I am planning to upgrade from an '03 dodge ram van with camper top to a shuttle bus, box truck, or cutaway van. I want it to be around 22' over all length, maybe up to 24'. I want this to be my "forever home" and will be working full time from the van, so want to have climate control. I am a little concerned about it being a larger commercial vehicle and having issues with ticketing. Currently, despite working remotely, I do need to be near my city most weeks. I am in southern california.
Would really appreciate hearing from those that have already made the jump into these types of vehicles.
Hoping to upgrade to:
https://preview.redd.it/7ba4187boah61.png?width=823&format=png&auto=webp&s=8c46f28e7db75dd1d4def6e3fd876b005d80b0fd
https://preview.redd.it/tpf9d57boah61.png?width=471&format=png&auto=webp&s=436a5fcca051e276cdf1aa1ff2f8935a0e8a10c3
Or maybe a "3 or 4 window" shuttle bus:
https://preview.redd.it/0ngqprt3pah61.jpg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ca33fdca664ccb1dc90b96a8a532c7b503043583
Hi, not sure if this is the correct place to post this, but I'm trying to find out the laws/regulations on building a custom box/motorhome on the back of a chassis cab van or pickup truck and how to get it certified and road legal. I'm based in the UK so would want it to be legal in the UK and Europe (well everywhere would be good but that's where I will be based!)
My plan would be to remove the trailer from the back and build an aluminium frame/composite shell for a motor home. I have seen the rules on max width etc. This is a recent idea I have had and don't want to push too much into designing if its not really possible! Any advice would be much appreciated! Thanks!
Hi all!
Well, I'm having quite a time with electricity, result being the RV engine no longer starts. I don't have to move it anytime soon, so I've got a window to try to work it out for myself.
Initial behavior, it was starting fine, but occasionally it would start, but then if I had to start it again because it stalled, there would be dead silence, no clicking of any kind, and also no dash lights. However, the headlights always continued to work.
And then after turning the key a couple of times suddenly everything would be fine and it would start right up.
In a couple or three weeks this progressed from occasionally not starting to it won't start at all.
I'm told that the fact that the headlights always work, plus it goes back and forth between 0 and normal powerful starting pretty much rules out the car battery being dead, as a dead battery will never go back and forth between being 100% strong and having zero capacity.
I've got a question going on over in r/mechanicadvice, but in the complexity of all the connections of the wiring harness it's a big job trying to home in on exactly where the problem is!
It occurs to me to wonder if there's any chance that the headlights will take power from the marine battery if their connection to the car battery is absent.
Basically, I'm trying to find out if I can narrow down the location of whatever the wiring problem is by the fact that the headlights work, but the dash lights do not.
In other words if the headlights always get their power from the car battery, then I can eliminate any branch of the power system, of the wiring harness, that splits the path to the headlights away from the path to the dash lights and starter elements.
Any pointers to online knowledge base locations most sincerely appreciated!
(I haven't delved super deeply as yet, but from what I've seen, there's quite a bit about RV electricity, and there's quite a bit about Ford Light Truck electricity, but the connection between the RV electrical system and the car electrical system is not so readily found...)
I've found a GMC one-ton cutaway box van. It has 118K miles, it's a Nevada vehicle so no or little rust. It's a 5 hr drive from me so I can't go see it right away. I understand the Chevy/GMC 6.2 diesel has an interesting reputation, but it doesn't sound that bad to me if I'm lucky enough to get a good one. Of course, there's no real way to know if the head is cracked before I buy the thing. I don't want to tow, so I'm not worried about that. The interior of the box is supposed to be 72 1/4 inches tall and 10 ft long. I'd prefer it to be a bit taller, as I'm 5'10, but I'm trying to decide if I could make do and be happy with that or not. Oh, the asking price is 4K. I'd imagine that's semi-flexible.
I'd love to hear any thoughts or advice.
https://preview.redd.it/qunj7jwhqfx51.jpg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ef12372339b176d786dfd819e233447850a938e9
I have a couple or three problems to troubleshoot, but tight quarters make it impossible to follow how things are put together in some instances, for instance, the battery ground cable, and the power steering pump hoses & clamps.
I've seen online that flexible camera extensions are available for smartphones, are any of those types of tools useful?
Or, are there other tools that perform the same function that are better? Backyard mechanic level not needing pro level options...
TIA!
https://youtu.be/KAvOK6MuB7k
Hey, I was just curious if anyone had done a van chassis build (something like this https://www.trucknews.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/2015-Sprinter-Cab-Chassis.jpg). Just seems like you could weld a tall frame on something like this, giving you straight walls, better interior height, more insulation, etc. Conversely, you could do this on to a truck chassis to get 4x4 and make a "ghetto Earthroamer". I don't know much about welding, and imagine it could be tricky to build a really secure frame on the back of the chassis.
