Crazy Bad *** Light pick up Pinz like idea idea

[jaimeruiz3]

Well i have made my account few months back mainly for looking at the pictures of your awsome rigs but know after being attacked by insomnio, my handy clever mind and Expedition portal I decided i want a Real expedition rig i mean i have a 4WD geo tracker maybe trading it for a Sammy and a Jeep ZJ but i want something i can took back to the forest, sleep 2 fine and 4 cramped have some amenities (Port a potty, Sink, stove etc...) and i want something reliable because i want something i can do some miles i live near mexico city and i'm planning a little expo for this year end to Guerrero negro and the Vizcaino Natural park in the ZJ but i'm planing in a year or 2 make a long trip maybe to canada or to south america, so i like a lot something like the Pinz but its almost impossible to get here (even in the US i think) i can get a UNIMOG but they have really thirsty engines (I know its a diesel but any way if people have made it to tierra del fuego in a stock sammy why not in a more reliable gas engine) (BTW i love the sammy but i wouldn't want to get one modded as an expo rig because it would be my DD) and are way expensive (i mean 12 grand for a half restored ex mexican army 1970 404 with the radio box) and i've got the idea to make a Cab over truck out of a light pick up and lots of aluminum.

Reasons for a Light Pick UP (AKA: Toyota Hilux, Tacoma, Ford Ranger, Mazda B Series, Nissan Hard Body Etc...)
Dirt Cheap Here in mexico you can get a rust free nissan HB or B2200 for $1500 with minor repairs and a good lift you have something to start with.
4 or 6 Cil engines, i have drove a 2WD 2006 crew cab ford ranger for 5 years and that rig could get 25+ MPG stock in 30" At's it had the 2.4 engine and 5 spd tranny never let me down and never got any problem with the engine. also i have drove the Hard body and a B2200 and are great and dependable never drove a toyota but i know they are as good as hell.
Not too big These trucks are maybe 5 Meters long max and are maybe 2 meters wide so they can be driven easily in these badly designed latin american cities
They can be lifted up to fit 37's maybe i will do 33's max to keep costs and mods low.
Reasons for Cab Over
Space The usual pick up design wastes like 1 meter only in the engine area so if you put the cab oven the engine you can get a great space for living and keep the total truck not to long for ease of transportation and city maneuvering.
You cant deny it looks cool.
not to hard to build, if you are already building a camper why not a full body.
access from the cab to the living area.
Shorter rig, less overhang and better off road ability
Why not a stock cab over van?
Here in mexico you cant get a 4WD van or cab over sadly.
never had seen one as good as a toyota pick up.
Fewer after market support.
even if would get a 2WD van and fit a Transfer and front diff assembly to a van most vans are in a real bad shape because had been used for public transport or are way too expensive.
Here in mexico have what we call "peseros" that are like Penny or dime buses and most of them are built over a Ford 350 or GM 3500 chasis (i'll ad a pic of one) and they are built from aluminum sheet and tubing they are tough and really well built for lasting a lot of time with the beating of the mexican drivers
and they are built in almost every workshop who mades trailers or truck boxes so you can build it you self from aluminum or hire them to build the body.
lastly the base i have been thinking in 4 main options that can be bought cheap and are reliable.
Nissan Hard Body Really good, here you can see them any where they have the 2.4 or 3.0 engines and you can find the parts every where also every mechanic has seen lots of them. i would be looking for a late 80's to early 90's model
Toyota pick up well they are really good but a bit scarce here and they are like twice the expensive of a nissan or ford but have great after market and are trail proven also most of them here have the 3.0 and i dont really know about the head gasket problems. a carbed 80's model or a early 90's
Ford ranger The first 2 generations have the TTB suspension wich is better than the IFS offroad also here are dirt cheap and you can find parts anywhere and have good after market support.
Mazda B series 2000, 2200 they are good pick ups also cheap and with good parts support but i don't really know the after market because its the newer model the 3200 that its the same as the ranger the 2x00 is an inhouse design and i dont know where to get lifts or stuff.
I have had made some sketches in scale but i don't have a scanner so i'll upload them later
finally i have seen some who made a fiber glass Humvee body and fited it to a nissan pick up so its not so impossible

 

[Merkin]

Fwiw, i know that a lumina minivan body will mount on an f250 frame, but the tires will stick out a loong way. Not cab over, but finding a way to mount a minivan body on a truck frame would be a lot cheaper and provide nearly as much room.

