Aluminum Chassis off road van

Thanks,That would be very interesting.Always good to pick all the available brains when thinking of building a van or camper,
Cheers,
Mary

I would be interested in seeing your plans as I have been thinkinking of building my own. You can email me if you like djs56 at optusnet dot com dot au

Woops forgot to add, The roof is now made from 50 X 20mm box section in stead of 20 X 20mm to allow for deeper insulation and strength.
Also the tailgate is has 50mm sections instead of 20mm.

Ill post up some pics at a later stage.

Hi Danny
I would run 2 full length braces along the length of the van and weld them to the cross brasses because with it like you have it the only thing keeping the whole chassis from going out of square is where the front is welded to the A frame

the A frame looks a little short as well

One way of attaching the frame is to weld square tube that is a tight fit inside the frame tubes to the chassis and slide the frames over them and rivet from both sides. If you try bolting square tube to angle you will have to insert tubes into the frames for the bolts to go through to stop them crushing the frames

Bob

Bob
Thanks for the suggestions.

Here is a picture of my original design for the chassis. It uses smaller beams but I agree it is stronger design.

I might add I am not making this to be a full off road van, meaning it wont see any major 4wd tracks but it will get quite a bit of rough gravel road use.

Good idea of attaching the frame, I agree the bolts would try and fold up the box section if they didn't have some tubing in the to support them.

Thanks for the advice. I will use the Tig on the alloy my mig doesnt weld alloy the way id like it too for this type of project, or any project for that matter.

I will use an independent suspension setup, i am undecided exactly what method to use there yet but I have seen quite few that I like.

Im not sure what you mean by the electrolysis?

If water is able to pass between the sections bolted together then the water acts as an electrolyte and the Aluminium effectively becomes an anode and gets eaten away.
It's a common problem on boats particularly on transoms where the stainless steel bolt pass through the Aluminium to have the Aluminium entirely eaten away.
Apparently the grade of Stainless bolts makes a difference and 316 is recommended rather than 304 in a marine enviroment.
Aluminium bullbars are another one where they bolt to the chassis (if there is bare steel) to see similar problems.
Regards Andrew.

I built the body of my OKA motorhome from the chassis up.
I know that is different from a caravan, but aftr 100,000km of serious travel, I would be quite comfortable using a similar technique for a caravan, EXCEPT that I would eliminate ALL steel above the chassis.

The body is 20mm thick fibreglass/foam/fibreglass sandwich panel. It is held together with Sikaflex. There are NO mechanical fixings. The materials are relatively expensive, but the result is stunning and the effort is low. Cut to shape with a jig saw an glue it on. Edge trim or reinforce with powder coated aluminium extrusions. No frame of any kind required. (the OKA has a lightweight steel frame that I would eliminate 'next time').
All the furnature is made the same way, using the same material and becomes part of the structure.
Insulation is inherrent in the panel, weight is low, strength is high and finish is superb, by default.

There are a few pics on a slide show on the link below.
Give us a call if you want to talk about it.

Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 Motorhome

Sure Danny, be happy to help if I can.
I would advise against the aluminium panel, ONLY because minor damage is easy to do and impossible to repair.
The fibreglass is probably heavier, stronger, tougher, but it really depends on what your needs are.
There are comercially built vans that use an aluminium / plywood panel too.


Cheers,
Peter