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Robo build

168K views 324 replies 44 participants last post by  kfrimr 
#1 · (Edited)
I'm going to add the tutorial vids I've done so far at the top of this first post and keep adding them as I make more. Scroll on down to see the build!

Solar charger for your starter battery
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Deployable Shower Tent / Changing area etc plus
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Engine Cover Acquisition and Installation to keep things dry
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Webasto / Chinese Gas Heater Wiring Run Tips
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Other Webasto / Chinese Gas Heater Install Tips
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Just starting on my 136" HT in silver.

Planning to try and do a layout to allow me to carry a motorcycle inside or at least bicycles inside and a smaller dual sport on a hitch carrier.

I'd call it an adventure setup for necessities, but not an overly comfy setup. Batteries, fridge, stove, swivel seats, tv (we love watching movies at night with a beverage). Still looking for the best layout. Also debating on a bed I can raise/lower. Happijac style, but looking into the Racor setup and adapting it.

I started off with some easy exterior mods. Plastidipped the wheels. Didn't mask at all because I've heard it won't stick and stay on the tires so we will see haha. I may end up having to wipe it off.

I did mask the ram. The van looks sooo much better IMO. The change of the wheels really took it farther away from the commercial look. I'm kinda going for a "tactical" look I guess so it'll fit in with the flat bill guys' big trucks around the area.









 
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#3 ·
Free time today!

Installed the brush guard. Took about 3 hours taking my time. It's a pretty much bolt on affair other than trimming a very small area out of the passenger side splash shield under the van. I ordered this from Amazon for $229 shipped.







Next are the seat swivels when I get a chance.

Parts list so far so I can keep updating.

Brush guard $229
Windshield/window shades $79
Seat Swivels $440? (Have to check)
Plastidip $14
 
#15 ·
Free time today!

Installed the brush guard. Took about 3 hours taking my time. It's a pretty much bolt on affair other than trimming a very small area out of the passenger side splash shield under the van. I ordered this from Amazon for $229 shipped.

Could you please post a link or brand on the Brush Guard you found on Amazon for that price. I'd like to get one, but what I've found is quite a bit higher price
 
#5 ·
My bills have become less curved after living here.... Lol

I plan to wrap the hood with the same vinyl I'm going to use elsewhere on the van. That's the plan at least. Dipping the hood would be a piece of cake!

I'm starting the swivel seat install today. Fingers crossed it goes smooth. One of the adjuster levers was bent up from shipping and I contacted Discount van/truck about that and the rubber tips that were worn on them both from poking through the boxes.

I'm a little concerned with the wire routing since I didn't really find any good details on the routing. I'm trying to get that yellow connector apart right now.. could have swore I saw a comment about that somewhere in the great ocean of this forum.







Looking forward to another trip into CO.
 
#7 ·
I have everything lined up with everything only finger tight and it looks as though the swivel will work fun, but It looks as though there is no way to just route the wiring through the center swivel hole because it is far far to small to fit any connector through and it would barely fit the wiring and probably damage after many swivel maneuvers.

I've sent another email to Ivas at Discount van truck and am awaiting a reply. I don't see any other way to route the wiring. I'd have been done with this in 30 minutes if this wasn't a problem. These swivels will be useless without the wiring done obviously.
 
#9 ·
I really love their installs because they are functional, but still nice to look at. The only affordable setup I can figure is the Racor lift and then a good amount of ingenuity like another guy did. I just measured and with about 50" I could fit in my street bike, but I'm planning on buying a smaller 250 dual sport so I can out it on a sideways hitch carrier if necessary. Still being able to haul stuff around town by removing the bed will be useful most often.

I picked up a recovery shackle setup for when the other camper get stuck and so I can knock the **** out of my knee cap occasionally. I might name my van flatbill. ; )

$29

 
#10 ·
I'm getting CCV to do the phase 1 of my interior buildout starting on Dec 12th. They are going to do a manually height adjustable bed so I can do fit my mountain bikes, but also lower the bed if I'm taking a non mtb trip.

Going to look like this one: https://static.wixstatic.com/media/...328af3bf89ef9763ab~mv2_d_2789_2744_s_4_2.webp

Digging the dipped wheels and front badge. Going to do those as well. I think I'm going to take it one step further and also spray the 3 giant chrome "RAM 3500" logos. Should only take a few mins to mask those.
 
