Utility body is on my truck!

Small update to for my build.

I took some estimates on some measurements and it is a little taller than I expected, but overall I’m pretty happy.

1. the top portion of the new bed is 2” insulation XPS Foam. It is adhered to a 2” aluminum angle. The metal is riveted and siliconed for water tightness. The outside is fiberglass and self leveling epoxy (don’t use that stuff) . Then the final layer was LineX .
   
2. I also put a wooden frame at the top for rigidity and help strengthen the overall design. The wood frame will hold up the fast struts that push up the roof.
   
3. Pop top: I’m using four gas struts to push up the roof/panels/ Solar fans. The struts have a throw of 23 inches and a push weight of ~30lbs each. The solar, physical roof is 3/4” ply that has epoxy and fiberglass . I’m also putting a right angle steel bar across to help keep it rigid. (4)100 watt solar panels are on top as well, off set so I can put the 10” solar fans in the corners. Canvas is a coated polyurethane material that will be approx 20” tall when extended.
   
4. I have 3/4” material for the single rear door. No window (for now) . It will swing outward toward the driver side, and the spare tire will move down to creat a step up. Should be pretty simple , don’t need much here.
   
5. The boxes on the out side have a pushed in section, which is hard to convey over texts. If you picture the L from tetris, well I’m making it a 6x2 in stead of a 4 block L. Four boxes means I’m going to cut, flip, rivet with flat brackets, then fiberglass over it to water proof it the best I can. Doing this should give me a couple square feet of storage.
6. Mechanical stuff: regeared to 4:56, put an add-a-leaf from old man emu, and added airbags to the rear suspension to help with the added weight. Light bars and wind deflector are next.
7. Extras: I have a 270 degree awning that with be on the passenger side where the cooking/kitchen is also located. I have (2) 200ah batteries and planning to get a 10 gallon tank of water to help balance everything out.
   

 

Boy, that’s a big increase in frontal area of the rig!

 

custom builds are so much fun and challenging too.

he's right you know. That's a lot of drag you have in the front. Not that your building a race truck or anything.

 

Dang!!

 

I kinda guessed on that, and I added 38” from the top of the new bed, where it should have been 38” off the floor of the bed.
Design opportunities: make a wing and add some storage for bags or fire wood or something.

 

she a big b*tch.

 

Did you box the rear of the frame ?

 

I don’t fully understand what you mean…..

what I did do, is find a 7ft utility body and swapped it in for the stock one.

 

The rear portion of your frame is not solid, it’s c channel and thin. Boxing the rear of the frame adds tons of strength. I’d look into it

 

Gotcha.
I did add supports to the frame, so we’ll see how this goes. I will check it out though. Thanks

 

Looks like you can clear 37s in the rear. You pretty much have to now.

 

Any idea what your loaded weight will be??

Any Thought to going dual rear wheels at all?

Handling is going to be very interesting .

Have you tried fueling yet ?

 

Stock bed was 250lb, the utility bed is about 650, so far.

with solar, batteries and the general stuff that’s fixed, I’d say it would be in the 700ish more pounds. But it’s just a guess.

have thought of dual wheels, right now I’m looking for a small offset rim, and see how things handle from there.

fueling is kinda meh right now. I’m missing a roof and just put the door on today. We will see how things progress. As of now? I’m getting about 16.4mpg.

 

All my suspension is new (this year) and I’m not going bigger until I break in my setup properly and then maybe drop some serious dollars and do an axle swap, supercharger and add the suspension/wheels. Just have to play with it now and see what works and what won’t.

 

As far in as you’re going, I’d recommend skipping the expensive supercharger. Do a LS swap instead.

 

I mean, the broad stroke is beefy/ beef up engine. We’ll see what happens and what my needs will be. I just wanna get a roof on the mofo and I already have a corvette motor planned?!?!? Y’all crazy