Truck Conversion

[Tikvah]

So, I've kind of got the bug lately to do another conversion, but this time a truck.  I see a lot of advantages of a truck over a bus.  I know some of you have experience in trucks and might have even tried it.
But - this is a bus forum.  Are there any forums dedicated to truck conversions?  Looking for how to start searching for ideal engines/trans/ etc.

Any thoughts?

[lostagain]

I still drive buses and trucks part time for fun, at my age...

You cannot beat the smoothness and quietness of  a bus.

Trucks have advantages such as ease of maintenance, etc, but even the late model trucks, which are quiet, are not as quiet as a bus up front. Their turning radius is not as sharp as a bus, the ride is not nearly as smooth as a bus. Yea driving a big rig class 8 truck is cool and a rush, but for me anyway, I would rather travel in a smooth, quiet bus, rather than the nicest truck anytime. If I want to drive a truck, I can make a phone call and be at the wheel of a B train grain truck tomorrow morning, or a long haul semi for 14 days, or haul gravel for my neighbor with my dump truck, but on a holiday, you can't beat a nice quiet coach.

Just my opinion of course.

If you go on the truck conversion forums, they will tell you what you want to hear.

JC

[Zephod]

I almost bought a step van. That would have had some advantages over my bus.


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[Scott & Heather]

Dave Heather and I have seriously considered this many times. We've toured some nice super c's and toters too. Talked to owners and priced conversions. Two things keep us coming back to the bus: space and comfort. A truck conversion automatically cuts your living space down because of the length of the hood and engine compartment. They do not ride as smooth as a coach and even the quietest cabs aren't nearly as quiet as a bus....after all you're mere inches from a 500 hp diesel motor. So everything JC said. Some people think they are more reliable. I don't think so. Easier to work on? Yes. Easier to find parts for? Yes. Easier to find mechanics for? Yes. But not more reliable. I was just chatting with a trucker team tonight who have had an incredible amount of full breakdown strandings in their new kenworth.


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[uncle ned]

I had a good friend that had a converted Freight liner.

It did not make it through SC the last time.

Blew a left front tire and left the highway on the left side and caught fire.

Neither the father or son escaped.

Hit a tree on I85 southbound in Huggy.  Blew a right front tire. She did not swerve or any thing.

Just slowly moved to the right.

A tire on the side of I85 at midnight on a Saturday night cost 580.00 dollars and was happy to pay for it.

Good Sam payed for him to bring it and change it.

uncle ned

[TomC]

We all know of stories of motorhomes, trailers, truck conversions, bus conversions blowing tires and wrecking. This story of the Freightliner has nothing to do with the safety of any of the vehicles.

[Zephod]

We all know of stories of motorhomes, trailers, truck conversions, bus conversions blowing tires and wrecking. This story of the Freightliner has nothing to do with the safety of any of the vehicles.

True. I was scared off travel trailers when I saw one fishtail and topple across the road in front of me on I77 a few years ago.


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[Timkar]

In answer to one of your questions, here is one group...http://www.truckconversion.net/forums/

[Scott & Heather]

I've spent a lot of time on that forum ^ and it's not super active in terms of people building their own unfortunately


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[Zephod]

I've spent a lot of time on that forum ^ and it's not super active in terms of people building their own unfortunately


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Forums vary. Some are chock full of BS artists.


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[uncle ned]

Tom  I was comparing the difference from him blowing a left front tire, running off the left side and into the median catching fire .

And my o4 hitting a big tree blown down in front of her. blowing the right front tire and going straight on down the road to a safe stop.

Both of the accidents happened at speed going down the interstates.

uncle ned

[paul102a3]

If you have an interest in a truck conversion, I can provide a reasonable comparison of a factory converted Prevost and factory converted Super C built on a Volvo chassis. I have almost equal time in the drivers seat of each and If folks are interested, I can post a comparison here or feel free to PM me and I will send you the info.

[TomC]

Please post-we're all curious. Course I drove my truck for 1.3 million miles, so I know how it rides and drives. Granted it is not a bus, but when you're doing all the maintenance (I'm changing the bus oil today), maintenance on a truck seems to be a snap. Good Luck, TomC

[robertglines1]

Son-Andy has toter home on Fl 120   Only thing is takes alot more to turn a corner. Great factory conversion(National )I think.  Maybe he will chime in as he has drove both also.

[paul102a3]

Comparison of bus and truck conversions LONG READ

I have owned two buses, a 1989 MCI 102a3 and a 2001 Prevost XL II with the 500 HP S60 DD. The past number of months, I have been driving a 2016 Super C truck conversion built on a Volvo VNL chassis. It is a long story but a friend of mine ordered this conversion and had a health issue that prevented him from taking delivery. I flew to the factory late last year to take delivery and drive it to Tampa. My friend is still unable to travel and offered us the opportunity to take the truck conversion on a cross country trek.

