PEASHOOTER's M109A3 CAMPER Build Thread

I had some braided stainless brake lines made up (for next year's brake overhaul). They turned out nice, if anyone is interested PM me or check the classifieds as I'll put them up for sale there also. Apparently our trucks use some larger fittings that arent super common so not always stocked at places that make the brake hoses so often times they would reuse old fittings. I just had a to wait a couple days for them to get all the correct size fittings in and so the hoses are made with 100% new components. They also have a dark smoke jacketing that goes over the SS braiding to protect it more, give it a more military non reflective look, and it also contains the DOT approval info.

The trailer and Cargo Box cover has been a bit of a pain to put stuff in since I've just been throwing it on the floor and there isnt a way to tie anything down inside the CBC. I decided to get some 2x4's and started making a wood frame and shelving inside the cargo box so I could get a few more levels to put stuff on and have a place to strap it down to. I had some rubber feet that I screwed into the bottoms, sides, and corners of everything so that the frame is in the box tightly but not rubbing against the fiberglass sides plus it sits off the floor an inch incase its wet inside. I decided I'll probably try to find some cheap pop open trailer vents to put on the top front and top back of the roof in the slanted areas.

Here is the fuel line/hose from the primary fuel filter to the injector pump that I am going to replace with a 1 piece hose. Currently its a long section of copper tube that is crushed in a couple spots, its then connected to a 12" rotted rubber hose section that finally connects to the Injector pump lift pump (which then sends the fuel to the secondary filter then back to the injector pump).
I bought 10' of stainless steel braided teflon line (enough to make 2 full hoses) and 10' of the rubber hose which is the same material/connection that the shorter 12" hose currently is. I wasnt sure which material would work best which is why I got both to try out. Advantages to the SS braided line are that it will probably age better, and I expect will be more robust in general, the potential downside is that it has a smaller 5/16" ID and a larger bend radius that might be a problem for winch trucks.
The Rubber hose version is cheaper, way easier to assemble, has a 3/8" ID and a tighter bend radius that will definately work for winch trucks. I'm going to try the SS braided line first and if it works I'll just stick with that. I'll report back with how things work once I get to it.

peashooter said:

Also as an FYI, napa still has some USA made brake wheel cylinder rebuild kits available. I suspect they won't be around much longer though since I don't think there are any brake parts still manufactured in the usa for our trucks. I think the part number from napa is up45. (I don't have any problem with foreign mfg since I am a capitalist, but anyone who has put axle boots, brake hoses, or any other rubber parts that were Asian made will understand why you want USA made parts in those instances.... The Asian replacements only last a year or 2 before rotting away)

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The local NAPAs didn't have the wheel cylinder kits so I ordered them from them on the internet and it took over a month for them to ship them so that didn't look good.

peashooter said:

I had some braided stainless brake lines made up (for next year's brake overhaul). They turned out nice, if anyone is interested PM me or check the classifieds as I'll put them up for sale there also. Apparently our trucks use some larger fittings that arent super common so not always stocked at places that make the brake hoses so often times they would reuse old fittings. I just had a to wait a couple days for them to get all the correct size fittings in and so the hoses are made with 100% new components. They also have a dark smoke jacketing that goes over the SS braiding to protect it more, give it a more military non reflective look, and it also contains the DOT approval info.

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Looking good! Those were a very big piece of mind when I put them on my 109. I take it up in the Sierra Nevada's for camping and have to drive down that really long grade coming back from the Lake Tahoe area, so I got the best lines I could.

Clay James said:

The local NAPAs didn't have the wheel cylinder kits so I ordered them from them on the internet and it took over a month for them to ship them so that didn't look good.

