[Ranger Robin]

Coming soon:
Titan DIY Templates & Titan DIY structural steel framing & some thoughts (while waiting on a the rain here) from what I have learned so far.......
Would have hoped to have knocked these ceiling panels right out but its been drizzling rain and I'm working in my driveway - cardboard & rain - you know the drill.

I'm using 1/8" Luan for the ceiling, will see how it works. At $20 a sheet & minimal weight, it's worth a try and others have reported success with it. Mine will be upholstered with 1/8" landau and sunbrella fabric. And heck, I even see now that AVC Rig is selling their popular panel and ceiling kits in Luan as a weight & cost savings option to baltic birch, so there.

Titan DIY has the first ceiling template set so you would remove the foam blobs. I want to keep my blobs. So of course, I am having to template that complex corner before I can use my templates. I could just insert the template under the blobs, trace it out & trim the templates, but the kit has lots of extra material so I'm making new corners to leave the kit unaltered if possible.

If cared for, these heavy corrugated templates can be used over and over again. (Hint Hint...) I love everything AVC but Titan templates are $400 vs AVC one time only use paper templates for much more moola. AVC does include their structural steel things so maybe it would be worth it. I'll write more once I get some ceiling panels up.

While on rain delay.......I've been updating my thread here, and have also added more thinsulate to the inside of the ceiling ribs and YES - took the furring strips down in the back section already (second time) to fish my rear wire harness on top of the furring strips at the back doors......

A word to the future DIY builders: Lots of pros and YT van builders stress this - - YES, DO make things accessible and plan on being able to remove everything and reinstall it.
Not only will future you be thankful, its just a given fact that no matter what level of planning, you always have to do and redo and redo.....

As an example, I can MIG weld and have the welder......I'm no pro compared to many of you on this forum, but I have average skills and have built a few nice things around the house (pun intended). So for the van, after seeing prices on 80/20 components, I seriously considered welding up the steel framing for galley and bed etc. Even thought I should get into AL welding.....love to buy me some new tools & learn new useful skills. 💜

I'm soooooo glad I went the extruded AL route. As an example, this is the fourth time I have had to remove the refrigerator face frame (orange tape thing below) from my galley. With extruded AL, you unbolt a few spots and can remove things and reconfigure them. Can't say how valuable this is. For the face frame, I had to remove it to install the adjustable bed frame, I took it out to inset it towards the wall a 1/4" because the bench seat plastic seat belt holder was hitting it. I'm probably going to scoot the side pieces in 1.5" to support the fridge legs if that works and now I have the face frame out to install the ceiling furring strips. I will trim the top of those legs to sit against the furring strip & attach. Who knows how many more times I will have to move or alter this simple thing??? I surely don't have a clue. 🤣 Won't tell you how many times I had to hoist up the bed and adjust the leg lengths etc. (ok, only twice)

But with extruded aluminum, a few bolts and some cussing & contortion upon reassembly and it's done.
With the welder, its a much more laborious process. Doable, but not as easy and despite lots of planning I find myself re-doing everything.

Just some thoughts for those still in planning mode.

Oh and in case anyone else's dog tells you they can be your helper for the day.......don't expect too much 🤣 five minutes time elapsed between these pictures......

 

[ksvan]

Looking forward to seeing your ceiling install. I'm still working out the details on mine before I get any supplies for it.

I agree with being able to redo/take things apart. Most of my build will be like this. My bed frame is very simple and only need to remove a few bolts to change bed height. I am doing all-wood galley as a simple first concept though. just so I can get this ready for the winter season.

It's nice to do some woodworking to take a break from all the van metal though. I am making two carcasses, one for the sink and one for the fridge, and probably a removable countertop, so I can take out the galley pretty easily if I have to (and probably will when I make a nicer galley next summer). Everything will be bolted to the van wall using plusnuts.

 

[DirtRoadAdv]

Challenge #1 - fit the HR van into my dad's driveway!! He didnt want to trench whenever he installed the automatic gate - so he jerry rigged whatever you call this thing he made. 🤣🤣 I love to give him **IT ...

View attachment 178565

 

[DirtRoadAdv]

another Pro for MR.

