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The logical fabrication starting point would be the shower/tub expansion on the drivers side rear of the M109a3. The expansion would also carry/support our inverter portion of the heater/air conditioner.
Starting the tack up with my Lincoln Electric 3200 weld/pac burning .030 flux core. I quickly became displeased with the quality of my welds. So I ordered a Miller Multimatic 200 mig/tig/stick inverter welder, welding the frame with C25 argon/co2 mix .030 wire. My wife wanted a better...
Off to buy Steel
With the M109a3 stripped down to the frame from the inside, and completing a inspection of the original frame build and its years of use. We decided to beef up the internal structure by building the walls and cabinets out of steel tubing. We planned on welding a hidden roll...
Because of mold issues of the previous trip we decided to strip it down extracting all the fiberglass insulation and to check the integrity of the box. I have to say that ripping out the insulation was a major pain.
First we had to get the shop up to a working temp. Move out of the m931a2 into a RV behind the shop. Then it was time to rip out m109a3’s current interior and decided how deep we were going to get into this remodel.
Coming back to the shop in February, we spent more time cutting wood to burn with -40 below nights then working on the project. The shop can burn up to 20 cords of wood during the winter season, this season being rougher then many. Plus the fact that we had been gone for almost a year, tons of...
After spending ten months and 20,000 miles on the road in our m931a2 with a m109a3 shop van piggybacking on its back, we have come back to our shop in Philipsburg, Mt. to build a true expedition vehicle. The family learned a lot living full time in a military truck, having the time of our lives...
Thanks......Yes we are all healthy and enjoying stretching out with all the space we have at the shop. Fixing up the m109 box correctly was always in our plans. Ten months on the road has given us extreme confidents that the money/time spent on our new build will produce a good results based on...
Sorry we have many stories to share of our 20,000 mile 10 month trip. December thru January we started noticing rapid mold growth inside the radio box because of the Oregon seasonal rain. We decided to drive to the Black Rock Desert to dry out then at the last moment headed to Reno. With sunny...