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yes...the end of these USA kits may be near. I know I called napa and they got them for me in a couple days from the "warehouse" which ended up being 3 different warehouses, so perhaps this is getting down to the last of them. I bought some New old stock wheel cylinders off ebay from "checkerboardfarms" or something I think. They are USA made but I think they were made in '86 if Im reading the casting numbers right.
So I was able to "build" new USA made wheel cylinders for the price of the new chinese ones, but just had to buy old stock cylinders and new USA made Napa UP45 rebuild kits (to make sure that the rubber parts are new and fresh. I thought about rebuilding the existing cylinders, but I already rebuilt one leaking one and it wasnt too bad but it did have some scoring on the piston inside which appeared to be aluminum. I suppose the piston can be scratched without causing leaks but it took some wet sanding work to smooth it out enough so the piston would feel smooth & free again inside the wheel cylinder bore.
The chinese cylinders actually looked pretty good (I've had a couple before I returned them). The only things I didnt like besides the fact that the rubber would probably evaporate in a year was that the bleeder screws were now metric, and I've read that some of the machined threads arent square where the banjo fittings screw into the cylinder so then they end up leaking at that joint.

Thanks for the info on the wheel cylinders and other info, especially peashooter (seems to be an engineer). He's obviously resourceful and puts quite a bit of time into keeping his truck in great shape. I haven't had my truck long enough to get around to much of this, so he's a ways ahead of me.

On the brake lines, I would like to replace them someday, but it is some time out.

On the NAPA UP45 wheel cylinder kits. I find that special ordering anything anywhere is often ... well ... shows they have room for improvement. I had them order the gasket for the jatonka spin-on oil filter kits (I had a light leak and wanted them just in case tightening the filter didn't fix it) and it took a couple visits and figuring out how to steer them along to find it in their system. I don't know if it is fair to say that this is an indication of future availability. They may just be juggling their supplies and warehouse stock levels in various locations. I would imagine that if demand keeps up they will continue to carry them.

According to Erik's the Newstarr ones are USA made but they have the incorrect springs even though the picture shows the correct one. It's just the plain ended springs vs. the shouldered ones. I guess it's not a big deal because even the military kits used the plain ended springs but they SHOULD have the shouldered ones to help hold the piston cup out to minimize leaking.

I talked to a couple sellers of newstar parts and they said the most recent shipments of the newstar brake parts have been from Taiwan. Prior to that many of the wheel cylinders and rebuild kits were USA made (as of last year, early this year even). I know on ebay many folks had them listed as USA made still but after I asked them to verify they realised that they werent USA made anymore. I have a wheel cylinder and rebuild kit from Eriks that I bought about 2 months ago and they are from taiwan. I'm sure Napa will always sell these cylinders and rebuild kits but I think they must be running out of the inventory they have left of the USA made rebuild kits. They have already run out of the usa made wheel cylinders as have everyone else it appears.
The taiwanese rebuild kits and cylinders I got from Eriks did have springs that had a cupped metal stamping on the ends to help minimize the leaking like Clay James mentioned is more common with the straight springs.

Where did you find the hatch/door for your "Awning Support Storage"???

I'll be in for a fuel line when you work out the details.

JimmyThompson said:

Where did you find the hatch/door for your "Awning Support Storage"???

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I tried hard to find something that would fit but never had any luck, so I machined this one out of aluminum

peashooter said:

I tried hard to find something that would fit but never had any luck, so I machined this one out of aluminum

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You da' man!

Your truck looks AWESOME!! When I win the lotto, you wanna sell it?

Just name your price!!

Truly an amazing project and your attention to detail is unsurpassed. You definitely with the most "stuff" award for 109's.

peashooter said:

... and there isn't a way to tie anything down inside the CBC...

