So I contacted a blacksmith apparently used by Toyota and while I can't remember any of the details because there were a lot he said it would be I think a thousand dollars to really increase the weight capacity of building a camper shell that extends over the cab essentially I'm building what might look almost like a U-Haul. I'm going to be living in it for a while so I'll be bringing some stuff along but what is the initial weight capacity of the 85 pickup because I plan on spending $1,000 at this place to increase the maximum strength and load capacity and I'm wondering what else I can do to help that as well as what I can maybe strip out that isn't necessary I don't know if there's anything even possible but I just remember this one scene from fast and the furious where they go "take everything out...all of it" only I'm not putting in NOS. I need that information and anything else I can do to increase fuel efficiency. I know I've got some serious science ˟˟˟˟ to figure out but I'm hoping I can do this without it costing a fortune but basically I got to do the big three or the big four or the big whatever except it's not for a sound system it's to be able to run a couple of TVs at once if I need to I rarely do, a laptop probably a mini fridge and an AC or heater or both. I'm going to have the cab have a doorway or at least a pathway to the back. Little hobbit hole. All ideas and suggestions are welcome, materials or just cool ˟˟˟˟. By the way what should I be doing with the original OEM alternator that's not busteded works perfectly fine I can't use two alternators can I?

 

Alternators can be added, it's the physical fitment that's the problem. You can also get a big semi monster alternator, but you'd have to figure out how to physically mount, and adapt the wiring to the stock harness. The OEM alternator puts out a fair amount of power, why do you need it upgraded, did you check your "energy budget" to see if it's needed at all? A deep cycle battery can extend usage w\o engine running.

For weight capacity, look of curb weight online, and check the GVWR on the truck (door sticker normally says, maybe tag under hood on firewall). I think the 2wd ones were 5200gvwr. You take vehicle weight (curb weight) and subtract it from the gvwr and that gives you the payload (max rated load the truck is designed for). You're removing the box, but building a camper shell, so you'd need to check the vehicle weight after it's built to get an idea of how the numbers look.

For suspension upgrade, add leafs to the leaf springs is the simplest way since most of the weight would be in the rear. Stiffer shocks might help, it will basically ride more like an F350. Look up the toyota 1 ton version of the trucks, they were atleast made in 86 and were the base for the motor homes generally (upgraded brakes and such).

There's also the califab trucks that basically had a full rear seat in the "extended" part of the cab. They length the frame to use the stock box, and of my understanding they only built them from 22RTE trucks (turbo'ed).

For mpg, drive slow, coast, basically look up ecomodder and check what people there do. Physical mods would be front air dam, side skirts, boat tail, etc. If you want to cut fuel costs instead of fuel mpg, you could go LPG, it's about 10% or so loss in power and mpg, but the fuel is 50-66% less too.

 

Is that why I'm having a hell of a time aligning the pivot bolt, it's off by fractions of a inch. But I'm building a livable camper shell. Kinda like a U-Haul.

 

This is not really a good idea for very many reasons!! I can list them all.

Been there tried this a 22R/RE engine is not the best choice single digit fuel mileage

Have you given any thought to a pull behind Pop up camper??

Best of Luck!!

 

Oh I'm practically rewiring the whole thing. Essentially it's gonna be a brand new circulatory system. But I'm open to suggestions on how to make it close to a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter/U-Haul. I don't understand why it's such a bad idea. It's going to be pretty damn light material hell I'm going to be doing an electric fan. I've got the 2 deep cycle 6 volts in addition to the starter battery. I am going to be living in the thing not just driving around is it this ain't my daily driver so my daily liver. Most people need a liver to function 😂

 

Not sure if electric fan is a good idea, generally mechanical moves more air. Keep the fan shroud too, it helps duct the air. If your fan clutch is bad, replace it, besides that I'd leave it alone.

The 22R/RE isn't known for being a powerhouse, and it was designed when the max speed limit wasn't nearly 75mph like it is today (maybe some areas it's higher?). It's probably designed stock to do about 55-60mph, with the big areo load you might be looking at those speeds as a max on the highway, but I figured if you're building it, you already figured that'd be an issue.