#11 ·
Sure looks to be a serene and relaxing set up... once I got the image open, running Win10 & firefox I had to use _XnView_ stand alone software to get a glimpse of it.

Looking forward to seeing your conversion loaded and out on expeditions soon!
 
#14 ·
****, that's a pretty good solution to my platform bed consternation, though think I'd feel more comfortable with at least one more vertical member. Looks like they used the door pillar up front and furred out the rear wall to catch the horizontal support member. Back to the planning board.
 
#16 ·
#17 ·
To search Amazon for "promaster" you need to enter it like "pro-master" or "pro master." They should fix that. Thanks for posting that link zoomyn. Im sitting in the DMV ready to get bent over the counter for registration costs.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Tapatalk
 
#19 ·
Brush guard ordered



Back in stock and got the Black Friday 10% off deal, applied some AMEX points and 185 delivered to my door next week.
 
#21 ·


Picked this up to add a little character to the cockpit. I plan on vinyl wrapping these to match a theme that I'm planning on for the outside.

I've also just picked up a few more pieces for my hopefully insanely cheap and easy platform bed idea that can be removed/installed easily by one person without any tools.

Also, these speakers on a bf special for $40. Not sure about going with 3ways since we have a tweeter in the A pillar, but I can use them in the rear if I don't like them probably. Concern is too much harsh treble.




Not much work on the van lately, but the parts are coming in... Oh! I did pick up a scratch and dent two burner dometic drop in stove with glass hinged lid. Now I need to find a nice sink and I'm also on the hunt for the best deal on a CRL vented window for behind the driver. Everywhere I look they are much more than what ive read people bought them for in the past.
 
#22 ·
Best price on CRL windows that I found was DK Hardware. When I ordered mine they said I could pick them up from the manufacturer and not pay shipping. Of course you have to be in the LA area. Still waiting on the windows. The front driver side vented window was on back order.
 
#26 ·
I finished installing both speakers finally. I only had one in for about a week lol.. not entirely because I was lazy, buy because it gets dark here at 4:30 and I started too late. It did give me a chance to listen to one or the other and compare it to the stock one. I noticed a better clarity and smoothness, but not a huge difference with one. I think the factory tweeter sucks and it is not helping when I have the balance to the new one. My gf said the new one sounds much better when I had her compare them.

Now that I installed them both the sound is much more improved and I'm glad I made the upgrade. They surely don't fit quite that well when you have to drill new holes, but by using the metal backing plates and some of the slide over metal tabs you screw into that were included they are definitely secure.

I'd like to put some sound deadener like dynamat inside the doors to help lessen road noise and improve the sound, which I'll get around to when I do the insulation in the entire van. There isn't any rattling now, but I've kept the bass down to make the speakers clear up to a good volume so I can try and sing along to some songs with my gf. She likes that.


Comparison... Did I post this? Oh well here you go again if so.



Don't bother with these little screws. I was just seeing if it fit this backing plate and the **** thing broke off in there. Ok, so what I ended up doing was using that round backing plate to mark where to drill. I used a 1/8 drill bit (the provided larger screws work great with that size bit) to drill out the four holes and also to drill out the backing plate nicely. You will be drilling through the plastic door panel and if you lined up the plate JUST RIGHT you'll also be going through the metal of the door, which is good. If you are a little off you'll probably end up with two holes only going through the plastic. I put the backing plate between the plastic door panel and the metal and if I didn't get all the holes through both plastic and metal I also used one of the provided tabs that slides over the edge of the metal to screw into behind the backing plate. This makes more sense when you do it.



I mounted the speakers upside down because the the terminals are at the top nearer to the factory connector. Also reinstall the three large screws that held in the oem speaker to help tighten down the door panel. There is a small gap at the top of the speaker where you should run the wires through as shown in my beautiful picture.



Here is a pic of what the supplied connectors look like, which really do make it plug and play. These are supplied by Crutchfield.





Since I could not use the mtx speaker grilles and I'd like to show off how I now have the MTX Audio edition Sound System I added these from the grilles before I tossed them in the trash.
 
#29 ·
I think this is about the running tab. That X means Installed.

