4x4 Toyota Truck // Chinook Pop-Top Conversion Build

[Gabriel Amadeus]

Howdy, I do a lot of bike builds and adventures, but I'll try to document my foray into truckstuff here. I'm in over my head! Never even changed my own oil before I bought this truck 2 years ago!

Here's one of the bike adventures I did recently: http://expeditionportal.com/bikepacking-southeastern-oregons-big-country/

Here's my 2-wheeled ride: http://www.bikepacking.com/gear/carver-gnarvester-review/

And here's what I'm working on now....

Even before I bought the truck I was sketching custom camper builds. Then one serendipitous day I ran across the excellent (all white below) conversion a few hours before a buddy posted that he was selling his non-running chinook RV for super cheap. (my red truck next to it below right) The stars had aligned.

Here's what I'm building on:







And I'm going to mostly let the photos speak for themselves, but I slept in the camper for the first time last night!


Tearing out the gross interior:


Free truck!


Extracted shell.


Turns out the floor was rotten and the wheel wells were in the wrong spot. Deeper in the rabbit hole!


Walls glassed back on and larger window installed.


Extending my truck's chassis.


Starting to frame in the floor. Not a @#$%@#$% square angle or line in this darn thing.


Floor frame done.


Slept well!


Feel free to ask questions or offer advice, cheers!

I'll post updates here, or you can follow me on instagram: instagram.com/gabrielamadeus

 

[deadbeat son]

Cool project, super interested to see how it all comes together! :beer:

 

[Clawhammer]

I've had this very thought myself, several times.

What are your plans? I'm going to assume sleeping up over the cab, with a kitchen down below? Maybe some cool storage ideas? Keep us posted!

 

[Gabriel Amadeus]

The quite distant Phase II is convert it into a flip-top (to one side), so I have a hangout area outside and a lot more real estate inside. For now though, there'll be a bench/bed on one side and counter on the other.

 

[deadbeat son]

Wait....it's tough to tell from the photos you posted, but instead of replacing your existing truck bed, did you cut out the Chinook and graft the two together?

 

[Gabriel Amadeus]

No, just replacing the bed with the chinook shell.

 

[JCMatthews]

Really cool project. Looking really good so far.

 

[Herbie]

Subscribed!

 

[turbotommy]

How are you going to address the wheelbase differences between the long box truck and the extended cab?

 

[Herbie]

How are you going to address the wheelbase differences between the long box truck and the extended cab?

I think that's why we see the wheel wells chopped out in the first post! Quite the project, for sure.

 

[tanglefoot]

Wow--you've actually done it! (almost) Very cool!

 

[turbotommy]

I think that's why we see the wheel wells chopped out in the first post! Quite the project, for sure.

If that's the case it'll be interesting to see . Maybe he sectioned the camper to shorten it .the back in its stock form is quite long and a short box length would add 9" to the back. That's my only complaint in my nook is the over hang other than that it's a great platform here's a shot of mine

 

[Stoffregen Motorsports]

That is neat. I can't wait to see some action photos.

 

[Gabriel Amadeus]

Yeah, I moved the wheel wells in the chinook shell and added ~10" to the already extra long chinook bumper when I swapped it over. I am worried about too much weight over the rear, but hey, wheelies are fun right? Sealing the bottom right now, dropping it on the truck next week. Gotta go MTBing for the weekend first!

 

[AxleIke]

Wow, really cool. That is going to be such a sweet set up. Dang. Very very interested in seeing how it turns out.