Where to Buy Small Truck conversion?

[GEPatch]

My wife and I are leaving a 45 ft motorhome for a small Truck Conversion. We have gotten three tickets in Calif. for being over length. Calif is 65 ft overall.

I cannot get all my toys (trike Motorcycle, powered parachute, car, rock crawer, etc) in a 18 ft trailer.
We have been looking at 32-34ft OA length in a Renegade and plan to pull a 32ft stacker trailer.

Most of the conversions we have looked at, are longer than we want. If I do find a small one, its has a small 250 HP engine which I don't think will pull a 34 ft stacker. I would prefer 400 HP or more and a auto Trans. To give us more living space, we do not want a bedroom in the coach. We will sleep overhead. I also, would like to have a 4-5 foot garage in the back to store golf clubs, BBQ grills, chairs etc.

To get it the way I would want it, I need to have one custom built for me. But, in this ecomony, I don't want to buy anything new.

Any of you longtime truck conversion members have any ideas?

Thanks
Glenn

[Bob E]

Suggest check with Jason Hawk,

http://www.hawkengineering.com/

This would be right up his alley.

Disclaimer: I am in no way connected to, or affiliated with this company,...just a satisfied customer.

[geofkaye]

....THINK TOTER...EFFICIENT USE OF SPACE FOR 2....NO FUME PROBLEMS....FIRE SAFE....MORE COMFORTABLE...ALL THE OPTIONS YOU WANT....AND ABOUT $40-85,000 USED...WITH YOUR STACKER YOU ARE ON TOP OF THE LEGAL ISSUE......geofkaye

[dgorila1]

Looking over Hawk's site, they do a top notch job of building a rig! I'd love to work for them since they don't compromise on quality. Their rigs are awesome! Only wish I could afford one :-) I love the garage with bedroom over design, and the way the roof is designed to protect all the equipment mounted on top. True art!

[HawkEng]

Guys, thanks for the great praise on our coaches. I actually have never been on this site. Looks like a GREAT site! Bob how is the conversion coming along now. Check out what we have been doing since your coach. Pictures are current on our new site. www.hawkengineering.com.

I will look forward to dropping in on the site to talk with people in need.

[BigT]

Hey Jason,

This is Jeff Tackett and I also just signed up to this forum.

For everyone reading, I don't want to leave any assumtions out there. I help supply Hawk Engineering with his Volvo product and found him very knowledgeable and great to work with on a vendor's side of things. It's great to see that his customers are extremely satisfied with the product of Hawk Engineering. I would definately recommend anyone to visit Jason and check out his quality of conversion.

Good Luck Jason and let me know if we can help in any way.

Jeff Tackett

[Bob86ZZ4]

I bought my rig at www.wrightwaytrailers.com. I was very happy with their service. They have a few toters that might fit your needs on their lot. Look at their site and then call them and ask for Doug Beck. Tell him Bob Winsor said to call if you don't mind. He was a very nice guy and made me a great deal on my rig. I also recently spoke to Ralph Dickenson at www.busesandmore.com. He said he just took in a really nice toter home that he has for sale on consignment at $38k (I think that's the price he quoted me but not positive). I don't see it on his web site yet so you should call him. Did you look through the ads here: http://www.chooseyouritem.com/...ruckConversion0.html ? Another good place to look is www.racingjunk.com and get to the truck conversion section. Good luck. No matter what I think you will be most happy about getting out of that motorhome and into a truck conversion. More power, that's the key to life.

[BravestDog]

Originally posted by GEPatch:
We have gotten three tickets in Calif. for being over length. Calif is 65 ft overall.
Thanks
Glenn

Glenn.

Would you be willing to share what happened with your tickets for being too long? Court dates, fines...?

And what source are you relying for your information re length?

[geofkaye]

.....Bravest:...y'all sound funny-you been hanging around with Larry Ziegler???...that weasel should be locked up by now for some to the stuff he pulled....I did run it buy IRS and Ks./Mo. State Sales tax guys in Ks./Mo....but who knows if they did anything about it or even caught up with him...and I really don't care if anything happened to him or not as he hasn't been around these forums for quite a time.....should he show up I will drop the quarter again...I do have copies of all his paperwork and he sure did a number on himself....[I can't fix dumb and stupid isn't curable] ......geofkaye

[Roadside]

Hi Glenn. Being over lenght is some states can be problem. Have you ever gotten a over lenght permit??? You may not be able to just go anywhere you want, but as long as you stay on the path, your are ok. Over length permits should be gotten befor you go into the state. I've ran in California and had no problen. Years of commerical driving, you get to find out how to get around when your 65 ft.+ and 35000 lb.+. We take our toy with us, too. Good luck Roadside

[HawkEng]

Yes, overlength can be a problem in some states. But, I was told by customers that OT permits are cheap. I am just not sure. On the other hand, a plain coach without lettering on it will go unnoticed by the DOT too. Good luck to all.

