RoamIt
Well-known member
Sooo, I'm starting over.
I have my Mercedes 1224AF up for sale and just purchased a 2022 Transit, WB 178", that already has a 16' box on it. It has 25K miles, and has the 3.5 twin turbo motor making 310HP & 400Ftlbs. I'm going to be dealing with mountains, so the torque was important to me, that's why I had the firetruck tuned for more ftlbs. Heard too many stories of doing 25mph up grades. This motor makes 450HP & 510ftlbs in the Raptor, so more power is there if needed. But for durability, I won't do any tuning unless I have too.
Motivation was losing my space & the timeline for completing the build on the Firetruck. The Transit is not going to be as capable off road, losing the big rig, world class swagger, but the AWD is adjustable to terrain, I can get a 2" lift, add perhaps another 2" with larger wheels, and it looks like I can get an air locker for the rear (hoping the front too) The upside is it drives better at speed on the highway, it drives like a car. Better mileage, lighter, and I will not have to do nearly as much to it to get it ready for adventures. I have mad respect for those that build everything from scratch, but my reality is that I just don't have the time for that. I will be doing all of the build out of the interior myself, the lift kit, perhaps welding in a rear hitch, front winch mount, but I'm going to farm out some of it as well.
I've reached out to an upfitter and have an appt to take it in and discuss the project. My target is attending Expo East in Oct '25 with a finished build. I'd like sooner than that, but the Firetruck taught me not to be too optimistic on timelines. But then again, I may still be too optimistic...
First step is to get the box off the frame, frame rust proofed, some type of box suspension, bellows between cab & box. So right now I'm looking at what to use on the frame, I used POR15 on my Land Cruiser, but there may be something better these days. I've read about a couple different products on the forum, like a wax based product(?)
Since this is more of a bad-road than off-road build, I'm not doing any 3 or 4 point subframe. I think that may be overkill. So I'm looking at delrin or the like between frame and box rails, vibration isolators, and spring/U-Bolts, or truck frame mounted bushings/springs. I think I'll have more direction once the body is off and I've mulled it over with the upfitters.
Next will be the box itself. It has a polycarbonate roof that I need to replace. Right now I'm reaching out to see about getting a one piece composite panel 8'x16' for the roof. Also considering raising the roof. It has 81" of interior height, but the interior design I'm considering would work better if I could raise the roof 18", but the overall height now is 9'8". Once I add 4" of lift and tires, raising the roof 18" may be taller than I would really like. Keeping in mind low bridges, wires, branches in some more remote areas. The other major box mod will be the back door, right now it's a roll up. I'm looking at getting another, structural composite panel, that would be 82"x72" as the back door/garage access. My thought here is it would be hinged at the bottom and lower down to be a deck to sit on, act as a table, and 'garage' workspace.
Then the interior build out. I recieved some L-Track in yesterday to evaluate. Thought there is that I would use L-Track to anchor interior things. I've read many stories about builds and how the next time they would change this or that. I don't want to build multiple rigs, I want to freaking travel, not spend time building the next rig. So if this works out, I would be able to change things around much easier if I want to change the layout.
Once I get the interior built out, I'll weigh it and get the lift kit/spring pack/springs/shocks dialed in to the finished weight.
Last but not least, this thing is ugly. Its not nearly as cool as the Mercedes, so I need to paint it and do something to make it look less like a vacuum cleaner.
There's going to be some custom engineering. The main reason for raising the roof is I would like to mount my motorcycle inside. I bought a DR650 (Bush Pig!) for my runabout/emergency vehicle. Thats probably another build thread as I've already spent way too much money building it into an adventure bike. If I raise the roof 18" I can tuck the bike under the bed, in the garage space. And then with building the bed platform on actuators, I could rasie the bed all the way to the roof and have a walk through to the rear deck I mentioned. The bike being on a swing out mount to open up the pathway. I've seen these for tires of course, and smaller ones for dirt bikes, but the B.Pig will be around 360-380lbs when done.
So on too some pic's, as it sits now. And a gratuitous shot of the Bush Pig.
