Camper M109 - Spacial Transformations style

Some of our "soon to be" mods


Part of why we bought these rims was the concept that we/ she would be able to change a tire w/o changing the rim . . . for those rare tire shredding situations
So we mounted the first one w/ that in mind. First we had to mount the rim so that it would stay still while we loosened the nuts holding it together. Started w/ one person in the truck holding the brake while the other did the loosening. We ended up using a m`cycle jack to hold the rim from turning. We know that this will not be an issue when it already has a tire mounted.
After splitting the two pieces apart we mounted the valve stem, soaped the rim w/ soapy water and shoved on the tire. We then added the O-ring.
It took a bit of work to get the other part of the rim to line up right . . . but when it did we were able to get a couple of nuts on the bolts. We tightened a few of them in a star pattern just enough to pull the rims pieces together straight. Then it was tighten them all, fire up the truck, and hook up the air line.
We watched as the tire moved against the rim, all the while spaying soapy water around it on both sides.


70 PSI and two days later it's still the same.
Now it looks like this, and we know that we can do it in the field.
Only 5 more to go

LowTech said:

Thanks, The camo paint job, jobs really as most of our compound has that 4 color desert MERDC, is from the Military. Do have this paint by number sheet, it might help.
I've been watching your builds as well . . . but your EYE kind of creeps me out

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That is the all seeing eye. Besides its the only eye i got that works lol Anyways thank u for the paint by numbers deal. The oddball express II will certainly be painted same way

Im lucky to get my girl to fuel her own vehicle let alone change a tire. wow im impressed!!!

The amount of rubber on the road now is crazy... but looks GREAT!

+1 for her too!!

nice work please post more phots of the projects progress

ODDBALL007 said:

with a picture like that u better have a hundred girls ...

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Face it Oddball,,, you know im fugly. But you are still coming to my shop tomorrow so I cant be all that bad. lol

remind me tomorrow to bring my laptop and I will show you the a/c ideas.

Also remind me to show you my camper ideas I had on my 109.

ODDBALL007 said:

That is the all seeing eye. Besides its the only eye i got that works lol Anyways thank u for the paint by numbers deal. The oddball express II will certainly be painted same way

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I (eye) did that path for awhile. Took about 20 years before I could see in 3D again.
So I can relate to that kind of world. (that is if you are serious)

A/C Cages said:

Im lucky to get my girl to fuel her own vehicle let alone change a tire. wow im impressed!!!

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It deff was a joint venture . . . she didn't do it all herself. BUT, she COULD do it herself if she was in the no-mans land. She could also tell some one that stopped to help HOW they could help.

scottjhl said:

The amount of rubber on the road now is crazy... but looks GREAT!

+1 for her too!!

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It's not really about the amount of rubber on the road, it's about the amount of rubber on the NON- road. And it's even more about the fact that she/ we can "easily" dis-assemble the rims. It's also about the fact that they are tube-less. We could have a nail in every tire, pull them out and jamb some plugs in, air up, and head to a service place for real repairs.

We did one more wheel/ tire mounting on a rear axle, much easier because we didn't have to stop the wheel from turning as we removed the 16 nuts holding it together.


That weekend we had a bit of a party and some friends helped us mount all the rest in one afternoon.
This is how it looked inflating. We did NOT pull the valve core because it would have taken way too long to get it back in w/ the angle and position of the valve stem.


On a couple of the wheels/ tires I used a hand sledge on the middle of the tread (while inflating) to get the sides to move out enough to stop leaking air faster than we could get it in.

The wheel w/o the outer half in place, and the tools that we used (including a spray bottle w/ soapy water & "helper" pipe that lives on the front bumper).


How she looks now.

Some of the last mods before the trip,
Added another fill, w/ valves, to the potable water tanks. Now each tank has it's own fill and vent line.
We also moved the "cheater bar", it was getting in the way of walking on the bumper to check fluids.


She then added some no-slip stuff,


And, the pride & joy, a fold down porch mounted to the M105. When we traveled w/ the trailer behind her truck before we discovered that you can't use the ladder when the trailer is connected. You have to walk on the hoses and landing gear to get up or down. So this was the fix.

Very clever way to get in and out with a trailer attached. I like it. Might just have to do something like that for my unit. Very well done.

cool idea!!

The truck turned out great. I love the picture of the Dunes in your 2010 galery.

good idea on solving the problem of getting in and out of the van while the trailer is hooked....

Magneto - have seen some photos of your rig as well, . . . very sweet. Had to send them to my HAM buddy.

Been a while since I've done any real work on the "She Beast", but that is because we use it so much All that usage is in "Dirt Track Travels"
There are somethings in the works though

Here's some of where we've been this past winter,

Mmmm... i love it out there. U, my man, have the life!

Out standing ! ! !

Looking good, the tires really set it off as a hole, and I may use that m105 back porch idea there with the m129a2c super camper.

Like your setup and liked seeing your trip to the Black Rock Desert. I'm planning on going to the same places went to out there(just google earthed around and found it). It's cool someone else with a M109A3 and hard-top M105A2 is doing this too.