Building my own truck sleeper berth

[Mikestruck]

Hi everyone it is Michael Avant. I have a 2012 Dodge Ram 3500 Crew Cab with a 8 foot flat bed. I recently took my back seat out. I was going to purchase a sleeper from Wood house truck sleepers. I was all for it until I saw that my doors are going to be cut up to put the new door panels in. I can't bring myself to do this to a truck that only has 10,700 miles on it. I then thought I would buy a sleeper from Hotshot outfitters. The problem is they don't make a sleeper for my truck yet. I thought about getting a sleeper from Roadmaster or Cowtown. The problem is I would have to get my truck frame extended which is very expensive. About $13,000 with the extension and sleeper. I am rrunning out of ideas. I am going to transport travel trailers when I retire from the Army. I will get my retirement pay and probably some disability so I don't have to make a killing delivering these trailers. I figure If I made $2000-$3000 a month I will be doing good.
My question to all who have knowledge of it is how can I build my own crew cab sleeper? There has to be a way. Any and all help will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Deleted member 995608]

You're SOL if you can't fab your own. You just might have to pony up the cash for a custom build.

 

[Mikestruck]

Building my own truck crew cab sleeper

[INDENT[/INDENT]

You're SOL if you can't fab your own. You just might have to pony up the cash for a custom build.

I could build a frame. The problem is that there is not 75 inches between the rear doors.

 

[Killgore]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this a rob Peter to pay Paul type job? My research has lead me to believe that you will be bare-footed and pregnant if you can't run loaded both ways. A local RV dealer told me that he couldn't afford to go get his own new campers at the manufacturers because the freight allowance didn't pay enough to run his truck.

One of my close friends has a new Big Tex for sale right now because he couldn't swallow the insurance premium without a regular back-haul. It's all back-haul, back-haul and back-haul.

I've got an arrangement with the local RV dealer to move customer's campers. It's not regular work, but when I get a job it is usually profitable. Mike, before you spring for a major modification, make sure you can recoup the expense. The RV haulers I see rolling through here have the hammer down and look the worse for wear.
- Ed

 

[Brocky]

Mike
Do you have any experience at all in the trucking industry???? If you are retireing from the Military you will have a cushion for personal expenses, BUT BUT!!!!

Becoming an Owner Operator in the trucking industry is a full time business.. You MUST be able to figure your operating cost per mile: Truck Payment, fuel, insurance, tires, repairs, wages, taxes ETC, ETC!!! Then you must either have your own operating authority or lease to a carrier providing it.. Then you must meet all the damn government regulations!! All of which cost MONEY, Then when you have some honest figures you can quote a price to move a trailer. And hope you can get a customer to pay that amount$$$$. Remember any time you recieve compensation for a move you become commercial and the rules change!!!!

 

[Killgore]

Thank you, Brocky. There is a lot of blood, snot and puke on that diploma when you graduate from the University of Hard-Knocks with a degree in Trucking.
- Ed

 

[Brocky]

Ed
AMEN!!! Been there, done that for 50 years.. Damn glad to be off the road as it is a whole new ball game out there.. The outlaw days are gone!!!

 

[Killgore]

Mike, you might want to consider using your VA to get a CDL through one of several good truck driving schools, land a job with a respectable trucking company, and learn the good and bad without a major financial investment or commitment. When Brocky and I started there weren't any CDL's just the ICC and Public Service Commission who were out there to jump on us gypsies. If you enjoy being on the road, they'll pay you pretty decent to be there. And, just think, they provide the sleeper, lol.
- Ed

 

[Wayne M.]

My BIL did all kinda driving including owning a courier service with vans. He quit all that and how he's a driver for Old Dominion and lovin it.

 

[Brocky]

My second wife and I spent the last 15 years running team with a company truck.. Am still kicking my butt for wasting the previous 30 years being a lease operator's driver with all the headaches and none of the benefits. Ed is right about getting your CDL with VA help. If you have any driving experience in the military it will count towards the end result.
You would need the CDL anyhow pulling anything but an RV trailer (delivering utility trailers as a backhaul) and even then it gets borderline when they see the Transporter plate which requires a name and numbers on the side of the truck.

 

[jgillott]

My BIL did all kinda driving including owning a courier service with vans. He quit all that and how he's a driver for Old Dominion and lovin it.

A friend of mine here ran is own trucking company with as many as 2 dozen over the road trucks and even a few tri-axles at one point. He one by one sold them off and is now driving for a company. You see a smile on his face now for the first time in probably 20 years.

 

[Mikestruck]

Getting a CDL

Mike, you might want to consider using your VA to get a CDL through one of several good truck driving schools, land a job with a respectable trucking company, and learn the good and bad without a major financial investment or commitment. When Brocky and I started there weren't any CDL's just the ICC and Public Service Commission who were out there to jump on us gypsies. If you enjoy being on the road, they'll pay you pretty decent to be there. And, just think, they provide the sleeper, lol.
- Ed

Kilgore,
I have a Class A CDL that I got on my own. It has type 57 restriction on it though. Which means no air brakes. I can pull over 26,000 lbs legally though. I was going to go to trucking school and drive a big rig. My wife is against it. I'm not sure why? I think it is a good idea because I will be spending the company's dime for expenses instead of mine. I have pulled fifth wheel travel trailers before. The one's I rented. I have never pulled them as a job. I know I have a lot to learn. I will be good as far as my mortgage goes. My retirement pay will cover that. I will have a truck payment and the regular expenses. It is going to be a lot different than the Army life.

