Ok, so I've been in pursuit of a large expo vehicle for some time. Thought out hacking my van to pieces to get what I want... Thought about mortgaging a kidney to buy what I want... Thought about a lot but ended up coming to me senses a few times.
I want a big, reliable and tough rig for exploring and looking for gold. Tearing up the sierra's on old logging, fire, mining roads and going cross country in the desert. The desert is big...really big. So I need to have reliability and super toughness. I do not want to break down way the hell out in the middle of nowhere by myself. I'm also a huge VW fan and really want to stick with the VW even if it's only a facade.
So...
I thought I wanted this. LT40, it's four wheel drive, large and reliable but VW didn't import these and I'd still have to wait a few years before it is old enought to import... and expensive. GVW somewhere around 7000lbs. Like a Vanagon on the juice!
So then I thought I'd check out one of these. Problem is it's way too expensive for me to afford... Kidney priced for the base model and not VW. GVW around 14000lbs.
So I started looking around at other cab over rigs and stumbled onto something neat. VW didn't import the LT40 but VW brazil made it in cab over only and called it the Peterbilt/Kenworth 13-210 midranger. See the resemblance? GVW advertised around 29,000 but I'm guessing half that after a diet.
This, I can afford... there are lots of them out there in various states of decay. They have Cummings power to boot. I think it's the 210hp version of the 6BT but I'm not all that well versed on Cummins engines.
So I was thinking, way not buy one of these and build my own camper, stuff some large axles under it and mate the Cummings to a 47re Auto with NV241 right out of a dodge 3500. It's leaf springs and I would add airbags to it as well for loading and leveling.
The tanks, bed, running gear, etc I expect to be totally shot on any truck I can afford anyway so I'll sell off all the parts I don't need leaving just the cab and frame to build up.
As for budget axles, the 2-1/2 Rockwell’s came to mind. I can get those for a song and they're plenty strong enough. Brakes could be interesting but there are some single disk kits out there, not sure if those are streetable or legal though. Air drums wouldn't bother me though. Lockers and parts are available dirt cheap and are plentiful.
I was thinking if I did the Rockwell’s, I'd run super singles with 12r22.5 mixed duty tires. (42" dump truck/mining tires)
Or am I way off? Dana 60 and 70 and a major diet a better fit?
I really want to have automatic trans as the wife doesn't do stick at all and will not learn, she's made that very clear to me so I need to do an auto but is there something that is better suited for this level of big?
I would expect that mileage wise this rig would be 90/10 highway to offroad. Time wise more like 50/50 and I will be going slowly and staying long periods (weeks/months).
I'm all ears on opinions that have some relevance and as always, I have my flame suit on. Cheers.
I want a big, reliable and tough rig for exploring and looking for gold. Tearing up the sierra's on old logging, fire, mining roads and going cross country in the desert. The desert is big...really big. So I need to have reliability and super toughness. I do not want to break down way the hell out in the middle of nowhere by myself. I'm also a huge VW fan and really want to stick with the VW even if it's only a facade.
So...
I thought I wanted this. LT40, it's four wheel drive, large and reliable but VW didn't import these and I'd still have to wait a few years before it is old enought to import... and expensive. GVW somewhere around 7000lbs. Like a Vanagon on the juice!
So then I thought I'd check out one of these. Problem is it's way too expensive for me to afford... Kidney priced for the base model and not VW. GVW around 14000lbs.
So I started looking around at other cab over rigs and stumbled onto something neat. VW didn't import the LT40 but VW brazil made it in cab over only and called it the Peterbilt/Kenworth 13-210 midranger. See the resemblance? GVW advertised around 29,000 but I'm guessing half that after a diet.
This, I can afford... there are lots of them out there in various states of decay. They have Cummings power to boot. I think it's the 210hp version of the 6BT but I'm not all that well versed on Cummins engines.
So I was thinking, way not buy one of these and build my own camper, stuff some large axles under it and mate the Cummings to a 47re Auto with NV241 right out of a dodge 3500. It's leaf springs and I would add airbags to it as well for loading and leveling.
The tanks, bed, running gear, etc I expect to be totally shot on any truck I can afford anyway so I'll sell off all the parts I don't need leaving just the cab and frame to build up.
As for budget axles, the 2-1/2 Rockwell’s came to mind. I can get those for a song and they're plenty strong enough. Brakes could be interesting but there are some single disk kits out there, not sure if those are streetable or legal though. Air drums wouldn't bother me though. Lockers and parts are available dirt cheap and are plentiful.
I was thinking if I did the Rockwell’s, I'd run super singles with 12r22.5 mixed duty tires. (42" dump truck/mining tires)
Or am I way off? Dana 60 and 70 and a major diet a better fit?
I really want to have automatic trans as the wife doesn't do stick at all and will not learn, she's made that very clear to me so I need to do an auto but is there something that is better suited for this level of big?
I would expect that mileage wise this rig would be 90/10 highway to offroad. Time wise more like 50/50 and I will be going slowly and staying long periods (weeks/months).
I'm all ears on opinions that have some relevance and as always, I have my flame suit on. Cheers.