Paddy
Adventurer
So we went from a sprinter to a f350 as our adventure rig. It was a combination of trade offs obviously. The sprinter was fantastic in every way except for 1: lack of 4x4 and 2: lack of articulation. It was terrible off road.
So, we are building the f350 which solves those problems, however there is one thing that a truck lacks compared to the van and that is the disconnect between the cab and the rear area. Not being able to get back there for items, naps, early starts, etc is a major drag on road trips compared to the cabin of a van. Sooooo, I'm considering a drastic solution to that. Basically cut the back of the cab off and bind the cab to the box rigidly (not permanently) with a camper shell type thing. We see this done with truck and van chassis RV conversions so it's not totally unprescedented. What I'd lose is the ability to use it as a TRUCK truck (bikes, dirt, debris, etc) and I'd lose some articulation, but I don't care so much about that because with 35's and 4wd it's plenty capable for what we need.
My hesitations come from the possibility of added noise in the cab. I don't want to make it considerably louder as it's already very loud (6.0 diesel, mud tyres and very loud turbo) and I'm somewhat concerned that the rear would be annoyingly hard to access like a truck with a canopy.
Anyone have thoughts about this? I know it's a terrible idea but I'm not worried about resale or anything like that. I want a comfy and useable camper/adventure rig and it seems like a big benefit in that regard.
I suppose I could make a snap on cab cover for using as a truck if needed, assuming I could take off the camper shell part.
So, we are building the f350 which solves those problems, however there is one thing that a truck lacks compared to the van and that is the disconnect between the cab and the rear area. Not being able to get back there for items, naps, early starts, etc is a major drag on road trips compared to the cabin of a van. Sooooo, I'm considering a drastic solution to that. Basically cut the back of the cab off and bind the cab to the box rigidly (not permanently) with a camper shell type thing. We see this done with truck and van chassis RV conversions so it's not totally unprescedented. What I'd lose is the ability to use it as a TRUCK truck (bikes, dirt, debris, etc) and I'd lose some articulation, but I don't care so much about that because with 35's and 4wd it's plenty capable for what we need.
My hesitations come from the possibility of added noise in the cab. I don't want to make it considerably louder as it's already very loud (6.0 diesel, mud tyres and very loud turbo) and I'm somewhat concerned that the rear would be annoyingly hard to access like a truck with a canopy.
Anyone have thoughts about this? I know it's a terrible idea but I'm not worried about resale or anything like that. I want a comfy and useable camper/adventure rig and it seems like a big benefit in that regard.
I suppose I could make a snap on cab cover for using as a truck if needed, assuming I could take off the camper shell part.
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