BIG TRUCK - little budget

[apexcamper]

Hello all;

I have been a reader for several months now, and while I have posted and replied occasionally on this site, I never had anything really meaningful to say. I put some questions to the forum about different truck options, and even posted for some rapid help when I had insurance issues (special thanx to those of you who threw in your 2 cents). I now have something to say.

We have started our own build!!!

Based on information and advice gained from here as well as my own experiences and former vehicles (oh, and budget....budget was a MAJOR consideration), we went with an Iveco 110-17AW. It may have an Iveco cab, but under that is ALL Magiurs-Deutz.

Air-cooled, mechanically injected, turbo charged, 6 liter straight 6 diesel mated to a 6 speed full-syncro transmission and an air-shift 2 speed transfer case. Full time 4wd with center and rear diff locks. She has a 24,000lbs gross weight rating, but has been legally restricted to 15,000lbs to keep her under licensing restrictions.

The final "sold" point was the large cab with lots of windows. I have a family of 3+2 (hubby, wife, 11yr daughter, plus Whippet and Pomeranian) and the government has temporarily relocated us to Germany. Since we were now in a place with so many travel opportunities, we wanted a long range traveler where we could all be together.

This build is called "Big truck, little budget" because, not only am I a lowly government worker not making big corporate bucks, but we will also have to budget our weight and time. "Maggie", as we are calling her, dry weights at just over 12,000lbs, meaning if we don't shave some weight, we'll have less than 3,000lbs to her legal limit. We are also only in Europe for so long, so if we take 2 years to build this truck, we might not get to the plethora of things there is to see over here.

My plan is to do as much of the work as possible and document everything I do. I am going for an aluminum frame with some wood and foam core FRP or Monopan for the box. Much of the stuff I want is manufactured relatively close (4 hour drive to Monopan factory) so hopefully I can pick it up instead of shipping.

After some delays and set backs, on Monday we finally drove out to pick her up.


As she was, waiting for us at Philipps


Should have negotiated for a full tank...oh well, first stop, wallet-raping gas station


Doing the 6.5 hour road trip back home


Home safe and sound

first step - the cab.
We removed the rifle mounts and some metal brackets (for items we don't have and don't know what they went to anyway), as well as the handle bar for the back seats. We started on this the night of our road trip to pick her up, so my apologies about there not being any day photos of the Cab as we got her.


Here you can see the handle bar and upper rifle rack behind the driver's seat


behind the passenger seat, the handle bar goes all the way across


Floor behind passenger seat

Once we got all those items out, it REALLY opened up the cab

Behind passenger seat


Behind driver seat


Behind driver seat, a close up of where the racks where.

We plan on building some cabinets for electronics and storage in these area and will be using the screw holes as mounting points. Behind the passenger seat we are installing a 2.5 gallon water tank and small water pump and faucet so that we can easily have fresh water in the cab. This will be paired up with a 12 volt coffee pot and small TV and game console. Behind the drive seat will be storage cabinets and a place to secure a 24 volt cooler to keep cool drinks and snacks on hand.

That is all for now. I hope to have at least one of the cabinets done by next weekend, will update as it goes.

[Gvisconty]

Very nice! Looking forward to seeing your progress.

[Itinerrant]

Congrats, good luck for your build !

[apexcamper]

@Gvisconty
Thanx, we are excited to get things going

@Itinerrant
I have watched your build with great envy, and look forward to our families one day meeting on the trail. I am planning on a "glue only" box as well, wondered how it has turned out and if you knew what glue they used. I am looking seriously at the Sabatack 750 system.

[Victorian]

If in search for glues... Check out Koemmerling in Germany. Feel free to contact my dad, he is "the" resource for these type of applications in Germany!
http://www.daxbergerschwall.de/siteD...__produkte.htm

Cheers and good luck!

[charlieaarons]

Have you thought about getting a commercial drivers' licence? Which would allow you to use the full GVM. At least where I live it was relatively easy and allows me to drive a truck of any weight as long as it isn't articulated.

Charlie

[apexcamper]

@Victorian
Outstanding, I will definitely be talking to your dad, thanx so much

@charlieaarons
I have considered that option should the need arise. Going over the 7.5 ton marker wont "ruin" the project, it is merely a goal we are working towards. I have read alot of builds that approached or even exceeded GVW and thought they were really pushing their luck if they ever went offroading.

Seems to me that even below but close to GVW and then putting all the weight on one side of the axle would really stress suspension and frame mounts. I read jayshapiro's Eco-roamer thread where his axle broke free of the bonds of suspension and tried to escape and dhackney's thread about his broken frame. Trying to avoid that. Hoping that keeping things below 2/3s of the weight will reduce the need to be as careful.

7.5 ton is also a standard cut off for a lot of small village roads and bridges around Europe, but you are absolutely right. I will be working hard to make that mark, but will be going the CDL route if I miss it.

You may know the answer to this question along the same lines. Is the CDL the only license that gives you an "over 15,000lbs" rating. I wont be driving commercially, just something big. Do all those people driving the class A motor homes have CDL's?

[LowTech]

Nope, In fact in Cali you can drive up to a 40' RV w/ a standard lic.
That's one of the reasons that we made our M109 6x6 into an RV. If we had kept it as it was Tuff was going to have to get a CDL, . . . the truck weighs over 10,000 & has 3 axles. As an RV anyone can drive it . . . go figure.

[apexcamper]

@LowTech
I always wondered, because it didn't make sense that half the population of Florida would have a CDL
So if I am understanding you right, as a truck it required a different license, install a toilet and you are good to go. Sounds about right, I ran into a similar issues with insurance. Is that just a Cali thing, or nation wide?
P.S. Love the truck, friend of mine in Washington has an M35A2 and an M818 tractor, but hasn't converted anything, Looks like You and "Tuff" are having lots of fun.

[LowTech]

It's state by state. For us it's because of the weight & the # of axles. If she only had 2 axles it would be dif.
It took a bit more than a toilet, but not much. I, of course, build live-in rigs so that was the plan all along.
I'm based in A-Zona and can reg my cargo like a big pick-up.