M934 Expansible

[captcarc]

It looks like the AC unit was removed from the expansible van. (It should be located between the heaters in the front recessed area, correct?) Has anyone seen these for sale and are any available? Thank you.

 

[wreckerman893]

A lot of those vans had asbestos in them and were sent to be abated. When that happened they usually took the original units out since the ducts had the offending substance in them. The one I had still had the heater unit but the AC was long gone. Finding something that fits exactly might be a challenge but they make some nice little civy AC/heating window units now that could prob be easily adapted.

 

[goldneagle]

The original units had 3 phase A/C in them. You probably want a single phase unit to replace it. I think a heat pump setup would be the best.

 

[Carlo]

Check with
http://www.steelsoldiers.com/member.php?47448-Suprman
Will has helped me out time and time again and has good prices with excellent service.
Heres my 934A1 and here in Europe they remove the A/C - Heater and ducts also.

 

[Eaglhawk]

I have a different expandable with both heat and air, It opens both sides but you attach the walls separately from the box in front. I wonder if the heat/cool units are the same?

 

[trackhunter]

Does anyone know what the van box its self is worth is there any good uses for them without the truck

 

[smurph]

If the van still has the fuel heaters, then the asbestos mod has not been done. When the asbestos removal op was done, the AC was replaced by a heat/AC combo unit. They actually didn't remove the asbestos. They just sealed up the fuel heater vents that contained it. These are all in the front wall of the van. So just as note to anyone replacing panels and stuff in these things, the asbestos is still in ALL of them.

I have seen the heat/AC units on eBay from time to time. Mine came with one it in and it is fully functional. As to fitment, there isn't much. They just sit the unit on the shelf and that is about it. Big air gaps around the bonnet window. Some had sheet metal to force air through the roof panels and some didn't. The original AC unit that was paired with the fuel heaters might have been fitted better.

As to the value of the van body by itself? Hard to tell. They are not water tight when expanded, by design. It is a temporary and mobile shelter that will do the intended job of keeping equipment and personnel shielded from the weather, but water will invade and run down the front and rear fold out panels. They are only water tight when the sides are in and then only if the seals are in good shape (most are not). So, IMHO, the van bodies would not work well as a storage container. A 20 ft. shipping container would work far better.

I just recently re-paneled my expando van. The interior side panels were rotted due to improper stowage and bad seals. The main seal in question is the long P shaped seal that runs the length of the van body at the top where the sides slide in. It was a solid extrusion. Meaning that it had no air pocket in the P. This seal melted for some reason and made a complete mess. It is hard to tell if it melted because of a chemical reaction or just from baking in the sun. Regardless of the cause of the melting, the seal was not functional.

Upon ripping out the rotted panels, it became apparent that a LOT of work had to be done. All of the insulation had to be taken out and the steel framework of the side walls had to be wire brushed to remove rust and scale. Another nice design feature is that they did not put any drain holes in the side panels. So if water got in, it never got out. When I removed the lower panels, there was about 4 inches of water in there. No telling how long it had been there. Luckily, the steel structure had been painted when it was built. So the structure was still strong and the rust had not become cancerous yet. But brushing and getting in all of the cracks and crevices was a lot of work. I installed drain holes in opportune places and re-painted the steel structure with rustoleum before re-installing new panels. New seals were also put in place. It should be good to go for another 30 years now.

So that is about what it takes to get one dry. http://www.steelsoldiers.com/showth...on-this-week&p=1721871&viewfull=1#post1721871

 

[captcarc]

Wow! Great info Smurph and your work sounds awesome! I will be digging into my Expando soon since I just sold my deuce project. (I'll be keeping the 5 ton.) At this point, I am looking at 110v HVAC units that I can simply place on the front "shelf". I will be using my van as my "booth" at a local flea market.

 

[smurph]

The single phase unit will be fine. The 3 phase unit in my truck is 36,000 BTU. It got the van body to 95 degrees inside of 5 minutes in January with 30 degree outside temps. It will keep everyone warm and cozy in arctic conditions and cool in hot desert conditions. It is waaaaaaaaay overkill for any normal climate. 12,000 BTU or so should do fine. If you are crafty, you can use the existing 3 phase panel and just move circuits around for single phase op.

 

[Floridianson]

Does anyone know what the van box its self is worth is there any good uses for them without the truck

Well yea makes a great ground shop. I have one on the ground powered up with 110v, tools and parts cleaner tank.

 

[dangood]

We have pulled about 3 Ac units out of expandos and they are sitting in our shop. Most look brand new. $100 each (you must pick up or arrange shipping, they weigh about 300lbs and thus the reason I am charging $100. To pay for my medical bills)

I put single phase 10,000 btu Ac units in and cut a piece of foam core paneling from Home Depot to go in the open flap up front and top, and then cut out the right hole size for the smaller Ac unit to fit through and make a good thermal seal. When its time to pack up, pull the Ac, pull the foam core, shut the flap, and away you go. Works pretty good as long as you are not parked in the heat all day in dark green Camo. (White paint on the roof drops the heat inside the box TREMENDOUSLY. ) so does cracking the windows a hair. If you rewire the breaker panel to work off a normal generator like a honda 1000, those Ac units will run and just plug in to any of the roof plugs or the front wall plugs. Pretty slick. I spent three days in 103 degree heat last week for a family reunion. Ac worked great until about 3pm. Then the dark green roof finally overpowered the Ac cooling and started to heat up the top foot of the inside of the box pretty good. Tan trucks don't get quite as hot.