[GEPatch]

Sorry for the late reply, been off the site for a while.
The 3 tickets I got in Calif. cost about $150 each. Each was different. The officer gives you a ticket with a 800 phone number and a web site that you contact and they tell you what you the amount you owe. I paid them with a credit card and didn;t know how they caculate the cost.
I know that the legal length is 65 ft, the cops tell me and I have about 15 other friends that have gotten tickets also.
My concern is not only the cost, but they can make you unhook the trailer if they want too. I've had several friends that this happen too.
Glenn

[BravestDog]

California is broke, in debt, along with the rest of the states and the US Government.

They've had years of unrestricted and excessive spending. Now they are in debt and they are preying upon the residents of this country to help pay off this debt.

How does one put an end to this predatory behavior by the Police, Highway Patrol...?

[geofkaye]

.....leave the state...time to take some losses and hang it up.....geofkaye

[BravestDog]

Geof

Where does one go? From California to where? Wouldn't I just be leaving one state in debt to go to another state in debt? Leaving a state with nice weather to go to another state with colder/hotter weather?

I like the mild weather in the San Francisco Bay Area. Never too cold for too long, generally it stays above freezing at night during the entire winter and with the coastal fog keeping things cool in the summer, it's really never too hot for too many days. The high pressure which brings warm weather of 90-100 degrees only last a few days and then it moves away to let the summer coastal fog back to cool things down to the normal 60-80 degree range.

[geofkaye]

....so your buying the weather instead of moving to an area that the weather could be different....only place I don't want to go is to a ghetto city where i live now.....thank GOD I can travel now and then....with the tractor and trailer I can pick up and drive away to another destination....and i don't have to pay property taxes and such.....deal with weirdo/insane people and over policing of a small towns to make up for the budget....California is good to visit now and then-but to live there....I'll pass. Perfect Weather or NO perfect weather.....Just my opinion tonight....geofkaye

[Doc Weaver]

Easy on that ghetto town GK, weirdo/insane people are populating faster than us. You can almost feel the breeze of dropping IQs everywhere.

Doc Weaver

[geofkaye]

...DOC Weaver: with the Cincy mayor on a spending spree and all the little towns pulling everyone over for 2 mph over -it is getting stupid to live around here.....I'm hoping that the State of Ohio will take over some of these towns when they go bankrupt. Fairfax Ohio follows my happy workers around so they can make a bust....only the white kid with dreadlocks is a bible thumper to the max-he drives me crazy with the Bible quotes about once a day-I have to be sure he doesn't feel the spirit/fervor when he is on the roof or I might have a workers comp claim-or a lift off-as it were....things are crazy around here these days....things that go bang bang sales are through the roof as well as the things that come out of the barrel real fast....had to send a truck to Wisconsin for a refill of the bang bang/projectile stuff last week.....the girlz are going broke cuz business is so bad-guys don't have enough money for the "occasional dalliance" like 1.5 years ago....girlz tell me "every guy wants a discount".....all they do is whine about the good old days and the river boats....business for the girlz is bad there also....all the guys are spending money on gambling instead of the women.....business is poor all over I guess....haven't heard from the drug dealers about things lately....so business must be very slow-I know from the hospital that the crack is poor in this area and everyone is going to heroine-I have 42 clients with heroine issues....standing room only on Tuesday nites at the hospital..Methadone sales are through the roof at the clinics....[should have bought some stock in the manufacture[in Canada]]....Good to hear from you...will call after the truck shows in Wilmington this weekend...c-ya....geofkaye

[Doc Weaver]

I wasn't doubting your opinion about Cincy, especially being that I'm barely north of you, I was just pointing out the fact that voluntary stupidity is spreading faster than the swine flu. Without getting political, the local, state, and federal governments can do anything as long as they lie the same lie enough times, and gullible Americans swear to it without checking out the facts. The bad news is that I don't see it getting better anytime soon.

My apologies to GEPatch. we didn't mean to hijack your thread.

Doc Weaver

[blizzardND]

Getting this train back on track...
GEPatch, you first posted in April, how is the search going?

Have you found anything worth testing out?
If ya found something, we dig pictures!
-blizz