The "need" for 4 wheel drive is highly over rated.
I did a lot of road service for a John Deere dealer. we had a Chevy van with Goodyear Wrangler tires. You should see where I went with it. Loggers tend to be a ways of the highway.
An old fashioned Ice box will stay cold for quite some time.
In reply to Bobzilla:
IIRC that thing is still for sale. I think he mentions 3mpg on dirt and 4 highway if i remember also!
Thanks to this thread, and some ideas for old box trucks, I looked closer at one- IMHO, that's a pretty major overbuild waste for a RV. The chassis that the box sits on is REALLY massive, relative to what an RV does.
Unless you are planning to carry a car, a former accessible 14-17 passenger van seems like a better option. Ramp and storage for your toys, standing room to walk around it, cheap, etc.
(this isn't about the 4x4 thing- I've never seen a box truck that was anything other than a 2wd dually.)
old box trucks -ARE- overbuilt.. sorta. While the chassis beams are substantial to hold the load, they also tend to "twist" some. I am not sure of this is on purpose or not.
You also do not need a big 24 foot box.. a 12 or 14 footer would work wonders. Those are much lighter built than the bigger trucks
In reply to java230:
Are you talking about this one? Old thread but no sign that it ever sold. Is this technically enough of a house to get a mortgage on?
In reply to mad_machine:
I also seem to appreciate how much lower the passenger vans are. Not so much bulk really high up.
In reply to alfadriver:
What I would really like to get is a small crew cab 4wd International. Some of the towns by me have them with stake bodies that would be good for holding a small Airstream trailer on the back. With a set of floatation tires it should be fine for taking out on the beach.
In reply to Wall-e:
All I can think of with that description is an IHI truck. Do you have a picture?
And do you mean putting the airstream on the truck chassis? That's an interesting idea... hmm...
Like this but with a the camper mounted in place of the flatbed.
alfadriver wrote: In reply to Wall-e: All I can think of with that description is an IHI truck. Do you have a picture? And do you mean putting the airstream on the truck chassis? That's an interesting idea... hmm...
I think he means these:
In reply to ¯_(ツ)_/¯:
yep thats the one. Mortgage sounds about right. It even has a garage.
In reply to Bobzilla:
That's what I was talking about had my pic worked.
In reply to Wall-e:
That would be very interesting...
Project creep is terrible at work, but here, it's really entertaining.
I have to say that if I wanted a go anywhere RV.. I would be tempted to start with a street legal deuce and a half and go from there... I am not sure you can stop one of those
java230 wrote: In reply to Bobzilla: IIRC that thing is still for sale. I think he mentions 3mpg on dirt and 4 highway if i remember also!
to be honest thats not terrible for the size and ability to go anywhere, i also had friend that had a clapped out f350 with a EFI 460 and it got 4.5 mpg on the highway, so in comparison thats not terrible
I've had a few P30 step vans. They all sound like they're about to rattle into pieces but they last darn near forever. Full aluminum body, relatively light weight, and readily available with the 6.2L Diesel/TH400. Not a fast rig, but it will likely outlive the human behind the wheel.
It is also a bit more space-conscious. Its like the difference between a regular van and a pickup. For the same wheelbase, a pickup has an 8' bed and 10' of cab and hood. The same van has 12' of interior and 4' of nose. It might mean a bit more interior space compared to a box truck. It will also be shorter overall height with the same headroom (but with wheel wells). A straight box truck doesn't start the box until way up high.
I had a 26' box truck. The deck was over 4' from the ground, it was 13'-1" high, and 37' long. I also had a 20' P30 Grumman that was 11' tall, the deck was 20" off the ground, and it was 25' long. So I gave up about 6' of cargo space, but it was something I could actually drive in town all day without reading every bridge clearance sign or having to stop at weigh stations on the highway in some states.
Now... getting one that is 4x4 won't happen, but I would bet a conversion isn't out of the question.
I am starting to get concerned about the mobility limitations that will come from the fuel economy of the LMTV. The want remains high, but the middle single-digit mpg numbers I'm seeing reported on forums could be a problem. When your MPG are high, you can afford to drive around more. While I didn't know the mpg, my intuition was for bad numbers that might have been in line with a 30-40' class A motorhome. The LMTV apparently delivers only about 60% of that. That's silly. I could pull a Wrangler with a 40' class A and have a chance at better mileage.
alfadriver wrote: In reply to Wall-e: That would be very interesting... Project creep is terrible at work, but here, it's really entertaining.
Creep is my middle name.
I keep looking at doing something like this but I don't have much time away from work so it would only really see maybe three weeks of use a year.
I would think a box-body burb would make a great start to a go-anywhere beast. Large rood rack for one of those tents on a platform, 6.5 TD diesel and 4L80 for 18-20mpg and a 55gallon tank. Cheap parts, lots of versatility and great range.
The question that hasn't been asked yet is: Why not just by an actual RV?
That being done, I've been interested in some of the trailer-campers I've seen on Expedition Portal. It seems a great way to keep a regular vehicle ready for daily use and also be able to get out and do some camping. I was going to say "camping on a budget" but some of those trailers I've seen cost more than some houses.
I would be tempted to attach one of these to the back of my Disco.
And one of these with more ground clearance and some aggressive tyres would be fun too
Brett_Murphy wrote: The question that hasn't been asked yet is: Why not just by an actual RV?
Yeah, considering the resale of most RV's it's pretty hard to understand the appeal of building your own. There are lots of options out there - you could:
1) tow a pop-up with pretty much any SUV, a Wrangler, an Astro AWD, etc.,
2) tow a travel trailer with a full-size truck, Suburban, Expedition, etc.,
3) put slide-in camper on the truck of your choice (probably the cheapest way to achieve a diesel/4x4 rig)
4) get a driveable (Class A, B, or C) with anything from a dirt bike on a hitch rack to a 4x4 on a flatbed trailer, depending on the stoutness of the chassis
this expedition trailer is pretty cool too
Brett_Murphy wrote: The question that hasn't been asked yet is: Why not just by an actual RV?
Boooooo-ring!
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