furtledurt
New member
In the early 80's I had a trusty Westy with obligatory mountain bike and enough gear to keep me busy every weekend. Then a dozen or so Subarus similarly outfitted then an Astro AWD with G60 rear end. The Astro had a fold out bed, solar, roof vent, and storage.
I lost the transmission in the Astro this spring and in the search for a replacement found a '06 Express AWD from New Mexico that was used to shuttle scientists from the airport to a missile base. Pretty base but included rear air and power stuff. Still looking for a transmission for the Astro but decided to build something with a little more room.
This van, like my Astro, had to play the role of swiss army knife. I needed to haul motorcycles, people, camp, haul hay for my horses, general farm work, and firewood for the stove. In other words, transform from completely empty to task oriented quickly.
For camping, I wanted a full or larger bed, place to sit at a table, outside food prep, and room for a small fridge.
I started with a single box and drawers in the rear. The driver's side drawer will contain a stove and utensils.
I then added a light spacer for a folding bed on top. This was to simply bring the base high enough to match the folded seat back and provide temporary storage. Like all parts, it can be quickly removed and stored in the garage. I avoided attaching them to each other to keep things light. However I did add pegs to align and stabilize individual pieces of the puzzle. A 77" x 50" tri-fold panel was made to fold across the back seat and rear support. This helps stabilize the mattress.
Nothing is painted or carpeted yet. The middle seat was removed and the rear seat was modified to fold back to support the bed. I'll show pics of how that was done soon.
Built a table that can be detached quickly and added a folding leg. This slides under the seat when not in use. It also slides forward or backward as needed. This lets me move it back toward the seat when traveling and put a bicycle behind the front seats.
Added a self inflating mattress that will fold up behind the rear seat when traveling or dinette is needed.
More to come. I'm building a permanent cabinet on the passenger side at the rear. Not sure of the complete configuration yet but it will hold a couple of 6v batteries, general storage, clothes storage, and shelves. The first drawings have it covering the passenger side rear window completely. We'll see.
I lost the transmission in the Astro this spring and in the search for a replacement found a '06 Express AWD from New Mexico that was used to shuttle scientists from the airport to a missile base. Pretty base but included rear air and power stuff. Still looking for a transmission for the Astro but decided to build something with a little more room.
This van, like my Astro, had to play the role of swiss army knife. I needed to haul motorcycles, people, camp, haul hay for my horses, general farm work, and firewood for the stove. In other words, transform from completely empty to task oriented quickly.
For camping, I wanted a full or larger bed, place to sit at a table, outside food prep, and room for a small fridge.
I started with a single box and drawers in the rear. The driver's side drawer will contain a stove and utensils.
I then added a light spacer for a folding bed on top. This was to simply bring the base high enough to match the folded seat back and provide temporary storage. Like all parts, it can be quickly removed and stored in the garage. I avoided attaching them to each other to keep things light. However I did add pegs to align and stabilize individual pieces of the puzzle. A 77" x 50" tri-fold panel was made to fold across the back seat and rear support. This helps stabilize the mattress.
Nothing is painted or carpeted yet. The middle seat was removed and the rear seat was modified to fold back to support the bed. I'll show pics of how that was done soon.
Built a table that can be detached quickly and added a folding leg. This slides under the seat when not in use. It also slides forward or backward as needed. This lets me move it back toward the seat when traveling and put a bicycle behind the front seats.
Added a self inflating mattress that will fold up behind the rear seat when traveling or dinette is needed.
More to come. I'm building a permanent cabinet on the passenger side at the rear. Not sure of the complete configuration yet but it will hold a couple of 6v batteries, general storage, clothes storage, and shelves. The first drawings have it covering the passenger side rear window completely. We'll see.
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you can then either replace the lower bolts or, like I did, use a PTO pin from a tractor to provide quick access and movement. The larger the pin, the less play the seat back will have. 
