1976 Camper Chassis

Local paper had an ad for a 1 ton truck with 360/727. 41,000 miles. Called and The fella described a Van Cab and chassis with no camper.

Speaking in general terms, what can done with? I’d take on a challenge but my imagination is not taking me anywhere on this.

I guess you didn't see this post over in the Ebay/Craigslist section............ Tiny Home

I've seen guys us them as a platform for a ramp truck. These are a unibody chassis, but the "frame" rails are heavier gauge metal then was used on cars. You need to be pretty careful what you put behind the rear axle and how you do it. Most camper chassis I've seen (and I've seen a lot of them) have a 4' section added (welded to the rear frame box) on to the back end of the original van chassis. That frame addition doesn't have much structural strength, most relied on the camper floor and shell for additional support. Once the camper shell is gone, the addition is pretty weak. Gene

No sir did not see the tiny house. Don’t visit the eBay section very often. That’s well done but no of interest to me.

Poorboy, your info on the frame confirms something that I have wondered about for a long time. It’s good info.

What about a toy hauler for a four wheeler. Is it wide enough to haul a side by side if it was enclosed?

My Dads had a modified 440 I built for it

Darrell.....a 1 ton will have a full C channel frame like a pickup truck. It will more than likely have dual rear wheels. It will probably be fairly low miles if it was a camper. If it's cheap.....snag it!

Dont count on it being a dually, mines not.

And its got the offset Dana 60 and possibly the plastic 36 gallon tank that you will need. 7-9 mpg is the best ive ever seen from mine with the 4:10s.

Also if its got the oem 8 lug 16.5x6 rims tires can still be had but not at every tire store.

Good rigs but if you dont have a specific use in mind, id ask yourself why?

knowing what I know now, id pass

7-9 mpg ... bad pOtO

unless yur going 90 mph ... you need an SP2P and a Plastic Fantastic

When I was building in Atlanta everyone went 75mph on the main arteries, but its sounds great with a aar exhaust on it.

250 miles on 36 gallons... booooooo

Boooooo pOtO.. you should have had that rig MidasSized !

JD, it is a dually.

👍🏻

That looks like a Chinook Class C. Those were the Mac Daddy class C camper! All fiberglass and didn't rot!

That would make a cool ramp truck for a side by side! You could build a dual sleeper right behind the cab, with the front half hanging over the van roof like it did originally, and another one over the rear to where the nose of the side by side would go up under it. Put a twin mattress in each one, and have a place to sleep on muddin trips!

This was an Avion class C. He had a Avion 33 foot tag a long he usually kept in Florida and could bring this home to PA during the summer. He belonged to the Avion Trailer club. The outer skins were made from aluminum.

i have a 77 360/727 w 51K on it from one of these in my 82 D250, yes its gets horrible mileage, and is not particularly powerful even w a 4 bbl on it. Its better than the worn out 318 that was in the truck but not by much. The price was right $300 and I sold the Dana rear end to my neighbor to put in his racecar, for $125, and scraped the rest for another $125.

I bought a mid 1970 Dodge one ton van chassis motor home chassis that had been burnt to the floors, I bought it for the dually rear end which ended up being a Dana 60 HD . No full frame on it or any other van chassis motor home I've seen or heard of, which I have seen a lot of while looking for that rear end with the 4.10 gears
I had a 1957 Dodge one to car hauler that the engine and rear end was bad in so it got a junk yard 318 motor out of a 2 1/2 ton1960 flat bed truck and the rear end out of that motor home chassis so it would bolt in and work
The Ford and Chevy one ton van chassis did have a full frame but those rear ends wouldn't fit properly in that early Dodge one ton frame

My Uncle has a low mileage mid 70's on a 1 ton dually chassis. The camper is junk but I need to see about buying the 360/727.

I was expecting something like this!!!

Me too when the seller said “truck”.

Depending on frame dimensions I'd put this on it. A '95 GM van front clip is perfect - not sure about the Dodge

It looks like someone put part of an old house boat on it.

We had a 79 Dodge class C motorhome for a few years, 440/727/Dana 70 with dual rear wheels. It had a full frame under it like a truck....100% positive. It originally came from Canada, so I don't know if that makes a difference or not? It was 28' bumper to bumper. It was a big heavy monster, but I'm sure some of the smaller ones probably came with a unibody type frame. I sold mine to another Moparts member. He used it a few years, and the engine wiring harness burnt up....and I think he junked it.

The campers with the Dodge van nose are a class "B" motor home and are much more light duty then the truck chassis class "C" motor homes. The two classes of motor homes (B and C) are light years apart from each other, both in the cost and in the chassis under them.

Any Dodge camper with the B van front end has a unibody chassis, if it was built after 1973. It has the front boxed frame like the old Fury's had, that is bolted to the unibody chassis starting under the doors. Then the chassis is unibody all the way to the rear, until the camper manufacturer added the tube rear extension onto the rear box of the B van chassis (any motor home over 18'- 20' long or however long a Maxi B van is). The van chassis are pretty sound, but the point the rear extension was added on is often an issue. Too much weight on the add on extension causes the Van's rear chassis box to deform and the rear bumper can bend to the ground. A trailer with a lot of tongue weight will eventually bend the rear van chassis box. I've reinforced a lot of them and its not easy nor pretty, and if they keep pulling the heavy tongue weight trailer, it will fail again. Some believed me, but some didn't and found out the hard way. There is no fix the 2nd time, short of installing new frame rails from the front frame to the rear bumper. Gene

You better do more research. You have the B and C reversed. Class C is the van front

All the Mopar made camper chassis where group into three names, class A, B, and C.
The class A chassis where bare trucks chassis with no cabs, the Class B and C where van chassis with the cabs on them. Some where 3/4 ton with single rear wheel rear ends and the rest where 1 ton chassis with dual rear wheels.
The class B had generators and the C did not, or maybe vise a versa

Poor Boy has it right, and explained it much better than I did. A Class B camper is simply a long wheelbase van, and will retain the unibody chassis structure....nose included. A Class C motor home had a full truck chassis, but had a van nose to right behind the drivers and passenger side front seats. I see where the confusion was now, thanks to Poor Boy. The camper we owned was a Class C, as was the very nice looking camper Pittsburgh Racer posted that his parents had. A company called Road Trek makes the Class B campers that still look like a complete van with a high roof with AC on top. Every camper factory in Indiana made Class C campers out of Dodge, Chevy, and Fords that had van noses only.

You are wrong he was right.

I guess I was. I’ve had two class C’s And now the 25 foot class A. Sounds like a thin line between the C and B. I was told by many othes the Class B was a heavier duty truck front with heavier duty suspension but he guess that is false. This small class A I have right now powered by a big block FI Chevy tows great.

Took me a while to find this picture: