Here is a Chinook RV on a 1985 Toyota diesel pickup. Does anyone know anyhing about the four steel bars below the popup on the inside. Are they for clamps? My son rebuilt this one and I got it from him when he passed away. Fun rig.

 

Sorry to hear about your son...he did a nice job on the truck.

I think you are on the right track about the bars being for clamps to hold the pop up down in transit

You might post some pics of the bars you are referring to.

Also check this site:

http://www.toyotamotorhomes.com/manufacturers.htm

 

Wow, that looks great! Anymore photos?

 

amateurw7vp that is awesome , sorry to here about your Son, he did a great job on the truck

 

Here are a few moe pictures of the rig:






The fixes have been a labor of love for my son. It has been fun getting the rig running right Intrument clusger, cooling system, etc.). It has only 650 hours on the engine and he did a lot of work to make it run right. He took it to many of the places he went for rock climbing and he had intended to take it to South America for his geology work. Glad you guys like it. It's pretty special to me.

 

Awesome truck. That interior looks great. Is that a real fridge or an icebox?

 

That's a great rig. Thanks for sharing with everyone here. Awesome pictures.

 

WOW.....that is B-A-U-to-full. I would trade my Nissan, 4runner, and dirtbike for that in a heartbeat. That is amazing, as stated before your son did an amazing job.

 

Thanks for the comments everyone. @Toyotero - yes that is a fridge. The sink and the stove are under the covers on the counter and it has a propane tank behind one of the side panels that runs the fridge. I have not tried to get it working yet although it is supposed to run on either gas or electricity. He did all the work on the inside himself. He stripped the outside and painted it in our garage with epoxy paint. We had to heat up the garage to cure it.

There is an auxiliry battery nd inverter under the couch/bed that is fed by an isolater in the engine compartment. The radio runs off the aux battery with a remote and there are rear speakers in the back so David could listen to tunes on it without running the main batteries down. (Look for the big blue wire on the left side next to the top of the fender.) It also has a plug in for his iPhone and I have used it so it works.

He had the two radiator overflow hoses from the two radiator caps hooked to the coolant reservoir wrong and I fixed that so the reservoir works properly now.

His climbing buddies told me that he took it in some incredible places with those wheels, particularly in Utah. He redid the lift by putting in better shocks and another leaf up front. All the running gear has been zero-timed including the 5-speed. It is truly an awsome rig, alhough a bit of a climb to get into for me these days :-).

Here is a shot of the cab with the add-on instruments. They include the boost gauge, EGT, oil pressure, alternator voltage, and Hobbs meter.

 

Pretty intense I dream of having it for camping, wonderful!!

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, because I didn't see it written anywhere, but did he mate an older Chinook body (i.e. late '70's, early '80's) onto a pickup frame?

 

Must have. They only made the Chinook until 78, and only on 2wd frames, so yes.

 

UPDATE:
Much to do to get the rig in top shape.

My son had taken the converter out when he installed the auxiliary battery and the battery isolator. Thus the rig was not set up for shore power. I reinstalled the converter which he had left with me.

Tested the fridge. It is set up for either 120 vac, 12 vdc or propane. Instruction manual says to use the 12 vdc only when on the road since it is not capable of a startup situation. I initially set the fridge on 120 vdc without a thermometer. Switched to propane and installed the thermometer. Fridge dropped to 22 degrees F with setting on 7. Reduced the setting to 4 and the fridge stabilized in the green zone.

Ran power cords from fridge and converter to a power strip so the rig could be connected to shore power.

The water system had not been serviced. The sink faucet did not connect power to the pump. Took it apart and discovered much rust and replaced it. Replaced all low presure hoses becuase the old ones had black mold in them. City water connection had been removed so I replaced it. Now water system will run on either city water or storage tank.

Cleaned stovetop which was full of crud. Had to use wire thing on drill. Stove works well.

Son also took out gas heater. I have heater on the bench testing it. It is a very old unit that works on a pilot light. Newer ones use a spark igniter circuit from a circuit board.

Dropped fuel tank to check sending unit. Nasty job. Sender ok. Checked tank capacity in the process and determined tank to be 75 litres. After replacing switching regulator in fuel gauge with a zener diode and resistor, I decided to use a semiconductor regulator instead. Installed a 7809 regulator for a constant 9 volts to gauges ane everything works properly.

Cooling system still operating properly after putting a "Tee" in the lines from the 2 radiator caps and connecting them to the input of the reservoir tank. Cut short piece of tubing for the overflow.

I had planned to drive to Ocean Shores to do some razor clamming but the weather was horrible so I have not put the unit to a drove more than 70 miles over Snoqualmie Pass. So far so good.

Once I get the heater working the rig should be usable either as a self contained rig (no toilet of course) or at a campground with water and electric. In the latter case heat would be electric in order to save propane. The tank is very small.

Looking forward to getting the rig to the beach.

 

I think you need to feed us more pictures of this wonderful creation

 

Love this rig!! I want one