Completed Coach Pictures!! Let us know what you think!

TractorPuller · 04-15-2009, 01:24 AM

Hello Everyone,

Click here to see the pictures!

We've finally finished our four year project: "Remember When," our completely hand-built custom coach built on a stretched 1993 FLD120 with a 24'6" aluminum cargo box. I updated you all a couple of years ago about half-way through the project and now that it's done I thought I show you all how it turned out!

Everything except for the counter tops were built and installed in-house. Feel free to comment here or on the Picasa Web Album about what you think!

For more information and pictures go to http://www.wildtimesmotorsports.com and navigate over to the "New Hauler" page.

If you have any questions feel free to comment or email me at b_jerew(at)hotmail.com.

Thanks for your comments. We love the site!

Brad Jerew
Wild Times Motorsports
www.wildtimesmotorsports.com

blizzardND · 04-15-2009, 04:03 PM

Wow! she's puurty! very nice workmanship. I hope I can someday post "completed" pictures! Great job, I like the Patriotic theme" too.
-blizzardND

Bob86ZZ4 · 04-16-2009, 07:23 AM

That looks very cool. I like the step idea. I'm just wondering how it will work on different levels like when you park next to a curb? Hay, what about picture #36? Welding with no helmet?? Oh my.

Doc Weaver · 04-16-2009, 08:54 AM

ABSOLUTELY AWESOME!!! I'm ashamed to drive mine now. I'm sure you spent a drastic amount more money and time than I did, but it shows. And the patriotic theme just says it all. Well done.

Doc Weaver

TractorPuller · 04-16-2009, 10:03 AM

Thanks for the comments!! It was a four year labor of love with 4-5 men working on it on weekends and in "free" time.

Bob, I think if we happen to pull up against a curb, the steps would probably be all up on the curb or still on the apron, but if we have a height discrepancy, it would be pretty simple to put a piece of wood under the bottom brace to level it out. The steps are pretty forgiving, they don't have to be set at a perfect distance to use, a lucky find on our part.

That's my dad sans a helmet, he's just tack welding our shore power box together in that picture

Thanks for the comments on the patriotic theme. It has dual symbolism for us. "Remember When" stands for the days when we had an old flatbed truck, then a series of school buses over the last 25 years of tractor pulling. This truck and trailer is far beyond anything we've ever toured around in. But now that we've painted the air dam as such, "Remember When" can speak for remembering when our flag truly stood for something. It still means something to me, by God.

Brad Jerew
Wild Times Motorsports
www.wildtimesmotorsports.com

dgorila1 · 04-16-2009, 10:13 AM

Awesome rig! Several questions for those of us dreaming for this day:

1) Did you use a stock cargo box for the body and then just customize the inside?

2)What was the approx cost of the build minus the cost of the truck?

The rig looks great! I can't wait till the day I have the $$$ to start my project. Ones like this keep me stoked that its a goal that is workable. Thanks.

TractorPuller · 04-17-2009, 07:13 PM

Hey dgorila1,

Thanks! Yes we did use a stock cargo box, a 24'6" Supreme Corp. van box. It still had the roll up door on the back and steel threshold on the floor in the back, we just put the time in to construct a new header and took the door down. We then ordered original aluminum upright studs from supreme, and bought two pre-painted aluminum panels to rivet on the back. From there we just let our imaginations take over, and did the interior completely to our custom desires. The sky is the limit, really.

Minus the cost of the truck, we put roughly $40,000 in the coach in materials. Spread over four, four and a half years, it really is achievable. We did everything in-house except for our countertops.

It's a real joy to know that we built every single inch of it ourselves, and know exactly what it's made of. You can take a lot of pride in building something like this with your own hands.

