Am I gonna tear this apart?

[ckid]

I've read, and read, and read... and maybe I missed the answer to this question. If so, I'm happy to read more if you point me in the right direction. But I figured it anyone knew the answer, it would be here. The question is...

I'm building a custom camper on an M35A2 (the one in my profile pic). The question pertains specifically to a cab-over section. I know I've seen tons of pics where folks have either custom build a camper with cab-over, or put a regular truck camper on the back with a cab-over.

But what about truck frame flex? I've never seen this addressed in a post other than just saying "make sure your cab and camper don't collide if you're doing off road with it." So how much clearance is needed? Or it safer to just skip a cab-over with a Deuce?

I've seen this video (

) and I can see some cab movement, but honestly the terrain is pretty flat.

Then I see a picture like this:



Would I drive over something like that? Absolutely. We (wife and I) currently travel in a Lance truck camper on a Chevy 2500, pulling a cargo trailer. This past winter in Osceola NF we crossed something similar to this because all the roads were rutted into our campsite. So I could certainly see crossing some rough stuff in the Deuce- even if it was slowly.

So what's the general consensus, if there is one? Anyone had a problem with your cab-over, or know someone who has? Better to just skip it and stick with a box without the cab-over part because off-road it would just get the s**t torn out of it?Thoughts? Opinions? I'd like to hear them.

 

[montaillou]

Suppose it depends on how much off roading you're planning on doing. I'm also doing a deuce conversion and I opted to created storage above the cab while keeping the camper portion separated. I want to maintain the off road capabilities as much as feasible.

I made a thread about it, under the Deuce Mod sub-board, https://www.steelsoldiers.com/threads/a2-frame-flex-degree.200140/
Check it out for additional pics.

My conclusions were that the frame flexes up to 15 degrees..

 

[ckid]

Yep, that thread was on my reading list. It's actually the thread that started me thinking more about the possibility of cab/camper collisions after seeing those pics. At 15 degrees flex, that's several inches of rise by the corner of the cab roof. By my calculations, at 15 degrees with a 63 inch wide cab, that's about a 16 inch rise. Granted, my geometry is a bit rusty.

 

[gringeltaube]

At 15 degrees flex, that's several inches of rise by the corner of the cab roof. By my calculations, at 15 degrees with a 63 inch wide cab, that's about a 16 inch rise.

15° between cargo bed (box) and cab seems a bit exaggerated... Even if photos do deform things, if you analyse the one you posted - which already looks very extreme - it still is less than half that angle.

 

[ckid]

Hmm... That's good info in your edition of the pic @gringeltaube . Call that cab angle 7 degrees and that's a 7-8 inch rise at the corner. More manageable that my other calculation.

We're pretty much building a clone of our current camper with some mods. IF we did a cab-over in the current configuration, we'd need to raise the floor 6 inches off the bed to get 4 inches of cab clearance. Adding an additional 4 inches is feasible, except it really starts jacking up the COG, whether it's by a platform raising the whole structure, or only raising the roof line.

 

[Karl kostman]

Some info that may help you is I had an S-280 comm shelter in the back of my Deuce at one time and they had both AC/Heat units in a framework over top the cab I do not remember what the actual clearance was but I would think you could look that up somewhere!

 

[ckid]

That's some good info right there @Karl kostman . For some reason, I was thinking I had seen M-109s with AC units hanging over the cab, but when I went looking I couldn't verify that. Maybe I was thinking of the boxes on the LMTVs, or perhaps like you pointed out, the S-280. That seems like a great starting point for some research. Thanks.

 

[therealquaid]

That's some good info right there @Karl kostman . For some reason, I was thinking I had seen M-109s with AC units hanging over the cab, but when I went looking I couldn't verify that. Maybe I was thinking of the boxes on the LMTVs, or perhaps like you pointed out, the S-280. That seems like a great starting point for some research. Thanks.

Hi! I know it’s been a while but did you end up going for a cabover? Right now I’m in a similar place you were in deciding about the cab. Best example I found was of this guy who installed a reefer box right on the truck frame, no sub-frame. He’s been using it for years now with no issues.