Welcome Lakejunkie! That's a ton of questions, it'll give Geofkaye lots to comment on, hahahah. I'd like to hit a couple. I think it'd be hard to fit everything in the 86" sleeper. I think you need to consider what, if anything, you want to use the sleeper portion for. I've seen some conversions mount more seating there for passengers while going down the road. That makes that area kind of wasted space while camping tho. Except maybe a good place to pile junk up. I think it would be awful tough to convert the sleeper area to a bathroom, and not very easy to interact with passengers in the living quarters while going down the road shouting through the potty/shower. I've seen a couple of Showhaulers that used a sleeper cab and installed small sofa/sleepers on each side facing each other. Nice for passengers to ride and chat with the two front seats. Then they fold out flat and connect to each other to form a nice sleeper when camping. I looked at one like this and even made him an offer (too low for him, too high for me). My rig is a day cab so the living quarters begins right behind the two front captains chairs. I like this. I've owned it all summer and put over 5k miles on. By ditching the factory sleeper you leave more space for your living quarters in the same overall footprint.
I don't know if Volvo is the most popular owned truck on here. Maybe we should have a topic where everybody can vote on which rig they own? I know they do seem to be a popular truck overall. I test drove a Kingsley built on a Volvo. It was just okay I thought. Granted, I didn't take it for a long trip. My son drives over the road. His company truck is a '05 Freighliner Columbia with the Mercedes 450h/p and Eaton 10speed. He's also a trucker snob, hahahaah, he thinks KW and Pete are the best trucks and the only ones a real trucker would buy. I've ridden in his truck but never driven it. I don't think the sight lines are as nice as my FL112 from the driver's and passenger's seats. I sat in a Kenworth T600 and didn't like how narrow it was. That Showhauler I looked at was on a T2000 and the view out the front was not anywhere near as nice as my FL112. I wonder how the view is out a Pete? They sure look like they don't have much windshield to look out. This is very important to me. I bought a motorhome to see the country, not peer out a narrow slit of a windshield sitting on top of a too high dash. They also have a very long high nose, don't they? Cutting off more vision, albeit, road and ground so not as important, but giving the feel of less view?
When I was looking for my rig I also noticed lots and lots have some sort of autoshift. I went to my local Kenworth dealer and chatted with their service manager. I asked him most specifically about the Eaton autoshift 10 speed. He said it is a very stout tried and true transmission, used in many many trucks. He said it is probably more durable than the fully manual one because it isn't subject to driver error. It's the exact same transmission internally as the manual. They just attach auto shifting stuff to the outside. He said there would be no reason to choose a fully manual one over that as far as durability goes. The electronics and controls are very reliable according to him. My tractor was built to handle 80k lbs. I'm at 27k full tanks. It's not even working at this point. Now, I'm a manual tranny lover as much as any guy and I'm certainly not afraid to drive a shifter. But, after driving my truck 5k this summer I sure do like that it shifts itself. These rigs are all about relaxing and enjoying the great world out there.
You sound like you're thinking about building, or having built, your own truck? There are tons and tons of ready to go truck conversions out there right now, and the prices will never be better. And, you can't possibly build one cheaper than you can buy one out the door down the road. Sure, I'll catch heck from others on here that say you need to build one exactly the way you want it. I guess I have too little time left on this earth to build a truck. I also don't have too high of standards I guess. You should just start locating rigs close to you that are available and go check them out. After walking through several of them and driving them you will certainly have formed some different ideas, or solidified the ones you've already got.
Okay, Geofkaye, where are you?
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'03 Freightliner FL112, 295" wheel base, with '03 United Specialties 26' living quarters, single screw, Cat C12 430 h/p 1650 torque, Eaton 10speed , 3.42 rear axle ratio
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