 

[Ranger Robin]

another Pro for MR

@DirtRoadAdv MR wouldn't fit under that pipe either.

 

[Irontent]

But even with a 'low profile' designation, its almost 3" thick. I'm still pondering of there's a way to frame 80.20 around the outside of it to support it. Right now its sitting on top of 80/20 as I needed something to go camping and with 80/20 I can rearrange it all if I think of a way.

I just picked up my van from CVM and got the 😊 pins. Anyway, I’ve searched online, and found several Zero G frames, but none with the slats your’s has. Can you please provide a link? Thanks in advance.

 

[Ranger Robin]

Anyway, I’ve searched online, and found several Zero G frames, but none with the slats your’s has. Can you please provide a link? Thanks in advance.

Hey @Irontent - congrats on your new van! (and 😁 pins). I love love love my adjustable bed, have to be comfortable surfing the web or reading and it's been worth it to me.

It's called "Glideway Freestyle Adjustable Bed "- they have all sizes and a few iterations, I think mine was the old (not 2.0) since I scored a sale on closeout.

So, I looked back in my receipts and Bed Planet dot com, where I bought mine. They don't carry them anymore. Bummer, they had some old models on sale when I got mine and they price matched some online vendors so I got IMO a good deal......... Bed Planet, no more.

But part of the Glideaway company website for adjustable beds had been rebranded or sold to Rize so some more googling came up with it AND.....the companies have merged.

SALE!!! OMG $599 if I could fit it I'd buy a second one 🤣: OMG ON SALE!!!

Looks like some companies have some new old stock they are selling out. Like this one. And I saw a couple on eBay also around $1000 which was the original price.

My comments on the bed, yes it's still expensive and it's heavy - I think 100 pounds or so. Plus I have it supported by similarly heavy 80/20 structure. But as said before, it's worth it to me. Others may think differently and thats fine, free country and all, get after it with your own design then.

@gregoryx made a great bed that is height adjustable and can automatically sit up, so look at those options. Sauntur Build

If you go this route, my one bit of advice is that the queen won't fit E to W. I barely got the double to fit E - W. It comes in two nice interlocking pieces and because of the huge bar that mates the halves together and provides strength, the two pieces need about 5" of clearance to mate together. I have a queen mattress on the E-W double adjustable frame and it works fine. I cut 5" or so off the end of the mattress to fit in the E-W position and I have a support piece towards the rear doors that holds up the extra width.

If you are doing N - S orientation, you can do any size. A la you tuber/van builder, Humble Road.

Good Luck & enjoy the process

 

[Irontent]

But part of the Glideaway company website for adjustable beds had been rebranded or sold to Rize so some more googling came up with it AND.....the companies have merged.

SALE!!! OMG $599 if I could fit it I'd buy a second one 🤣: OMG ON SALE!!!

Thanks for the info —- very helpful. I‘m planning a N-S Queen. On the link above, looks like there are two different models (which look very similar). Any idea of the differences between the Freestyle Standard Base ($599) and the Freestyle 2.0 Comfort base?

I would need to shorten the assembly from 80 in length to about 72-74 for my layout. Looks like I can trim 2-4 inches off the head and the foot of the bed, and would need to move (cut and reweld) one or both main support crossmembers. Does this look doable based on the construction (I assume your frame is similar even through a double bed size)?

 

[JackHubbs]

I would need to shorten the assembly from 80 in length to about 72-74 for my layout.

Check and see if they offer a short queen, instead of an 80 inch length they are 75 inches, no trimming required.

 

[Ranger Robin]

Thanks for the info —- very helpful. I‘m planning a N-S Queen. On the link above, looks like there are two different models (which look very similar). Any idea of the differences between the Freestyle Standard Base ($599) and the Freestyle 2.0 Comfort base?

The 2.0 seemed to have added some 'features' like USB ports and bluetooth connectivity, stuff I didn't need, figured the USB ports would be in the wrong spot etc. Plus I got a mark down deal on the "old" simpler model. I believe the two frames were the same in construction, but just guessing there based on the product images.

