92 Dodge Ram Conversion Van

WanderlustVagabond · Nov 11, 2012

Hello all, First post here. And guess what i have a few questions. I am trying to maximize the available room. It seems like the floor of the van is elevated over where the actual bottom of the van is, does anyone know if its common place for these vans to have elevated floors??

wrcsixeight · Nov 11, 2012

The Floor is not flush with the bottom of the van's exterior on any Van.  I can't see any reason to raise the Metal floor, ever.  Sure if adding some plywood for flooring you can lose an inch or 2, but there is no point in raising the metal floor.  Some Van/RV conversions have dropped sections where the frame allows such modification.

WanderlustVagabond · Nov 28, 2012

Here's some pics, maybe the one will help explain my flooring question

Lostinspace · Nov 29, 2012

If you take peek under the bottom of the van, from the ground up you will see why the floor is elevated. There are frame members, a ladder frame, that the van floor is built on. The floor is constructed to clear those frames members. The designers had no other choice. Even if it was done as some kind of unit body construction, you would still have to clear the drive shaft and also allow room for suspension movement.

Unfortunately what you see is what you get for floor height.

Wade

Les H · Nov 29, 2012

There ARE some vans with a dropped floor. Most notably, Pleasure way, Leisure and some of the 70's Dodge Tradesman conversions. But those were factory conversions, and, unless you had access to a pretty serious body shop and lots of cash, impractical to install after the fact. So, unfortunatly, as lostinspace said, your pretty much stuck with what you get.

WanderlustVagabond · Dec 1, 2012

really?? in the second picture i posted above it looks to me like the floor is raised up for the seat mounts and what not, i feel like i could cut that out and have it drop 4-6 inches to be flush with the actual floor of the van.

Les H · Dec 1, 2012

its hard to tell from the pic, but i assume that is taken facing the opening when you slide the side door back. the lower portion you see is a "step up" kinda like a running board. the frame rails will be behind the wood and carpet facing you. this lowered portion on the **outside** part is so you dont have a 14-16" step into the van. the vans i mentioned had a recessed floor **between** the frame rails, from the seat backs to the rear axle.

WanderlustVagabond · Dec 1, 2012

yeah i'm not sure i'm going to tear into it tomorrow and see what i can see

wrcsixeight · Dec 1, 2012

Crawl under it tomorrow with a tape measure.   Measure the depth of the step and the depth of the frame rail and see if somebody, for some screwball reason, decided the floor was too low and raised it. No need to tear anything apart.

WanderlustVagabond · Dec 3, 2012

yeah no such luck on some extra floorspace. i did however find an extra 4 1/2 inches on each side wall. haven't torn it back to the metal yet, but i'm thinking i'm just going to tear out and go back with insulation panels then try to re-use some of the interior panels that are in there now

WanderlustVagabond · Dec 4, 2012

so today wasnt a total bust, i got the seats out and some free pallets

WanderlustVagabond · Dec 8, 2012

Need some help, Does anyone know much about installing high tops? how necessary is it that my donor van needs to be the same style as mine for the roof lines to line up and what not??

wrcsixeight · Dec 8, 2012

Those pics brought back some memories of what my '89 van looked like back in '01 when I got it. How bad is your roof gutter rust?  My high top was originally installed with drywall screws which started the cancer I have been fighting ever since. It would be best to install a high top from another 71 to 94 Dodge.  I am not sure of the slight differences between dimensions of ford and chevy or of later year dodges.  The fiberglass is flexible to a degree, but best to not have to stretch or compress it The entire rear of my vans roof gutters were rotted.  Without adequate metal working tools or a place to work on it, I just cut out the cancer and used aluminum angle  and aluminum C channel riveted to it and rebuilt the structure so that the back of the fiberglass rood has something to be able to be attached to.  This pushed the fiberglass roof forward a half inch, which required me cutting the perimeter of the base, almost 3/4 inches where it meets the front windshield support. The conversion company did a real half a$$ job cutting out the old roof, and left a section in the back and front for support, but it was worthless.  I wound up making  thick plywood shelves  front and rear which also support the vans walls, and I have no doubt it would hold up better in a rollover than when the van left the conversion factory. Adding a raised roof is not so much just a driveway and one person with a friend type of job.  My roof, gutted of all the foo foo conversion van crap, weighs about 200 lbs.  I did remove it completely once for rust treatment and was able to get it back in place with just the help of my 70 year old father, but I feel guilty for asking that of him. If you goto pull a roof from a junkyard, getting the fiberglass off the old van can prove a challenge depending on the seal the original conversion van company used.  Bring a small bottle jack or 2 and some 2x4's to spread the load, and some putty knives to break the seal between fiberglass and metal, after you remove all the fasteners which will likely be phillips head  sheetmetal screws.