New Chassis. Has anyone seen it done?

[mkruid]

I have a 2000 BF 24RB. As far as I am concerned there is no other brand out there built to the quality of this unit. It is now 17 years old and still in excellent condition.
The trouble is I believe it is time for a new chassis. My next unit will defiantly be on a Ram 4500, 4x4 chassis. When you look at new RV's with a Ram diesel the cost is $200K +. What I am questioning is weather or not it is possible to put my current coach on a new chassis. I am thinking I would have approximately $90k invested. My existing unit around $20k, 2018 Ram cab and chassis around $55k and $10 to $15k in conversion cost.
Looking for thoughts and suggestions.

[Roger H]

You can do anything if you're willing to throw enough money at it.

That said, Born Free coaches are built specifically for the chassis upon which they're built... and all of the 'stuff' is specifically designed to fit into and onto that frame and cab body. I'd think it'd be pretty tough to re-engineer one from one frame to a different manufacturer's frame. Certainly not impossible... just very expensive. AND you'd need to find the right place to do it for you.

My biggest question would be why do you think you need a new chassis? The Ford E-chassis vans have shown to have half-million-mile longevity... if the cab body and frame itself remains in good condition, replacing the engine, trans, and maintaining the rear end/suspension/steering would seem to me to be the best course of action; certainly the most cost-effective. You can do a LOT of maintenance on your existing chassis for the $65k+ you're proposing to spend. You could probably even do a 4x4 conversion on your current chassis, replace all of the drivetrain, steering and suspension and still not have anywhere near $60k in it.

If your purpose, though, is to try to build an expedition coach, the born free body isn't your best bet for that because of the long overhangs and that it attaches to the cab as a single, integrated cab-coach unit. In an expedition vehicle, you want the chassis to be able to twist and the cab be able to move independently from the coach to some degree so you don't break those weather seals (or even the fiberglass itself) when you're off-roading.

[mkruid]

Power, Mileage and most of all, Comfort! Leg room in the Ford E chassis at 6'2 is terrible. Also not a big fan of the screaming gas engine.
No off road but a lot of winter camping and ice fishing trips. Will at some point do Alaska and the Yukon.
My winter trips are mostly done with my 2016 Ram and Northern Lite truck camper.
What I am after is the comfort and power of the pick up chassis with the convenience and workmanship of the Born Free.
Would love the Kodiac Roger but I am a big fan of the 24' RB. Everything about this setup works great for my wife and I. I do realize the truck chassis would add around 3'.

[Roger H]

Frankly, for your purposes, your Northern Lite and Dodge are probably your best bet for your winter-time excursions.

This is my third season with my Kodiak. I can't imagine having anything else... maybe a Freightliner M2 chassis Dynamax one day?

I ran into this guy on a trip a couple of years ago with my 32RQ and parked a couple of sites over from him. It's an '05 C4500 4x4 with the Duramax 6L in front of an Allison. The truck had originally been bought to do an expedition trip to Patagonia... and had driven down and back with a different camping setup. The guy I bought it from re-fashioned the bed and put the camper you see on it. IIRC, he said it had about 175k miles on it when I met him. They full-time in it.

Kodiak C4500 Duramax expedition truck by Roger H, on Flickr

[MarkB]

Get ahold of something like this for each of your chassis and then you'll have an idea.

https://www.fleet.ford.com/truckbbas/no ... 08bblb.pdf

[John S.]

I ordered the ram 5500 on my coach in 4 wheel drive that was not delivered. I have the Ford 550 now just rear wheel and love it. If you want an expedition vehicle, get an earth roamer. They are tops.