Since you're gonna chop it up, I'd say go simpler model.

 

[Ranger Robin]

I would need to shorten the assembly from 80 in length to about 72-74 for my layout. Looks like I can trim 2-4 inches off the head and the foot of the bed, and would need to move (cut and reweld) one or both main support crossmembers. Does this look doable based on the construction (I assume your frame is similar even through a double bed size)?

There is an outside frame with cross supports and the moveable inside frame that has cross supports for the actuators at head and foot. The farthest foot area has a support piece that pivots but it's not a powered actuator. I'm sure it just keeps the foot portion inline etc.

I shot some quick pictures this morning and took a look.

Yes, I think you could cut the double size frame down by about 10 1/4" without having to alter the actuator attachment points at the head, nor the pivoting support bar at the foot.
It may be more or less with the queen size, not sure.

The outer frame sticks out 2" longer than the moveable inner frame that sits on top of it. On mine, all I had to do was cut 4" off by cutting the outer frame down with a grinder.

That made the overall bed 4" shorter so it just barely fit E-W.

Repaint ends. It's cold steel - cuts, grinds and will be easy to weld if needed.

This is looking across the the foot of the bed from the rear doors so you can see the construction. It's welded tubular steel for the most part.

The moveable part sits inside the outer frame except at the ends where it rests on top of that end piece on the right of this pic. That cross support bar at each end will have to be cut and re welded after you shorten the upper moveable frame ends. Simple job IMHO if you weld, sounds like you do.

You can see the "feet" in this pic between the tie wraps, I wasn't sure how I was going to attach the bed frame to the 80/20 frame but the bed has four "feet" with slotted openings and I was able to build the 80/20 frame to sit just under these and just use TNuts to bolt it all in. Very adjustable and easy and it hasn't moved in 8000 miles.

Actuators actuated at the head:

Those actuators have a welded square cross beam. You could remove 4" from the head and not alter the actuator attachment points or that cross beam on the moveable frame at all here. That makes it super easy, once you start messing with the actuator attachment points it gets harder to make the thing work smoothly. At that point one may want to consider building a frame like Gregoryx did.

You would still have to cut the lower frame piece it rests on and weld that back on. Looks like you may have to also move the "foot" for attachment, also simple, its just a welded angle bracket.

Those silver button heads thread into plastic holders for the bed slats, easy to remove/cut off. You can see the plastic holders across the bed in this pic below:

Back to the foot of the bed. You could take 2 1/4" 2 1/2" off here without altering that pivoting support bar.

Hope that helps. Let me know if you have other questions or PM a number and we could set up a FaceTime if you want to see it live.

I have one parting thought, it may not apply to your build but in case it helps anyone else reading, I will create another post as I'm out of pictures.

 

[Ranger Robin]

Parting thoughts @Irontent ,

You have the van, so you know how much room there is in the narrowing space in the back of those doors. It's almost 10" deep if you can scoot the frame back there.....which made me think 'what about using a double size frame?' Consider the double and add some supports outside of the adjustable bed frame for the wider queen mattress edge/edges. You need a double size length so you would only be cutting the mattress and supporting the queen on the side where it's wider.

My queen mattress is 51/2 - 6" wider than the double mattress. Splitting that on both edges makes for a small overhang to be supported. Or what I did was push the mattress all the way over and support the one side. Pics below.

@Irontent, If you are building cabinets or have electrical/water cabinets under the bed, those may support the bed edges already and you could get away with a double frame inset further back towards the rear doors. You would just trim the queen mattress in the corners of those doors. Just a thought.

This would be super simple ok, ok nothing in a van build is 'super simple'...Its doable for someone going N-S.
The double frame saves some weight and some $$.

Pic looking straight up at the queen mattress on double frame at the back doors.
My support is a long piece of 15 series 80/20. I originally used this 80/20 under the center of the bed frame but after using it the first trip, I realized it was serving no purpose, so it got removed & repurposed.

Corner supports:

From back doors:

 

[Irontent]

Parting thoughts @Irontent ,

.....which made me think 'what about using a double size frame?

You read my mind! Using a full seems like the least amount of modification. Thanks for all the pics and ideas.

