motorhome convert to pickup

[muddstopper]

I will not be able to get anything more than scrap price for the motorhome.
and this project is too easy not to do... 80% labor.

The parts wont cost that much.
have you priced a 1990 chevy 3500hd pickup with less than 30 thousand miles?
I cant afford to buy one. and I dont need to buy one... I have one.. just a couple days of work when it stops friggin raining here in florida!!!

What i cant understand is, if your getting a 90's model truck from your buddy, why take a perfectly good truck apart as a parts truck to build a motor home into a truck. It would be much simpler to just put your motorhome engine and tranny into the other truck and then you would have a 90's model truck with 30,000 mile parts.

 

[BHD]

Go for it but my bet is that when it comes to putting the PU body on so that you can make it street legal you will end up selling it all as scrap. I think it is going to be more to it than you think. :2cents: Ed

that is all I was trying to say.

have fun, and good luck

most likely if you have the 3/4 ton pickup the easy est way would be to cut the back off the pick up and the motor home and weld it back together,

 

[stevecobb76]

What i cant understand is, if your getting a 90's model truck from your buddy, why take a perfectly good truck apart as a parts truck to build a motor home into a truck. It would be much simpler to just put your motorhome engine and tranny into the other truck and then you would have a 90's model truck with 30,000 mile parts.

I am not taking THAT truck apart. I am getting parts from junkyard. that is a completely separate deal.

Go for it but my bet is that when it comes to putting the PU body on so that you can make it street legal you will end up selling it all as scrap. I think it is going to be more to it than you think. :2cents: Ed

I got my bases covered there. As long as I stick to using options 4 winds used for that year, there was 2 van and pickup
I am ok (like the pickup WAS a option.)
on the title itself, no where does it say or refrence a van body. The title was reprinted by the four winds company.

And we DO NOT have inspections here in florida anymore unless you bring in a vehilce from out of state

 

[stevecobb76]

here is the florida AFFIDAVIT FOR CHANGE/ALTERATION OF BODY forms
http://www.flhsmv.gov/dmv/forms/btr/82100.pdf
there is some technicalities like weight and titles but no big deal

 

[stevecobb76]

progress update on motor home to pickup project!!!!
now that the Cambodia monsoon jungle rains have stopped here in florida...











tomorrow, I attack the body!!!

Thank you to my brother rodney for helping, even though I had to bribe him with a hunk of cash that might be more than most people make in a day.

 

[stevecobb76]

It is really starting to get nasty parts breaking out the walls. lots of mold wet wood and ants...
why am I doing this again??

oh yeah!!! I am getting a 3500!!!! yay.. go me! go me! go me!...

I got all the windows out and the door off and I found the body is made by welded aluminum frames. there is 1 framework for the roof, and 1 for each of the 3 walls. and each panel framework is welded together but the 4 panels are not welded together. just glued like everything else. I started pulling and I had 1 whole side of in less than a minute because when the material gets wet, the sprayed on glue FAILS.

I should have taken the roof off first because now the walls a wobbly and the ac is still up there.
I will put up some more pics if it stops raining so I can take the camera out.

 

[stevecobb76]

just making the windows a little bigger here.

sorting out the crap.. insulation, plastic, fiberglass wall panels, windows, and misc garbage.





most of the wood is burnt up now in the fire pit.

not to long now, I should have a truck-ish vehicle... of some sort.

 

[BHD]

looks like your gaining.

 

[MossRoad]

Good thing you got a shop vac in there..... :laughing:

 

[stevecobb76]

day 1 of demo was sledge and 3' prybar for inside
day 2 was axe and 2 foot prybar for outside walls.
today will be sawzaw for the roof and above the cab.
my brother said I should use the metal frame work to build the bed. he does not understand how thin that stuff is an I want to haul more than light weight tree limbs.
I need pickup bed or hauler bed.

 

[stevecobb76]

well, since it is flipping raining again, I decided to get some ideas out of my head. I drew them as best as I could in blender 3d. I am not really a 3d artist. I know just barely enough to be able to do stuff like this.

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like I said, I am not a pro 3d artist..

 

[stevecobb76]

it stopped raining long enough for me to get some work done today.
I can now start to see where I am going with this project. here is some pictures I just took of the progress and the big honking mess I have to clean up.

