Is This the Ultimate Ex-Military Camper Van Conversion? ($250,000 Vanlife Tour)

[@milesoroads]

I'm going to check into those aviation strip setups. 👍

[@XcarecaX]

Great video! Just a correction, the lmtv is the cab copy of a Steyr 12m18 from austria not germany and not a pinzgauer.

[@BrokeOverLand]

Wanted to stop by and clear up some confusion. There is $90k in parts and materials sitting on the truck. Another 35k in shop costs and mistakes during the build, then add in 5 years of night and weekends in labor as well as tooling in my machine shop is what gets you to this price tag. Don’t let the figure scare you out of starting your build.

[@adamcollisson]

@BrokeOverLand makes a good point the expense is spread over a good period of time at least. Also huge thanks to yall at BrokeOverLand this was a great video I couldn’t have done withought you so for more details about this awesome conversation you should head over to their channel where they have many great in depth videos about the build. Thanks Chad and Michelle!

[@LynnCollisson-g5d]

Really informative. If anyone is considering doing something similar, the video really walks them through it.

[@adamcollisson]

Thanks !

[@JmanOG]

o wow! this is really cool

[@adamcollisson]

Right! Whats your favorite part?

[@jackp4945]

Sick truck

[@adamcollisson]

Ayyyy let’s goo. That’s what I was thinking too

[@AmericaBound]

If I ever win the lottery, that’s what I’m gonna build. Awesome thanks bro for bringing that video.

[@adamcollisson]

@AmericaBound hahaha facts me too man, heck yeah more great videos to come. Glad you liked it, stick around

[@AmericaBound]

@@adamcollisson you’re not gonna get rid of me that easy.. lol

[@adamcollisson]

@@AmericaBoundhahah let’s go *insert bald eagle noises* 🦅🦅

[@raymondfrank9202]

good one

[@adamcollisson]

Ayy thank bro

[@gharrett2092]

He said east coast but has Washington plates?

[@Macskinny76]

I don't know KZbinr's always say it's "The Ultimate" when it's really not, first off, in this day in age no one has a 250k just sitting around to build something like this. Everyone is not rich like this person, and it's big on the outside but it's still very small and compact on the inside. And he could've just used an American version of this vehicle, which there's plenty just waiting to be sold and to be honest, it looks like an FMTV. For 250k, he could've built it much better, it's really seems like it's for one person and not two. It's not that impressive for the price he paid, these styles of campers are just too small.

[@smpltechno]

You obviously have never built your own... as someone that has - it is extremely time consuming, and very difficult for 1 person to do 100% of the work (in a reasonable amount of time - unless they are unemployed), it then becomes you + whatever crew you can afford to assist, you are under estimating your own cost and the cost of others, skilled fabricators that work on a project for 2+ years will run your budget out fast, and most likely this guy is not using budget gear on his interior, he is spending on stuff he feels will be in service thru some hard trails, I have seen Forest Rivers separate the box from the frame because they just did not go in to that attention to detail, this guy is using extruded aluminum, not wood and steel. I have tried many options, heavy 5th wheel (get your 4x4 stuck easy), light weight custom build (that got heavy fast), empty camper shells and sleeping on the beach, and most likely this guy has the best option where he spent what he valued on the things he valued. The point of this rig is not space, it is accessibility, it can access places an EMPTY normal 4x4 pickup might struggle with - WHILE carrying 5,000lb in gear. Jeeps dont come stock with 47 inch tires and on the fly air adjustment, nor a hydraulic winch, all factory items on this 100% American made chassis, if you dropped $100k+ on a modified Jeep - it would never haul 5000lb in gear - they just dont have any cargo capacity. Probably $15-20k had to go in to general mechanical maintenance alone on the rig to be long term road worthy and it is probably pretty reliable (stuff will break). Sadly any RV you get is an on-going money pit. Most RV makers hand you 5 different manufacturers manuals + 10 different warranties and you are left to figure it out - and most often "warranty dont cover that" and more often it is just made in Ch. Step up to something 4x4, and most are just a 1-2 ton road chassis with a front axle, they are not designed to ford rivers, and they get close to the same mpg. Your other option is to spend $200k+ on a Sprinter 4x4 - then you want to talk about tight space, and God forbid you take it on anything but a graded dirt road or mild beach, it wont be long before stuff starts to break and $$$$. And it will be difficult to haul parts or significant tools in a Sprinter, this guy can easily carry major spare parts and the cab lifts off the motor to easily see everything right in front of you - who wants to work on a broke down rig, well sometimes you might have to in remote locations. And this thing lacks all the junk that fails on new low mile rigs like EGR coolers, DPF, DEF, etc. This thing has stuff other rigs just wont, more than likely he has a huge battery bank (it has room) and plenty of solar panels to never need a genset - try that on a Sprinter. I dont know this guy, but I can sympathize with what he had to endure to not have a turn-key solution and some of the sacrifices, yes he sacrificed the space of a full size 32 ft RV with slide outs, but at least he wont ever have to service busted slide outs, and he can go anywhere and get out of his rig and have all the space in the world when he is not hooked up to a noisy cRamp ground. Glory to this guy for putting his best in to it, doing something different and getting on the road, lets see what you can do, report back in 5 years. It was attitudes like his that made this country, and attitudes like yours that kept making it, if you are a producer and not a consumer.

[@EthanCasner]

Man i'm not sure where you got that number from, but Chad and his wife paid around $40K for the truck and just under $50K for the build. The whole build is on their youtube channel.

[@jleuty591]

It's cool but he said 30k on some tires then he gotta change them they probably a thousand each lol.

[@adamcollisson]

@@jleuty591 haha right, you gotta replace anything I bet your close to at least 1k

[@BrokeOverLand]

$750 each. I have a set waiting for me to put them on. Highway travel on these tires is brutal on them. They live much longer when running in sand.

[@jleuty591]

@@BrokeOverLand that's wild lolol. They gotta have a different configuration lol

[@smpltechno]

@@BrokeOverLand Switch to Ecohubs, ditch the 2:1 reduction, takes minutes, pays you back in MPG fast, less noise, higher mph, lower rpm. Travel the Globe has a how to video.

[@BrokeOverLand]

@ I’ve talked to Michael about his and since I have the 3.07 and the 3126. It’s about 50/50 if I would truly benefit. If I had stock gears or a C7 truck it would be a no brainer. I’m still thinking about switching though.