I am sorry I put you a little crook, but I had been looking at so many trucks... the one I look to be settling on at the moment is an Isuzu FTS700 dual cab, of about an '86 vintage.
Hey ....no worries. Pretty sure that's an old 700 in the "Serious Water Crossing" thread Alan just posted.
I am a primary school teacher (with many other skills thrown in) so will school our children and my bride is an excellent navigator, so we could quite easily get lost for a while. Anywhere... I like this part.
Yeah....awesome. Travelled and home schooled with my kids for a year and a half back when they were all little. We had a blast. Good on ya.
Yes... we do want a strong road vehicle.
Yes... we do want 4x4 to get us into and out of some locations.
No... we don't want to tow (we do that now)
An old FTS should be OK for all that. They were always pretty strong things. Single wheels work well on them if you intend to head up the beach. They also give a softer ride and better on the highway. Maybe stay with road pattern tyres for now. If you want to fit a winch....... has it got any hyraulics fitted already?
In the last few days I have been reworking some cabin designs to incorporate some inventive thinking based on some of the ideas we have seen about the place and believe we could create something that we could live with, that could be squeezed into 5.5 metres. More space for long term living would be better but we need to learn to live with what we can have and can afford.
I reckon with a body of 5.5m, the wheelbase would need to be around 4.8m. Have you bought the truck yet? You may not even need to stretch it or maybe only a little. What is the current wheelbase and the distance from to the back of the crewcab to the centre of the rear axle (on the horizontal plane)?
Another quick question...
With a vehicle like an FTS700 would chassis flex be a major problem???
Not for the truck....but could be for the body. Always better to allow the camper body to move on top of that type of chassis. Otherwise they can tear mounts, snap bolts, crease wall panels, crack internal furniture, etc. BTW all the big Isuzu 4wd trucks had strong chassis. If your's was an ex-CFA truck and there is a very good chance it was, make sure to have a good look for cracks on the chassis where all the tanks, tray, etc were mounted. It's not quite so bad on a crewcab as a single cab. The worst point for movement between body and chassis always seems to be right behind the engine / gearbox. I have seen the cabs of a crewcab occasionally crack in that area though.
Happy new year and all that jazz.
Yeah....you too.
