Box Van Conversion

[wchancey]

Does anyone have a box van conversion ? I am in the process of working on one and would like to ask questions about how yours went.

 

[akrvbob]

I don't have a box van now, but I lived in one for6 years when I first started living in vans. Mine was 8 x 12 and had an amazing out of room!

Do you have plans for yours yet?

 

[speedhighway46]

I did a 16’ box van conversion on my 379 Peterbilt. Full construction pictures are on the link below. Best of luck with your project!

 

[Linedog]

Check out Dreamsideout on YouTube

 

[vanmannorm]

Does anyone have a box van conversion ? I am in the process of working on one and would like to ask questions about how yours went.

I bought a 10' box van on Ebay January of 2014, made it liveable and have been living and traveling in it since the spring of that year. Love it. Ask away.

 

[Simple]

Will a box van limit back-road ability?

 

[Treeview]

I bought a '97 E450 16' Grumman box van with an attic

I'm gathering insulation now. There are deals on Craigslist. Since most of
The sheets need to be cut it doesn't matter if a corner is gone or there's a crack.

I'm going to use two 2" layers for the ceiling and 2" or maybe at a 1" too fornthe walls. 1" foil covered for the floors

A box van sure is going to be more limited than a pair of good hiking boots are an ATV. Understand the clearance and traction issues and you'll be fine

 

[vanmannorm]

Will a box van limit back-road ability?

I'd say no less limited than a pickup and camper unless the pickup is 4WD. The box on mine is just an inch wider than the widest part of the cab and about 9' high including the cover over the Fantastic fan.

 

[Pleasant Travels]

I have not acquired mine yet, but I will be installing a limited slim diff-lock in the rear axle when I do. It's not as good a solution as 4wd, but if one doesn't drive stupidly, you can slowly crawl through a lot of sandy perils. I'm an Arizona native and have driven all kinds of terrain in this state with just 2wd trucks. A vehicle the size of a uhaul really has no business attempting to negotiate crap that requires 4wd. If you truly do HAVE to get way back in somewhere,...just downsize to a full size van and shop for a used 4x4 van on craigslist. They pop up available rather regularly. There are 3 on the Phoenix area one right now.

If i was unconcerned with stealth or fuel economy, but had to have a uhaul-sized home,...then finding a surplus 6wd military truck be the solution. Get one that was a former mobile command truck with the big box on it.

 

[bullfrog]

I, just to have something to do while getting over the flu this winter, have been hiding in my son's garage building a box truck type topper on my old J10 Jeep truck. It is the short 7' bed and 60 some inches wide. The topper is 53" obove the bed so about 30 some inches above the cab. The 80" wide topper over hangs the bed 9" or so on either side and is 83" long. The reason for the overhang is so two parallel 28" beds can rest on the top of the bed sides and still have a 20" wide center isle. There will also be a higher shelf or bed across the front side to side along with lots of storage under the inside bed overhand in the truck bed. Using a vargo type build you can get a lot of room in a full sized 4x4 truck bed. I would not recomend this in wooded off road areas but for the desert I think it will work well.

 

[Txjaybird]

I, just to have something to do while getting over the flu this winter, have been hiding in my son's garage building a box truck type topper on my old J10 Jeep truck.  It is the short 7' bed and 60 some inches wide.  The topper is 53" obove the bed so about 30 some inches above the cab.  The 80" wide topper over hangs the bed 9" or so on either side and is 83" long.  The reason for the overhang is so two parallel 28" beds can rest on the top of the bed sides and still have a 20" wide center isle.  There will also be a higher shelf or bed across the front side to side along with lots of storage under the inside bed overhand in the truck bed.  Using a vargo type build you can get a lot of room in a full sized 4x4 truck bed.  I would not recomend this in wooded off road areas but for the desert I think it will work well.

   Hello    This rig on your Jeep J10 you're describing is one I'd like to see!  What style of roof will you use?  Will you have a flat, curved, or angled roof? I just really like old trucks.  My 4x4 Ranger was a 1991 and I drove it until late last year and towed trailers moving myself a total of nearly 3,000 miles in a 4yr period.  My oldest trucks were 1969,1971,1973 and 1980 Fords and also a full size 1981 4x4 Bronco.  I also like some of the body styles on old IH pickups.

Jewellann

 

[Grizzly708]

Will a box van limit back-road ability?

Not as much as a class C. 
They have decent ground clearance 
Most will have a locker in the rear differential. 
Average pick up truck size tires, less $ and you can get all terrains or mud terrain tires.
Plenty of room below to install water tanks.

 

[bullfrog]

Just a basic almost square box built over the bed. Because the topper ends at the back of the bed and rests just in front of the tail gate I'm thinking I'll just open the tailgate slide under the topper and stand up to get inside instead of a visible door. It will basically be a sleeping storage area. I'll try to get some help getting pictures when done sometime in the next two weeks.

 

[RenataAllison]

I am going to be starting this process soon. I have been watching JYDOG on YouTube

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[RenataAllison]

Did yours have a Mom's attic? If yes what did you do with it?

Also, how did you handle the roll up door situation.

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[RenataAllison]

What link? I'd like to see it.

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[bcbullet]

Here's one I put together. It was built to live in every second weekend with my divorced kids 150 miles from home. Hotels were killing me, so I started out with an ex City of Vancouver Police surveillance truck. It had under 20,000 miles on it and was built like a brick outhouse. It had desks and miles of coax and related cabling for roof top cameras, was spray foamed and FRP'ed in the Intercontinental Truck Body box. I stripped it out leaving the 120V electrical, the FRP and the floor and built it out from there.
My best advice would be to get the truck that most closely fits your needs without a lot of work. Converting roll-up doors to barn, adding underbody boxes etc...mine ticked all the boxes, but it took 6 months to find it.







It has 320 watts of solar, a 46" LED TV and Playstation and 4x Trojan T105's for battery. Water is in five gallon jugs (as many as necessary, but we usually plan on 1 for every 2 days of stay. Bucket toilet built into some nice cabinetry...we went the porta potty route but that got old REALLY quick. We have a center of the room shower and just heat water on the stove and put the pick-up tube for the 5 gallon containers into it and is tee'd off to a hand held shower head.

 

[John61CT]

Nice!