Adding HD Springs/200hr Battery Bank to '97F150 '78 Bethany Pickupper

[bruue1]

Spring is here, snow is melting, I went out in the barn this weekend and put new leaf springs on my 17 year old truck and I wired up a 12 volt electrical system in the 78 Bethany Pickupper I bought and put on the truck last fall.

The truck was sagging under the 800-900lb camper, and it was really bad when I was pulling my little utility trailer around with just a couple snowmobiles etc... After looking at air bags, helper springs and reading lots of reviews I decided to just purchase some heavy duty leaf springs for the 1997 F150, JC Whitney supplied some HD 5 leaf springs that looked pretty beefy for about $170 a piece and free shipping. With a propane torch, a little patience, 64 more dollars in new longer U bolts, and 4 cans of Rustoleum Paint the job went pretty smooth and didn't look too bad when I was done.

I also wanted power without having to plug into anything. Solar was expensive and bulky, you can mount it on the roof but then you have to park in the sun, you can build a large bi-fold box with two panels inside but then you have to move it around and pack it in the camper (plus if you leave it out 20 feet from your camper while your off exploring a park it might not be there when you get back). Who wants to carry a generator around in an old light pick up camper? Coming off the battery with a huge copper wire, a battery isolator and a fuse (just in case) proved to be the easiest most convenient solution, also it was by far the cheapest. In fact I scored a tone of wire on craigslist for $90, I expect I could scrap what I got left for over $150 quite a bit more if I made it bare and bright.

I'll post pics of each upgrade below. I'm averagely handy at best and don't have too much time/money to invest in this stuff. I barely sketch out any designs at all, when I do they are very rudimentary. I had to figure a lot of this stuff out watching you tube videos, reading forums, I'm sharing to show off my rusty cheap little project a little bit, but also so others can use this as a resource for DIY stuff. I'm no expert at all but please if you have a question feel free to ask. What I did here is very functional and my family and I will continue to enjoy this camper and truck for a long time. I have a lot more projects in mind for the future

Here's a pic of the truck and camper last fall. You can see how it was sagging then, it had only gotten worse over the winter, those old springs were rusty and spreading out.

 

[bruue1]

In the firs pic I laid an old leaf spring and one of the new HD leaf springs side by side on the floor for comparison.

In the second you can see the installed passenger side leaf spring, the axle and frame are very rusty, as is expected with old MN trucks, I figured since the truck is up and the tires are off I might as well give it a shot of Rustoleum. Makes any rusty meta new right?

In the third pic you can see how the paint helps it all look nicer, Rustoleum is also said to inhibit the rusting process, hey, its probably better than nothing.

All the bolts on this job are easily accessible and its pretty straight forward, do one side at a time so you don't get your axle off alignment. Most Fords, including this 1997, have guide pins to make it even easier to stay aligned. You'll need to heat the nuts up with propane, about a minute and a half on each nut before loosening it because they will have lock tight and they will be rusted. Expect about 1-2 hours per side depending on how fast you like to move.

The hardest part is just getting the truck jacked up high enough, I use a "high lift", "tractor", "Handy" jack in the receiver hitch, even with my big jack stands I had to lay a few 2x4s across the top.

 

[bruue1]

Here's a pic of the 2x4s on the jack stands, only two are being used the other two are just there because you never now, something could slip.

 

[bruue1]

So frame stuff is really kind of boring and dirty too, its impossible to knock all the dirt off, it falls in your face every time you bump the truck .

Lets move on to 12 volt electricity.

If your going to do things cheap and on your own, you can't be spending money on pre-made wires or even pre-made wire terminals. I'm sure a lot of electricians and car audio enthusiasts will be able to pick out a bunch of ways these wires are not quite as great as others but really most of it is just mumbo jumbo imho. What really matters is diameter/resistance. You need to have less resistance in the wire than you have power going through it. Resistance increases as the wire lengthens. Always go bigger than you need, and when using large low volt amperage invest in at least one fuse so you don't blow your batteries or start a fire. Then your safe. Even if one of my home made wires does short a bit, it'll just need to be replaced, but as they are all soldered and terminals are crimped too, I'm never going to have a short.

First lets make some wire terminals and some wire.

 

[bruue1]

For thin wires like 12 gauge and smaller I just twist a loop at the end and solder it down. Then I wrap it up to the loop in electrical tape and I clean the loop up from the heating with a 60grit sandpaper. It works great, is easy and free! When connecting two small gauge wires, just twist and tape, solder too if you want to be super sure.

For larger wire like the 00 gauge I ran for charging a battery bank off the existing truck electrical system your going to need real terminal ends, because you just can't loop wire that thick. Terminal ends usually come in packs of two and each pack is usually sold for about $6 and up. They're just little pieces of metal.

