Side Barn Door Built in Cabinetry and Weight Capacity (Express, Econoline)

[Inspired Adventurist]

I've got a Chevy Express with barn doors on both sides of the van. Having double doors on both sides opens up some really interesting possibilities with cabinets. As such, I'm working on some ideas for mounting cabinetry to the doors themselves.

Before I mount anything too heavy, does anyone know the weight capacity of the barn door hinges?

One of the things I'd like to mount on a door is a sink & grey water tank. The grey water tank could be any size, but ideally would be 5-7gallons to minimize the need for constant emptying. I think I'll put that on the driver's side on the rearward 40% section of the door. That will swing open and also be an outdoor shower station.

On the passenger side 40% door, I'd put the kitchenette. It would swing open and also be useable outside. On both sides of the van, the frontward 60% portion of the door will be a flip down table with pocket storage in the door cavity.

Any good ideas or resources for pulling this off?

 

[motovan_mn]

No concrete data to contribute here, but I'd love to see photos of your double door setup! I was always envious of those who were able to order their Ford Transits w/ double sliding doors.

Ford offers a "Builder Body Advisory Service" where they publish tons of technical documents. I haven't seen anything resembling a load rating for doors, but maybe you'll find something there?

Publications | Body Builder Advisory Service

I wouldn't be too worried about static loads, i.e. the weight of the water tank when the door is open and the vehicle is stationary. But mounting most of the weight as close to the plane of the door AND as close to the hinges as possible would be beneficial.

Lots of people have posted about door-mounted storage solutions over sportsmobileforum.com. Maybe they'd have more info to chime in with?

 

[Inspired Adventurist]

No concrete data to contribute here, but I'd love to see photos of your double door setup! I was always envious of those who were able to order their Ford Transits w/ double sliding doors.

Ford offers a "Builder Body Advisory Service" where they publish tons of technical documents. I haven't seen anything resembling a load rating for doors, but maybe you'll find something there?

Publications | Body Builder Advisory Service

I wouldn't be too worried about static loads, i.e. the weight of the water tank when the door is open and the vehicle is stationary. But mounting most of the weight as close to the plane of the door AND as close to the hinges as possible would be beneficial.

Lots of people have posted about door-mounted storage solutions over sportsmobileforum.com. Maybe they'd have more info to chime in with?

That's a good point. The Sportsmobile folks build those doors out all the time. I'll check in there as well. I'm asking because I haven't really seen builds that have this set up just about anywhere (and seriously, I thought I reached the end of the internet after 3yrs searching around for van info).

I definitely bought an older, slightly rustier van to get three things: double barn doors, AWD and passenger seats. It's a weird Chevrolet Express AWD Explorer Conversion van from 2003. The Explorer parts have aged with various levels of integrity. As I build, I'll probably only keep about 60% of their conversion kit. I'm going to strip the skirting for clearance, amend the electrical/lights to connect to my house battery while adding more lighting options. I'm taking out the second row captains chairs, but leaving the electric fold down bed.

 

[RVflyfish]

Wow that’s a really cool platform to start with. Lots of interesting possibilities. If it’s anything like the Astro, you can even convert AWD to 4WD pretty easily.

 

[Inspired Adventurist]

Wow that’s a really cool platform to start with. Lots of interesting possibilities. If it’s anything like the Astro, you can even convert AWD to 4WD pretty easily.

Yes! It can be converted with a transfer case swap. I'm going to run the van in stock form for a while, especially as the transfer case is virtually brand new and it has a G80 limited slip differential. I'd need to grow a much bigger pair to take on terrain that take outpaces the awd/locker combo and necessitates true 4x4 modes.