I have my Mercedes 1224AF up for sale and just purchased a 2022 Transit, WB 178", that already has a 16' box on it. It has 25K miles, and has the 3.5 twin turbo motor making 310HP & 400Ftlbs. I'm going to be dealing with mountains, so the torque was important to me, that's why I had the firetruck tuned for more ftlbs. Heard too many stories of doing 25mph up grades. This motor makes 450HP & 510ftlbs in the Raptor, so more power is there if needed. But for durability, I won't do any tuning unless I have too.
Motivation was losing my space & the timeline for completing the build on the Firetruck. The Transit is not going to be as capable off road, losing the big rig, world class swagger, but the AWD is adjustable to terrain, I can get a 2" lift, add perhaps another 2" with larger wheels, and it looks like I can get an air locker for the rear (hoping the front too) The upside is it drives better at speed on the highway, it drives like a car. Better mileage, lighter, and I will not have to do nearly as much to it to get it ready for adventures. I have mad respect for those that build everything from scratch, but my reality is that I just don't have the time for that. I will be doing all of the build out of the interior myself, the lift kit, perhaps welding in a rear hitch, front winch mount, but I'm going to farm out some of it as well.
I've reached out to an upfitter and have an appt to take it in and discuss the project. My target is attending Expo East in Oct '25 with a finished build. I'd like sooner than that, but the Firetruck taught me not to be too optimistic on timelines. But then again, I may still be too optimistic...
First step is to get the box off the frame, frame rust proofed, some type of box suspension, bellows between cab & box. So right now I'm looking at what to use on the frame, I used POR15 on my Land Cruiser, but there may be something better these days. I've read about a couple different products on the forum, like a wax based product(?)
Since this is more of a bad-road than off-road build, I'm not doing any 3 or 4 point subframe. I think that may be overkill. So I'm looking at delrin or the like between frame and box rails, vibration isolators, and spring/U-Bolts, or truck frame mounted bushings/springs. I think I'll have more direction once the body is off and I've mulled it over with the upfitters.
Next will be the box itself. It has a polycarbonate roof that I need to replace. Right now I'm reaching out to see about getting a one piece composite panel 8'x16' for the roof. Also considering raising the roof. It has 81" of interior height, but the interior design I'm considering would work better if I could raise the roof 18", but the overall height now is 9'8". Once I add 4" of lift and tires, raising the roof 18" may be taller than I would really like. Keeping in mind low bridges, wires, branches in some more remote areas. The other major box mod will be the back door, right now it's a roll up. I'm looking at getting another, structural composite panel, that would be 82"x72" as the back door/garage access. My thought here is it would be hinged at the bottom and lower down to be a deck to sit on, act as a table, and 'garage' workspace.
Then the interior build out. I recieved some L-Track in yesterday to evaluate. Thought there is that I would use L-Track to anchor interior things. I've read many stories about builds and how the next time they would change this or that. I don't want to build multiple rigs, I want to freaking travel, not spend time building the next rig. So if this works out, I would be able to change things around much easier if I want to change the layout.
Once I get the interior built out, I'll weigh it and get the lift kit/spring pack/springs/shocks dialed in to the finished weight.
Last but not least, this thing is ugly. Its not nearly as cool as the Mercedes, so I need to paint it and do something to make it look less like a vacuum cleaner.
There's going to be some custom engineering. The main reason for raising the roof is I would like to mount my motorcycle inside. I bought a DR650 (Bush Pig!) for my runabout/emergency vehicle. Thats probably another build thread as I've already spent way too much money building it into an adventure bike. If I raise the roof 18" I can tuck the bike under the bed, in the garage space. And then with building the bed platform on actuators, I could rasie the bed all the way to the roof and have a walk through to the rear deck I mentioned. The bike being on a swing out mount to open up the pathway. I've seen these for tires of course, and smaller ones for dirt bikes, but the B.Pig will be around 360-380lbs when done.
So on too some pic's, as it sits now. And a gratuitous shot of the Bush Pig.
