Cab to shell conversion

[MHensley]

Are there any benefits or down falls to attaching a shell to a stand up sleeper on a 2006 Freightliner Columbia. Iam thinking of contouring the front of the shell into sleeper to make it look like one unit. I am unsure of the right way to do this to prevent leaks or cracks

 

[medent]

Good question. Let's hear all about it. I want to do the same thing on my KW T2000, neat truck AC & heat back there and sound, etc.

medent
El Paso

 

[vapoppa]

my kingsley which is a k.w. t2000 is done in this way. it's the way i wanted and i think-believe that all kingsleys are done this way. in essence the cab is cut off 4"-6" behind the doors. the air ride is removed and a 3x4 double box section welded in it's place. threr is a roll bar built into the front of the box and another built into the rear of the cab. when the body is placed on the chassis there are bolt holes drilled through both pieces. we used sikaflex on this joint when we bolted the two together. i think that there are 8- 10 on each side and 6-8 on the top. this rig now has 49,000 and NO p'bms so far. i could take some pic's. there are some on bill's album.

 

[MHensley]

Pics would be wonderful, but why would they cut the sleeper off 6'' behind the doors. Do they not use any of the sleeper for living area? How do they fasten the cab solid when they pull the air ride off? I think I understand what you ment about building a frame around the inside of the cut sleeper, attaching it to the frame or subframe and then matching the box to this frame design, but are you sandwiching a piece of rubber between the two or ridgid mounting? Do you think this puts alot of stress on the two front hinge points of the cab?