Ski Bum Truck V2.0, F450 Rough Road RV

Can you move the dry storage back a bit and mount the tank in front of the dry storage/behind the cab?

wlkelley3 wrote: Can you move the dry storage back a bit and mount the tank in front of the dry storage/behind the cab?

Unfortunately not, the box is welded in place.

But this may make it a non issue. Remote fill for ASME tanks! Kinda $$ but definitely opens a lot of options up.

Option 3 looks best. Option 2 is also good considering wet stairs go in the cabinet in question. Option 1 doesn't sound good.

I haven't bought a box truck yet. However, I did just buy a house with 5 acres so now that I have the room to park I can sell the Motovan and build my next toyhauler.

In reply to java230:

Hmm... yeah, $175-ish ain't cheap. But in the grand scheme of things, think about whether or not the flexibility provided outweighs the cost.

Or another way of debating it: is the cost savings of a cheaper option worth risking that you'll end up spending the money anyway in the future doing it again?

Petrolburner wrote: Option 3 looks best. Option 2 is also good considering wet stairs go in the cabinet in question. Option 1 doesn't sound good. I haven't bought a box truck yet. However, I did just buy a house with 5 acres so now that I have the room to park I can sell the Motovan and build my next toyhauler.

Awesome! In Redmond? Sounds like a dirt bike track in the back yard is in order!

Planning to do a box truck?

In reply to Ian F:

Yep I already ordered it. I think it's the best solution, I can tuck the tank anywhere and have the fill mounted in the box with the steps.

Another weekend in the books. Just a campground this weekend.

Spent some time on Sat getting the poop tank done. Made a custom "long elbow" for the vent.

Runs up the back corner and out the wall.

Added a cleanout for easy tank rinsing.

And the clamshell vent over the outlet.

Getting out of the driveway was interesting. Ugh. I need some gravel.

One thing to keep an eye on - I've heard of vents like that creating a vacuum and thus air to get sucked through the toilet.

In reply to Ian F:

I did think that might happen. Hopefully not. But Id rather it go thru that way than it pushing it inside! The valve on the toilet seems quite good. Different design than my last one, its basically a ball valve with a rubber wiper.

Pickup up the propane tank. Its big. Bigger than I planned. Its 11.9 gallons or 50lbs, and its half full and really heavy to wrestle under the truck, then to to bench press onto the jack...

But it fits, sideways, barely.

Tight on the spring hanger. A little trimming of the gaurd thing and it will slip up a little higher, should have ~1/2" clearance min.

Took some pics of the frame extension while I was down there. Its welded in, then a doubler is bolted across it.

My lighting showed up, they don't match... oh well. Mount is taller, covers are different, colors don't match.

So I started on a light bar. Bend attempt #1, fail.

Attempt #2, works. Floor jack, two pieces of 2x material, one big ass trailer hitch. Kinked the tube a little but it worked and its a light bar, who cares.

Also met up with they guy who started me down the TriVan road for a tour of their truck. Its simply awesome. Thanks for sharing your home with me guys!

java230 wrote: Getting out of the driveway was interesting. Ugh. I need some gravel.

You don't need gravel, you need new front tires. Those 2WD steer tires are bullE36 M3 for a 4WD adventure rig. I know they're not cheap, but neither is gravel. A half measure might be to just sipe the crap out of them. I'm super jealous of your camper so far.

A pit bike track back in the current horse pasture was a big selling point on this property. I'm going to have a 14 mile commute instead of 2.5 miles, so I'll be changing up the vehicle fleet. Not quite sure yet, but I'm thinking I'll replace the Corvette with an S2000, and the Motovan will be a 17 foot box van. Or maybe a 2000ish Insight with a motor swap like the "Jack of all trades" thread. I have an Aprilia Caponord ETV 1000 that I could start riding now that the trip is long enough to warrant getting all dressed for a moto commute. We'll see. It's a E36 M3 ton of money up front just to get in and then there are a bunch of other things to spend money on after moving in. A tractor to build the dirt track for example

Yeah that's as about as aggressive as you can get in a steer tire on a 19.5, they are siped a fair bit. It just sinks....

One thing I miss about our old rental house, enough room for a little lap track.

Can't wait to see what you come up with for motovan v2. Any ideas specifically?

Yes being an F-450, you're pretty much stuck with semi truck style steer tires. There is really nothing aggressive available. The best thing to do is have aggressive drive tires and maybe think about a winch on the front end.

I dont know what size tires you run but Treadwright makes some aggresive tires in 19.5"

SyntheticBlinkerFluid wrote: Yes being an F-450, you're pretty much stuck with semi truck style steer tires. There is really nothing aggressive available. The best thing to do is have aggressive drive tires and maybe think about a winch on the front end.

I do have aggressive drives. Any real reason not to just run drives on the front?

There are a few companies that make super single wheels for these. 20x11 wheels with the correct back spacing for the dualie axle. I need tp get weighed, but there are 20" options that are good for ~3800lbs each. Most are an MT sadly though.

In reply to edizzle89:

I did treadwrights on my old RV, worst tire I have ever had. Tread squirm like CRAZY. made the rear end wander around terrible. And they were on the same carcass as the tire I took of.... I just dont think they work well on heavy trucks. Maybe the 19.5's would be so much stiffer it would be better, but I honestly dont even want to try.

There is a local guy who just put a set on a drives on a f450, at 13k lbs, so Ill see what he says after awhile....