Here's how I made my own for less than a quarter a piece. 1st pic I bought some type L flexible copper tubing about the same interior diameter as the thickness of the copper wire I was running minus the sheathing. 2nd pic I cut a small length and then pounded one end flat. In this pic you can see the bit I'll use to drill the ole. 3rd pick I have drilled a hole in the flat end. 4th pick I fit it onto the end of the copper wire, soldered and crimped it there, then I used electrical tape to help it look nice. I didn't want to pay for "heat shrink".

These two methods are how I made all of my battery connections for this system.

 

[bruue1]

Now I got wire I need to wire it up to my truck and my camper battery bank to that my camper batteries will charge off my truck battery. I'm using a huge, thick wire so the batteries should charge quick. I am going to put a solenoid, also called a battery isolator, also called a relay to make it so my camper batteries will charge off the truck when it is running but not drain the truck battery when the truck is off and the camper is utilizing the battery bank.

There are four posts on the solenoid, two big ones and two small ones, one thick wire runs from the battery to the solenoid, one thick wire from the solenoid to the camper battery bank, that is the two large posts. One of the small posts goes to ground anywhere on your truck frame, body. The other small terminal needs to be put on a circuit that is on when your truck is running. These small posts switch a flip on when my truck begins to run, when my truck shuts off the posts flip that switch off so my camper battery bank cannot draw off my truck battery. Finding this circuit is easy and it is easy to tap into. I just opened my fuse box, found my auxiliary circuit fuse and used a "tap a fuse" or "add a circuit" from O'reilley auto to get a wire coming off of the fuse. This was the part I was most nervous about, once I figured out these "add a fuse's" existed and only cost about $7 I was very relieved, after that everything went smooth. Once my hot wire made it to my camper battery bank, the last part of the system was to ground the battery bank, I did this by going back out the cabinet wall and bolting the wire to my wheel well, which is easy to get to through an access door in my little camper for when I want to remove the camper.

One more thing, I put a 200amp fuse between my truck battery and my camper battery bank, mine is in my camper battery bank cabinet. This fuse will blow if a surge big enough to be dangerous comes down that big fat wire I ran.

First pic solenoid and fuse box (box is only open for pic it closes with the "add a circuit in place".
Second pic wired camper battery bank

Glitchy site or my misuse may have caused the content to post twice, my apologies I wanted to make sure the pics got up here

 

[bruue1]

Now there is power at the battery bank, I'll post some pics of my 2 12v outlets and my mounted digital voltmeter. There is a toggle switch inside the cabinet that can turn the voltmeter off and on in case you don't want the light. The voltmeter itself draws 5 to 20 miliamps so I'm not too worried about its consumption. The battery bank is also wired into the camper lights, they are old and have a considerable draw, I'd like to replace them with new LEDs. When the truck is turned on the voltmeter immediately jumps up to 14.4 (the solenoid has a little resistance from 14.7) but it still takes a few minutes to actually charge the batteries.

Future plans are to mount a big inverter in the battery bank cabinet, run some wire to an outlet box on the outside of the camper incorporating a second voltmeter so I can run power tools off the back of the camper and keep an eye on my charge level. The truck fully charge the batteries in about fifteen minutes or less. The two batteries should give 200+ amp hours but they are old and were retail grade when they were at their best, new batteries would be nice in the future. Someday I'll throw a 12v fridge in this unit too, right now we just got the old Bethany Ice Box. I'd like new cushions, probably cut foam and sew them ourselves. I want to build a sling for the whole camper out of some angle iron and cable so I can use my monorail to pick it up out of the truck bed and set it down on some dollies. I'd like to hang some eyes and winches in the corner of my barn so I can wheel it over there and hoist it up out of the way to the ceiling.

I got future plans but for now I'm calling the unit itself good for now. I might do the slings and the lifts in a few months. Thanks for reading this. I have always enjoyed camping, went with my parents now I go with my kids. I have gotten many ideas for my own rig off of this site and forums like it. This is the only site I am a member, the second thread I have written about this camper on here (see my other). I have really enjoyed reading about all the talented people who have done so many amazing mods and builds. I have found it all inspiring. Thank you expedition portal community.

 

[bob91yj]

Enough of the teaser pics, I'd like to see more of the camper itself.

 

[bruue1]

Thanks for the post. I have another thread called "1997 F150 and a 1978 Bethany Pickupper" or something like that, I forget exactly, I got a bunch of photos on there of the camper while I was shaving a few inches of width off of the bottom box so it could fit in the newer pick up bed. They are really cool and unique campers. I'll post a couple pics of it here too.

I am done messing under the truck now, have put the tires back on and taken it for a drive. It does not sag at all, its like the camper is not even there. Even with the receiver hitch stairs in place and me 230lbs on the bottom step it doesn't even go down 1/2 inch, Here's a pic of the truck out on the road, thing is level and stiff. Drives down the highway nice too, no drifting or anything weird like that, axle must have ended up straight.