Please do not consider this an apples to apples comparison but more of a general overview. Case in point, the Prevost is a 2001 with 124,000 miles vs a 2016 top of the line Volvo with 650 miles at the time of the conversion.

Seat time - I have have just under 7,000 miles of seat time in the Prevost but no significant mountain driving. To date, I have driven the truck conversion a little over 7,500 miles, crossed the Appalachian mountains twice and the Rocky and Cascade chain once so far and will do a few more mountain passes and add another few thousand miles before the trip ends.

Cab Noise - the buses are quieter as it relates to engine noise but to be honest, the engine in the truck is extremely quiet due to sound insulation in the cab and the low engine RPM. At 65 MPH, my wife and I can talk in normal tones. Above 65, the wind noise becomes the dominant sound. To date, we haven't been bothered by the engine noise and truth be told, I prefer listening to the engine rumble along.

Interior Room - unless one compares the exact same floor plan, this comparison is moot but people ask so here is my take. I can state that there is more "usable" space inside the living area of this particular truck conversion than in either of my buses but the floor plans are completely different. The truck conversion has two drivers side slides whereas the buses were non-slide units. In addition, the headroom is 7' 10" which gives a tremendous amount of overhead storage and gives the impression of a larger space. The spare bed area above the cab is huge (we use it for storage). The last 9'6" of the conversion is a garage with a 4 K lb lift-gate and carries a Smart Car as a toad (the owner originally had the garage laid out to carry motorcycles but it has since been converted for the Smart Car). When the car is on the ground, the garage becomes a bonus room, mud room, man cave, etc. The garage has it's own TV, heat and air conditioning and houses the stacked washer dryer.

It is often stated that there is a lot of lost living space because the engine is mounted up front. It is not a well known fact but several truck converters cheat on the overall length. This conversion is 2'6" longer than my Prevost XL II which gains back interior space. I believe the actual box is just under 38 feet from the back of the cab seats to the back inside wall of the lift-gate.

Ride Quality - hands down the MCI and Prevost is much smoother on the roads from the drivers area. That being said, we don't find the ride quality problematic however, I do wish the truck had air ride front suspension when we hit those real nasty sections of road. (Air ride front suspension is an option on the Volvo but I don't think it is rated over 14 K lbs). My wife claims there is no noticeable difference between the Prevost and the truck once you move back into the living spaces in terms of rough ride. I can't verify that claim as she won't drive either one.

Drivability - the buses are much much smoother in the delivery of power at low speeds such as stop and go traffic, etc. This truck conversion is a OTR truck and was ordered with an automated 12 speed manual transmission. (for those not familiar with automated manual transmissions, it is a true 12 speed manual transmission with a clutch that is operated by air and is computer controlled). When the software disengages the clutch on any type of incline or decline, it activates a hill start assist that applies the service brakes whenever the truck is stopped. The hill start disengages by the application of throttle which leads to a jerky start. The steeper the grade, the worse the start. Going through a city with constant stop and go traffic gets a little annoying. The one saving grace to offset these jerky starts is to just use the shift pad and shift up and down as needed within the first 6 gears with the engine idling. First gear idling is a crawl and 6th gear idling is about 15 MPH. The truck is also much slower in accelerating up to around 45 MPH even though there is an extra 100 HP and 400 lbs of torque over the Prevost. Once it hits 9th gear, the thing pulls like freight train.

Highway Drivability - the Prevost is very nice to drive and doesn't need much steering input to stay in a lane however the truck is a dream to drive in comparison. It is noticeably easier to maintain lane position both on interstates and two lane mountain roads and I can easily drive several more hours per day than in the Prevost. I tended to drive the Prevost favoring the right side of the lane which annoyed the heck out of my wife. For whatever reason, I keep the truck more centered in a lane. I suspect it has more to do with the narrower cab but it could also be better visual reference as I can see the corners of the hood. One thing I have noticed is I don't feel like I am being squeezed by traffic to my left.

Ingress - the floor is quite a bit higher in the truck conversion than the Prevost. There are 2 steps that extend outside the coach and 3 inside the coach. We often have a small jump step to get from the ground to the first step. We really notice it when loading groceries or cases of water.

Leveling - Prevost wins this one by a mile. The standard air leveling on the Prevost  always seemed to work just fine. With the truck conversion having spring front suspension and air bags in the rear, leveling jacks are required. The leveling jacks are bolted to the frame rails which all sounds fine but the mounting position creates a very narrow platform resulting in noticeable movement when either of us moves around the coach. Another side effect of the spring front end is The inability to lower the front if the camp site has a bit of incline. I can only raise the rear end. Volvo claims it is not an issue to leave the drive tires hanging a little bit on one side but it still makes me nervous.

