New here, looking for some F350 ideas

[PaulH]

Hey everybody, long time lurker, figured I would come out of the shadows for a bit of guidance. Love the site, gives me way too many good ideas for crazy trips.

First a bit of background, I've always been a fan of taking the "road less traveled" so to speak, up until now the vehicle of choice has been old Saab 900s. A couple years ago a couple friends and I drove the Trans-Labrador Highway in two 900's (full story can be found here http://saablink.net/forum/showthread.php?t=32039&highlight=labrador)

While that was an awesome trip, we got the distinct impression that we were not using the right tool for the job at hand. So we have been planning a trip up the James bay road and out the Trans-Taiga, that whole deal, all while casually trying to figure out what vehicle to buy to use for this and other trips. This has proven difficult, mostly because we are total cheap-asses, and everything we like is too expensive. So since we needed a truck anyway, we bought this:

Couldn't pass it up at the price, former PennDOT truck, 6spd manual trans, 2wd, 7.3l Powerstroke.

So basically, we wanted something we can drive on real rough roads, not necessarily off road, and while 4x4 would have been nice, it wasn't ultimately necessary for what we're planning, and it saved us a whole bunch of money.

Now what do we do for camping? There will be 3 of us and perhaps a small dog, and we are sick and tired of putting up a tent every day. We have considered a cheap travel trailer, but I think it would be nice to have a self contained solution, like a slide in camper. However the weird bed this thing has (a feature that we like, but is making things harder) won't allow for a standard pickup bed type camper. We have kicked around the idea of building a camper to fit the bed from scratch, as we can do basic welding/fabrication work, but I thought we should ask for some ideas here first.

Paul

 

[TomH]

Hmmm, I can't seem to see your pictures.

Hi-Lo has been put out of business by the depression (I refuse to call it the Great Recession. To me, it's the Millineal Depression).

Still, you might be able to find a used pickup based Hi-Lo, or something similar by another manufacturer. It looks like a pickup shell, but there is one section inside of another. The top section telescopes up for camping and slides down over the inner/lower section while driving. You could build an elevated bed with trap doors. I once did this in a VW Rabbit pickup. My frame was made of 1x4s going side to side. These were connected by mending plates to shorter pieces going front to back. I had about 10 flat panels with finger holes in each one to access from above. The legs were galvanized 3/4" pipe on flanges screwed to the underside of the frame. I could put extensions on the bottom of each and make the bed either10" high or 13" high. With the tailgate down, I could access the storage from the end of the bed. My wife and I slept on the elevated bed, which was high enough to clear the wheel wells. The cross members of the frame were such that I could unscrew the legs from the flanges and drop the frame to the pickup bed floor without obstruction of the wheel wells if I needed the full volume of the shell for transporting something otherwise too large to fit. I used a piece of vinyl follring to protect the pickup bed floor and old style soda bottle caps as shoes for the ends of the galvanized pipe legs.

With the size truck you have, a Hi-Lo or similar shell would give you room for a very high elevated bed, plus plenty of headroom to sit up when the shell was telescoped up. VW pickups had the cab shell and rear bed as 1 body piece, like a Ford Rancherro or a Chevy El Camino. For this reason, I was able to flush mount my shell to the rear of the cab, remove the rear windshield, and have a crawl through between the cab and bed. You could not do this for two reasons, obviously. Normal pickups have a separate body for cab and bed as well as the Hi-Lo having an outer panel that needs to telescope over an inner panel at that plane. I have a picture of one of these in a program on another computer that I can't get to until later. I will post it when I can get to it later.

Other options would be a camper shell that already has an extension over the cab, like this:

http://www.truckboxdirect.com/spacekapplus6and8fiberglasstruckcap.aspx?BrandId=76

Another would be something similar with a canvas pop-up top section. Scroll through this page for some ideas:

http://forum.aev-conversions.com/showthread.php?t=1280

Edit: Well now I can see one picture-the truck, and it obviously doesn't have a standard bed. What about an adventure trailer:

http://www.adventuretrailers.com/page/trailers/

 

[BCHauler]

Welcome to the site. There are a number of members on here who use trucks with utility beds. Some of them use an Alaskan camper, which seem to fit inside many of the utility beds. However, based on your truck, you would have to shorten the tall passenger side cabinet.

 

[Christian P.]

Paul,

This is really awesome. This truck has so much potential! I hope you plan on leaving it yellow...



Great trip report too!

 

[StromHawk60]

Definintely a great body to start with

Paul,

This is really awesome. This truck has so much potential! I hope you plan on leaving it yellow...



Great trip report too!

I just wanted to also say this has so much potential. I too have a 2002 F350 7.3 psd - my lifetime truck. I was thinking of trying to find a utility body that i liked. Yours is wonderful and just begs for a one off solution.

Please keep posting your progress.

 

[StromHawk60]

could the tall cabinet become the bathroom?

is the tall compartment big enough for porta-potty and/or enclosed shower?

A little water tank rigging and you'll have addressed one of the critical elements of comfortabled travel!

 

[PaulH]

Welcome to the site. There are a number of members on here who use trucks with utility beds. Some of them use an Alaskan camper, which seem to fit inside many of the utility beds. However, based on your truck, you would have to shorten the tall passenger side cabinet.

Cutting down that cabinet has been discussed, but I'd rather not do it, don't wanna have to mess around with fabricating a new door for the thing and whatnot, plus its a handy sized cabinet.

Paul,

This is really awesome. This truck has so much potential! I hope you plan on leaving it yellow...



Great trip report too!

