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old dodge RV and trucks share same chassis? #2962743
09/10/21 04:40 PM
09/10/21 04:40 PM
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North Central Florida
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eightlitermopar Offline OP
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1978 sportsman RV. Seized 440 and transmission gone. Dana 70? (I think) under rear.

I inherited this rig for free, with hopes to make a killer flatbed truck, but it was too far rotted, wires cut, stuff bashed to hell, etc.

My next thoughts were to salvage the chassis to make a killer trailer, but this leads me to my question.

Was this motorhome built on a truck chassis, or was the frame specifically made for the RV only?

If I could swap another cab onto the truck, that may change my plans.

Thanks in advance,
'
eightlitermopar


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Re: old dodge RV and trucks share same chassis? [Re: eightlitermopar] #2962754
09/10/21 05:56 PM
09/10/21 05:56 PM
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The B series chassis is a unitized construction design.

Re: old dodge RV and trucks share same chassis? [Re: NITROUSN] #2962761
09/10/21 06:21 PM
09/10/21 06:21 PM
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St. John's Newfoundland
440newport Offline
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As said, even as an RV they are still a unibody, no frame as such. The RV guys usually welded extra frame rails on the rear overhang, but from the rear wheels forward they are still a B van. If you look underneath you'll see the original van floor in the center section between the frame rails.

Re: old dodge RV and trucks share same chassis? [Re: 440newport] #2962765
09/10/21 06:46 PM
09/10/21 06:46 PM
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eightlitermopar Offline OP
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Thanks for the replies. That is what I was thinking, I just was not sure.

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Re: old dodge RV and trucks share same chassis? [Re: eightlitermopar] #2963143
09/12/21 12:54 AM
09/12/21 12:54 AM
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Candler,NC / Myrtle Beach, SC
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You need to look under it.....not all of them were unibody chassis. I had a Dodge class C motorhome with a 440/727, and it had a full frame under it even though it had a van nose. twocents

Re: old dodge RV and trucks share same chassis? [Re: JDMopar] #2963431
09/12/21 10:12 PM
09/12/21 10:12 PM
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If the RV has the van nose, it is a B van with the rear extension and is a unibody.

The full framed RVs used a big truck frame with a short nose, so a standard pickup cab and front sheet metal won't work on them either.

Re: old dodge RV and trucks share same chassis? [Re: poorboy] #2963482
09/13/21 02:07 AM
09/13/21 02:07 AM
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Dodge was the major producer of most of the motor home chassis from early (mid 1960s)on until they went BK the first time in 1980,
The class A motorhome had a special RV chassis on either a 1.5 ton 0r 2.5 ton chassis, the class B and C motor homes were built on a 3/4 ton or 1 ton van chassis, class B did not have a generator included, class C did.
I use to see train cars full of those chassis, all three, on a daily basis being taken into SO CA from back east to the motor home makers in SO CA, lots and lots of them.
Once they went bankrupt the federal government made them stop making those chassis due to Ford and GM lobbyist, same thing on large truck chassis(2 1/2 ton or larger) also whiney

Last edited by Cab_Burge; 09/13/21 02:08 AM.

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Re: old dodge RV and trucks share same chassis? [Re: poorboy] #2963565
09/13/21 11:40 AM
09/13/21 11:40 AM
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Originally Posted by poorboy
If the RV has the van nose, it is a B van with the rear extension and is a unibody.



100 Percent correct. Another is the VIN. All unitized with the van front will have a B in the first part of the VIN. The full frame will have a M in the start of the VIN.

Re: old dodge RV and trucks share same chassis? [Re: poorboy] #2964531
09/15/21 08:35 PM
09/15/21 08:35 PM
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The 1979 Dodge Class C I had, had a Van nose, factory 440/727 and a Dana 70 with 4.88 gears. I know for 100% certain that it had a full frame under it with 1 ton or larger suspension. It was 24' long, and could not have survived had it been a unibody. That's not to say that there wasn't a remnant of the B van front frame rails under there.....but they did not carry any weight of the vehicle. The thing had a full frame from front to rear. I sold it to another Moparts member back around 2009-2010. Not trying to be argumentative, but I spent plenty of time underneath that thing on my back working on maintenance to know what was under there. twocents

Re: old dodge RV and trucks share same chassis? [Re: JDMopar] #2964543
09/15/21 09:12 PM
09/15/21 09:12 PM
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Originally Posted by JDMopar
The 1979 Dodge Class C I had, had a Van nose, factory 440/727 and a Dana 70 with 4.88 gears. I know for 100% certain that it had a full frame under it with 1 ton or larger suspension. It was 24' long, and could not have survived had it been a unibody. That's not to say that there wasn't a remnant of the B van front frame rails under there.....but they did not carry any weight of the vehicle. The thing had a full frame from front to rear. I sold it to another Moparts member back around 2009-2010. Not trying to be argumentative, but I spent plenty of time underneath that thing on my back working on maintenance to know what was under there. twocents


So it had a straight axle front end with leaf springs.

