Well I have decided to go this route for now, and use my Alaskan Camper in the bed. After removing the water tank from the rear of the truck, I did some measuring and determined that I could built a 'raising sleeve' camper that would cover the fire truck box, and raise and lower with 4 hydraulic cylinders on the 4 corners. This would allow the 21'-10" vehicle to be 7'-5" high when the top section is in it's lowered position. As stated in my fire truck thread, this would allow the vehicle on the ferry for the price of a car's commuter book price. (under 22' long and 7-6 high. That is something I would like to design and build if for no other reason but to thumb my nose at the state ferry system as I drive this behemoth onto the ferry. Started feeling like a winter project, so I built a deck on the trucks frame from some pressure treated 4x12 and 2x12 that was given to me by one of my clients when they moved. It had been slated for a new dock before the county shut them down. All woodwork was cut with a chainsaw to keep things going at a good pace. To clear the bed's tall sides (I would need them for phase 2 motorhome), I had to build a quick additional frame for the two steel rails of the camper's 4' wide base to sit on. To center the unit in the 5" wide bed, I mounted some 4x6 with fire hose on them. Later this morning, I plan to cut a hole in the side of the bed up front and put a ****** block at the fwd end of the bed and park my '92 f350 at a 90 degree angle and winch the camper off the '39 tonner frame trailer. It will leave 2 steps behind the camper about a foot wide, the bumper and capping the 2x12 will be a 16" wide piece of salvaged diamond plate with a piece of 1 1/2" steel strap welded to it to mimic the rear bumper. Ok, enough writing, it's time to start rigging things up. These Alaskan campers are very heavy and troublesome to install and remove. Maybe this is a one way trip.

 

Winched it in and it was looking kinda scummy from sitting so long in the woods, so we drove it to town and went to the car wash and then stopped for dinner on the way home. 24 mile round trip and all was well. So was dinner.

 

That is all pretty sweet. Good job on the re porpoise! I can't wait to get my 60 driving, never even seen a 57-60 driving or running in my lifetime. Mine is a pile of parts still several years away from starting on it.

 

Gary, that thing fits like a glove. Good going. You sem to have been in the right places at the right times.

Is that your son and daughter helping you?

Aloha, Tony

 

Looks great! Nice to see the old girl back on the road.

 

Pretty cool, looks good! Haha Don't even get me started on the ferry system, I had to tow my boat over here to Vashon, 33ft overall from my front bumper to the prop and they took me for $90.

 

But wouldn't it be sweet if I can rig up something that is 7'-5", and squeak that thing on with my wave card? That's about 28 bucks a trip to Orcas. And Oldebrush, you made a lifetime friend with your comment. That's my (is it ok to say?) 56 year old wife and my 33 year old employee. He had stopped by the shop on Sunday to do some work on a side job, and I shanghied him to help load the camper.

 

That's would be great if you could get that monster on the ferry for the price of a car!

I wonder how hard it would be to cut down the sides of the bed and lower the camper a bit?

Well, easy enough I suppose but might be tough to make it look good!

Sam

 

I could make it look ok by welding a piece of pipe onto the cutoff side, but problem is that camper is 48 1/2" wide and the space between the inner duals is 48". Therefore The camper needs to be about 3" or so above the tires, so there is some suspension travel. I though about removing the inner duals, putting the camper on plywood over the frame rails and cutting down the sides. Still about 7-8", and woul cost the same ticket as something 10' tall.... The thing I would like to make someday has a floor of 1 1/8" subfloor plywood sitting right on the frame rails, has wheel wells inside of cabinets, and has a a raising outer 'sleeve' that is about 40" high and sits on the utility boxes on the sides when down. At this point it's 7'-5" high. When up it has 5'-10" inside headroom. That's enough for us with some room to spare. Today after work I built and installed a diamond plate step that looks just like the big rear bumper and caps the ugly pressure treated decking and beams. I painted it silver. Then my wife got home from work, so I came in for a glass of wine before dinner!

 

GB, Great job using what you have on hand, looks great.
Please ignore my question on the 48-56 forum. This thread answered it, Thanks

 

I am puzzled by the last 2 sets of pictures, I see no beer in the background??

 

Looking good. It kind of looks like you could have fold up legs on the camper and slide it out with massive drawer slides to leave it someplace if needed. Nice large scale project. Much more fun than the kind of junk I have been working on lately!

 

Very cool. Could be a lot of fun.

 

It has been a fun one for sure. Here is the second step up that I built last week. Next is a horizontal flap or trap door with some tee hinges welded to the diamond plate that will allow us to keep some folding chairs and or a stepladder between the wood beams. This, along with a couple of vertical 1x6 painted white will complete the finished look at the rear of the truck. I still plan on a sturdy steel pipe hand rail looking something like you'd see going up to the wheel house on an old tug boat. My wife requested that one, and her old husband will be very happy to have it when he gets up at 3am to pee. Doesn't look like I will get much done on it this weekend, as I have some deadlines for work projects in the shop. The curse of self employment.... Hoping we can get some time off in the fall, and maybe a trip to Montana. Hear that Mr. Tinman?

 

This project is looking better all the time. Looking at the back photos, does the camper floor rest on those two timbers, or does it rest on top of the truck bed sides? Just wondering.