Haha yeah, we do intend to keep the "PennDOT Camo" going as much as possible, its great, the police just wave at it :smiley_drive:

is the tall compartment big enough for porta-potty and/or enclosed shower?

A little water tank rigging and you'll have addressed one of the critical elements of comfortabled travel!

Ha! Hadn't thought about that, though I think its too short, I'm 6' so I don't think it'll work as a shower as-is.

I think I'm really leaning toward a custom solution, basically just a steel frame with an aluminum skin that fits correctly over that big cabinet, with a big cabover portion I figure we should end up with more than enough room.

I'm really impressed with the truck so far, 172k on it and it drives real nice still, surprisingly quick for a truck that weighs near 9k empty. We loaded it up with 4600lbs of coal the other day and it didnt even flinch :Wow1:

Paul

 

[bronconite]

Hey, we're practically neighbors.:sombrero: I have an F250 with a utility body that I'm still trying to figure out how to configure. It can be seen here.
http://expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=22150
I haven't done much lately except routine/preventative maintainence and working some bugs out of it. I've been getting some inspiration here.
http://cheaprvliving.com/BuildYourOwnCamper.html
I've just been using it as is for now. I really like those state trucks. Before I got mine I thought about them alot but didn't want to do without four wheel drive. It will be interesting if you build a camper around that bed. Keep us posted.

 

[bftank]

if you are trying to do it for cheap i would suggest selling the perfectly good utility bed and buying a used flatbed and popup with the money. if you are confident in your fab skills make your own tube bed/flat bed. add boxes to the sides as money and scrounging allows.

save your money for bigger fuel tanks, and building biodiesel processor. maybe put a selectable locker in the back. just in case.

 

[poriggity]

if you are trying to do it for cheap i would suggest selling the perfectly good utility bed and buying a used flatbed and popup with the money. if you are confident in your fab skills make your own tube bed/flat bed. add boxes to the sides as money and scrounging allows.

save your money for bigger fuel tanks, and building biodiesel processor. maybe put a selectable locker in the back. just in case.

This is what I would do.. If you found the right buyer, the $$ for that utility bed would probably just about cover the cost of a new flatbed, or fabbed flatbed. That being said... You could always do a 4x4 conversion on it later if you really wanted to, but that's not usually CHEAP..
Scott

 

[TomH]

I can see all your pics now, and I'm going back to my initial answer. I would sell that utility bed, put on a flat bed, then get something like this to go on it:

http://www.alaskancamper.org/Desktop-Images/37.jpg

The top telescopes up, then fold out/up panels fill the gaps. It appears that you could build a passage through the rear window into the camper.

 

[PaulH]

Hey, we're practically neighbors.:sombrero: I have an F250 with a utility body that I'm still trying to figure out how to configure. It can be seen here.
http://expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=22150
I haven't done much lately except routine/preventative maintainence and working some bugs out of it. I've been getting some inspiration here.
http://cheaprvliving.com/BuildYourOwnCamper.html
I've just been using it as is for now. I really like those state trucks. Before I got mine I thought about them alot but didn't want to do without four wheel drive. It will be interesting if you build a camper around that bed. Keep us posted.

Nice truck, I like the bed, wish ours was a bit more conventional like that, could just get one of those slide in bed campers and be done with it. We sorta wanted a 4x4 too, but the price difference is rediculous, and we really dont plan on going crazy far off the road at this point.

if you are trying to do it for cheap i would suggest selling the perfectly good utility bed and buying a used flatbed and popup with the money. if you are confident in your fab skills make your own tube bed/flat bed. add boxes to the sides as money and scrounging allows.

save your money for bigger fuel tanks, and building biodiesel processor. maybe put a selectable locker in the back. just in case.

I think we are gonna keep the bed and work with what we've got, one thought I had was trying to find a slide in that is for a short bed, and just mount it behind the tall shelf. Would end up with a bit of dead space, but not terrible, theres about 64" behind that shelf to the back of the bed, just having trouble finding specs for the slide ins as far as how much length is needed in that area.

It could use a 2nd tank for sure, but its got a 40 gallon tank in the back, so its got pretty decent range as-is. Also has a LSD rear end already, a locker probably would be more effective, but we haven't gotten it stuck yet!

We'll certainly keep everyone posted if we make any progress, keep the interesting ideas coming!

Paul

 

[bronconite]

A conventional slide in won't work with mine, and I don't think it will work with yours either. They are made for factory beds and the vast majority of utility bodies out there have much higher bed sides than factory. I believe the cheapest way to go would be a factory bed with a used slide in. Your way ahead of the game in that scenerio as your utility bed is worth some bucks, mine, not so much due to rust issues. All that being said, I'm not sure that's the best solution. The nice thing is, you can continue to tent or hammock camp out of it until you figure it out.

 

[goodwoodweirdo]

Paul,

Great looking truck, I think its cry out to have a roof tent fitted to the rear body, very easily done at reasonable cost. Get one with decent awning sides and you can then be sheltered and have access to all those great storage bins.. then spend your efforts in utilizing the space, to including a pull out kitchen.

Enjoy it for a few years, then decide the next steps….

Cheers
Matt
:ylsmoke:

 

[wild1]

F-350 ideas

That's a great find. I think that you will find the ultility body is one of the best parts of the truck,I would keep it. A dual rear wheel size box has an unbelievable amount of storage and organization capacity and the dualies can actually carry the load. I have five years and hundreds of nights experience with a similar setup and it works flawlessly. Mine has a eight foot Alaskan cabover with the queen size bed and dinette bed and sleeps 3 easily. I know that you have said that you would like to keep the tall cabinet but I really think that it limits your options and it wouldn't be a big job to modify.
Good luck it should work great.