Re: old dodge RV and trucks share same chassis? [Re: JDMopar] #2964565
09/15/21 10:00 PM
09/15/21 10:00 PM
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Originally Posted by JDMopar
The 1979 Dodge Class C I had, had a Van nose, factory 440/727 and a Dana 70 with 4.88 gears. I know for 100% certain that it had a full frame under it with 1 ton or larger suspension. It was 24' long, and could not have survived had it been a unibody. That's not to say that there wasn't a remnant of the B van front frame rails under there.....but they did not carry any weight of the vehicle. The thing had a full frame from front to rear. I sold it to another Moparts member back around 2009-2010. Not trying to be argumentative, but I spent plenty of time underneath that thing on my back working on maintenance to know what was under there. twocents


RVs with a Dodge chassis came with 3 options in 1978.
Class C: full "C" channel frame front to back. Most had little or no nose, and often had a fiberglass front panel. may or may not have had a hood. really depended on which motor home company the RV came from. Most were big block chassis.

Class B: An extended Dodge B van chassis had a boxed steel front subframe to back behind the doors where it merged with a rectangle shaped boxed sheet metal "frame". The under carriage of these were strictly dodge B van unibody chassis all the way back to the rear box that would have been under the rear facing doors on the B van, right behind the rear spring shackles. Then a tube frame, or possible C channel frame, or more box formed sheet metal to the back bumper (again depending on who the RV was purchased from. These could have come with any Mopar engine offered in 78, from a slant 6 (fortunately most were at least 318s) up to a 440. These B chassis RVs all had the B van sheet metal to at least the back edge of the front doors.

The other option was the Dodge Transvan. it too started life out as a Dodge B van, but I wasn't blessed with seeing many of these in real life. I have no idea what was done behind the front doors.

A few more things to understand with the RVs in general. The RV manufacturers bought the chassis in bunches at a time (like maybe 100 + chassis at the same time). The model year of the finished product was the year it was ready for a customer. The actual chassis under it may have been a couple years old at that time. A 78 model year RV could have had a 76 chassis under it, with everything one would expect to see in a 76 model year chassis.

I spent may a day under the B van RVs repairing the rear frames. On every one of them, regardless of the manufacturers, the frame for the extension behind the rear springs was welded to that B van rear torque box. That rear B van box is 18 gauge sheet metal with doubled pieces of 18 gauge at anyplace Dodge felt they needed reinforcing in the original van chassis. That box was formed with an inner section spot welded to the outer section, the only thing between those inner and outer sections was those extra reinforcing pieces Dodge felt they needed to support the van's rear facing doors. The RV frame extensions were welded only to the rear section of that torque box. Then they added the the floor and the upper structure for the RV on top of that frame extension.

For the most part, it worked out pretty well, until people started pulling trailers with a lot of tong weight on the back of the RVs. After a few years, that extra tong weight started separating and crushing that rear torque box and the trailer hitch on the RV's rear bumper got a lot closer to the ground. The entire rear section of the RV started drooping. The fix was to jack the RV up at the trailer hitch to lift the back end close to where it was suppose to be (usually that involved lifting the rear wheels off the ground. Then 1/8" steel plates were welded to the torque box and it was welded back together. Then add a 4' long piece of 2" square tubing under the B van rear "frame rails" and weld a 3' long piece of 2" square tubing to the RV frame extension (the RV extensions were usually 4' long), then bridge the repaired torque box with another 3' long piece of 2" square tubing welded overlapping both the front and rear tubing. Then I had to add a 2" high stand on the lower side of the bridge tube at the center, and add a 1/4" thick 2" wide flat steel bar to the ends of the tubing on the frame and across the 2" tall stand. If the customer reduced the tong weight on the trailer to around 600 lbs, that patch job held up several more years. if they didn't reduce the weight, or failed to keep the extra weight off the tong, the patch job was only good for a couple years. If the patch failed, there was no farther repair. I've probably done that patch job to 20 or more class B Dodge motor homes. Trust me when I tell you how those class B Dodge motorhomes with the van front sheet metal were built. Gene

Re: old dodge RV and trucks share same chassis? [Re: poorboy] #2964635
09/16/21 09:24 AM
09/16/21 09:24 AM
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Facts.
B-Series van fronts were all unitized frame construction. They also were coil spring and control arms on the front. As Poorboy said from the rear of the unitized construction the motor home company may of used other construction to accommodate longer body and hitches.

M-Series were vendor specific motor home fronts. They were full frame with straight axle and leaf front springs.

Re: old dodge RV and trucks share same chassis? [Re: poorboy] #2965757
09/20/21 01:39 PM
09/20/21 01:39 PM
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Originally Posted by poorboy
Originally Posted by JDMopar
The 1979 Dodge Class C I had, had a Van nose, factory 440/727 and a Dana 70 with 4.88 gears. I know for 100% certain that it had a full frame under it with 1 ton or larger suspension. It was 24' long, and could not have survived had it been a unibody. That's not to say that there wasn't a remnant of the B van front frame rails under there.....but they did not carry any weight of the vehicle. The thing had a full frame from front to rear. I sold it to another Moparts member back around 2009-2010. Not trying to be argumentative, but I spent plenty of time underneath that thing on my back working on maintenance to know what was under there. twocents


RVs with a Dodge chassis came with 3 options in 1978.
Class C: full "C" channel frame front to back. Most had little or no nose, and often had a fiberglass front panel. may or may not have had a hood. really depended on which motor home company the RV came from. Most were big block chassis.