 

[WYomer]

We have pulled about 3 Ac units out of expandos and they are sitting in our shop. Most look brand new. $100 each (you must pick up or arrange shipping, they weigh about 300lbs and thus the reason I am charging $100. To pay for my medical bills)

I put single phase 10,000 btu Ac units in and cut a piece of foam core paneling from Home Depot to go in the open flap up front and top, and then cut out the right hole size for the smaller Ac unit to fit through and make a good thermal seal. When its time to pack up, pull the Ac, pull the foam core, shut the flap, and away you go. Works pretty good as long as you are not parked in the heat all day in dark green Camo. (White paint on the roof drops the heat inside the box TREMENDOUSLY. ) so does cracking the windows a hair. If you rewire the breaker panel to work off a normal generator like a honda 1000, those Ac units will run and just plug in to any of the roof plugs or the front wall plugs. Pretty slick. I spent three days in 103 degree heat last week for a family reunion. Ac worked great until about 3pm. Then the dark green roof finally overpowered the Ac cooling and started to heat up the top foot of the inside of the box pretty good. Tan trucks don't get quite as hot.

Dan I'm thinking about pulling mine and putting in a small pot belly stove, or propane heater. AC is less important here than heat for hunting season and want to run sans generator only pure solar. Any issues cutting through the top or walls?

-Jon

 

[dangood]

Sort of. The skin is aluminum, with fibrous insulation in the roof. We are putting our pot belly stove vent through the back window. (Just remove the pane and put a metal panel instead and elbow the stack. No leaks coming through the roof, and removable and restorable back to stock any time.

 

[archmark]

My '86 Am Gen M934 also came without the A/C but with the multifuel heaters. After I finish doing all the easy "civilianizing" to it, like converting all the fluid filters to spin-on, the TMG air filter mod, maybe adding a coolant filter, a keyed ignition, battery cutoff switch and a new steering wheel, I've going to ca-ca can the heaters and find an adequate combo unit and hook it into the existing van ductwork.

I've even considered doing away with the "expansible" parts of the van box all together and reframing the existing front and sidewalls with steel studs and foam insulation and framing around the existing windows and side doors. For me, it seems plenty big in the closed position just like it is and by getting rid of the "slide outs" I could probably get the thing pretty near weatherproof. I'll see how re-framing foam insulating my M185A3 goes first...

Mark

 

[smurph]

The slide out walls are already steel studs. The structure is very substantial! To me, I think it would be easy to remove the expansion. Just take the side roof and floor panels out then seal and fasten the existing slide out walls to the van box.

While the side expansion is not an easy task, I have managed to do the operation by myself in less than 20 minutes. A drastic reduction in time to the 2 plus hours it took me the first time around. I can collapse the sides in about 30 minutes. To me, that time spent is well worth the extra room. True, it is a large space when it is not expanded. But it is truly cavernous when expanded! I guess it depends on how you intend to use it.

Expanded for Amateur Radio Field Day: http://www.steelsoldiers.com/showth...on-this-week&p=1736073&viewfull=1#post1736073

Lots of hangout room!!! It made field day in the hot Alabama sun quite comfortable. Holds 10 people with lots of elbow space.

 

[Tigerhawk117]

Why did you remove the almost new 3 phase a/c unit? Is it a bad idea to try to use that one? I'm asking because I'm trying to decide whether to keep mine or not and what power level of generator I'll need

 

[Gunny65]

I took out the panels on my 934. I still had the heater but the a/c was gone. There was no asbestos in my particular van. I also opened all the wall panels. I had very little rust. I got lucky. The two side walls have weep holes but the four corner panels had none. Like smurf, I had a little water sitting in the bottom of two end panels. I drilled weep holes on each side of all four panels as water will get in there no matter what you do. I pulled out all the fiberglass and replaced it with closed foam cell, foil backed, board insulation. The pink stuff. Oh, after I dried and fixed the minor rust, I sprayed rustolium on the potential bad areas, put primer and sealant on the insides of each wooden panel and put it all back together. Now I need to replace all the seals and it will be as water tight as it can be. It is kind of like a tent in the rain, your going to get moisture inside, you just have to be aware of it and mitigate as best you can. I am turning mine into a full rv.

I decided against using the old a/c units. I think a regular civy unit will work fine. I will need to be on shore power or have a generator. While I will have a generous coach set of batteries, I don't plan on running the a/c off them much, if at all. I have removed most of the electrical wiring that was useless to me and kept the harnesses that run run the lights, plugs, and heater. There is a TON of cable in that small van.