 

[Brandon]

Parting thoughts @Irontent ,

You have the van, so you know how much room there is in the narrowing space in the back of those doors. It's almost 10" deep if you can scoot the frame back there.....which made me think 'what about using a double size frame?' Consider the double and add some supports outside of the adjustable bed frame for the wider queen mattress edge/edges. You need a double size length so you would only be cutting the mattress and supporting the queen on the side where it's wider.

My queen mattress is 51/2 - 6" wider than the double mattress. Splitting that on both edges makes for a small overhang to be supported. Or what I did was push the mattress all the way over and support the one side. Pics below.

@Irontent, If you are building cabinets or have electrical/water cabinets under the bed, those may support the bed edges already and you could get away with a double frame inset further back towards the rear doors. You would just trim the queen mattress in the corners of those doors. Just a thought.

This would be super simple ok, ok nothing in a van build is 'super simple'...Its doable for someone going N-S.
The double frame saves some weight and some $$.

Pic looking straight up at the queen mattress on double frame at the back doors.
My support is a long piece of 15 series 80/20. I originally used this 80/20 under the center of the bed frame but after using it the first trip, I realized it was serving no purpose, so it got removed & repurposed.

View attachment 191316

Corner supports:

View attachment 191317

From back doors:

View attachment 191318

View attachment 191319

Where on the website can I find the measurements of these frames. It says the queen is "Queen: 61.4" x 41.75" x 7.8", 132 lbs " but that cannot be right.
I have a short queen mattress and may want to add this. Also is that saying the frame is 7.8" tall? That seems like a lot.

 

[Ranger Robin]

Where on the website can I find the measurements of these frames. It says the queen is "Queen: 61.4" x 41.75" x 7.8", 132 lbs " but that cannot be right.
I have a short queen mattress and may want to add this. Also is that saying the frame is 7.8" tall? That seems like a lot.

No thats not right, I know the overall thickness or height is 2 3/4" which for an adjustable bed, its thin.

Let me get you some measurements tonight I will post the double size.

 

[Brandon]

No thats not right, I know the overall thickness or height is 2 3/4" which for an adjustable bed, its thin.

Let me get you some measurements tonight I will post the double size.

I wonder if those measurements are shipping size. That might make more sense

 

[BrockG]

Other early build things:
Limitless Vans rear tire rack. "Scored" off CL for $100. I saw that ad and thought oh its stolen for sure. I talked to the guy and he seemed legit but it was all the way up in Carlsbad thru hellish north county traffic. Then a couple days later I had to go to Carlsbad for a meeting so made arrangements to swing by and take a look at it. It was boxed with his name and address on it but the rack was incomplete. It needed a bunch of hardware and the actual thing the tire mounts on (shown in this pic)

Now that I have the larger tire mounted, I'm wondering if I should lower the tire mount so the tire is lower and almost touching the step. Even a few inches lower helps a lot to reduce the torque on the rack and those brackets when bumping along the road. The mounting plate is totally adjustable - the rack is like a large aluminum molle panel.

View attachment 178599

Any update on how the ladder/rack is holding up? Any door tearing issues?

 

[Ranger Robin]

Any update on how the ladder/rack is holding up? Any door tearing issues?

The ladder itself had a tear in one of the brackets. It was a bit of a bummer because it allowed one of the nuts to rub the paint off door but you'll never see the paint patch I did because its behind the tire.

There is more movement in the whole thing than I like when closing the door. I am just careful when closing that one. I have to say that Limitless has been excellent on their customer service, they shipped out two new version brackets right away at no cost and the new versions are a much heavier gauge. So yes, one bracket broke, but the new versions are thicker and the customer service is great.

No issues with the van door, I'm a little paranoid about the past issues people have had so I check it often. I have a 245/75 R16 Falcon Wildpeak tire on OEM steel wheel so it's fairly heavy.

If I was buying a new tire rack, I'd probably go with Aluminess rack w/o the ladder because it's lighter and local to me in San Diego.

But I'm very happy with the Limitless rack to date. Especially for the cost. (got it on craigslist for cheap for those who haven't read the thread.)