X Amazon TAC? Bumper $229
"1/2 an X" Truck n van Swivels (2) $440
eBay Noico sound deadener n tool $75
Lowes 4x25' reflectix $43 (may return)
Lowes reflectix roll $8
X Ebay Hitch recovery hook $25
Ikea Bed rails $30
Ikea bed brackets $25
X MTX door speakers Crutchfield $40
eBay Dometic stove $115
Ebay Dash overlay Kit $65

Found the polyiso board up on a shelf with no price at home depot so I'll be picking some up after I install the sound deadener.
 
#48 · (Edited)
I think this is about the running tab. That X means Installed.

X Amazon TAC? Bumper $229
"1/2 an X" Truck n van Swivels (2) $440
eBay Noico sound deadener n tool $75
Lowes 4x25' reflectix $43 (may return)
Lowes reflectix tape roll $8
X Ebay Hitch recovery hook $25

-BED PARTS-
Ikea Bed rails (3x Skorva)3x$10- $30
Ikea bed brackets (6x116791) $25
Ikea nubs n screws in Skorva (x8) $0
Ikea nylon straps (6x105867/305867) $0
Ikea Double bed slats (1x luroy) $40?

X MTX door speakers Crutchfield $40
eBay Dometic stove $115
Ebay Dash overlay Kit $65
Vanrug (carpet type top version) $191
 
#32 ·








I finally ordered the vanrug and installed it today... Well laid it in there haha. I also temporarily installed all the bed brackets to get some measurements. Looks like the double size bed slats from Ikea will work. Now to figure out how to get them from sliding off...
 
#34 ·


Just test fitting one side of the slats. They will both need just a tad trimming. By adjusting where the plastic holders are in the beams I was able to put the wood slats on with just one extra slat at the end. It was tight, but they fit! Now I need to figure out how to make them not slide off to either side. I'm thinking about drilling. A hole through the slats and the beam and then I can drop some "pins" through to keep them in place.
 
#35 ·
I used a screw in one end and bolted the other with small bolts but mine attach to cross bars of wood which can give and move a bit as they are not attached to the sides of the van as yours are. I have found this to be an unbelievably comfortable bed with the 4” (its 5” really) mattress IKEA sells I’d leave the extra end slat out as it will not be needed with the mattress on it.
 
#36 ·
Which mattress did you buy? I'm hoping to get my table saw out soon and get around to finishing up the fitting of the slats. I'm assuming you just cut some off a foam mattress to make it fit? Did you do anything to hold the mattress in place? I was thinking just straps around it at the head and foot.

The Ikea beam end brackets have worked well. They have two screw holes in either side and I used the strap that Ikea gives you to keep furniture from tipping away from walls to go over the beams and screw it down into those holes. Keeps the beams from rattling or popping out of the brackets while driving. Excited to just have the van more usable with a bed.

Insulation, electrics/fan coming soon. The battery setup and wiring is going to be slow going since I don't have any experience in that area whatsoever. Well, I'm a total noob at woodworking also so this should be a stumbling along endeavor! Haha going to keep it simple.
 
#37 ·
I used an Ikea mattress called the BEDDINGE LÖVÅS 55 1/8” X 74” X 4” on the LURÖY slats. It was 5” thick, came with a nice cover and I ended up cutting one part of it (it comes in two pieces) to make it into three sections for collapsing into a couch. You will use it full sized? It has foam inside so trimming is easy just unzip the zipper or open up a seam. The three pieces of mine are held by taller end rails which keep the mattress compacted tightly so you don't get an arm or leg down between the sections.
See: http://www.promasterforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=37177&page=12
 
#38 ·
Thanks for the info! I just went through your build thread again and found some new things I'm going to incorporate Into mine. I am jealous of those panels... If I had those I wonder if it would keep me from "finishing" the van more.... Who am I kidding, yeah it would! I might cover them with some nice fabric or something, but it's be hard to want to make all new panels to come oletely cover the walls if I had those.
 
#39 ·


Drilled some holes in new spots for the plastic nubs so I could move one set of the slats so that now they alternate and can both fit all the way across the center beam instead of butting up against each other. Now I only have to trim about an 1" off one set of the slats. Pretty good!! I'm still debating on the best way to keep these centered and from sliding off toward either side. I want it to be easily removed and keep the ability to fold up the slats and slide the beams back into themselves. In case you didn't know, these Ikea middle beams (Skorva) extend (slide) in and out of themselves to fit different length beds.

I'm thinking that if I can secure the beams in the center then that will keep them from moving in or out. ... But how can I do that and allow it to be easily undone....




 
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