Iveco Eurocargo ML150E24 4x4 RV Expedition Truck, new custom build!

How hard is importing one of these in the US ?

Iveco is in France, where I live, and Italy very, very popular and quite a few are converted to Overland Camper..

Iveco has a good reputation in Europe, good trucks.

I wonder why the reason is they cannot import new ones into the US, surely they have Iveco over there?
 
Finally a head to head size comparrison of the new Iveco 15 ton and the Fuso 6 ton.

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We had the Iveco's chassis lengthened by 1100mm between the axles in the end. This will give us a 6200mm box with legal overhang for a motorbike lift.

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We removed the incorrectly mounted, and unneccessary heavy, subframe to begin the build of a new version. We had bought this truck unregistered from an owner builder who lost interest in the build and so we inherited some useful things like a custom build 400L (105 Gallon) stainless steel diesel tank, as well as some not so useful things.
 
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Arjan

Fossil Overlander
The Mrs. said that if we'd go for an truck that size she'd have the waterbed in there..... :LOL:

I am looking into the options & problems to build us a truck that will take the SWB Land Rover in the back - but that quickly puts me in 3 axle configurations...

Where do you expect to end up weight wise when it is completed and ready for the road ?
 
The Mrs. said that if we'd go for an truck that size she'd have the waterbed in there..... :LOL:

I am looking into the options & problems to build us a truck that will take the SWB Land Rover in the back - but that quickly puts me in 3 axle configurations...

Where do you expect to end up weight wise when it is completed and ready for the road ?

At least you will have an emergency water supply with that water bed :p

SWB Landy a bit hectic, but you might get away with a Suzuki Jimny on a 2 axle truck?? Either way sounds like you have a bigger budget than I do LOL

According to the body fabricator we should get to around 50% of the Iveco's max pay load. That is about as good as you are going to get.
 

Arjan

Fossil Overlander
50 % weight is good - you do need some weight for the truck to be comfortable and have grip.

We had a big 3-axle truck (roads here have sometimes low axles weights) back in the days to move 5-7 horses around - now with 1 or 2 horses, we down sized to a 5 tonne Iveco to haul them around.

Money wise, a good used truck with a 8 mtr. isolated body can be found under € 20k and having converted a few, I know how we can make it work for not insane money. It needs to be good, practical to house use, the dogs and a Land Rover and take us around Europe - not to win prizes. Great thing of building trucks is that weight is less critical so stuff gets less expensive.

And I've had that SWB since '78 - no Suzuki... :)

The waterbed has heating - so in Winter very nice....
 
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We are making good progress with this build right now and hope to have it done by end November of this year in order to a decent test run over December 2019.

After that the prep continues for the our 14,000km (approx 900 miles) initial trip onto the African continent and the first leg of our 5-6 year round-the-world adventure.

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Finally we are able to get a feel for the size of this space. This should be comfortable enough for a family of 4!

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* As you enter the door there is a pantry on the left followed by a residential fridge/freezer. On the opposide side of the door a fully equipped kitchen including washer/dryer combo will welcome you.
* Against the rear wall there will be a U-shape leather lounge suite & fold-down table to conver to the 5th & 6th berth on those odd occassions.
* The main Queen bed frame will retract into the ceiling above the lounge area when not in use. It will have a low position just above the backrests of the lounge and one midway position stealing headroom in order for the lounge-bed to be used.
* Looking forward from the midship kitchen there is a shower cubicle on the left and seperate WC cubicle with marine macerator toilet next to it.
* Accross from the shower there is a U-shape walk-in-closet for the most amount of packing space you will ever find in an expedition truck probably :)
* The solid paneled door of the shower opens up and locks in against the closet wall accross the corridor to enable a person to walk straight from the shower into the closet with private dressing space in between.
* Against the bulkhead at the front, where the Crawl-thru to the cab will be, we will have bench & table seats for the kids that convert into a 3/4 bed with another 3/4 bed that retracts into the ceiling above when not in use.

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This is what a 405L (107 US gallon) diesel tank looks like. We will carry an additional 100L (26 US gallon) in jerry cans to enable us to cover a 2,000km (1,242 mile) stretch in ideal conditions.

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The Iveco Eurocargo ML150E24 4x4 is not a small truck!

More photos to follow. Any questions or comments please do not hesitate.
 
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Arjan

Fossil Overlander
Very Nice !!!!

With the wheelbase extension, the turning circle will not have been improved...
Space is more important though - good choice !
 
Very Nice !!!!

With the wheelbase extension, the turning circle will not have been improved...
Space is more important though - good choice !

Yes indeed. I think if it was just the missus and myself I would have kept it short. But with 2x soon to be teenagers along I opted for space.

I will just drive around that sand dune instead of over the top of it! LOL
 
So we have been making some further progress on this.

The Motorcycle lift for the rear of the truck, which will slide up and down with the help of a dual purpose rear mounted winch, is taking shape!

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And our storage boxes have gone on! Just need to remove them again for spraying.

The box in the middle will house the exterior slide-out kitchen.

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VerMonsterRV

Gotta Be Nuts
So we have been making some further progress on this.

The Motorcycle lift for the rear of the truck, which will slide up and down with the help of a dual purpose rear mounted winch, is taking shape!

View attachment 530928

And our storage boxes have gone on! Just need to remove them again for spraying.

View attachment 530929View attachment 530930
View attachment 530931
If you get a few minutes it would be great to see some photos of how you did the hinges and sealing surfaces on for your storage boxes. I am starting in on ours soon so it would help.
 
The Motorcycle-Lift for the Eurocargo 4x4 is done and ready to be sprayed.

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Just need to cut the platform below loose again as I decided it makes sense to add tail-lift hinges rather than a fixed platform. Don't know why I did not think of that before!
It would be more practical to be able to fold the platform up flat when not in use, and it will save on square meters when shipping.

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