house yesterday to weld the brackets on, and it's still over there as he's doing some other things, side steps, tie down points, water/fuel canisters holsters.

Ordered 15x8 wheels are ready for pickup at 4WD Parts and some cheap 23575R15 Cooper Discoverer AT tires from Wal-Mart. Which will also give it some lift and most likely require some fender trimming.

Photo drop coming soon, should be with the RTT installed.
Gotta shake it down soon, heading to Hurricane, UT for the MTB festival at the end of March. Excursion is at the mechanic getting a check up, fingers crossed the 6.0 doesn't decide to act up on us this drive :LOL:
 
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chacou

New member
The wife and I really enjoyed your build! The timing of it was great too because we literally just picked up an m1102 the day the last video was uploaded.

Gotta admit, pretty sure we are going to do something very similar/borderline identical. We live out in Atlanta and go to Western CO and Moab, UT every year. So the smaller frontal area while dropped would be most ideal, while the high up base camp setup would make for even more fantastic views while up in the mountains. Granted its going to be pulled with a vehicle that has the aero of a brick, JLURD, but every little bit helps.

Really appreciate you guys documenting the build and giving all of us some great ideas. Did you by chance weigh the trailer post rack installation?

The trailer weighs maybe 600lbs currently. Once we add the RTT that's another ~210lbs, my quick math estimates we'll be pulling about ~1100lbs once it's all said and done. Won't even notice it behind the Excursion.
 

chacou

New member
Here’s my electric linear actuator design;

Adds 20” of height atop my M1102 trailer.

Let me know if you have specific questions - it was a ton of fun to put together!


ea5061135d4e3592e3abd8cebe69710f.jpg

d41b58ac7a96a3aabfa9df8f7d7eb99b.jpg

333d919565332c839877efb6543868dd.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Thanks, I love your build, very inspiring and cool.
 

chacou

New member
Got a great deal on Pro-Comp 15x8 5x4.5 wheels (4wdparts.com) and Cooper Discoverer AT tires 235/75R15 (walmart.com), about $300 for wheel/tire set, done. I do need to flare the fenders a bit, and now I want to lift the trailer about an inch. Also, finally got the trailer back from my buddy, let's just say his kids will go hungry if he decides to change careers into welding. With the struts in though it raises and lowers! If I decide to keep the straps since they make it easy for one person to lower it, I need to get some black straps. It all depends on how it feels once the tent is up there this weekend. I took the boxes off to enclose it this weekend, I need to figure out what I want to do with the back. Thinking hinges on each side and ranch style doors, to match the Excursion, got a nice little weekend ahead. ;)
Batteries are on the way, 2x Valance 12v 40a LI batteries, need to pull the trigger on solar panel, charge controller, and inverter. Also will be constructing a solar shower out of 6" black ABS pipe this weekend. Should have another photo drop next week before we head to Hurricane. Oh yeah, the Excursion got some new shoes too, Costco BFG K02 deal. We're just keeping the economy going.
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chacou

New member
Since we've been getting the a lot of snow here in CO, I pulled the trailer into the garage. RTT now on it but w/o the mattress/pad installed to save weight for now (it's the Tepui Autana 4 XL "ruggedized", so it's about 210lbs all together). I got the panels on and the boxes back on. I also strung up some LED lights, these should run just fine off the LI batteries that are due to arrive FedEx today.
Now building a "temporary" tailgate and then to grease the hubs and we should be good to go for a Thursday early departure, we have a short window between storms that it looks like we just need to get west of Loveland Pass to be in better weather.

With our change in plans losing the AirBNB house, we're going to drive ~6 hours to Hanksville, UT on Thursday, camp at Capitol Reef. Friday drive the ~4 hours to Virgin, we have a time reserved for horseback riding as well as dispersed camping secured at Zion Wright Ranch. It's my kids' birthdays, March 25 and 31, two years apart, turning 5 & 7, so we're gonna do some horseback riding at the ranch in Zion. Then Saturday head into Hurricane for the MTB festival, do some rides, then back out to the ranch (or we might take the trailer with us into town). We're planning on dispersed camping at Sheeps Bridge Road most likely, setting that up as our base camp, we've heard from a "friend" that it's a good area. Anyone have any other beta on this area?

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chacou

New member
The mad dash to wrap things up worked out ok. We left Thursday around noon in snow and Vail Pass was closed. I deferred to my wife who made the call to take Freemont Pass over to Leaville to 24 through Red Cliff and Minturn back onto I70 and until it ends in Richland, UT. We definitely learned some things. I'm now working on enclosing the trailer so I don't need to be dealing with a tarp over the bins. Need to replace a hub grease cover, I had grease all over the passenger side wheel of the trailer from a tiny tear in the rubber cover. I can't say enough about these Valence batteries I got from batteryhookup.com, the BMS is integrated so they're literally plug and play LiFePo. Virgin, UT is amazing. We'll be back and do much more exploring. Since we left in snow and were greatly abbreviating the trip I opted to leave the bikes at home, but still need to take a test drive with them on the trailer.
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