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I got a plan! I am going to let my little brother to help me clean up because I know he will be all over the scrap aluminum frame and copper wire. he is one of those that will spend 3 days cleaning metal for $30 at the scrap yard.

It looks to me like 1 load ish to the dump and 1 load to the scrap yard

 

[MossRoad]

well, since it is flipping raining again, I decided to get some ideas out of my head. I drew them as best as I could in blender 3d. I am not really a 3d artist. I know just barely enough to be able to do stuff like this.
View attachment 436837
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View attachment 436838
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View attachment 436839
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View attachment 436840

like I said, I am not a pro 3d artist..

Why that funky tail in the 3rd picture? You'd lose deck space and its not square, so you won't be able to drive anything up there. Just curious, not critical.

 

[stevecobb76]

Why that funky tail in the 3rd picture? You'd lose deck space and its not square, so you won't be able to drive anything up there. Just curious, not critical.

that is specifically for towing a trailer purposes. With angled corners like that, you can cut a trailer around a corner at a sharper angle without jack knifing it and breaking something. i.e. less chance of bumper to trailer contact.
like below

and it was just a idea for a hauler bed. made with diamond deck and wood

 

[MossRoad]

Gotcha. Thanks.

 

[The Fred]

Ha ha your yard looks like they just shot a James Bond movie there!

About 1:50 in the clip.

Good luck it's a cool project, Fred

 

[crashz]

Steve,

Be aware that the frames on the P chassis vans are vastly different from the C and K series trucks. So you won't have a 3500HD truck, but rather a van with a flat bed with 10,500 GVWR. I don't want to discourage you, just correct your line of thinking.

The frame differences per model and wheelbase are staggering. There are about 30 different frame types for the C and K trucks alone, most of which are not visually any different, but are significantly different in strength.

 

[KubotainNH]

my brother said I should use the metal frame work to build the bed. he does not understand how thin that stuff is an I want to haul more than light weight tree limbs.
I need pickup bed or hauler bed.

My son picked up a late 60's International truck without a bed. It had a dump bed at one point. We are thinking of welding together some pallet rack beams to make a flat bed with stake sides. They are quite strong and already have a groove to drop wood planking into plus are reasonable used. Looking forward to seeing what the skeleton of yours looks like.

102" Keystone Style Pallet Rack Used Beam - Storage Solutions

 

[boggen]

that is specifically for towing a trailer purposes. With angled corners like that, you can cut a trailer around a corner at a sharper angle without jack knifing it and breaking something. i.e. less chance of bumper to trailer contact.
like below

and it was just a idea for a hauler bed. made with diamond deck and wood

i generally curse bumpers / steps, well i should say my shins and knees do. then i get a bit moody trying to lean over the steps / bumper to get to stuff. good pants on or like, and leaning onto bumper / steps.

my issue with truck bed steps to just flat bed trailers. is a step does me no real good, and needing like a hand rail or something to grab a hold of with hand, while using step / bumper.

you can get and/or make longer "ball hitch draw bars" that stick out a few extra feet. i you want something for specifically jack knifing. for say when parking trailer in a garage or like.

i would more likely favor being able to place ramp or ramps on back end of bed. and holding the ramp in place, make it a 2x6 / 2x8 boards with a L shape angle iron that goes down into a grovish area. or like.

 

[stevecobb76]

I scored a freebie today. boss man dumped wife and is moving out of house and into 5th wheel. So I got dibs on all the good stuff in his shed including
about 80' to 100' of 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" angle iron appx 3/8 or 1/4 in thick. I thought that and some pressure treated 2x6's or 2x8's would be perfect for a flat bed and stakes

you see, being that I am the only employee of the business, we (me and my boss) have a fully mobile detailing company catering mostly to the people with disposable income (snow birds) who come to florida and a few random locals here in florida. We do mostly motorhomes and fifth wheels but also some cars and trucks and fleet work also. and every year, when we are going from lot to lot in the parks cleaning and waxing motorhomes, there is alot of people who need them moved also.

That and now my boss wants to get into flipping campers and fifth wheelers. So It what ever I do with this truck. I need to make sure it has a goose neck hitch and a fifth wheel hitch on it also. I know it is not the "ideal" hauler for long hauls. but I could make some money with it that way.

I dont think that I will need ramps at all thinking about it. If I need to pull a car, I have a bumper pull trailer for that already.