Argosy 4X4 Duramax conversion

Psychodan

New member
Thanks Coachgeo, I have been pondering the idea. I'm thinking about keeping the passenger area fairly rigid with just the stock rubber body bushings and suspending the back 1/2 on pivots. Between the subfloor shape and a roll cage in the passenger area I'm hoping flex won't be a problem. Thanks for the input!
 

Coachgeo

Explorer
Thanks Coachgeo, I have been pondering the idea. I'm thinking about keeping the passenger area fairly rigid with just the stock rubber body bushings and suspending the back 1/2 on pivots. Between the subfloor shape and a roll cage in the passenger area I'm hoping flex won't be a problem. Thanks for the input!
That might work. Better than all rigid first thought you were thinking.
 

Brewdiak

kodiak conversionator
wow this is ************, love it! will be watching ... and i'm just over the mountains in Bellingham area so maybe I'll get to see your rig someday can't wait to see the progress. Before I got mine I was looking at the older foretravel grand villas or the airstream mh's ... like yours they have a style that's just not around anymore. good luck if I have any useful input I'll post again!
 

Oldcarnut

Adventurer
AWESOME BUILD!!! Cannot believe all the work going into this. Will be sic once finished. Keep up all the good work n sub'd.
 

pappawheely

Autonomous4X4
Time for a semi-annual update, sorry about that.... Been busy with other stuff. I ran into a clearance problem with the axle shafts. Either I wrote down the info wrong or I was given bad info, either way the shock rod ends needed to be 1" longer and the lower perch needed to be 2" raised. Which also meant my coils were now too long. I tried just longer rod ends first since that wouldn't change coil length, but it wasn't enough. So new springs and perches. All that took a while, including picking up all the tools I threw across the shop, and the emotional fortitude to continue added a few weeks. But here we are, problem fixed, chassis is now in the hands of professionals to get the rear axle widened 9", moved back 14", and the frame extended 38". New leaf spring perches were fabricated so everything stays proper. I should have it back in my shop before the snow flies. Which is good because my driveway is steep

Thats what happens when you are not just outside the box, but threw the box off a cliff! I salute you!
 

Eldgen

Builder of Dreams
When talking about the body on frame flexing situation. What if you used 4 of those semi truck cab shocks under it and make the front rigid? That would give it a little bit of travel and give maybe? Personally I like the 3 point pivot design but each to their own.
 

Psychodan

New member
After getting the frame back up un the jack stands it has become obvious that there is very little torsional rigidity to this frame. Given the length of the body the sub floor would be massive in order to accommodate a 3 point system. The Silverado body and bed must have added a lot of rigidity when this thing was stock. The Argosy frame was a straight ladder with c channel, so it must not have been super rigid either. And the body was mounted directly to the frame with some 1/8" rubber strips for isolation. I'm now rethinking my plan.... First step is stiffening up the frame, all the flex is located in the old cab area. Stock front torsion spring cross member is getting replaced with something beefy, and I may box the center section. Stay tuned...
 

robert

Expedition Leader
Very cool project, but I'm in the same camp as Joaquin in thinking you probably would have been better served by starting with a medium duty frame instead of a light duty i.e. Ford F450/550 or the GM Kodiak series instead of a 350/3500 series. Definitely not trying to be critical, I certainly couldn't do what you've done, I just know that as ambulances have gotten heavier we were killing F350s and had to step up to the F450s and we're still probably below what your total weight will be fully loaded for fun.
 
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