A.R.E. type door for back of cap

[kklowell]

I love the ARE-type "walk-in" door on the back of a truck cap, but, of course, my old freebie cap doesn't have that feature. I'm wondering if any of you have seen a DIY version of these doors because I'm thinking of trying to make one. I would remove the tailgate and just build a new back that replaced the tailgate and the cap window and incorporate a vertical door in that. I have lots of wood-working tools, but no experience with this type of build. That lack of knowledge has not kept me from making things, it's a great excuse to learn new skills, but I would like to see a picture or two (or 20) of this type of conversion.

 

[crofter]

Sounds like you want to remove the rear awning door and build a bulkhead with door. Easy to do, here is a link to a build that shows the rear framing. 

https://vanlivingforum.com/showthread.php?tid=12358

I kept the awning and tailgate on mine, locking the tailgate with a slide lock & padlock, tailgate was used as both a table and a chair & back porch. Link to supply catalog.
-crofter

https://www.lowes.com/pd/National-H...ECUGJpCZ4YKI9_hsF1RoCa0AQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Link to A.R.E. spendy products.
https://www.4are.com/product/walkin/

 

[kklowell]

Thanks for the links, but that build out is not like what I'm looking to do. You are correct in that I want to remove the cap's rear window and the tailgate, but from there I'm not quite sure how I'd like to proceed. Just now I'm thinking about just extending the cap's roof to be directly over where the tailgate would be, and then building a vertical wall with a door in it to cover the entire opening. I'd put a window in the door.

 

[bullfrog]

You can build the whole thing out of insulation foam, once you cover and coat it with Poor Man's Fiberglass (PMF) see tnttt.com the foamies forum. If you want more structure use damaged interior doors just be sure to completely encase them in PMF to waterproof them use TightBond III glue. I made my whole topper out of it and installed a used camper door on the rear that I cut down then filled with spray door and window insulation foam. My entire topper 80"x80"x72" was about $500.

 

[kklowell]

At one point I was sorta planning to build a slide-in camper and use PMF to encase it, but decided against that build as it would have been very tall in the bed of a Ranger. Now I'm thinking about making a frame to put between the bed's sides and the cap to raise it up a bit. If I were to do that with 2x6 lumber, I'd have 5.5 more inches of headroom, or just about 48 inches in the high part of the cap's roof. If I then make the door I'd like, I think it would be easier to get these old bones in and out of.
Do you have pictures of yours that I can see?

 

[bullfrog]

^^^I'm totally good with typing but beyond that worthless as my smart phones battery goes to town next week to get replaced or I get a new phone. I have have had friends raise up their topper using lumber and it worked well. Just be sure to paint and seal everything as you don't want leaks. In order to get 6' of standup room in my truck from the floor of the bed it really sticks up high, probably a good 3' above the cab. It is on my old J10 Jeep so I do very little interstate driving and pretty much lives in southern Arizona so the only overhead hazards are Mexican food places with drive throughs! LOL!!! it basically looks like a freezer unit as it is white with a rear door at the end of the bed. I leave the tailgate down as a porch and attached a set of folding camper steps to it. I have a trailer in southern Utah that is constructed that way as well as the truck in Arizona. If you have questions or are in the area PM me I'll be glad to give you a tour.

 

[highdesertranger]

2x6 no,no,no. There is absolutely no reason to use 2x6. Use plywood, 2x2, 1x2, and pocket screws. it will be lighter and stronger. Highdesertranger

 

[bullfrog]

^^^And you can fill the voids with spray foam insulation. Not only insulates but glues everything together.

 

[kklowell]

Good idea, thanks. And thanks to everyone who has made suggestions...I will be making the risers out of plywood. They should be straighter and lighter than 2x6 lumber.

 

[kklowell]

Work on this project hasn't really started yet because I've hesitated to put too much work or money into it until I got the title, which came in the mail today so that I could finally register the truck, which is now done. The mechanical work if just about finished now so I can get started on making the risers and rear door. I'll take pictures as I go along.

 

[kklowell]

After a very frustrating trip to Lowe's to get materials, I started construction of the risers this afternoon. Had my brother come over and help me put the shell on and off so that I could get a visual of what it's going to look like. At that point, a thinking man would have hesitated long enough to take pictures before lifting the thing back off, but that's just so not me. I'm going to blame my brother for that because he was in a wicked hurry (and besides, he'll never read this and see that I blamed him for a forgotten picture.) We did both agree that it's not going to be beautiful, but it shouldn't hurt anyone's eyes after it's painted to match the camper shell. 
I did remember to measure the inside height, which is just about 48 inches...tall enough to sit on the bed or a bucket, which is all I was hoping for.

 

[[email protected]]

I love the ARE-type "walk-in" door on the back of a truck cap, but, of course, my old freebie cap doesn't have that feature. I'm wondering if any of you have seen a DIY version of these doors because I'm thinking of trying to make one. I would remove the tailgate and just build a new back that replaced the tailgate and the cap window and incorporate a vertical door in that. I have lots of wood-working tools, but no experience with this type of build. That lack of knowledge has not kept me from making things, it's a great excuse to learn new skills, but I would like to see a picture or two (or 20) of this type of conversion.

Last year I built a standy teardrop out of a Harber Freight trailer, a 60 year old truck cap, and a built frame to make the camper tall enough to stand in. See photo. Good luck with yours, I sold mine for $2200. It was fun to build.

 

[kklowell]

That's very nice! However, I don't want to deal with a trailer, lower gas mileage, and increased tolls on my 3500-mile road trip I would like to see more pictures if you have some though,

 

[MGfromBC]

When I consider a build that won't be tall enough to stand in I always imagine aiming for 52 inches.  That's high enough to be very comfortable in a swivel, reclining, office arm chair, with 5 casters, that is high enough to support my head.  The idea is to build any counters, windows, etc. to be accessible from the chair.

 

[[email protected]]

That's very nice! However, I don't want to deal with a trailer, lower gas mileage, and increased tolls on my 3500-mile road trip I would like to see more pictures if you have some though,

If your interested see my post in the RV forum about my build "my unorthodox travel trailer build". I posted pictures while I was building it. I hope you can glean some ideas that will work in your build. Jeff

 

[kklowell]

When I consider a build that won't be tall enough to stand in I always imagine aiming for 52 inches.  That's high enough to be very comfortable in a swivel, reclining, office arm chair, with 5 casters, that is high enough to support my head.  The idea is to build any counters, windows, etc. to be accessible from the chair.

I'd have to make my risers about 10 inches tall to get that interior height, and I think that would be too much. It would place the front of the cap's top about 6 inches higher than the truck roof. I think I'll be ok anyway as I'm sure I can sit on the bed and reach whatever counter I might have...Rangers are pretty narrow.

 

[bullfrog]

My topper is several feet above my cab for a total of 6' of interior height from the truck bed floor, you definitely get noticed and don't use drive in windows! Lol!!!

 

[kklowell]

Well, I took some pics today, but can't post them here without a host I guess.

 

[kklowell]

My topper is several feet above my cab for a total of 6' of interior height from the truck bed floor, you definitely get noticed and don't use drive in windows! Lol!!!

 I started out thinking I'd build a small slide-in for it, but by the time I got out a tape measure I chickened out...WAY too tall for a Ranger.

 

[bullfrog]

Way too tall for any truck but it works for me on my old 7' bed V8 J10 Jeep truck! Lol!!!