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Truck interiors


jenandjon

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Im currently shopping for a HDT I know what I want just a matter of getting one for the price. Anyway i would like to see how you changed the interior to fit your needs. I need to be able to take several passengers. 2 of which will be children. I need more seats and seat belts. So its going to be out with the bed in the bunk and build  a couch with seat belts or get 4 more air rides seats. I have a few in the shop already. Take outs from our other trucks. But they are about shot. Then install a tv back there. They will not be able to watch the scenery from the bunk anyway. There are no windows. The truck im looking at already has a converter installed. The driver used it for a fridge so I know it will run what ever electronics i put back there.

Farmer, Trucker, Equipment operator, Mechanic

Quando omni flunkus moritati-When all else fails, play dead
I'm a man, but I can change, if I have to, I guess.

 

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Well I just removed upper and lower beds. Installed jackknife couch. Looks nice. Able to keep storage bins and need seating for grandchildren. Still work in progress. Job came up and this first day off. 

2003 Teton Grand Freedom towed with 2006 Freightliner Century 120 across the beautiful USA welding pipe.https://photos.app.goo.gl/O32ZjgzSzgK7LAyt1

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Here is a link to some pictures of the interior of my truck I have on my Google drive.  I took out the lower bunk and OEM cabinets.  I installed a couch and some wood cabinets in their place.  The driver's side cabinet has a clothes rod in the upper portion to hold jackets or whatever.  I thought about putting doors on this, but ended up just using some netting to keep things from falling/swinging out.  The lower portion is where I store my port-o-potty (which has never been used).  I also built in a control center on the back side of the cabinet for the OEM control panel, a 120 volt receptacle and my inverter control panel.  Later, I added a map pocket on the front side of the cabinet (inside the hanging area) to keep some essential paperwork and maps and to make the cabinet look more symmetrical.  The passenger side cabinet used to be similar to the driver side cabinet with the microwave in the top and the refrigerator in the bottom and an open storage shelf in the middle. I left a small shelf on top of the microwave in case I ever wanted to install a satellite receiver for the TV.  The TV has a built in DVD player, but if it didn't, I could also put a DVD player up there.  This, however, prevented my wife from being able to lean her seat back while traveling (which was a deal breaker for her).  I ended up splitting that cabinet into a separate upper and lower cabinet to allow her to lean her chair back between them.  The TV is mounted to the wall on a pull out arm.  It really only gets used when we have our granddaughter with us.  She can watch movies while we go down the road.  I also built some end tables on either side of the couch.  The couch was designed for a medium duty truck, so it didn't span the entire width of the sleeper.  It can seat three comfortably with seat belts for each passenger.  It has a metal framework underneath that is bolted through the sleeper floor.  The end tables have cup holders and small storage bins in them (they do not go all the way to the floor).  The area under the couch and end tables is still storage and accessible from the jockey box doors outside.  I do have a Magnum inverter and a pair of large AGM batteries under the couch as well, so the storage area is mostly taken up with those items, but there is some room for essentials under there.

2000 Kenworth T2000 w/ Cummins N14 and autoshift
2017 DRV Mobile Suite 40KSSB4 with factory mods, dealer mods and personal mods - now in the RV graveyard
2022 DRV Full House MX450 with customized floor plan
2018 Polaris RZR Turbo S (fits in the garage)
2016 Smart Car (fits in the garage or gets flat towed behind the DRV when the RZR is in the garage)
My First Solar Install Thread
My Second Solar Install Thread & Photos and Documents Related to the build
My MX450's solar, battery and inverter system - my biggest system yet!

chadheiser.com      West Coast HDT Rally Website

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That's what we were talking about. Putting In a jackknife couch. How did you get it in there? I suppose you had to take the passenger seat out?

Farmer, Trucker, Equipment operator, Mechanic

Quando omni flunkus moritati-When all else fails, play dead
I'm a man, but I can change, if I have to, I guess.

 

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2 hours ago, jenandjon said:

That's what we were talking about. Putting In a jackknife couch. How did you get it in there? I suppose you had to take the passenger seat out?

Hi Jon,

Welcome to the forum. I am going just to put out some ideas for you. It depends on your time line how soon you want to get the truck on the road. It sounds like you want to keep this truck for awhile. I have never put a jack knife couch into a truck but I have changed out my front seats. My doing that, it started the ball rolling. I thought, well I got the front seats out, what is it going to take to get the floor mat out. I got the floor mat out so I could see what shape the floor was in. The ball is still rolling about taking apart the inside of the truck. Everything that I took out of the truck got cleaned. I am a big believer in adding sound deadening material to the floor the walls and the ceiling. I also added silver bubble insulation over the sound deadening material. It has made a big difference inside the cab. I understand you asked about putting in a jack knife couch. But you will be taking the truck apart to get your couch in. That is the reason why I just put out some ideas for you. It is just something to think about.

