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"Willy Mammoth" - Volvo 730 RV Hauler Build


bmzero

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  • 3 months later...

I just realized I haven't updated this thread in a while. Here are some recent additions.

 

New black leather seats (working on adding seat trim):

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Wheel chocks for Smart car.
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10" Dash monitor for camera system:

 

 

I'll be building a new bed for it soon. Drawing it up now.

"Willy Mammoth" - Volvo 730, Sold

Heartland Cyclone 4000 Toy Hauler
T-Minus 26 years and counting to being a full timer.

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Brit Glad to see you and Willy Mammoth at the ECR. It was just to short. Willy looked good. Just keep us posted on the progress. Take care. If you get out this way just let me know. Pat

 

 

The Old Sailor

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Brit Glad to see you and Willy Mammoth at the ECR. It was just to short. Willy looked good. Just keep us posted on the progress. Take care. If you get out this way just let me know. Pat

 

 

The Old Sailor

 

Thanks, I really enjoyed being there and talking with everyone. Hopefully, next year I'll get to stay the whole week.

"Willy Mammoth" - Volvo 730, Sold

Heartland Cyclone 4000 Toy Hauler
T-Minus 26 years and counting to being a full timer.

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  • 3 weeks later...

We made it through another uneventful cross country trip all the way to Moab, UT (from AL).

 

This time, I travelled with the Polaris General on the bed. It almost fit. :lol:

 

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It's a little hard to tell in this photo, but you can see the bed hanging out about 6" to the outside of the cab. The bed on the Geneeal is pretty easy to remove. If I was going to carry the General back there often, I would rig up a system to remove the bed and store it vertically, saving about 6" of length.

 

 

 

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All setup at OK Campground in Moab, ready for a good week of UTV adventure-enering.

 

 

 

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"Willy Mammoth" - Volvo 730, Sold

Heartland Cyclone 4000 Toy Hauler
T-Minus 26 years and counting to being a full timer.

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All setup at OK Campground in Moab, ready for a good week of UTV adventure-enering.

 

 

If that is the cg next to the rodeo arena, I stayed there last year. It was the first time I saw an HDT with Smart and 5er. Owner was a fulltimer registered in SD. He also carried a Honda Nighthawk.

 

Have fun on the trails!!

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If that is the cg next to the rodeo arena, I stayed there last year. It was the first time I saw an HDT with Smart and 5er. Owner was a fulltimer registered in SD. He also carried a Honda Nighthawk.

 

Have fun on the trails!!

 

That's it. Same place. The main area for the Rally on the Rocks event is in the arena, so we're right next door.

"Willy Mammoth" - Volvo 730, Sold

Heartland Cyclone 4000 Toy Hauler
T-Minus 26 years and counting to being a full timer.

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You are killing me with the Orange General!!!!! I am thinking I am gonna have to have one!!!! My bank account is not happy with you!!! LOL Great looking rig!!!

 

Ha ha. Good to hear. The General is #1 on my all time best UTV list. You won't be disappointed.

"Willy Mammoth" - Volvo 730, Sold

Heartland Cyclone 4000 Toy Hauler
T-Minus 26 years and counting to being a full timer.

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Brit Do you ever stay at home? We are going to Va Beach fri for a rally of the RV dealer we got the 5er from (18 miles) then on to Williamsburg for a week (55 miles). Not far but away from the house. We were in Moab in 95 but not that far west since then. Have a great time and keep us posted. Pat

 

 

The Old Sailor

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Brit Do you ever stay at home? We are going to Va Beach fri for a rally of the RV dealer we got the 5er from (18 miles) then on to Williamsburg for a week (55 miles). Not far but away from the house. We were in Moab in 95 but not that far west since then. Have a great time and keep us posted.

 

Every now and then I have to touch base at home, but I would prefer to just have the family with me out on the road. Hopefully this summer we'll be able to take our month long road trip to CA and back. Should be good.

"Willy Mammoth" - Volvo 730, Sold

Heartland Cyclone 4000 Toy Hauler
T-Minus 26 years and counting to being a full timer.

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BM i've been trying to figure a way to get the spyder on the back of my truck without using ramps. Came across jet ski pivoting dock lifts. I think if you drive it on the lift facing the back of the truck. Then lift it swing it 180% it would be facing the front. I'm making some very crude sketch and doing some measuring but i believe it would work in my situation. You seem to have considerable building expertise any thoughts? American Muscle Docks &Fabrication is close to what i'm thinking.

2011 CAN-AM Spyder Rt SE5, 2010 Alpine 5th wheel, 1998 Vovlo VNL610

Hopefully 2 years 6 month till full time retirement.

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BM i've been trying to figure a way to get the spyder on the back of my truck without using ramps. Came across jet ski pivoting dock lifts. I think if you drive it on the lift facing the back of the truck. Then lift it swing it 180% it would be facing the front. I'm making some very crude sketch and doing some measuring but i believe it would work in my situation. You seem to have considerable building expertise any thoughts? American Muscle Docks &Fabrication is close to what i'm thinking.

 

I'm sorry I missed this earlier. For some reason, this site is not sending me notifications of replies. Must be something with the transition to the new server.