Basement Storage - this is a big negative on the truck conversion. The Prevost has at least double (maybe even more) the basement storage of the truck and there is no way to have a pass through storage bay on the truck because of the frame rails. The lack of basement storage forces the converter to put potable water storage under the master bed so that storage space is lost. Black and grey tanks take up 2 bays and the batteries (house and start), Aquahot, water/electrical management systems, inverter, generator and hydraulic power unit for the lift-gate take up most of the Bay storage. This conversion has only 3 empty bays which really limits the ability to carry outdoor stuff such as grills, chairs, etc. Because of the small bay storage, the truck conversion has very limited house battery reserves meaning no long term dry camping.

Towing Capacity - no comparison here. The towing capacity of this conversion is 20,000 lbs which is on the light side for truck conversions. In order to fit the integral lift-gate, the converter requires the hitch to retract in between the frame rails. When the hitch receiver is extended for towing, the allowable tongue weight is reduced thus limiting the tow capacity. The standard version of this conversion has the hitch receiver mounted onto the frame rails and is rated between 35 and 40 K lbs towing capacity depending on options.

Left Lane Travel - this one is a little goofy but worth noting. On many interstates, it is marked no trucks allowed in the left lane. I constantly fight with myself about the risk/reward of driving in the left lane with this conversion. On one hand, it is registered and titled as an RV so one might argue I have the right to be in the left lane. I did inquire at our local Florida Highway Patrol office and was told no worries but Florida is notorious for protecting the RV industry. On the other hand, it is clearly a "truck" and some over zealous cop might write a ticket. Since this thing will roll at 75 MPH all day long without breathing hard and with many OTR trucks limited to 65 MPH, it is really annoying to get stuck behind them with an empty left lane. I never gave the "no trucks in the left lane" signs a thought when driving the Prevost.

Service - without a doubt, routine service on the Volvo stuff is dead simple. Pop the hood latch and everything is right there. I did have a minor issue with the cruise control while bring the coach from Indiana to Florida. Stopped into a Volvo truck dealer and the cruise control was fixed in less than 10 minutes. There are no worries about working under the coach with the leaf spring front end and the ground clearance under the cab area is terrific.

Fuel Supply - as we all know, OTR trucks carry their fuel in tanks mounted on each side of the cab while buses carry their fuel in tanks mounted internally. This is not an issue for general driving but the Aquahot on this conversion became intermittent when we went through a cold spell. Long story short, the fuel gelled up in the middle of the night and couldn't flow to the Aquahot. Most of the bays in the Prevost including the area where the fuel tank was situated were heated so fuel gelling wasn't an issue.

Fuel Economy - this is probably an unfair comparison because of the fuel saving technology in the Volvo drivetrain but the truck conversion weighs in at just over 48 K lbs with full water, fuel, food stores, cloths and the car loaded in the garage. The Prevost was just over 47 K lbs plus the Jeep Liberty we used to tow.

At 65 MPH, the Prevost trip computer indicated we were getting an average of 7.8 MPG on flat roads. The truck conversion gets an average of 10 MPG under the same speed and road conditions.

General Comments - one particularly nice feature of this truck conversion is the ability to close off the drivers cab from the living space with sliding doors. While driving, we don't hear any rattles from the living space and at night, we can close the doors and have complete privacy. The doors have an added benefit of improving the performance of the dash air conditioning or heat by reducing the volume of air. The truck has a lot less windshield glass area than the Prevost or MCI. That combined with the exterior sun visor over the windshield helps reduce the heat load in the cab when driving into the sun. I rarely need to wear sunglasses except when driving directly into the late afternoon sun.

The truck is definitely harder to maneuver into smaller campgrounds. I cant find any measurements on the Volvo but I believe the wheel cut is significantly greater on the Prevost allowing a tighter turning radius. The actual wheelbase is within one inch between this conversion and the Prevost but I find myself having to make a number of three point turns whereas I am pretty sure I would have made the same turn in one shot in the Prevost. My memory is fading with age but I don't think the truck is any worse than my MCI. The good news is I haven't yet found a campground or site I couldn't get into but we are only halfway through our trip.

I think that covers most of the important differences other than the wow factor. This thing causes all kinds of reactions wherever we go. I am not exaggerating when I say we haven't stopped one time without someone making a comment or wanting more information about the Super C conversion or taking pictures. Loading and unloading the car always draws a crowd and I often joke about putting out a cigar box for the onlookers to make a donation.

Like everything in life, these truck conversions have their pros and cons. I hope this information helps identify some of the differences. Please remember these comments only relate to my experiences with two specific conversions, the Prevost and Volvo.

Feel free to ask any questions and I will do my best to answer them.