 

[jaimeruiz3]

but the minivans are not so well built and usually unibody i think its a lot more harder to match 2 al ready made things than building it your own and minivans just suck are ugly un reliable and low MPG

 

[4Rescue]

Get an older Toyota 4wd cab-over van... I've seen those things run trails here in the NW that some guys were afraid to take built rigs up/down.

 

[tanglefoot]

Interesting idea. Class-A motorhome construction comes to mind. Here's the smallest class-A motorhome I have ever seen...built on a standard-length, single-rear-wheel Dodge van chassis. Really curious-looking thing, but you can't argue with the space efficiency. It even had a bathroom. Unique look, for sure, with all four wheels skirted. I wish I could have seen one on the road!

One issue of the cab-over design is engine access. The access isn't great in most cab-over vehicles (except for those with tilt-over cabs), and doing engine work from the vehicle interior has its pros and cons. For a completely custom design, a very large engine access cover could be designed in, possibly one that's almost full-width and has the front seats mounted to it (and high fire resistance). That reminds me a of small, semi-cab-over van we rented in the Caribbean: the Suzuki APV. Although it has a small snout, most of the engine was mounted beneath the front seats, which were mounted to the very large engine access hatch, if I remember correctly. They have since gone through a redesign but this is the generation I drove:

Safety is another big issue with cab-over designs. A VW Kombi is probably everyone's last choice of vehicle for being in a front-end collision. The chances of walking away with legs intact is pretty slim. I believe this is the primary reason why cab-over vans have become so scarce in the US.

 

[jaimeruiz3]

i Have been thinking and yes it would be more like a semi cab over i had a Ichi Van i don't know how its named in the states its a nissan van RWD they where good the engine access was weird it had access to the front of the engine by a hatch in front of the wind shield and a hatch between the seats for the back of the engine and that is the plan as its going to be taller than a van making a hatch inside for easy engine access the problem with vans its that here in mexico never had seen one and we have some stupid law for importig vehicles because they need to be made either in canada, US or mexico and the 4wd vans are mostly japanese regarding crash resistance i will be adding a full roll cage as aprt of the structure directly weldedto the chasis but even that my other car is a tracker and i'm looking for a sammy so they aren't also the safest vehicles out there i will try to scan my sketches with the ipad but dont kwow if they be apreciable
they are rally crude i dont know if you understand my hand writing it is 5m long and 2m wide each square equal 20cm the tires at that scale are 32's

 

[tanglefoot]

Nice sketches, and that looks like a really practical camper floor plan. One idea for the floor plan is a wet bath (toilet and shower in the same space) This is frequently employed in compact campers. With a floor drain and a removable shower head in the same area as the toilet, your bathroom can be more compact.

Yes, we used to have the Ichi vans in the US...they were called Vanette here.

If you use a standard-bed compact truck, you'll get a wheelbase of about 103" You can also go for an extended-cab truck to get a longer wheelbase and frame.

With regards to accident safety, the cage would certainly help with rollover protection but for safety in auto accidents, what you want to have is crush space. You want the chassis to absorb the impact energy. If you build too rigidly, you end up with a durable vehicle but in the event of an accident, it will not absorb much of the energy and will instead transmit the impact energy to the occupants inside.

Creating a completely custom body would be an incredible project, and the design benefits of the cab-over configuration make sense, but the project would be infinitely easier if you keep the truck engine compartment and cab mostly intact. Then you maintain the factory crumple zones, don't have to relocate the steering, pedals, shift linkages, etc, and can focus your attention on your custom camper cabin. You can still employ a walk-through. This is something I drew up a while back:



...which incidentally is not too different from:



Also, your camper floor plan is likely to occupy a fairly large cabin, similar to that of a Toyota class-C RV.

Cabins this large on a 1/2-ton Toyota chassis (the Toyota RV's use 1-ton chassis) are pretty clumsy and ungainly and may not be well-suited for the type of exploration travel you have in mind. A Toyota 1/2-ton truck chassis has a capacity of about 5000 lbs. Some very careful construction and material choices would have to be used to build a cabin and body light enough to be used on such a light chassis.

I'm not trying to derail your project, just discuss some factors. It's definitely an interesting idea.

 

[jaimeruiz3]

yeah this is a proof of concept because now i'm focusing on getting a sammy and get it done as DD and light offroader (235's and maybe a 3 or 4" SPOA) but i hope that after that i can start building this rig i have other idea for a weekender camper/hardtop for a sammy that fits as a pick up camper and extends 20 in the leght of the short sammy