Body question. Another weird Idea.

[Camarogenius]

Is the width and general shape of an 80's ford van the same as our trucks?
I'm putting a sleeper on my truck, and would like to raise the roof over the cab, and join it directly to the sleeper, basically making it a unibody cab, with no bulkhead between the cab and sleeper.
My idea is to take the fiberglass roof off of an old ambulance and using it on top of my truck cab, and join it directly to the fiberglass sleeper.
Will this work?

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

YES, it will be do-able, providing the sleeper is firmly attached and braced to the truck-cab; also, it may be necessary to move the rear cab-mount cushions to the rear of the sleeper, so that the main cab and sleeper are not stressed apart by any flexing of the frame.


Back in the late-seventies/early-eighties, there were some body-shop guys around here that altered a bunch of Chevy/GMC crew-cabs by grafting the roof from an Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser on top of the cabs, making for a real custom raised-roof look, complete with the twin overhead slanted glass windows.

Of course now, any Vista Cruiser solid enough to steal the roof from is going to be highly collectable.

Do plenty of pictures of this project.

I already have a genuine Double Eagle 42" sleeper mounted on my F-350.

There is a HUGE access hole between cab and sleeper that goes almost to the cab floor, almost a walk-in.

Lately, I have been considering swapping it out for a hi-rise double-bunk, or possibly custom-building a dual-purpose rear seating area that converts to a bed.

 

[Camarogenius]

Actually, I was going to add another set of cab mounts rather than just moving them.
This is on my F-800.

 

[Agnem]

I wanna see that when it's done.

 

[subway]

sounds like a very cool idea but would it just be easier to go with a van body to begin with?

 

[Michael Fowler]

Be careful.
Ford made a pickup in the late 1950s that had the bed integral with the cab, i.e. no seam between the cab and the bed. They had a lot of problems with the bodies cxracking just rear of the doors. The frame was flexing and transferred stresses to the body which cracked.
Just be sure you have everything supported, or make allowances for the flex.

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

Ford made a pickup in the late 1950s that had the bed integral with the cab, i.e. no seam between the cab and the bed.

I have a neighbor who has two of those that he drives regularly.

 

[smokin69]

Might make a custom rear mount for the body that is hinged perpendicuar to the from

 

[Camarogenius]

sounds like a very cool idea but would it just be easier to go with a van body to begin with?

I'd hate to see what it would take to stretch a doghouse over that 7.8 New Holland engine.

Might make a custom rear mount for the body that is hinged perpendicuar to the from

Way ahead of you. Subframe that goes under the cab and sleeper both, and hinged at the front, and airbags at the rear.
I'm even thinking about going a step further, and adding a king cab section to the rear of the cab, just to gain alittle more length.
I like this truck. It runs good enough to be worth investing some time effort and money in.

 

[poolguy]

Might make a custom rear mount for the body that is hinged perpendicuar to the from

Wanna take another shot????

 

[smokin69]

Hinged 90* to the main frame rails, so if they flex side to side then the cab can flex back and forth better than if it was mounted to the frame with rubber so it doesnt bind the cab up.

 

[Camarogenius]

Hinged 90* to the main frame rails, so if they flex side to side then the cab can flex back and forth better than if it was mounted to the frame with rubber so it doesnt bind the cab up.

Why not go with some kind of ball and socket hinge on the front, and a panhard rod to keep the cab centered?
Does anyone have a link to a page that would show all the separate body panels that go into one of our cabs? Possibly one for a standard cab, and one for a king cab?

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

Another really cool option for the roof is to graft the roof from one of those aerodynamic hi-rise fiber-glass toppers in place of your cab-roof.

I intend to do just that on a one-ton Dodge/Cummins that is sitting out back, making a huge rear seating/sleeping area integral with the cab.

The toppers I am referring to have a raised portion, immediately behind the cab of the truck, with about eight-inch high oblong windows angling rearward.


This hi-rise section would end up just above the existing windshield, adding immensely to headroom, with the second step-up being just ahead of the rear seating compartment, giving it even more headroom.

 

[h2odrx]

WOW..... i saw one of those chebbies the other day that had the high roof, and thought hey that would be cool get a high top van and customize the roof of my truck. I thought I'll have to post and find out if it will fit???