Hi I'm new here. I bought a 1995 1 Ton Ford Club Wagon XLT Extended body 7.3 Powersroke van. Love it. Will eventually go the full Ujoint setup but that will be the last thing I do to the van.
Right now I want to convert it to a camper van, using a bed platform/storage drawers like most people with pickups do. So I started looking into how much it would cost, and how much it would weigh to build a frame out of T Slotted aluminum extrusions, or Aluminum Angle stock and the prices and weight added up quick. Especially for the T Slotted aluminum extrusions, which I found McMaster Car had a pretty good price of 1" T Slotted extrusions for about .25C an inch. The bad part is all the connectors and braces cost a fortune, so I scrapped that plan.
I then thought maybe I could adapt a basic steel frame already sold and maybe use the legs to mount Sliders on for some drawers. Thats when I came across the Pragma brand Steel bed frames. They have a few different styles and I noticed that the adjustable ones that allow you to sit with your head and legs elevated don't use up any space underneath the frame so there is still room for drawers.
This is the one I'm thinking of using for my Van.
This website has a good viewer for looking at the unit up close.
http://www.wayfair.com/Pragma-Bed-Simple-Adjust-Head-and-Foot-Bed-Frame-NPSA-PRGM1009.html
It appears it would be quite easy to mount this frame to the floor of the van using quick release pins and some L Brackets. Mount some Slides on the insides of the 4 rear legs and make 4 drawers for the rear (the two little supports on the back of the bed look like they can be easily removed.
There would also be storage in between the drawers and on the sides as well as an area underneath the bed in front of where the four rear drawers would go and right up against the back doors of the van.
The two legs towards the foot of the bed are narrower than the rear 4 legs so you couldn't put slides there but that is no problem because sliding drawers would hit the two reclining Sienna seats that will be in front of the bed anyways.
Pretty inexpensive too on Amazon at Walmart.
They even have an electrically adjusted version for 479.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Pragmatic-Adjustable-Bed-Frame-Head-and-Foot-Multiple-Sizes/26603156
You can see better pictures of that unit here.
http://www.walgreens.com/store/c/pragma-corporation-pragmedic-adjustable-bed/ID=prod6270315-product
The downside to this unit is there is some lost space due to the DC motor but I think you could still do a top drawer there, just not as deep. And they don't offer the wooden slat version with the electric motor because it uses the steel support in the middle to move the bed. The upside is that you do not need bring the bed up to 80* in order to release it to go back down flat as you do with the manual version. I think this will be easy to do from the rear of the van standing on the outside so I would rather take the more comfortable slats and less weight from the DC motors and electrical draw.
I'll be getting the Wooden slat version for comfort, and it's 200$ less than the electrically controlled version.
The bed has 14" of clearance underneath it will have plenty of space for gear and with an 8" foam mattress the top of the mattress will be right underneath where the windows are so there should be plenty of room to sit up. Even more with a 6" mattress.
Right now I want to convert it to a camper van, using a bed platform/storage drawers like most people with pickups do. So I started looking into how much it would cost, and how much it would weigh to build a frame out of T Slotted aluminum extrusions, or Aluminum Angle stock and the prices and weight added up quick. Especially for the T Slotted aluminum extrusions, which I found McMaster Car had a pretty good price of 1" T Slotted extrusions for about .25C an inch. The bad part is all the connectors and braces cost a fortune, so I scrapped that plan.
I then thought maybe I could adapt a basic steel frame already sold and maybe use the legs to mount Sliders on for some drawers. Thats when I came across the Pragma brand Steel bed frames. They have a few different styles and I noticed that the adjustable ones that allow you to sit with your head and legs elevated don't use up any space underneath the frame so there is still room for drawers.
This is the one I'm thinking of using for my Van.
This website has a good viewer for looking at the unit up close.
http://www.wayfair.com/Pragma-Bed-Simple-Adjust-Head-and-Foot-Bed-Frame-NPSA-PRGM1009.html
It appears it would be quite easy to mount this frame to the floor of the van using quick release pins and some L Brackets. Mount some Slides on the insides of the 4 rear legs and make 4 drawers for the rear (the two little supports on the back of the bed look like they can be easily removed.
There would also be storage in between the drawers and on the sides as well as an area underneath the bed in front of where the four rear drawers would go and right up against the back doors of the van.
The two legs towards the foot of the bed are narrower than the rear 4 legs so you couldn't put slides there but that is no problem because sliding drawers would hit the two reclining Sienna seats that will be in front of the bed anyways.
Pretty inexpensive too on Amazon at Walmart.
They even have an electrically adjusted version for 479.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Pragmatic-Adjustable-Bed-Frame-Head-and-Foot-Multiple-Sizes/26603156
You can see better pictures of that unit here.
http://www.walgreens.com/store/c/pragma-corporation-pragmedic-adjustable-bed/ID=prod6270315-product
The downside to this unit is there is some lost space due to the DC motor but I think you could still do a top drawer there, just not as deep. And they don't offer the wooden slat version with the electric motor because it uses the steel support in the middle to move the bed. The upside is that you do not need bring the bed up to 80* in order to release it to go back down flat as you do with the manual version. I think this will be easy to do from the rear of the van standing on the outside so I would rather take the more comfortable slats and less weight from the DC motors and electrical draw.
I'll be getting the Wooden slat version for comfort, and it's 200$ less than the electrically controlled version.
The bed has 14" of clearance underneath it will have plenty of space for gear and with an 8" foam mattress the top of the mattress will be right underneath where the windows are so there should be plenty of room to sit up. Even more with a 6" mattress.
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