Benz Stretch

[Turtle59]

I am thinking about buying one of the available MB ex fire trucks with the dualcab to convert to a motorhome.

I have a few crazy questions that need to be asked to get my thinking clear.

Can I get the chassis stretched to accommodate an 8m pan on the back???

What would the implications be other than it will end up about 11 or 12m long. Is it feasible? Would it be practical to drive?
What would I need to look out for. Any suggestion as to price for such a task?... this might be the killer for such silliness.

All you thoughts will help.

 

[Iain_U1250]

Assuming its not a UNIMOG based firetruck.
Stretching a straight truck is commonly done.
If not mistaken the famous "Wothahellizat" camper is an example of a stretched ACCO.
Of course there are stretch limits and your manouverability will suffer regardless.

Good luck to you.

Chassis stretching is possible on a Unimog - but fairly difficult to do. On a "normal" truck, to get an 8m long bed, you have a considerable stretch of the chassis - the rules are normally something like 60% of wheelbase or 3.7m whichever is the lesser (at least that's what it is in Australia) Assuming the cab takes 2m of the space between the wheels for a dual cab cabover design, then you need to have a 6.25m wheelbase and 3.7m overhang which is more like a bus than a truck. If you want to register it as a motorhome, there a whole lot of additional rules you need to abide by as well.

By the way - Wothahellizat has a chassis stretch for the Mk1, then was shortened again for the Mk2 version as it was too long and too heavy.