Quote:
Originally Posted by vijay
Just amazing.I have been thinking... how it would workout to convert a Pete 387(and planning for 4 years). Can I ask you few questions?
#1
Since factory sleeper is composite material and has air ride/shocks...how did you connect the extended(new) sleeper to the original?
#2
How much did it cost you to stretch the frame? Local shop(NorCal) here quoted $20K to stretch to 45 feet.
#3
Is there anyway to chop the high rise factory sleeper?
#4
Whats the overall semi length now?
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First off we removed the air cab, I did not feel comfortable with that much movement in the sleeper vs box. Adding the extended length to chassis makes them ride MUCH softer anyways. After we completed that, I had multiple test drives with the stretched chassis and different people, and all agreed they could tell no difference to the air cab being eliminated. To connect the box to sleeper was done like most any other truck. We used the larger, I believe Ultramax sleeper ring. Cut my ring out and riveted in the new ring using the buck rivets. We also made sure to attach to the existing aluminum bracing that is on your back wall already. In reality, the addition of the ring now should add strength to the back wall of your truck which was just thing sheeting to begin with. We put the matching ring on the front of our box and are using the stock style Peterbilt 1-piece seal to connect the two together.
I got lucky for the truck stretch. I have a close friend who builds some of the most radical and custom trucks out there. He also drove one of my racecars last year, so he volunteered for the frame stretch. He also is sort of a collector in the peterbilt world. So he has dozens of trucks from fire/rollover and etc. in the yard to get frame sections from, and many other parts. Because he has stretched, chopped, dropped, and made the most crazy trucks around, he knew what he was doing. I would be glad to pass on a phone number if you would like him to give you a quote. I will attach a couple of his trucks maybe you will recognize. Guy is bad a$$ and a great dude! BOTELHO CUSTOM TRUCKS, here is a link to a build he did too:
10-4 Magazine - For Today's Trucker
We looked into chopping the sleeper down, we decided too much work! Anything can be done with $$ and imagination. But for us on a limited build time, we didn't venture. I have seen other cut the back sleeper off like a daycab, and that eliminates the high rise in the cab. My big plan is after all done, during off season, I am making almost like a top "fairing" that will run the length of my box and match the truck height. It will hide my AC and stuff on the roof and look better.
My truck now is right about 36' total. I had to keep everything on the dwarf side to push me close to the 65' total length before harassment deal.