Best of luck in finding a truck,
Al

2012 Volvo VNL 630 w/ I-Shift; D13 engine; " Veeger "
  Redwood, model 3401R ; 5th Wheel Trailer, " Dead Wood "
    2006 Smart Car " Killer Frog "
 

 

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9 hours ago, alan0043 said:

Hi Jon,

Welcome to the forum. I am going just to put out some ideas for you. It depends on your time line how soon you want to get the truck on the road. It sounds like you want to keep this truck for awhile. I have never put a jack knife couch into a truck but I have changed out my front seats. My doing that, it started the ball rolling. I thought, well I got the front seats out, what is it going to take to get the floor mat out. I got the floor mat out so I could see what shape the floor was in. The ball is still rolling about taking apart the inside of the truck. Everything that I took out of the truck got cleaned. I am a big believer in adding sound deadening material to the floor the walls and the ceiling. I also added silver bubble insulation over the sound deadening material. It has made a big difference inside the cab. I understand you asked about putting in a jack knife couch. But you will be taking the truck apart to get your couch in. That is the reason why I just put out some ideas for you. It is just something to think about.

Best of luck in finding a truck,
Al

Al does a great job of rejuvenating the interior of a truck.  The inside of his 730 is very nice with custom upholstry.

Alie & Jim + 8 paws

2017 DRV Memphis 

BART- 1998 Volvo 610

Lil'ole 6cyl Cummins

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13 hours ago, jenandjon said:

That's what we were talking about. Putting In a jackknife couch. How did you get it in there? I suppose you had to take the passenger seat out?

I was able to get everything in without removing the front seats.  The couch is actually three pieces.  The rear cushion (what you lean against), the bottom cushion (where you sit) and the frame it all bolts to are all separate pieces.  They were able to fit through the passenger door with the passenger seat in place.  

2000 Kenworth T2000 w/ Cummins N14 and autoshift
2017 DRV Mobile Suite 40KSSB4 with factory mods, dealer mods and personal mods - now in the RV graveyard
2022 DRV Full House MX450 with customized floor plan
2018 Polaris RZR Turbo S (fits in the garage)
2016 Smart Car (fits in the garage or gets flat towed behind the DRV when the RZR is in the garage)
My First Solar Install Thread
My Second Solar Install Thread & Photos and Documents Related to the build
My MX450's solar, battery and inverter system - my biggest system yet!

chadheiser.com      West Coast HDT Rally Website

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I would agree with Alan as well.  I wish I had added sound deadening material when I did my install.  I didn’t think of it until after I had everything in.  I still have it on my to do list, but haven’t wanted to tear everything apart again to do it.  One of these days, I will get ambitious enough to do it though.

2000 Kenworth T2000 w/ Cummins N14 and autoshift
2017 DRV Mobile Suite 40KSSB4 with factory mods, dealer mods and personal mods - now in the RV graveyard
2022 DRV Full House MX450 with customized floor plan
2018 Polaris RZR Turbo S (fits in the garage)
2016 Smart Car (fits in the garage or gets flat towed behind the DRV when the RZR is in the garage)
My First Solar Install Thread
My Second Solar Install Thread & Photos and Documents Related to the build
My MX450's solar, battery and inverter system - my biggest system yet!

chadheiser.com      West Coast HDT Rally Website

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15 hours ago, Alie&Jim's Carrilite said:

Al does a great job of rejuvenating the interior of a truck.  The inside of his 730 is very nice with custom upholstry.

Hi Jim,

Thank you for though's kind words.

Hi Denver,

The dummy here didn't take any pictures for some reason. lol.

Al

2012 Volvo VNL 630 w/ I-Shift; D13 engine; " Veeger "
  Redwood, model 3401R ; 5th Wheel Trailer, " Dead Wood "
    2006 Smart Car " Killer Frog "
 

 

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They are all great ideas. I would never have thought of putting sound deadening material in. I'm still shopping. I let a pretty nice 06 Frightliner Columbia with a condo sleeper slip through my fingers yesterday. I budgeted $10,000. It sold for $10,250. At auction all it takes is one other guy with deeper pockets that wants it more than you.

Farmer, Trucker, Equipment operator, Mechanic

Quando omni flunkus moritati-When all else fails, play dead
I'm a man, but I can change, if I have to, I guess.

 

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12 hours ago, jenandjon said:

They are all great ideas. I would never have thought of putting sound deadening material in. I'm still shopping. I let a pretty nice 06 Frightliner Columbia with a condo sleeper slip through my fingers yesterday. I budgeted $10,000. It sold for $10,250. At auction all it takes is one other guy with deeper pockets that wants it more than you.

