I did see that the PlanB 5 ton has some upgrades to include a fold down guard rail on top, and spoke with them about coming to see it. I'd never rip off another fabricator but sharing experiences are nice and getting ideas also. Also about some other parts and such to buy from them. Super nice guy.
Dan here from Plan B Supply. No worries on any of our "secrets" just here to help. The stock height on the Expando van with 11r20 tires is 11'3" fully inflated, so you might squeak inside your shop on deflated tires with a spotter watching up high. If your approach into your shop is pretty level, give it a shot and see. If you have a slight rise to get into the shop, drive in forward and back back out. Made the mistake once of going in forward with 1" top clearance and then coming back out forward. The driveway into the building had a slight rise and when I came out and my front end started going down...well you know what the back end does with that box hanging over. It counter-levered the back end up ever so slightly and applied a new kind of braking system I had not discovered yet. Luckily I was going slow, no throttle, half brake, and when the truck applied its new roof braking system to the entrance top, it received only cosmetic friction damage visible to maybe a sharpshooter. I deflated the tires and backed back in, turned her around and came out bassackwards in the same direction I came in and made it out without the newly discovered roof brakes activating.
In regards to the Crewcab on the Expando van, put your rear seats facing each other and keep your middle walkway open. Gives you the same amount of seating (if not more) and give you the option to put a removable Rv table in there while traveling.
the box does flex...a lot. You can adjust the flex but it gives it better flex offroad and keeps the box from tweaking if you leave the mounting system stock. (Its kinda backwards for most people. It's mounted solid on the rear, and spring mounted up front by the cab. Get something very rubbery that "stretches" and then fasten it down with a aluminum flat metal strip around the rubber edge to keep it from peeling loose or tearing. So far we have had no problems with leaks other than past design methods that were fixed with better rubber, and the metal clamp effect.
Dont be scared of the tent...embrace it. It is fabulous. The extension gives you plenty of wiggle room in case you trip or fall inside the tent. Maybe 6 yrs old and up have handled it fine. They live up there in our truck. Its a mobile treehouse. If it scares you to much, put an electric fence up to keep them from wandering... Or just put solar panels up there and call it good.
The electric breaker panel inside the back end of the box passenger side needs a wiring change to work on a normal generator, but it's not to hard to convert to single phase and make it make sense to your honda 1000. Pretty cool when all the lights come on and the plugs work. Usually requires a few new breakers too.
The sliding window covers in the box make a great blackout mode for keeping kids asleep on camp outs way past normal waking hrs in a tent. (Awesome) It can be 11am and it's still almost pitch black inside if I close them all tight. The other nice thing about the walls is that you feel hardly any wind cause the truck is so heavy and the walls are insulated. It's very quiet. Kicks tenting to the curb. Hate the flapping a tent does in even a gentle breeze.
