Bus conversion v.s. Truck Conversion

[belfert]

I got my colors of the two truck conversions shown mixed up.  I meant the BLACK one is almost certainly store bought.  The silver one looks like it may be home built.

[luvrbus]

Kingsley did that for year adding the Prevost body to his conversions till Prevost would not sell him the body that sliver one has been for sale a 1/2 dozen times over the past few years it is a Kingsley I bet not a home brew lol

[belfert]

I don't think living space is a problem it is the lost space they can build a truck conversion up to 52 ft long by law Dougie tells me can't do that with a bus

How do they get around the legal length limit of 45 feet in most states on motorhomes?  Only three states appear to allow motorhomes over 45 feet.

[luvrbus]

I don't know Brian but he sells the hell of the 52 ft toy haulers and for you Google guys type in Kingsley RV and see the Prevost body on his conversions he did it for years

[bevans6]

They don't get around the length limit, they just ignore it     An awful lot of toter-home - trailer combinations are over 75 feet, too, which is longer than allowed most places.  They just get in and go...

Brian

[Uglydog56]

There was a Kingsley in an RV Park I was staying at when I was full timing before.  They are longggggggg.  There must be 10 carrier bearings in that driveshaft.  Maybe 20.  It was ultra high end, had a big outside flatscreen tv and was all leather, tile, and granite inside.  I thought the 40 footers with slides were titanic (I was in a 21' travel trailer), but this thing generated it's own gravitational field.

The point is, I would want to be responsible for navigating this thing around.

[Uglydog56]

Scott, this is an example of a refrigerated box I was referring to, also know as a connex box.  Very beefy:

http://www.supercubes.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Camoflaged-20.jpg

Imagine it without the camouflage paint or the conspiracy theorist with the horde of guns, ammunition and cases of canned pork-n-beans inside.  Or, maybe, just leave it I guess... The refrigerated ones have insulation and a diesel powered reefer on the front.

Mount it on this.  400 cummins, 16 speed trans, 8x6 wheel drive:  

http://olive-drab.com/images/id_m920_700_03.jpg

It would be an extremely effective boondocking rig.  Lots of towing capacity too.  Not as aesthetically pleasing as an old bus though.  I don't know how many rv resorts would let you in with that setup.  But, I don't know of too many that could keep you out, either! 

[luvrbus]

I bet Doug is with in law he is not one for breaking the law fwiw Newell is coming out with a 48 ft RV next year maybe the internet hasn't caught up yet with current laws and regulations lol  

What classifies as a RV I saw the fifth wheels at a RV show that were 45 ft long one was 50 ft long now that is scary some old fart pulling those with a pickup,

The 57 ft trailers are legal in the trucking world but not used much because they are hard to make the turns in town 

good luck

[Iceni John]

Our antipodean friends from Down Under like WORTs  -  Weird Off-Road Things.   The most infamous is Rob Gray's Wothahellizat, and its mutant offspring Wothahellizat 2:   http://www.robgray.com/graynomad/wothahellizat/index.php   Now that's a truck conversion!   I think some of his design details are interesting  -  I especially like his sliding bed, and the overall clean airy look inside.

I also like the interiors of the MAN conversions made by Unicat:   http://www.unicat.net/en/index2-Galerie.html

Without the constraints of a bus body one can make a small space appear much roomier than it actually is.

As Rick says, imagine showing up to a KOA in one of them!

John

[TomC]

As mentioned, I am converting my '85 Kenworth 90" Aerodyne cabover to a 40ft motorhome.  It is already registered as a motohome.  It has a mechanical 400hp 3406B Caterpillar and I took out the 13spd and installed an Allison HT740.  Yes it does not turn like a bus, but is EXTREMELY easy to work on as compared to my bus.  It is built with 32ft box with 24" tall basement the whole length except for the last 13ft that is for my car-separate from the interior.  The box was custom made to my specs using 1.5" square tubing with 1/8" walls on 16" centers.
If you want to take a look, go to my facebook page-I'm listed as Thomas R. Christman. Good Luck, TomC

[chuckd]

So I have had 3 heavy duty truck (HDT) pullers for my fifth wheel.  The first was a Volvo 610 with an M11 Cummins and straight 10 spd.  Excellent mileage and great little engine.  Next I purchased a 99 Volvo 770 (taller version of 610) lots and lots of room for me to camp out while pulling me fifth wheel in the winter.  Then purchased another Volvo 770.  On the 770's I had one 10 spd Autoshift, and a 13 speed manual.  Actually like the 13 speed the best.

A couple of things, the trucks in some cases are very plush inside, and have dash  boards that are better laid out than what I have on my prevost.  They are safer!!!  The Volvo is designed so that the engine goes underneath the truck in case of a front ender.  You are not the first at the scene.  Very substantial side cut for steering, I could do a straight U turn if I had 4 lanes.  I would need the better part of a foot ball field for my Prevost.

Good idea on the reefer, there are many. many refrigerated vans without the chassis on truckpaper.com.  I toyed with the idea, but gave it up, to many dollars.

Ride is normally good, air ride seat on an air ride cab on an air ride chassis.  When adding a box - you can put bellows between the cab and box and keep the air ride cab.  You can go tall 770's are 13.25 feet high - use it all and do some two story things.

I will find the link later but there is a truck conversion site where people do these things and write about it.  The escapees HDT site is and excellent resource as well.

Chuckd - who will not answer why anyone would need 3 trucks.

[usbusin]

My story:

http://www.ustruckin.blogspot.com/

[lvmci]

Hi All, Darcy & Wally from Maine, met them at Quartzsite, fulltime in a freightliner I think it is, did an open transition, from cab to trailer, was originally a entertainers rv, lvmci

[Geoff]

Couple of things on this subject-- when you drive a a bus the diver's area is incorporated into the living quarters.  You have a motorhome, not a truck with living space behind it.  The bus is solid and you feel that when you are driving.  You are driving a home, not a trailer.  It is kind of like the difference between a Class C and a Class A RV.

--Geoff

[Boomer]

If you could find one, why not a Crown HPO (Highway Post Office).  Always thought they were neat vehicles.  Front clip is Crown bus, boxes were custom made by, I think, Trailmobile for Crown.  They came in two flavors, 35' 2 axle and 40' three axle.  Air ride, full Crown frame with midship engine.  I have seen two or three really nice conversions.  IIRC, they built around 50 of them over the years.  After the railroads quit using mail cars the USPS used the HPO's to sort mail enroute.  There were also the Brucks built for NP and GN by Kenworth and Crown.