 

Out of curiosity. What are the reasons for not wanting to use ramps? You can message me here if that's easier or email at brit.mansell@octanemedia.com.

"Willy Mammoth" - Volvo 730, Sold

Heartland Cyclone 4000 Toy Hauler
T-Minus 26 years and counting to being a full timer.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm sorry, a little off topic, but I thought a true off roader would enjoy this. Problem being it won't fit on my Smart Bed.

https://youtu.be/l0CtwwaCNvs

Yeah, those things are pretty awesome. I read somewhere they're relatively cheap, too. There's not much to them.

"Willy Mammoth" - Volvo 730, Sold

Heartland Cyclone 4000 Toy Hauler
T-Minus 26 years and counting to being a full timer.

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Yeah, those things are pretty awesome. I read somewhere they're relatively cheap, too. There's not much to them.

Have to wonder how they do going up/down steep hills.

Planning Nanook version 2.0

Nanook "When we made ready to depart, after a few days, Nanook was beside himself with joy. Hudson Stuck

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Yeah, those things are pretty awesome. I read somewhere they're relatively cheap, too. There's not much to them.

Have to wonder how they do going up/down steep hills.

Planning Nanook version 2.0

Nanook "When we made ready to depart, after a few days, Nanook was beside himself with joy. Hudson Stuck

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I need to post another major update to this truck. I'm not sure if I have mentioned it in this particular thread, but I have been chasing a vibration in this truck literally from the first test drive. It's not a huge vibration, but it gets the best of my A.D.D. and literally drives me crazy when it does vibrates. It is mainly between 45 and 50 MPH, so at highway speeds it isn't noticeable. I have spent, literally, thousands of dollars chasing it around the truck. The good news is, almost everything in the suspension is new now. ;-) The bad news, I didn't find the vibration. When I first drove the truck, I thought it was the front tires. After pulling them three different times (three different shops) and having them balanced and inspected, I finally gave up and decided it wasn't the tires. After fixing or inspecting absolutely everything else that it could be, I decided to gamble on the front tires. Friday, I replaced two Yokamaha steers that had about 80% tread with two new Bridgstone Ecopia tires. Wow, I cannot believe what a difference that made in this truck. 100% of the vibration is gone and the ride quality is substantially improved, more so than I would have ever thought.

 

After removing the tires from the wheels, the cause of the vibration was evident. There was a pretty bad spot on the inside of one of the tires, even though the tread was very good.

 

It's like driving a new truck now!

 

Another update - after the trip to Moab, I received the "Check Fuel Filter" message (and experienced the long start again), almost immediately after hooking the trailer up to the truck. After taking it back to Volvo and going round and round with them, they replace two fuel valves in the head. Apparently that was the problem all along. It runs like a new truck and got over 17MPG (cruise set on 65 MPH, over about 30 miles on the interstate) on our dinner test trip last night.

 

 

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I'm falling in love with this truck all over again.

"Willy Mammoth" - Volvo 730, Sold

Heartland Cyclone 4000 Toy Hauler
T-Minus 26 years and counting to being a full timer.

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Glad you got somewhere--I didn't think you were feeling the vibration in the steering wheel though. Maybe you had more than one source of vibration, and all those other fixes were justified.

 

And for the record, when I first looked at your picture, the bottom left corner of the display caught my attention. :P That and how much higher oil pressure the Volvos run--the ISX runs closer to 40 psi.

 

My fuel economy record over that kind of distance is almost 40 mpg, but it was mostly downhill into Laughlin. The computer was telling me I was good to go for 700 miles on 16 gallons of fuel--little did it know that the Davis Dam Grade (which is the one in the SAE towing standard) was right around the corner. Those 11 miles (climbing 3,000 feet) consumed almost 7 gallons. I'd be happy with eight again.

45' 2004 Showhauler -- VNL300, ISX, FreedomLine -- RVnerds.com -- where I've started to write about what I'm up to

Headlight and Fog Light Upgrades http://deepspacelighting.com

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I also have been chasing a vibration in my 610, have rebuilt front end, as in new springs, bushings, shocks, new rear air springs, new spring, new tongue leif, complete front and rear alignment, new rear tires, witch help some, Centramatic wheel balancers, and a complete drive line rebuild including new center bearing, 3 joints, and ballance, still got a vibration between 60 and 70, have also replace all brakes and drums, so I am going to change the front new tires to see if it is gone.

 

I am going nuts chasing this.

 

Roger

GCTaaehl.jpg

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I also have been chasing a vibration in my 610, have rebuilt front end, as in new springs, bushings, shocks, new rear air springs, new spring, new tongue leif, complete front and rear alignment, new rear tires, witch help some, Centramatic wheel balancers, and a complete drive line rebuild including new center bearing, 3 joints, and ballance, still got a vibration between 60 and 70, have also replace all brakes and drums, so I am going to change the front new tires to see if it is gone.

 

I am going nuts chasing this.

 

Roger

I did almost the exact same work, mine being a little different due to mine being air ride front, but nonetheless, the steer tires were the culprit the whole time. I do suspect I was getting vibration from some of the other components, though.

"Willy Mammoth" - Volvo 730, Sold

Heartland Cyclone 4000 Toy Hauler
T-Minus 26 years and counting to being a full timer.

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