Hard to find good auction trucks. As long as you budget for repairs that may not be able to be seen, then we hope you find a good one. Most likely though it is at auction for a reason. Hard to do a test drive, dyno or VIS check on one.

As far as your extra seats, I would not put airride seats in the back. The air ride Cab works just fine, in fact the DW never airs up her seat. For rear seats, we added seat belts to our bed area and then have a fold down seat back that allows you to use the bed mattress as the seat. We can seat two adults there and two small kids as long as the kids feet don't need to hang down (Our cabinets are in the way). The Sofa works better for leg room for all 4. 

Dave

2005 Freightliner Century S/T, Singled, Air ride ET Jr. hitch
2019 46'+ Dune Sport Man Cave custom 5th wheel toy hauler
Owner of the 1978 Custom Van "Star Dreamer" which might be seen at a local car show near you!

 

Check out http://www.hhrvresource.com/

for much more info on HDT's.

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14 hours ago, Star Dreamer said:

Hard to find good auction trucks. As long as you budget for repairs that may not be able to be seen, then we hope you find a good one. Most likely though it is at auction for a reason. Hard to do a test drive, dyno or VIS check on one.

On auction trucks...I'll give you my opinion, which is worth what you paid for it. And bear in mind it is only MY opinion.

I'd be extraordinarily cautious on a truck from an auction. You really have to ask yourself why the truck is there. MOST good trucks sell outside the auction network. I've looked at a lot of auction trucks. I would categorize them as "rode hard and put away wet". At best. 

I'm not saying you could not find a good truck at an auction...only that it is going to be hard. And you have to be prepared to cut your losses and flip it back to the auction if it does not inspect well after acquisition, OR be prepared to put significant effort/dollars into it.

Your best bet on a reasonably priced truck is from a current RV owner of an older truck. It likely will have been well taken care of, and most of its issues addressed.

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Living on the road since 2000

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I only buy auction vehicles if I can talk to the former owner. He could be blowing smoke but I've dealt with some dishonest dealers also. Gotta do the groundwork. The one I have my eye on now is owned by a local owner operator.  A guy and his dad farm and truck grain. They upgraded.

Farmer, Trucker, Equipment operator, Mechanic

Quando omni flunkus moritati-When all else fails, play dead
I'm a man, but I can change, if I have to, I guess.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 11/14/2017 at 8:13 PM, Chad Heiser said:

I was able to get everything in without removing the front seats.  The couch is actually three pieces.  The rear cushion (what you lean against), the bottom cushion (where you sit) and the frame it all bolts to are all separate pieces.  They were able to fit through the passenger door with the passenger seat in place.  

Where did you source your seat?  I have looked at a few, and looking at futons which seem to be almost perfect width, just trying to decide which route to go now.  
I need to check some truck salvage for a KW takeout I suppose, just have not gotten around to that yet.

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7 minutes ago, mkvacik said:

Where did you source your seat?  I have looked at a few, and looking at futons which seem to be almost perfect width, just trying to decide which route to go now.  
I need to check some truck salvage for a KW takeout I suppose, just have not gotten around to that yet.

The seat is a standard back seat out of a medium duty truck.  It actually came from Wayland Long at 2L Custom Trucks in Texas.

2000 Kenworth T2000 w/ Cummins N14 and autoshift
2017 DRV Mobile Suite 40KSSB4 with factory mods, dealer mods and personal mods - now in the RV graveyard
2022 DRV Full House MX450 with customized floor plan
2018 Polaris RZR Turbo S (fits in the garage)
2016 Smart Car (fits in the garage or gets flat towed behind the DRV when the RZR is in the garage)
My First Solar Install Thread
My Second Solar Install Thread & Photos and Documents Related to the build
My MX450's solar, battery and inverter system - my biggest system yet!

chadheiser.com      West Coast HDT Rally Website

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I don't know.  I had the couch, two new front seats a table and all the cabinets done at the same time, along with the hitch, inverter, fridge, microwave and camera system.  He quoted me a price for everything that was acceptable to me, so I never asked for an itemized breakdown.  Sorry.

2000 Kenworth T2000 w/ Cummins N14 and autoshift
2017 DRV Mobile Suite 40KSSB4 with factory mods, dealer mods and personal mods - now in the RV graveyard
2022 DRV Full House MX450 with customized floor plan
2018 Polaris RZR Turbo S (fits in the garage)
2016 Smart Car (fits in the garage or gets flat towed behind the DRV when the RZR is in the garage)
My First Solar Install Thread
My Second Solar Install Thread & Photos and Documents Related to the build
My MX450's solar, battery and inverter system - my biggest system yet!

chadheiser.com      West Coast HDT Rally Website

event.png    

AZCACOIDIAKSMNMOMTNENVNMNDOKSDTNTXUTWYxlg.jpg

 

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