 

[bruue1]

Here's some more pics of the camper I took last fall before I put the new springs on. Just to showcase a Bethany Pickupper, it does have two 42inch wide double beds. 4 inches narrower than a standard full. Ice box. 2 burner stove top. Table. Sink. Water reservoir. 200hr battery bank. Furnace. Couple cabinets and a little under bench storage, but its narrow, just to the walls of the pick up bed. These campers are cool and you can get them cheap, finding one in decent shape is the trick. This one came with the owners manual, bill of sale etc... and the canvas looks brand new as do the mattresses, I got it for $800. We think it was a good deal.

 

[escadventure]

Hey Bru, I plan on doing a bit of suspension mod on my 2000 F150 leafs also, so it's interesting to see the results of your choice. I was thinking about a Helwig or Superspring setup. Curious, after the research you did, what details led you to the choice you made?

 

[bruue1]

Hey Esca, I thought a lot about getting some helper springs and I looked at air bags too. There a lot of good reviews about them, especially Hellwig Springs. You'll find a lot of the heavier Hellwig springs require you buy a separate mounting kit too, total usually coming in around $225-$260 depending on specifics.

After reading many reviews I realized most of the positive ones were fairly recent installs and seemed to be by people who usually drove on flat pavement. They said the springs helped when needed but did not stiffen the ride when it was not loaded, which might be significant for a lot of people, it doesn't really matter much to me. They also championed how easy they are to install, which was a big benefit for me as I was hesitant to attack the rusty frame bolts on my pre-existing suspension. (my truck is rusting underneat, more than a little)

The negative reviews were less in number but written by people who are in the country riding dirt roads, or by people who are out trailblazing, or by people who are routinely hauling heavier loads. They say the helper springs do what they are supposed to do but they get loose, move around a little, need to be tightened once in a while and that they have a tendency to rattle on bumpy roads, I even read the ones with the "silent option" still rattle quite a bit if you get your truck vibrating a bit.

I've heard plenty of stories about airbags slipping and/or popping, I wouldn't go that route myself.

Hellwig sets are $225-$260. I know you with my 1997 f150 I could just put light duty F250 leaf springs on, they fit, at Oreilly they cost $220 a piece, I read about heavy duty leaf springs for F150 specifically in some forum on ford trucks being sold out of JC Whitney, I got on their site and found these heavy duty leaf springs for $180 a piece with free shipping. These increase my hauling capacity to 2800lns if I read the description right, and they were made specifically to bolt onto my 1997 F150. There were other companies that also made HD leaf springs for my truck, these ones were cheap and had good reviews and were backed by the guy on the ford truck forum.

I decided to go with new leaf springs because I wanted something that would stay in place once it was bolted into place, I was a little skeptical of the long term performance of the helper springs and because I needed to do something to level my truck out with the camper on it. It was only a little over $100 greater investment, and with my rusty rusty frame bolts the job still only took about 2 hours a side and I was really taking my time. The job was a lot easier than I thought it would be and was very straight forward. I am very glad I went this route and I would suggest anybody else do the same, my truck rides better than new, is perfectly level, carries the camper like nothing and can haul like a HDF250 anytime I need it to now, I got no noise, no bolt on parts to be checking or worrying about while I'm out roadtripping with my wife and kids. Lots of people are happy with helper springs too though, that said, I am very glad I went all the way with it, feels like I got a new truck.

 

[bruue1]

Sorry for the novel on the previous post, I type fast and tend to ramble about myself. :victory:

 

[bruue1]

I got my truck out a little more recently, put new Cooper ATP 265/75/16s on it, gave it a bath, rides real nice. My brakes have been soft, last fall I replaced both front calipers so I though maybe I need to bleed them. Broke the bleeders off my rear wheel cylinders, ended up replacing the rear wheel cylinders, rear brake lines, shoes and drums. Bleed all four out, go to drive it and the pedal is still soft, sometimes I even need to press it twice. With the added weight of the camper and the utility trailer I will be towing this summer this is a big problem for me. Got on Google read about something called a Brake Booster Push Rod, it comes out of your brake booster and pushes into your master cylinder. Many older Ford trucks and cars have soft pedals due to this push rod being adjusted wrongly. I popped my master cylinder off my brake booster and there was the push rod (there is a great you tube video that showed me exactly what to do) I adjusted it and put the thing back together, I did this a few times until I had it right. Now my brake pedal feels like it should. I posted this up here fyi because I hear about a lot of people needlessly replacing boosters and master cylinders etc... when really they just have to adjust this little rod. So now I got a truck that stops.

 

[bruue1]

Only four weeks until we're scheduled to take this rig on its first overnight. My family has a few acres along the Apple River in WI about 40 min from our house, we're gonna go camping and get some work done there the end of April. My son can't stop talking about it. There's a track for four wheeling and a small pond too. I'll take and post some pics. We'll be there often this summer. Can't wait to see how the camper actually works and what little additions/changes will make our life with it easier. We're excited about not having to hang tarps and set up tents every time we go camping this year. We do have on longer trip planned to the North Shore of Superior this summer, see a few waterfalls and stay at some State Parks, who knows maybe we'll make it over to the ORV parks too, if not this summer then another one for sure. We're going to have a lot of fun with this little camper this summer.