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MIND THE MESS, my truck is a work in progress as I'm working in the field with my truck In the corners of the CBC there are the bolts coming through from the roof from the topside Ring Pick Up points. I grabbed some Harbor Freight tie downs, drilled one of the holes a little larger. Now I had anchor points without have to drill new holes. I did the same thing where the bolts come through the sides securing the CBC to the trailer. I used a Wal-Mart yellow chain between the new anchor points and now I can hang most of the things I need on a regular basic without having to dig through my bins. I picked up some Harbor Freight wrench rings and hang most of my tools this way now. I ordered a commercial grade wire meshed shelving system (GREEN) from Wal-Mart and had it shipped to the closest Wal-Mart for free. It fits perfect, I drive regularly though some rough terrain and the shelf NEVER MOVES. I was worried that the chain might rub against the fiberglass and make some wear marks, but 6 months later we're still good. Originally I had wanted to use some E Track, which I picked up (Green) from Napa. I couldn't start drilling holes everywhere to mount it so then I went with the shelving idea which has worked out great for me, in my situation. -Ray

AWESOME!!! Great pic quality and some neat ideas I may have to "borrow" when my day comes!

Just like the M109 being a big green oven, this Cargo Box Cover (CBC) on the 105 trailer gets blazin hot inside too. I decided to add some vents to the slanted areas on the top front and back. I got 4 aluminum "pop up" vents from ebay they were new take outs so they just had a couple scratches on them. I was going to use 2 on the front and 2 on the back but then decided that the ones in the back would probably let water in if I left them open like I planned on.
So for the back vents I purchased some of these metal galvanized & powder coated units from Orr&Orr. I dont love the look of them but they matched what I was after:
-Metal
-wouldnt let rain in ever (has internal baffles and drains)
-Could be opened or closed from inside

I dont have the rear vents actually installed yet (just put them up there for the picture). I'm using Vulkem Caulking and aluminum flange rivets for attaching it all. At some point probably next year, I will Herculiner the roof and the vent flanges like I did to the trucks roof in post 4&13.

Well its been a while since I updated anything. I have been doing some work however so the next couple posts should show some of whats been happening.

Back in post 25, I mentioned I would be building a waste motor oil filter setup out of the deuce's old filters since I changed them to spin-ons.

When I bought my deuce 2 years ago, I decided to start saving my used oil. I was given a clean 55g drum from work and keep all my old oil from oil changes in my cars and deuce (I didn’t keep any gear lube). I've now filled the drum and figured I better get the filter setup finished so I can keep saving/using my wmo.

I was given a new pump motor and then I purchased a pump for it from ebay. I also bought a couple fittings, new funnel with lid and screen, and a fuel nozzle (just for fun). Everything else is scrap parts I had or found. I have less than $100 into this system as it sits now. I replaced all the filters on my truck with spin-on units, and the guy I bought my truck from gave me several new sets of baldwin fuel filters for the stock system which I can use on this setup for now.

So this WMO filter system is basically just the Deuces 3 Stock fuel filters and at the end is another napa/wix 4770 base and Baldwin BF7587 (2 micron) filter. I've test run it and it works well, I plumbed it so the bypass of the secondary filter will go back into the pump to recirculate if pressure gets too high. The pump also has an adjustable bypass on it. So far all the gauges read about 8-10 psi when running.
I've also put a large magnet on the bottom of the drum in hopes that it keeps as much metal from making its way through the pump & filters and into my deuce's fuel tank.

The Final 2 micron filter was a recent add on so eventually I'll rearrange everything on the mounting panel so that filter isnt hanging off the side like it now is.

I also found a source for some more affordable large bore gauge chucks and inflator gauges so I modified the GLAD HAND air hose setup that came with my truck so it now has a large bore inflator gauge on the end of it (No pictures of the finished glad hand system, but the last 2 pics are of the large bore inflator gauge).

Member SEWERZUK was telling me about his way/plan of airing up tires using a manifold system so he can air them all or multiple tires up at the same time and have even pressure on them. I thought it was a great idea so I built my own as well. The one I made will do up to 4 wheels at a time. I just set the regulator for the pressure I want the tires at and then hook up the lock-on air chucks to each wheel I want set and it will air them up or down to the pressure I set it at. The tires all even out to the same identical pressure too since its a shared manifold.
Since it can take forever to change the tire pressure on tires this big, its nice to just be able to walk away and come back whenever you want and they are all where they should be at that point.