trimster

It's an 18" Peterbilt front bumper the fab shop had around. I think it will work.

Frame cut and extension fitted. First welds. More metal to come. Working out measurements from back of cab wings to king pin, etc. Measuring some chrome thing that might be part of the build. (need to build suspense here). Hitch on the floor. Possible lights placement on chrome thing. More coming....

This is going to take a while to finish the bed completely. Budget constraints. But we have begun the process. The fabricator (C & A Customs, Salt Lake City) does this kinda work on a large scale for fleets of all kinds of trucks, for the past 30 yrs. I had them replace the front brakes on my truck (they do full mechanic stuff as well) and noticed the work they were doing on several MDTs. Great work. Showed them a sketch of what I was after...and now the truck is in their bay getting the frame extended, hitch installed, rear end/back with lights, and receiver hitch fabricated. I'll post photos as they are available. So... before images. WB is 110". We're adding about 20" to the frame to accommodate hitch placement clearing a possible trike up front and the nose of the trailer swing. Also want to add an 18" tool box under the bed, aft of the rear drive tires.

No... perfectly okay. I'm all over your idea. Where my trailer is parked on the north side of the house, I can step from the house roof to the roof of the trailer. If I pull the trailer out and park it someplace, and then back the truck there... I can get the roof of the truck. I can clean that bad boy and bedliner it up. I might do gray to help with the heat. Looks like a spring project unless we're back in town before the snow files. Thanks for sharing.

Great solution.

...and what are the alternatives? The one that plugs into the port is out of of our price range with the unit + adapter. Update: Hayse is 4+ weeks out on delivery to suppliers. Ugh. Bob

I'm getting the hayse air over electric controller. Need help with the additional parts (exact parts & possible source appreciated), and which air line(s) to cut into. Photos? I did search the forum and came up empty. I have little luck with the search function. TIA Bob

Whoohooo! Tartis is now officially a motorhome. Big relief. Utah has no set list of changes that must be done. However, they suggest porta potty, microwave, fridge, and bed(s). Easy. What they were concerned about was frame modification. Frame mods need recertification of the truck. Once reclassified, I don't need to have the frame extension recertification. So, on with the game. Road trip! Bob & lisa

I'm thinking about Beutithane (sp?). The thick rubbery membrane used to frost/freeze guard eves on house roofs. Adheasive on one side. 2 layers of that would stop squeaks and allow for a bit of movement. It's tough stuff. Bob

Okay. Why, after installing the Jackalopee does the radio brightness go from bright to dim with each turn signal blink? Bob

We did most of our looking for our truck out of state (Utah). We wanted the option to maybe register in SD or Montana. We're retired but not going to full time. Long jaunts, yes. Some things are different in our situation. Utah doesn't require any upgrade in drivers license endorsements if the truck is registered as a motorhome. We'll see how that goes tomorrow when we hit the DMV. Utah has a 90 day rule. If you live and work here, you need to register you vehicle here. Students, military exempt. Many states have such laws. We have so many out of state plates here due to tourism, it would be a neighbor that would report us unless we got pulled over and an officer not feeling kindly. So we're going to register it in Utah and take the 7%+ hit on sales tax. If we go full time, registration might change. We most likely won't sell the house. Kids are here and a paid- for home base is nice. Bob

Tomorrow we hit the Utah DMV to register the Volvo as a motorhome. Fingers crossed. You have to make appointments here to do vehicle stuff. Bob

Switches moved. The air hitch adjuster switch will just hide inside the dash for now.. Monitor velcro'd in place. No beers were harmed during installation. I damaged a few home brew ciders, however. Now to run the 4 camera cables. That should be right up there on the fun meter. Bob

Porta john....check. Beers in truck fridge....check. Passengers side faces neighbors lawn....check. Good to go! Bob

So, the backing plate is ¼" lexan plastic I cut to size on a bandsaw. There was the bottom of a pole storage bracket there, which I removed. The holes in the cab were factory. There were some washers with rubber gaskets that I left between the mounting plate and the cab. I theaded the plastic to mount the box too. Bob

Perfect. Thanks all. Will be digging into it today. Man, the smoke from Utah & calif fires is thick here in Salt Lake. Ugh. Bob

2015, so 2nd gen I think. Bob

"Might have taken an hour start to finish" ...but how much beer? Bob

I was wondering about that. It's 100s plus here for the past weeks. Bob

I want to move switches around on the dash. How does one pop out the dash piece(s) that hold the switches? Bob

Jackalopee installed truck side. I'll get the RV plug side done when the bed welding stuff is done. Bob

Not sure yet. I'd like it to be strong. .25" is , maybe overkill. Maybe not. Bob

Good advice. I'm not planning to skirt the sides of the bed, down around the tires. Right now it appears I will have 5" of clearance around the tires with airbags full, running down the road. That should clear the chains with a fudge factor. Unless your experience tells me there should be more. Bob

So update on the progress of our truck... now dubbed 'Tartis' Knew we were going to need to fix things even with all the work done on the truck by the previous owner. - NOx sensors replaced (I do most of the simple things) - Computer error reset and regen. Problem solved. (Dlr) - Rear axle temp sensor not communicating. Still tracing wiring. Don't really give a crap if it works, but would like to get rid of the check engine thing. (me) - Failed state safety inspection: front brake shoes badly cracked, recap tires on the drives in bad shape, One 'G' and one 'H' rated steer tires (both needs to be H with the axle rating). - Bad tires on drives replaced. - New H rated steer installed. - Steer brakes renewed. - Passed inspection. Note to self...don't take the Volvo to the dealer to have inspections. Interestingly enough, the inspector gig me for no fire extinguisher when it was right there at his right foot while setting on the drivers seat. Doh. - Have the Jackalopee ready to wire in. - Still deciding on the Air-over-electric brake interface. - Going to Utah DMV Monday to register and get the re-classification as a motorhome. Fingers crossed. Most have said 'fill out the form and document your changes...should be good.' - Spent a few hours shampooing all the fabric in the truck. - About 50% done polishing and ceramic coating the paint. - Spent a few days polishing the wheels. They were mondo ugly. Never polished. - Tues. truck goes to fabricator to extend the frame and build hitch mount. - When truck returns... I start on the bed. Hopefully the 100* days will break. It's been bloody hot! - 4 camera backup monitor system will be installed. 2 cams looking at the bed and hitch, one on the back of the trailer looked aft, and one in the toy hauler garage monitoring the motorcycle. It has broken loose twice over the years.Will be nice to know if it's getting loose before the worst. And there you have it. Bob & Lisa

Spent some time with a fabricator today. Tossed around some great ideas. I hope to document the process for all here. Here's where we stand: - extension on the frame will be 25'ish inches. (the wheelbase is 210). We're allowing for a 57" wide trike and the 60" radius for the trailer. The trike will be loaded via a loader instead of ramps. - we ARE leaving the rear axles as they are. Tandem tires and both axles. All the input and thoughts have been really helpful. Big thanks all. Construction basics (so far): - Capping the frame rails with hard wood. Wonder if Trex decking would work? - Using 2"x3" channel on top of that. Tied to the frame with angle iron bolting it down. Kept the commercial hitch mount rails to tie too. Will add front and read connection points as well. - 2"x2" square tube cross members. - I hope to make the the center frame deck panels removable . That's where we stand. Bob