Camper trailers are light built, not sure if you've ever seen how they are constructed, but they are pretty poorly built most likely for weight savings. Aka, don't use 2x4's, use 2x2's at the biggest, some use 2x1.5's. Heaviest boards are used at the corners and openings for the windows/doors.

All reality, a small camper trailer would probably be the more economical way to go, but if you want to build a motor home, then it's not impossible, just a lot of work from the ground up.

What all are you rewiring? Most/all of the engine stuff should be fine factory, just need the 12v from alternator and ground to a camper trailer fuse panel and a heavy duty inverter if you want 120v ac outlets (a cheap inverter would work for short term). I'd run them directly off the 2x 6v batteries you have (hopefully wired to be 12v xD). I'd say to put some sort of master cut off switch (or relay) between the two batteries so you can 100% kill the deepcycle batteries, but your starting battery will still be charged to start the engine (and then charge the other batteries). Could make this somewhat automatic, just have to tap into the ignition wires to power the relay. Of course if you use a monster relay to handle 100amps+ you might want a relay to turn on the relay =).

Here's an example of a 200amp relay, it's a massive upgrade over the stock Ford relay for the glow plugs on a powerstroke diesel (about 180amp draw for up to 3 mins). The 2 small terminals are what activates the relay, and the big terminals connect together. I'm not sure what the relay draws to keep powered, probably something to test before installing.

https://www.dieselorings.com/16-009-...lug-relay.html

If you kill the deep cycle batteries often, you might want to look into a proper charge controller, also the alternator(s) will be heavily worked to charge them. Ideally they'd be charged at what the batteries are rated at so they will have a long life (maybe 10-20 amp).

 

Definitely considering alternate options for the camper ideas and there's many ideas floating around in my head. It's definitely something that I'm thinking a lot about for the camper or whatever it is I'm going to be living in I've even thought about the idea of I don't know finding some kind of pneumatic arm so I can just raise the camper up whenever I want to and like lowers and panels down I've made a whole bunch of weird contraptions before. And yet it's the basic ˟˟˟˟ that evades me like for instance this alternator I finally got to installing and number one the pivot section isn't even long enough to fill the hole space number two the pulley is not flush with the other two pulleys. It's just barely off to where the belt would be at an angle maybe like 5 degrees. I would imagine that could cause a problem right, too much tension? So I went to the McMahon website and turns out that this is not compatible with my truck or at least they don't have one listed for my truck. So it looks like I'll be taking that back but yes I do have two 6 volts batteries and I have a NOCO gb40 on the way but I'm told by some Swiss guy on YouTube that you want a voltage regulator too in between the alternator and the either the starter or the deep cycle batteries. He sounded like he knew his ˟˟˟˟ so.... I'm adding a picture of the pulley difference and the alternator gap.

That a problem?

Time to return?

 

Voltage regulator depends if the alternator has a voltage regulator built into it or not. Most modern ones do, most super old ones don't, somewhere around the 80's it was a mixed bag. I don't know them that well since I didn't grow up working on cars from that era, my dad would know instantly though, atleast for the us domestic stuff. The identification is the wire connectors though.

You could probably force the alternator to work, but you'd probably have to mod it, or more extreme mod the mounting. If there's one sold that's effectively bolt on and go, that would be the easiest option. V belts can be off a little and not be much of a problem, but I'd say it's probably a bit too far based on the pic. More off it is, the quicker the belt will wear and if it's too far off, it will throw the belt to show you it's not happy.

I've met a guy that lived in his ~93 toyota pickup for atleast a short while. He just had a topper and the open bed. He was really short though, so he fit in the box within the shortbed (standard) box length. Of course different people have different standards of living, and long term, just getting by might be not good enough xD. Never lived in a vehicle personally, just slept in them on and off.

Back on the alternator, the bottom bracket should be little to no play forward and backward, the other bolt is just to hold the angle so the belt is tight (less critical for alignment etc). That bottom one is the main one you need to get right, or have a spacer made to make it fight right, they are normally pretty snug. Of course that would be assuming if the pulley lined up.