Suzuki Samurai Custom Camper Build

[Ford Prefect]

How concerned are you with these things tipping?

I mean they REALLY like to take naps on the trails, but a softy, or a tin top is not that big of a deal to right, that thing would be hard to right and cause a lot of damage to the structure if it flopped. (In my uneducated opinion) Am I wrong?

Would it be feasible to put on some YJ/TJ axles to give you a wider stance on the road thereby increasing your stability on the road and in the corners?

Really looking forward to seeing how this turns out on the inside! IT is a SUPER idea in my mind, I hope this works out REALLY well for you!

[zukrider]

no need for axles, just use 15x8 wheels with 2.5" back space. they really arent that hard to keep upright. his will obviously be easier, but he has also stated that this really wont be wheeling. just overlanding!

[trackhead]

How concerned are you with these things tipping?

I have no interest in wheeling, especially with my wife and kid on board, which is what this was designed for. I sold my motorhome and proceeded with this project so I could take my wife/kid places I go on my moto. Wheeling bores me to tears, and I'd rather be flying along with 12" of travel on my KTM. I also have no intentions of racing around corners and all that, slow and steady, I'll be fine. Ultimately, it will have an external roll cage of sorts to protect it, in the event of the worst happening.

Got the 4.16 gears in last week. Tested them this week, and they seem to work fine. 4-Low is a little abrupt if you're not careful with the clutch, but everything works fine.

Finishing up the interior this week when the kid is knapping. Still have to put in shelves, stove, sink, water tank. I'll probably wait to do that until later, as I want to do the suspension next week.

Alex posing in his rig. The floor splits just ahead of him, opening in two places. There will be storage and a water tank below him with about a 10" depth.


I had some left over Pergo flooring, so I used it in the Samurai. Welcome to the ghetto, wall to wall carpet baby.


Porta-potty. No reason to leave toilet paper all over the Utah desert.


Day couch.


Water tank will eventually go under the floor with some tools, etc.


Yeah, it's not an XPVJ whatever, but I'll have less than $5,000 in to it by the time I'm done(including price of vehicle). And yeah, it won't go 75mph down the highway, but it will go anywhere else I need it to, and I won't be sending my hard earned money to the bank.

[Jnich77]

but it will go anywhere else I need it to, and I won't be sending my hard earned money to the bank.

Thats all that matters man!!!

[Ford Prefect]

Sorry if I came off hard, that was not the intent. I just mean that I assume you are going to go on forest roads and such, and I have been on a few that were tippy, or at least they would be with a tall narrow vehicle.

So how do you plan to bolt down the car seat? Just right in the middle of the floor, I assume??

Looking forward to interior shots of the progress!

OH, and hey, where in Utah do you live?

Regards,

[trackhead]

Sorry if I came off hard, that was not the intent.

I didn't take it that way. After all the "Samurai Roll Over" fears of the 80's, I expect a few questions about that

Yeah, forest roads, White Rim, The Maze, Book Cliffs, Uintas, west desert, that kind of stuff.

Car seat: I have two pieces of square tubular steel that I laid in the bed (bolted/glassed in) when I built it.

Going down to Low Range to pick up the suspension stuff today. Hopefully I'll finish that up next week and tie up loose ends. I'm going to our cabin in Bear Lake for a week in October, and I'd like to take it up their to put around in and sort things out. I'll finish the pop up at some point. The goal was to use it for a trip this October, but the new kid slowed that down. Now it's a goal of a ten day trip in March.

[gahi]

Some stuff to think about for the car seat, I recently went through adapting my truck so all 3 of us could travel in it.

Originally I thought build a platform that the seat attaches to out of tubing. Then I mocked that up and came to the conclusion that all the vibrations of the truck would go right into the car seat. And with very little padding in the car seat I think the kid would get miserable fast. When a car seat is setup in a normal way, the car's real seats absorb most of the shock and vibration.

So I scrapped my original plan and adapted my original center seat cushions to work on a new frame. I think design at least 3" of firmish foam in between the frame and the car seat.

[trackhead]

Some stuff to think about for the car seat, I recently went through adapting my truck so all 3 of us could travel in it.

Originally I thought build a platform that the seat attaches to out of tubing. Then I mocked that up and came to the conclusion that all the vibrations of the truck would go right into the car seat. And with very little padding in the car seat I think the kid would get miserable fast. When a car seat is setup in a normal way, the car's real seats absorb most of the shock and vibration.

So I scrapped my original plan and adapted my original center seat cushions to work on a new frame. I think design at least 3" of firmish foam in between the frame and the car seat.

Great tips, I hadn't thought of that at all. Thanks!

[trackhead]

Took a trip down to Low Range Offroad and picked up some goodies.


Plenty of Suzuki's in the parking lot.

[Ford Prefect]

If you check out various sami forums, and even jeepforum.com you can find some threads on how to chop a YJ fold and tumble rear seat in half!

ALSO you can find old FJ40 single fold and tumble rear seats. I think that would be the best way to go for you. They fold right up out of the way, but still give you the DOT approved seat for the car seat to be on... If you do not mind my mentioning it.

Low Range is just a few miles from my house, nice little store they have there.