I also took out the center a/c ducts and associated aluminum and it makes the van seem much bigger. You only gain 3 inches of vertical space but it makes a huge difference in how it feels. The van is small enough that the ducts are not needed. They were useful when the military had all the electronic hardware in them but not now. In my opinion anyway.

Like smurph, I took an hour or so to open mine up the first time. Now I can open in about 10 minutes, not rushing. If you rush you may mess up some rubber seals and you do not want those any worse than they already are. It takes about the same 10 minutes to close it back up. Give or take some. I am even more careful when closing it. That is when the roof portion that folds down can seriously damage the side walls. Mine were in good shape but you could still see where some soldier was lax and scraped the side walls up pretty bad and some seals. I was able to fix it though.

I plan on posting pics and sharing the experience on here when I am done. I read several van conversion threads that ended abruptly (in thread reading terms). I am hoping to show my progress from start to finish. Next week I start putting in the cabinets, extending the cab back closer to the van and making it a walkthrough motorhome style of rv.

Congrats on getting your 934. They are an excellent truck to make a good off-road camper out of. Just take your time and do the preventative rust work now while it is still fixable.

 

[gazztech]

If the van still has the fuel heaters, then the asbestos mod has not been done. When the asbestos removal op was done, the AC was replaced by a heat/AC combo unit. They actually didn't remove the asbestos. They just sealed up the fuel heater vents that contained it. These are all in the front wall of the van. So just as note to anyone replacing panels and stuff in these things, the asbestos is still in ALL of them.

I have seen the heat/AC units on eBay from time to time. Mine came with one it in and it is fully functional. As to fitment, there isn't much. They just sit the unit on the shelf and that is about it. Big air gaps around the bonnet window. Some had sheet metal to force air through the roof panels and some didn't. The original AC unit that was paired with the fuel heaters might have been fitted better.

As to the value of the van body by itself? Hard to tell. They are not water tight when expanded, by design. It is a temporary and mobile shelter that will do the intended job of keeping equipment and personnel shielded from the weather, but water will invade and run down the front and rear fold out panels. They are only water tight when the sides are in and then only if the seals are in good shape (most are not). So, IMHO, the van bodies would not work well as a storage container. A 20 ft. shipping container would work far better.

I just recently re-paneled my expando van. The interior side panels were rotted due to improper stowage and bad seals. The main seal in question is the long P shaped seal that runs the length of the van body at the top where the sides slide in. It was a solid extrusion. Meaning that it had no air pocket in the P. This seal melted for some reason and made a complete mess. It is hard to tell if it melted because of a chemical reaction or just from baking in the sun. Regardless of the cause of the melting, the seal was not functional.

Upon ripping out the rotted panels, it became apparent that a LOT of work had to be done. All of the insulation had to be taken out and the steel framework of the side walls had to be wire brushed to remove rust and scale. Another nice design feature is that they did not put any drain holes in the side panels. So if water got in, it never got out. When I removed the lower panels, there was about 4 inches of water in there. No telling how long it had been there. Luckily, the steel structure had been painted when it was built. So the structure was still strong and the rust had not become cancerous yet. But brushing and getting in all of the cracks and crevices was a lot of work. I installed drain holes in opportune places and re-painted the steel structure with rustoleum before re-installing new panels. New seals were also put in place. It should be good to go for another 30 years now.

So that is about what it takes to get one dry. http://www.steelsoldiers.com/showth...on-this-week&p=1721871&viewfull=1#post1721871

Greetings, I have been looking for a long time for a post such as this that covers the challenges of attempting to dry in an expando van. I have replaced the long P shaped seals as you mentioned above, however I am currently dead in the water attempting to find any of the other weather stripping needed to complete my restore. Specifically the weather stripping located on the most outer wall shaped as such. ( ID ) It is the stripping that has the metal backing strip that goes inside the stripping itself to mount. If you could shed some light onto me as to where and how you obtained that weather stripping, with links, other posts, or other methods, It would be appreciated.

Also you mentioned you re-installed new panels. Knowing that when box was expanded there is still a chance of water coming through, what type of material did you use for the panels? Ive been considering a poly marlite panel and I thought id get your take on that as well. Thanks again.

 

[Mullaney]

Greetings, I have been looking for a long time for a post such as this that covers the challenges of attempting to dry in an expando van. I have replaced the long P shaped seals as you mentioned above, however I am currently dead in the water attempting to find any of the other weather stripping needed to complete my restore. Specifically the weather stripping located on the most outer wall shaped as such. ( ID ) It is the stripping that has the metal backing strip that goes inside the stripping itself to mount. If you could shed some light onto me as to where and how you obtained that weather stripping, with links, other posts, or other methods, It would be appreciated.

Also you mentioned you re-installed new panels. Knowing that when box was expanded there is still a chance of water coming through, what type of material did you use for the panels? Ive been considering a poly marlite panel and I thought id get your take on that as well. Thanks again.

.
Maybe you get a reply...
I just happened to notice that this thread is dated 2016