Welding day yesterday. Made brackets to hold the kerosene tank for the heater. Blue was the first can on the spray paint shelf.... You wont see it.

Then started on the light bar.

Then got distracted for a couple hours.... It got dark. Turns out you can fit a headlamp over a welding hood

Tacked up in the driveway.

Welded up. Im going to have a long date with the grinder. I left the mounting tabs a little big as the bar was kinda sloppy in my 'jig'

I can't see why it would be a problem to put drive tires on the front, it is a driven axle afterall. With slick front tires what's the point of 4WD? Could have saved a ton of money and complexity and stayed 2WD if you can't have decent tread on the front.

I have several routes I could go and I wouldn't normally clog up someones build thread, but since you asked...

1978 Ford F350 Uhaul

1997 Ford F350 Uhaul

1999 Ford F350 Uhaul

I'm inclined towards the truck chassis because of the ease of a 4WD swap, the normal hood and footwell, and the taller cabover section where the bed will be than compared to a van chassis. However, these boxes are 11 ft along the floor and 14ft along the top. That's the same length as my van although they are much wider and the walls are flat. There is certainly a lot more usable cubic space. What I feel I'm lacking in my van is floor space. I'd like to have a real toilet, stove and sink. With two dirtbikes inside I'm just afraid there won't be enough room to fit it all. I could use sketchup to confirm this, but I'm pretty sure I know the answer already. This would be the best platform off pavement.

The E350 Uhaul 17'

The van chassis is available with a 17' roof length and 14' floor length. I think I could get everything done in that amount of space. The overall length isn't that much worse, I could get a V10 Triton, a passthrough would be easier to cut in since the box is mated tight to the cab already, and I could still use the #VanLife I'd build out the box first and see how I liked it, then decide on 4WD. If I'm not going to go 4WD though, I may as well go with a

Mid sized quad cab box truck with the passenger side stairwell already cut in to the box. I could go with a 20' Freightliner, International, Kodiak or F650 too. It would need a lift gate. I don't want to get a totally unwieldy overall length however. I still want to be able to drive it to run errands. It will be the counterpart to my sports car. If I need to haul more than an S2000 can handle, I'm driving the box truck. Meeting friends for a beer after work? Driving the box truck and camping in the parking lot. Going riding? Box truck. Maybe that means I need a manual trans BMW wagon as the daily driver instead of an S2K.

What I'm thinking for now is to just move into the new house, sell the Corvette, ride my Aprilia to work to save gas, and be on the lookout for a box truck that seems like the right size at a bargain price. I hope to be able to get my money back out of whatever I build if I don't like it and want to try a different platform.

Another consideration is to build the box out and if I love it, swap the box to a 4x4 F550 or something similar.

Yeah I did some reading, I need to find some matching toyo's for the front

Id like to step up a size, but holy E36 M3 are 19.5 tires $$$$$$

I looked at Uhauls, they are cheap, but damn those boxes are heavy! The Ply FRP ones anyway. Easy to mod though. FWIW my floor is 12'2" if you only need one bed (use the cabover) its definitely big enough. If your really going to be driving it around, stay as small as possible. I drove mine to work the other day, not bad, but its a big ass truck. Im 26' OAL. Killing off the back bumper will shave a foot.

The van chassis boxes wont swap easily to a F450/550, different frame widths. Also the pickup (what mine started as) are wider frames than the cab chassis models. Its weird.

I don't see how why you couldn't put drive tires on the front, but from what I've read, they wear differently and you could see poor life out of the tires.

Good to know on the frame widths, but why couldn't you adapt them? widen the box frame to match or something?

These vans have a slightly different box, not sure on the weight or construction though. I've seen a number of them for sale. They're always pretty long, and the top is rounded and the bottom of the cabover is flat and sharp edged. Not sure who the original user of these vans was.

I even saw one the other day with a 7.3 diesel, and extended cab with two side facing jump seats. It was great, the seats were built back into box which extended the support for the bed surface I'd have to do anyway. I can't find it on craigslist now, probably gone.

In reply to SyntheticBlinkerFluid:

Exactly what I read too. Looks like the solid shoulders on steer tires really help with longvity.

In reply to Petrolburner:

Im sure you could adapt/make them fit, but its not a simple bolt on affair if that makes sense. Mine I could unbolt and bolt onto any other f450. Its built to fit that frame.

IIRc thats a Morgan built box

In reply to Petrolburner:

14' diesel, in portland

https://seattle.craigslist.org/see/ctd/6059651057.html

java230 wrote: In reply to SyntheticBlinkerFluid: Exactly what I read too. Looks like the solid shoulders on steer tires really help with longvity.

I did confirm with my truck driving buddy that it would be advisable to not use drive tires as steering tires. It's exactly what you said, steering tires are designed to have longevity.

He did make the point as well that with all the weight you're adding to the back, you are going to lift a lot of weight off the front end. That's also where the tire design comes into play. He also added that even with 4WD, on a truck that heavy, it's not going to matter if you have aggressive tires or highway tires up front, the aggressive tires in back are going to make all the difference, the front tires are just assistance if you need it.

At the risk of making them unbearably loud you could experiment with adding grooves to the steer tires, grooving irons are pretty cheap on ebay.

In reply to SyntheticBlinkerFluid:

Thanks for looking into that! I really just need to get weighted to see what I'm working with.

In reply to BrokenYugo:

These are aggressive as Steers go, they are well siped, I might think if grooving or siping them more tho