M109 camper conversion

At the Ga Rally the wife and I slept in a tent, after a couple nights we thought we need to do something different for next year, we got to looking at all the different vehicles and trailers and at first we thought hey we could mod a 105 trailer into a small camper, then someone told us about someone that had turned a 109 into a camper and we went over and took a look at it and thought wow this is perfect now we need a 109. Well one night while standing around the campfire talking about it, Neil came up to us and said he may know someone who had one that they needed to get rid of and introdused us to chris and stef (Sevo). They told us about the conversion they started as seen in M109 trailer Conversion thread, Well we bought it from them and have started the rest of the disassembly. we will be trying to sell the stuff we don't need off of it first to make the money we need to finish it and i will use this thread to post updates as they happen. So if there is anything anyone needs off of it PM me with what and an offer and we will see if we can make a deal.

PM sent

good luck guys, hope to see the finished project at next years GA rally.

So far we have removed the front axle, cab, and tool box. Sevo removed the fenders, hood,and grill for me. here are pics of what we have done so far. a few from the recovery and a few of the disassembly.

a few more

salafrae said:

good luck guys, hope to see the finished project at next years GA rally.

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we are going to try our hardest to get it done by then, oh and we will be continueing with the blue camo on it!

mdmorgan said:

we are going to try our hardest to get it done by then, oh and we will be continueing with the blue camo on it!

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really?! I -love- that. every time i see blue camo i think of you guys.

I am sure it will turn out great guys. Have you thought any more about the Brakes?? I showed you how to hook the air from the towing truck to the towed truck to have brakes at the Rally. Sitting here thinking about it now I realize you are going to have to leave the Master cylinder on the frame for the system to work. These brakes are air assisted hydralic brakes so you have to have a reservoir for the fluid. The entire system that is left will have to be leakfree to maintain fluid. You won't need the petal but will have to build one of the power bleeders that have been discussed to bleed the system. Once the system is bleed out and you have no leaks then just hook up the gladhand to the Duece and you will have great brakes. I would definatly use silicon brake fluid in the 109 camper as it will not mix with water and the system will not deterioat as rapidly from lack of use as it would with DOT 3.

poppop said:

I am sure it will turn out great guys. Have you thought any more about the Brakes?? I showed you how to hook the air from the towing truck to the towed truck to have brakes at the Rally. Sitting here thinking about it now I realize you are going to have to leave the Master cylinder on the frame for the system to work. These brakes are air assisted hydralic brakes so you have to have a reservoir for the fluid. The entire system that is left will have to be leakfree to maintain fluid. You won't need the petal but will have to build one of the power bleeders that have been discussed to bleed the system. Once the system is bleed out and you have no leaks then just hook up the gladhand to the Duece and you will have great brakes. I would definatly use silicon brake fluid in the 109 camper as it will not mix with water and the system will not deterioat as rapidly from lack of use as it would with DOT 3.

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i was looking at that the other day i belive i can make it work, and with the help and info i can get from everybody here i know i can.

Just a thought mdmorgan...are you going to pull the axles and cap off to reduce the drag?

papabear said:

Just a thought mdmorgan...are you going to pull the axles and cap off to reduce the drag?

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i will be pulling all 4 axles and the diffs out of both rear axles and making block off plates for the openings.

I`m glad to see you got it. I`m sure you will fix it up nice and you sure helped Chris out. You`ll have plenty of time before next year. Can`t wait to see it . Let me know if there are any ideas or help I can send you,

Neil

looks like you`re moving right along . I used a grinder , drill and the easiest way i found to cut the rivits was a good chisel and a big hammer. I wished i`d tried it much sooner.

4x Rivet gun w/ chisel set even the big rivets through the suspension took just a min or 2 to cut off.

you could allways use the the brake set up off of a M105 instead of the original brakes.

Vinny

vinny-socom1 said:

you could allways use the the brake set up off of a M105 instead of the original brakes.

Vinny

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why would i swap a smaller brake system into a larger vehicle?

That looks like it's going to be an awesome camper project, and I too liked the blue camo at the GA rally. I can't wait to see the progress and the finished project at the next rally.

mdmorgan said:

why would i swap a smaller brake system into a larger vehicle?

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The 6 ton expandible semi trailers have a rear suspension almost identcal to a deuce sans drie axles. They use 2 M105 brake systems controlled by one relay valve. It gives very adequate braking and as a fail safe, each axle brake system is isolated.

Kenny, are you talking swapping axles or just The actuating systems?? You could hook the air diaphram to the existing Duece master cylinder and then plumb the emergency line to the tanks on the 109. Then it would be just like pushing the petal with your foot, but you still would not have split brakes. The 105's don't have an airpac, so would the 105 system have as much braking power as the Duece system?? I can see the advantage of doing away with the airpac if the brakes are just as good.

Mdmorgan, if you do away with the airpac I would be interested in buying it if it works or is rebuildable and you don't want it.