Cab to Camper Pass Through???

[clearock]

I am going with smaller door way to minimums the loss of wall space and my placement of the pass through bottom/floor is a little higher than one needs to be but for my needs and to accommodate mods to the cabs floor it is necessary (you can get another 10” as memory serves). The lip around the pass through is where I'll be connecting the accordion style boot to the cab and camper

 

[incognito]

Hy,

a passage between my dodge ram 3500 and the Bigfoot truck camper is one of my next mods I want to do
I was thinking of a flexible foam pressed between the cab and the camper or a soft flexible rubber . this would be glued only on the camper side.
Bigfoot already has a small double piece window, plan to replace it with an ordinary one piece larger 1 inch thick home type window which can be opened only from the inside
take out the rear glass completely and replace it with some aluminum sheet cut to fit the camper hole.
the flexible foam will still allow me to separate the truck from the camper with ease and have a tight fit if the camper moves independently from the cab
I've googled flexible foam this is what I've found
I didn't yet put my hand on it but I,ll try it
http://www.wrmeadows.com/ceramar-flexible-foam-expansion-joint/
hope this helps
incognito

 

[daddyusmaximus]

I lived in my truck for a year of college. An F-150 with a camper shell. I had a flexible boot that replaced the rear window of the cab and front window of the shell. I could park, crawl over the seat, and go to bed. If I got too cold during the winter, I'd just reach through and start her up for a while. Worked very well, but I was young and single. My wife (girlfriend then) even came over to visit a few times...

 

[quickfarms]

The bellows is readily available through the class 8 truck parts houses. The bellows is used between the cab and sleeper on a semi that does not have an integral sleeper. Even a class 8 truck has movement between the cab and bed off-road

 

[Exploring Elements]

Great Info

The knowledge on this board is awesome! Thanks so much for all the different ideas and opinions. I'm storing all this info in my brain and working on some interesting camper ideas. Hopefully I'll be able to put some of this knowledge to work very soon. Keep the thoughts coming.

Is the flexible rubber boot style bellows good enough for weather sealing as well as keeping cab noise levels down, especially when used with a diesel? I'd guess the weather sealing is pretty good if done right, but that it is pretty loud. If there is a cab over section of the camper I'm also guessing that both of these potential issues are lessened. Thoughts?

 

[bdog1]

Good for weather, you need to go the extra mile to quiet the noise.


Sent by wing, prayer & ATT

 

[DiploStrat]

Is the flexible rubber boot style bellows good enough for weather sealing as well as keeping cab noise levels down, especially when used with a diesel? I'd guess the weather sealing is pretty good if done right, but that it is pretty loud. If there is a cab over section of the camper I'm also guessing that both of these potential issues are lessened. Thoughts?

The Tiger is very quiet and, in any case, the diesel is up front!

Weather sealing under a cabover has been a non-issue, even in what has been described as "Biblical" rains.

In my experience, the hardest part is relocating the water tanks, etc. that commercial campers tend to put right where you want to make your pass through.

N.B. The Tiger is made much like clearock's picture above - glass removed, lower cut made, new metal welded into the space left by the glass. In this process, you could also make a mounting lip or whatever you needed. Doing it over, the opening could have been even smaller once we knew the dimensions of the cabinet inside the cab.

 

[highdesertranger]

I have used the accordion boots for years on different trucks. with good results. make sure you get the right boot for the gap you have they come in different widths. after you are sure about your fit, I like to do trial runs of several days. glue the boot in with 3m black weather strip adhesive. then sew yourself up another boot that snaps over the accordion boot leave this boot loose for flexing I like to add foam between the 2 boots this holds the boot made of material taut and adds insulation and sound deadening. I hope I explained this well enough. highdesertranger

 

[Exploring Elements]

I'm now in the middle of the build of the EEXP (Check out the build HERE). The current plan is to remove the window of the cab and use some sort of gasket/boot to seal the cab to the hole that will be cut to match the window size in the composite camper. I'm still trying to source the right boot or gasket for this application. Any and all suggestions appreciated.

Might you have any pictures of what your describing Highdesertranger?

 

[nosnerd]

put a marranda 370 with toolboxes under..,,a boot with windshield urthane

 

[Ramdough]

Do you have a link to the boots you buy and by chance any pictures of the process?

Thanks!

 

[Ramdough]

I have used the accordion boots for years on different trucks. with good results. make sure you get the right boot for the gap you have they come in different widths. after you are sure about your fit, I like to do trial runs of several days. glue the boot in with 3m black weather strip adhesive. then sew yourself up another boot that snaps over the accordion boot leave this boot loose for flexing I like to add foam between the 2 boots this holds the boot made of material taut and adds insulation and sound deadening. I hope I explained this well enough. highdesertranger

I was referring to this post.

 

[Ramdough]

Ok, I found this product.

https://www.accordionboot.com/form.php

That appears to be useable. So what type of foam would you recommend? The second boot is just loose and used as a cover for the foam, right?

Thanks.

 

[Ramdough]

I found a camper on YouTube that added a flat aluminum plate to the back of his cab. He had a flip over cab (for service), and just used a one sided boot, like the old truck toppers used to use. The aluminum felt the boot from rubbing on the paint.

What do you all think of this? It seams like it would slowly let dirt and dust in....maybe a little water too.

Thanks


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Iain_U1250]

I have a large crawl through on my Unimog, and have a three way sealing system.

First is a rubber seal on the outside of the cab, made from heavy duty rubber mudguard material, it is mainly to deflect heat and noise, and protect the inner seals from branches and sticks.

Then there is an large bag filled with sound/heat insulation material. The gab between the cab is 75mm, and the thickness of the bag is 80mm. The bag is made from 1mm truck sail material. The bag is attached by velco to the back of the camper, so I can remove it if I wanted to, but it will be quite a while before I do that. The bag works like a dampener, but allows the body flex at the same time.

Then there is an inner seal, also made from the truck sail material, attached to two metal frames on either side of the joint, attached to two frame welded to the camper and the truck.

The seal is quite complex. A long strip of material, about 400mm wide with a circumference 30% greater than the frames. The corners are folded over and sewn flat so that the material is stretched tightly to the frame. In order to install the frame, I cut it into four parts, so I could bolt it tightly into the camper frame. There are 30 rivnuts and bolts to attach the inner frame to the out frame, with a 5mm neoprene rubber seal between the two.

The inner seal drops down when we are traveling, so I have a series of small tonneau cover clips with elastic shock chord zig-zagged across. This holds the seal up and out of the way, and if the articulation is too much for, the shock chord pops off.

The whole system works great, no noise comes in from the seal, and it has been through days of heavy rain with no leaks. It handles the chassis flex and articulation with no problems.