Toyota Chinook 4x4 Wheel Well Clearance

[OCC]

I am rebuilding the floor in my 77 Toyota Chinook and I really want to get rid of the wheel wells. Right now there is like 8.5" of clearance between the wheel and the top of the wheel well as you can see in the photo. The wood represents the bottom of my floor. If I had a flat floor I would have 5" of clearance between the wheel and the floor and that is with a very, very empty camper.

Obviously I would have an issue with the floor showing through the wheel wells, but I'm willing to live with that and if painted black I don't think it would look that odd.

Perhaps @poormansearthroamer or @4xchinook4 could chime in as I have been following their threads for a while now.

 

[4xchinook4]

I'll go take a look mine later today. For pics. And reference. But personally my floor was in good shape and I didn't mind the gap much. But I think I have 3" ~ 3 ¼" of "body lift" between the 1980 truck frame and underside of chinook campers floor. .

(Just enough to allow the Over cab space actually fit .. over the cab lol)

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[rruff]

I wouldn't worry about looks, but rather your tires grinding hard on the floor whenever the suspension gets compressed. You need to lift it and adjust the bumpstops to avoid that.

 

[4xchinook4]

Honestly to. IF you chose to re make your floor at the same height from factory . And you don't like the air gap between frame and the inside face of the wheelwell . You could "skirt it" . Like a straight flap of rubber. much like the plastic inner fenders on cars. .

Hope this made sense

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[Herbie]

I wouldn't worry about looks, but rather your tires grinding hard on the floor whenever the suspension gets compressed. You need to lift it and adjust the bumpstops to avoid that.

Yeah, I think this is a risky plan until you have an understanding of how much things are going to articulate.

 

[OCC]

Honestly to. IF you chose to re make your floor at the same height from factory . And you don't like the air gap between frame and the inside face of the wheelwell . You could "skirt it" . Like a straight flap of rubber. much like the plastic inner fenders on cars. .

Hope this made sense

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I think I was unclear of what I want to achieve, I want to get rid of the wheel well humps on the inside of the camper. My goal is to have a flat floor inside. My floor was in pretty good condition but I wanted to use all of the possible space I could so it had to go.

Yeah, I think this is a risky plan until you have an understanding of how much things are going to articulate.

This is not a rock crawler. It is 4x4 but it is still a 1977 Chinook and it may be use on some off the beaten path roads but I doubt that it will be used on too much worse. I doubt if there is a lot of flex with the leaf spring suspension. Maybe it is hard to tell from the photo but my Chinook is lifted quite a bit already due to the 4x4 conversion that was put on in the 70's.

Here is a link to the Tunook (post #2) (@Tank5) and it looks like there are only a few inches of clearance in the wheel wells. He has a flat floor inside as well. So reading further in that thread on Post #42 he mentions that the truck was "sagging" a bit after the build out. He just adjusted his springs to get back to level. I think my truck sits pretty level as it is so having 5" of clearance at level seems like enough for me. If the truck sags after the build, which I hope it does not since weight is a large concern of mine as I build, then I can make adjustments.

Here is a better pic of the whole camper.

 

[4xchinook4]

I think I was unclear of what I want to achieve, I want to get rid of the wheel well humps on the inside of the camper. My goal is to have a flat floor inside. My floor was in pretty good condition but I wanted to use all of the possible space I could so it had to go.



This is not a rock crawler. It is 4x4 but it is still a 1977 Chinook and it may be use on some off the beaten path roads but I doubt that it will be used on too much worse. I doubt if there is a lot of flex with the leaf spring suspension. Maybe it is hard to tell from the photo but my Chinook is lifted quite a bit already due to the 4x4 conversion that was put on in the 70's.

Here is a link to the Tunook (post #2) (@Tank5) and it looks like there are only a few inches of clearance in the wheel wells. He has a flat floor inside as well. So reading further in that thread on Post #42 he mentions that the truck was "sagging" a bit after the build out. He just adjusted his springs to get back to level. I think my truck sits pretty level as it is so having 5" of clearance at level seems like enough for me. If the truck sags after the build, which I hope it does not since weight is a large concern of mine as I build, then I can make adjustments.

Here is a better pic of the whole camper.

View attachment 630556

Got it. . Well I suppose if you kept the goal of flat floor and 5" wheel wells. A Good afternoon spent installing some air bags on the springs could help with any weight concern shrinking those 5 inches???

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[poormansearthroamer]

Hey man! I would be very hesitant to remove your wheel wells; I absolutely would not consider it for myself. I'm not sure what kind of adventures you have planned for this, but I think you'll be severely hobbling your truck's capability. If you really only see yourself using it on off the beaten path roads, you'd obviously be fine. However, it would be a shame to put in all the work to have a flat floor and then find that you're not able to use it the way you want. @4xchinook4 has a good point with the air bags, I can modulate my ride height several inches with the horrible offbrand ones that are on my rig and a set might help to get you over some of the more gnarly humps you encounter.

 

[rruff]

This is not a rock crawler. It is 4x4 but it is still a 1977 Chinook and it may be use on some off the beaten path roads but I doubt that it will be used on too much worse. I doubt if there is a lot of flex with the leaf spring suspension.

There are many opportunities for getting crossed up... just going through a ditch at an angle will do it. I measured mine and I needed 8" to prevent rubbing.

It's easy to test, just go through a ditch at an angle so all your weight is on diagonal wheels.

 

[Tank5]

I would suggest keeping the wheel wells, since you are working with the stock chassis and stock placement of the chinook shell. The Tunook got away with a flat floor because it was mounted to a custom platform that was built on top of the Tundra frame which set the floor of the shell higher off the frame allowing a lot of room for wheel travel. It may seem deceiving because the shell was cut strait at the stock floor level for the Tunook which removed the wheel wells.

If you are really set on removing the wheel wells I would consider a body lift to try and make up some of the travel space you will lose. This raises the center of gravity too. You can always put bump stops in to prevent it from contacting your floor.

 

[4xchinook4]

Any updates here? Been thinking about what you got going on here alot?

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[OCC]

No real updates except to say that I have made a decision. I am going to make the floor flat but over the wheel wells I am going to make that piece of the floor easily removable so that if I do end up needing the clearance I can take out those pieces and add in the wheel well again.