 

[Killgore]

Mike, reading between the lines, I suspect your wife visualizes your being gone all the time. She's probably correct because sitting behind the wheel in most cases means running between Point A and Point B far from home. If she isn't with you, it's a real bummer, for both of you.

Lesson #1: Every trucking company will promise to have you home on the weekends, and every dispatcher is a lying ******* that will look after his buddies and send you around the world. Only by getting a dedicated run or going with a company that handles local freight will you have an opportunity to have stability in your life. The lines are long with drivers trying to get the better routes, and the turnover rate is very high with some companies. Oh, did I mention that at one point I was a dispatcher?

Lesson #2: At least one and possibly more camper manufacturers have a spot to park your RV so you can stay local between hauls. This tells me that you probably won't be going home between hauls because the funds to do that don't exist. Remember the expenses continue even when the wheels don't turn.

Lesson #3: I use to figure fuel as 25% of the haul bill, one-way; (I don't know now why I based it that way but it worked for me); and, 25% for driver expenses, 25% to the truck to cover overhead, maintenance and deprecation, and 25% profit. Based on that, the last time I looked those folks hauling campers out of the Mid-West are getting about $1.10 per mile. This presently doesn't get you back to the starting point without a back-haul, and finding a back-haul is not easy with just a truck and no trailer. Figure $3.60 per gallon, 12 MPG, yields $.30 per mile X 4 and that comes to $1.20 per mile. I'm reminded of the ole boy buying watermelons for four for a dollar and selling them for $.25 apiece. Asked how he was doing he replied that it looked like he was going to have to get a bigger truck.

I just hate to think of anybody wearing out both their truck and themselves and not having anything to show for it. Why? Because I have done it. I'm the yahoo that coined the phrase, "the faster I go, the behinder I get".
- Ed

 

[Brocky]

Ed.. You have hit the nail on the head!!!!! and the Fuel average is close to or above $4.00 per gallon.

Mike.. Even if you get your wife a CDL so she can run with you, no matter how good your relationship is, being cooped up together in a 6X8 room 24/7 is definately a "Learning Experience"!!!! I know!! Been there, done that..

The best advise I can give you is join OOIDA and have them help you set up a business prospective so that you know the financial end before you jump in with both feet.
If you want to travel and see North America, another option to explore is the charter coach industry where your wife can be the "Tour Guide". You should be able to get the proper air brake endorsement with just a simple written test?

 

[mwilson]

If that ain't the pure truth.....my job can be a major PITA but is a cakewalk compared to what I went through on a daily basis both as an O/O and a company driver....

Dedicated is where it's at!!!

"Lesson #1: Every trucking company will promise to have you home on the weekends, and every dispatcher is a lying ******* that will look after his buddies and send you around the world. Only by getting a dedicated run or going with a company that handles local freight will you have an opportunity to have stability in your life. The lines are long with drivers trying to get the better routes, and the turnover rate is very high with some companies. Oh, did I mention that at one point I was a dispatcher?"

 

[Killgore]

Brocky, we should be professors at some school in the career counseling office. In all seriousness Mike, there are some super companies out there and we don't mean to throw a wet blanket on your dreams and aspirations. Just try and operate on the other fellow's dime.
My cousin thought he'd died and gone to heaven when he landed a job driving for Wal-Mart; evidently a good deal. On the other hand my neighbor is a recruiter for a trucking company where the average driver lasts 41 days.

I have found that the shorter or more local the haul, generally speaking, there is more physical labor associated with it. I spent 25 years in the ready-mix concrete industry which is in truth a trucking business delivering a very perishable time-sensitive product. The hours are sometimes long but the pay is above average. And, the guy who has been delivering my packages for years with UPS is a college graduate and always has a big smile, but he is always running.

Look around, but be careful about long-term commitments and any financial entanglements. Read Uncle Remus' Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby.
- Ed

 

[Brocky]

Mike: Ed is right on the short haul being more physically demanding, but on the other hand it would make life with your wife a lot more pleasant. I think divorce is an occupational disease of the trucking industry. My last 15 years with VF Logistics (Wrangler Blue Jeans) was the most enjoyable of my career. We all must chase our dreams and I sincerely wish you the best in any endeavor you choose after leaving the military. What Ed and I are saying is do some serious research. Go to just old trucks.com; Big Mack trucks.com; aths.org; ooida.com; and others, read and ask questions, there is a wealth of information and experience out here on the interweb.

Ed: I think our trucking careers may have run somewhat parallel. After growing up in municipal highway depts, I started working casual on freight docks to pay college expenses, then graduated to city delivery driving Brockway gas jobs, then drove a desk for a while, and then went into long haul. Where are you located? Do you mean Alex City on US 280 with the big textile mill?? If so there is an Antique Truck show in Snead up on US 278 this Saturday and I will be there. Would like to meet you in person.

 

[Killgore]

Brocky, I live between Gadsden and Anniston just off Hwy 431. I'll PM you my phone number. - Ed

 

[Mikestruck]

I am taking your advice about using my Post 911 GI Bill. I am going to go to truck driving school in Hopkinsville Kentucky at Lake Cumberland truck driving school. The Army will pay for it all. I think the cost is around $4000 for 4 weeks. My wife doesn't know it yet but I think I might give US Express a try. That way I have no truck repairs, or fuel cost. They have regional and dedicated routes for new drivers. I won't know If it is right for me until after the training.

 

[Killgore]

Mike, I think you've made a good decision. You will have to keep us posted on how it's all working out. And of course, we wish you success and the best.
- Ed