My 2013 Tacoma Access Cab Chinook build in progress

A few more pics... there is a build thread on ih8mud under expedition vehicles..... I started with a salvage auction truck that was hit in the rear side. Replaced rear end and leaf spring and pulled the bed... Bought a beater 77 Toyota Chinook and modified the fiberglass shell. The photos are a dryfit... I have not built the subfloor yet. Trying to keep it as light and with as low of a center of gravity as possible....
Systems planned are propane for heat, cooking and
3kw generater...3 way fridge...solar...AC....canister type porta potty ...full size bedBuilding this truck for a big central and south America trip.
Thanks for looking and love to hear thoughts...
Jay

 

Very cool!

 

Is the intention to be able to pass through from the camper to the cab?

 

that thing is badass!!! I'd be curious to see your future plans..... lift? winch? etc...

 

Thanks guys! It will be a walk through... most of the roof and the back of the cab will be cut out. We welded a 1"x3" steel frame that will attach to the cab for structure and to give a nice flat surface to mount to... the cab needs the stiffening after its cut. It will be a nervous day when the cut happens!.... you will be able to stand behind the seats when the pop up is open in the access cab space... you will also be able to enter the camper through the suicide doors or the back doors.
Future plans are to keep it relatively stock. I want to keep it as low a center as possible but am sure that suspension will get revisited. I installed the Body Armor front winch bumper... winch TBD... had fabricated a custom back bumper that was designed to mount a Brophy 3 step aluminum diamond plate scissor ladder and still give me access to hitch reciever... Below the fiberglass camper will be a pair of aluminum diamond plate utility boxes that I bought and then diamond plate fenders will be fabricated to trabsition.
Pull out Chuck wagon kitchen... 3kw gen plus inverter plus 100w solar to power....3 way fridge... outside shower. A bunch of the design is evolving with the project

The old chinook was heavily modified. 10" we're cut out of it and then it was laminated back together...in other words, the flat camper front walk through was moved back 10" to put more camper on top of the roof to accommodate the access cab. This put the rear axle in the same place as the old truck.... eliminating a bunch of camper to drag on steep inclines... also modified for new awning windows...Rebuilt the top and pop-up scissor mechanism... Rebuilt back door for a pair of crank out windows... so far so goid!

 

This looks f'n amazing!

Sub'd for a cool AF build

 

Totally in, very awesome.

 

Great work. Please post photo's when it's all finished.

 

Thanks Jim... it's a long way to done but should have some big progress over the next few weeks...

 

This looks sweet! Looking like a BAMF welding in shorts and t-shirt haha

 

Yes he is Mike... my friend Pat is hard core in every way!

 

Sub'd. Can't wait to see more! Super ambitious build!

 

Sub'd to your thread on expo but I can actually keep up on here, can't wait to see the rest!

 

So there is a bunch of thinking going on... we got started on the steel sub-floor today .., 1x3" steel square tube was cut and drilled to allow them to be bolted using the factory bolts and frame mounting points. Fabricated the spacers and some 4"x4"x3/16" plate that will sandwich a vibration dampening hard rubber like material. It will be quite rigid but allow everything to move a bit.
The perimeter will be welded 1"×1" steel tube... the floors will be composite foam/fiberglass.... supports will be welded in as necessary to support the generator, batteries water tank etc... I will end up bolting on some aluminum supports to weld in all of the aluminum diamond plate. Utility boxes, fenders etc.
The floor will drop down to the rear camper door about 7 inches. Just about exactly where the existing trailer hitch reciever is located... I need to relocate it so it will be functional as well as not interfere with my aluminum scissor step. The bumper/step is going to work good. Just have to work out the hitch..
Need to sleep on it.
I had built a temp wood flatbed and got all the lights etc installed so I could have my dmv inspection to be issued a rebuilt title. Got all that done so today I stripped it down so the steel work can commence....
The goal is to get the subfloor in and then set the camper shell back on it and then fabricate the floors and fiberglass them in.

 

I wish I had more time and money to do projects like this!

 

Also have a bunch of fairing to do on the camper shell to get it ready for installing on the Tacoma. Using the factory taillights on the camper which is turning out to be a bigger job than I planned on but it will look pretty awesome. I also have the factory back up camera to install... location TBD....

 

Maybe look at s-10's tail lights they are much smaller?
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Chevy-S1...9959&wl11=online&wl12=384131489&wl13=&veh=sem

 

Thanks for the thought Toyko Joe but the factory one's will work great. Got most of the sculpting done already and it is nice to have all the lights plug and play!