The Simplest No-Build Chevy Astro Van Conversion We Lived in for Three Years
We lived out of our Chevy Astro van for three years. Check out our budget “No build”.
If you’re looking for a budget campervan, you can’t go wrong with a Chevy Astro. These affordable minivans come in an AWD version; if you’re lucky, you can find a Chevy Astro conversion van.
Conversion vans are the luxury version of a Chevy Astro. They were upfitted with a higher fiberglass roof, varnished interior paneling, a television, bucket seats, and rear slider windows with pull-down blinds, making these vans perfect for a simple camper.
A Chevy Astro conversion van is rare and has a cult following.
I found one on Craigslist for just $6,000 with 57,000 miles on it. We turned this Chevy Astro into an off-road camper and lived out of it for three years. Here’s how we did it.
Table of Contents
Creating a Chevy Astro Van Camper Conversion
This video shows a look at the van’s interior so you can get an idea of what an Astrovan conversion van looks like:
Chevy Astro Conversion vans come with a different interior seating setup than other Chevy Astro passenger vans. There are two middle bucket seats and a back bench seat that folds flat at the push of a button.
We started by removing the two middle bucket seats. Then, we added storage ottomans to the middle of the van. When our back bench seat was flat, those ottomans extended the bed and provided a resting spot for our feet. This is also where we stored our clothes in packing cubes.
With almost no DIY work, we were able to start sleeping in our Chevy Astro camper immediately.
My partner Tom is heavier and taller than me, so he slept on a plywood board covered with a camping mat. I just slept on the cushioned bench with my legs on the storage ottomans.
We didn’t have anything else installed in the van yet, but we could easily start stealth camping in the San Francisco Bay area.
Camper Upgrades for Our Chevy Astro Conversion
We slowly added some gear to our Astro van to turn it into a camper. Here is what we added to our Chevy Astro van conversion:
- 12-volt ARB compressor fridge
- Fantastic fan roof vent
- Solar system from GoPower, including two 50-watt solar panels, two AGM deep cycle batteries, an inverter and solar charge controller
And that’s it! We didn’t gut and redo our interior, opting for the back folding seat instead. The storage ottomans also doubled as tables, so we could cook indoors when camping in a city or if it was raining.
Tom installed the AGM batteries under the van’s chassis using a skid plate and bracket and wired them through the side panels. We knew we wanted to add the batteries underneath because an Astro van has limited interior space, and it worked out perfectly.
The Astro van was now a camping machine.
Adding Off-Road Capabilities to Our Astro Van Camper
We discovered boondocking a few months after starting our van life adventures in the Chevy Astro. I had never heard of free camping on public lands before, and this opened a whole new world of camping opportunities for us.
We were happy we’d chosen an AWD Chevy Astro van, which drove well on dirt, sand, gravel, and snow, but it was so low it wasn’t great for off-roading.
We wanted to go down even rougher dirt roads to find secluded campsites. The running boards had to go, and the Astro van needed a lift kit.
We found Journeys Off-Road, located in Prescott, Arizona, specializing in Chevy Astro van lift kits. We hired them to add a body lift and leaf springs to the van. The first lift was 3”, and the second lift 4”. You wouldn’t know it if you looked at our Chevy Astro van conversion, but it has a 7” lift.
Chevy Astro conversion vans ride very low right out of the factory, almost skimming the pavement. The 7” lift just made the Astro look like a normal vehicle. It rides much better now while off-roading, and we’re thankful we installed the lift kit.
Off-Road Tires for our Chevy Astro
Despite getting a lift kit for our Astro van camper, we still didn’t upgrade the tires—big mistake. One day, while off-roading in the Mojave desert, we popped not one but two tires simultaneously. Tom patched both tires using Fix-a-Flat and a tire patch kit, and we drove 65 miles to the nearest tire repair facility.
We paid the tire place to install off-road tires on our van: KO2 All Terrain Tires by BF Goodrich. It’s hard to believe we waited so long to add hardier tires, but van life is all about learning, right?
The tires we chose were big, though: 30×9. We stayed in the tire repair place’s parking lot while Tom cut our fenders to fit the tires. Now our Chevy Astro has some big shoes!
We haven’t had any issues off-roading since we added the KO2s, and we chose these same tires with our newer van, a 2021 4×4 Sprinter.
While the Chevy Astro does well with basic overlanding, it lacks the power of other rigs, including our Sprinter van. The Astro would do much better with a transfer case, allowing us to shift the van into a lower gear. It lacks power on dirt road hill climbs, so we had to be careful where we drove.
Living in Our Chevy Astro Van Camper
We lived out of the Chevy Astro van conversion for three years, splitting time between the van and our sailboat in the San Francisco Bay area. It’s hard to believe that two people fit inside the minivan.
When camping in the city, we cooked dinner while sitting on the bench seat. We set a one-burner cooktop on the storage ottoman, and to prevent the stove from burning the ottoman, we placed it on a large wooden cutting board.
When camping out in nature, we bought a small outdoor table and two folding chairs to expand our living space.
Our favorite places to camp in our Astro van camper were the Arizona desert in spring and Oregon for the summer windsurfing months.
Now that we’ve upgraded to a Sprinter van, it’s hard to imagine returning to the confines of a Chevy Astro minivan camper. But I still think it’s one of the best vans for van life, and it can sleep two comfortably, making it a huge plus.
Let me know if you have any questions about Chevy Astro van campers!
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