Class B: An extended Dodge B van chassis had a boxed steel front subframe to back behind the doors where it merged with a rectangle shaped boxed sheet metal "frame". The under carriage of these were strictly dodge B van unibody chassis all the way back to the rear box that would have been under the rear facing doors on the B van, right behind the rear spring shackles. Then a tube frame, or possible C channel frame, or more box formed sheet metal to the back bumper (again depending on who the RV was purchased from. These could have come with any Mopar engine offered in 78, from a slant 6 (fortunately most were at least 318s) up to a 440. These B chassis RVs all had the B van sheet metal to at least the back edge of the front doors.

The other option was the Dodge Transvan. it too started life out as a Dodge B van, but I wasn't blessed with seeing many of these in real life. I have no idea what was done behind the front doors.

A few more things to understand with the RVs in general. The RV manufacturers bought the chassis in bunches at a time (like maybe 100 + chassis at the same time). The model year of the finished product was the year it was ready for a customer. The actual chassis under it may have been a couple years old at that time. A 78 model year RV could have had a 76 chassis under it, with everything one would expect to see in a 76 model year chassis.

I spent may a day under the B van RVs repairing the rear frames. On every one of them, regardless of the manufacturers, the frame for the extension behind the rear springs was welded to that B van rear torque box. That rear B van box is 18 gauge sheet metal with doubled pieces of 18 gauge at anyplace Dodge felt they needed reinforcing in the original van chassis. That box was formed with an inner section spot welded to the outer section, the only thing between those inner and outer sections was those extra reinforcing pieces Dodge felt they needed to support the van's rear facing doors. The RV frame extensions were welded only to the rear section of that torque box. Then they added the the floor and the upper structure for the RV on top of that frame extension.

For the most part, it worked out pretty well, until people started pulling trailers with a lot of tong weight on the back of the RVs. After a few years, that extra tong weight started separating and crushing that rear torque box and the trailer hitch on the RV's rear bumper got a lot closer to the ground. The entire rear section of the RV started drooping. The fix was to jack the RV up at the trailer hitch to lift the back end close to where it was suppose to be (usually that involved lifting the rear wheels off the ground. Then 1/8" steel plates were welded to the torque box and it was welded back together. Then add a 4' long piece of 2" square tubing under the B van rear "frame rails" and weld a 3' long piece of 2" square tubing to the RV frame extension (the RV extensions were usually 4' long), then bridge the repaired torque box with another 3' long piece of 2" square tubing welded overlapping both the front and rear tubing. Then I had to add a 2" high stand on the lower side of the bridge tube at the center, and add a 1/4" thick 2" wide flat steel bar to the ends of the tubing on the frame and across the 2" tall stand. If the customer reduced the tong weight on the trailer to around 600 lbs, that patch job held up several more years. if they didn't reduce the weight, or failed to keep the extra weight off the tong, the patch job was only good for a couple years. If the patch failed, there was no farther repair. I've probably done that patch job to 20 or more class B Dodge motor homes. Trust me when I tell you how those class B Dodge motorhomes with the van front sheet metal were built. Gene


Really appreciate your response, I always wondered how these were built, sorry to hear they couldn't handle a lot of tongue weight.
Was this work done to extend the wheelbase?
Do you recall the longest wheelbase you ever saw?
I looked at a Class A a few years ago, don't recall the year, late '70s/early '80s model. Anyway it was built on a D truck frame. The suspension and steering parts were Identical to my 250 Ram.
It didn't handle very well, felt like it was too softly sprung, or the dampers were worn out, so I passed on it, was powered by a 360. Another unicorn from Dodge! Never realized they were selling body-less Ram truck chassis to manufacturers.
I do believe you've got your alphabet mixed up a bit though. Class A is the full frame with aftermarket body. Class B is B van with usually stock body and raised roof. Class C is B van cab with aftermarket body and usually a cab-over bed area. Now I have seen a very few D truck class Cs, my favorite!

Last edited by geo.; 09/20/21 10:16 PM.
Re: old dodge RV and trucks share same chassis? [Re: geo.] #2965865
09/20/21 09:17 PM
09/20/21 09:17 PM
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The B class RVs all have the same wheel base. RVs are measured in length from the front bumper to the back bumper. The van nose RVs are from 20' long to 24' (or maybe 28') long. A 20' RV would have been an original maxi van chassis, but the longer RVs were standard van chassis with the extra length added on to the chassis behind where the rear facing doors would have been. The rear overhang behind the rear wheels could have 6' - 8' long, then people hung a tong heavy trailer onto the back end of the extension. See any possible problems with that? Gene







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