Thanks!
Brad Jerew
Wild Times Motorsports
www.wildtimesmotorsports.com

geofkaye · 04-18-2009, 12:07 AM

....you guys are tremendous!....sure glad you have supplied pix and have been able to publish them on TRUCKCONVERSIONS! Seeing is believing and you guys are over the top on custom building.....geofkaye

dgorila1 · 04-18-2009, 11:39 AM

Thanks Tractor. As Geof said its great being able to see the build step by step. Its an inspiration. If you figure the cost of a used truck at around $20,000 and your build cost of approx $40,000, you can have a custom built, quality rig for less than $70,000! You can't touch any factory rig for that price, especially one built with the quality and towing power yours has. Great work! You've reinforced my thoughts that a rig like this is within my reach and budget. Thanks.

dgorila1 · 04-18-2009, 12:15 PM

Tractor,
Every time I look through the build photos I find something else that gets me stoked. I love the retracting steps! Frees up valuable space inside and the way they operate is simple but ingenious.
You used a "factory" cargo box as the platform for the coach. From your experience do they make longer boxes (35'-40') and if not would it be feasible to place 2 20' boxes back to back and attach them together to make one long box? I like the box concept because in a few simple steps the basic structure is ready and watertight. I would like to build a longer rig though for extended travel/full time living plus I need a "room" for my daughter :-)
When are you going to organize all your pics and notes and write a book or DVD to detail the build from start to finish to sell to those of us on this forum that want to do the same thing you did? Let me know if you do and I'll place the first order! My biggest obstacle, besides money, is having a large shop to put the truck in to do the build, since it will probably take as long as yours did. Once again, awesome job!

TractorPuller · 04-19-2009, 09:32 PM

Thanks dgorila1,

This is the main reason we built the rig ourselves, instead of buying one. To buy a rig like this new would be 150,000+ We can't swing that kind of expense. We've also built every other hauler and competition vehicle we've had ourselves, so why stop now? lol

We love the steps, it took a lot of engineering and tweaking to get it to work correctly, but it works great now.

As far as we know the longest box made is 28', but you can order the upright studs, rub rails, top rails, cap pieces, roof beams, floor parts and aluminum panels all from the box manufacturer. If you can weld and splice the aluminum rub and top rails and merge the floor, in theory you could merge two boxes or even take one and make it as long as you want.

The book idea is a good one, but it might take us as long to compile such a volume as it did the build the semi, lol. It's something to think about though. We could possibly narrate a DVD slideshow, I have 1,000 pictures start to finish.

Brad Jerew
Wild Times Motorsports
www.wildtimesmotorsports.com

Gary Atsma · 04-20-2009, 06:19 PM

Hey Brad-

NICE rig! I wanna do the same thing, only different! I too love the step solution you came up with. It looks like an easier solution than a step well and "lowered" door opening. One question- If I may ask, where did you get the steps themselves? I think I've seen them somewhere, but can't find the source now. Thanks in advance!

Gary

geofkaye · 04-20-2009, 11:08 PM

Gary: haven't heard from you in some time....welcome back from the great northwest...geofkaye

Gary Atsma · 04-22-2009, 09:15 PM

Yeah, I kinda took a short hiatus from this board; just didn't seem to be much going on for a while(probably just me....) But it feels good to be back ;-)

TractorPuller · 04-22-2009, 10:05 PM

Hey Gary,

I'm not exactly sure where we got the steps, I'll check with my dad who found them online and I'll let you know. I remember being pleasantly surprised at how relatively inexpensive they were.

Thanks for your comments! I don't know if it's easier than a stairwell, but it's certainly a better use of space. It took some serious engineering to get it to work just right. lol

Brad Jerew
Wild Times Motorsports
www.wildtimesmotorsports.com

TractorPuller · 04-26-2009, 10:13 AM

Hey Gary,

Step-Up Manufacturing in Eugene, Oregon makes the steps we use.

Very high quality, go with the double bar option for extra strength. Here's the link:
http://step-upproducts.com/index.html

Brad Jerew
Wild Times Motorsports
www.wildtimesmotorsports.com

Roadside · 04-26-2009, 08:14 PM

Hi Brad Nice job. Now get on the road and enjoy your hard work. I did a similar conversion in 2002. You and all your helpers know just how much work goes into doing this kind if a project, It's not a walk in the park. You had a well thought out plan and put togather. Now if you want to change things after some time, you know where to start and what can be done. "Thinking out side the box", when doing projects, keeps me awake at night trying all kind of ideas. I like the slide out steps. I seen something like that befor, only on the left suide. Projuct like this don't just happen in a couple of mounths, you have to stay with them. A very nice job, be proud of you hard work. I'll try and get a picture of my project on when I get the posting process figured out. Agine Brad, nice jod. Roadside

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