E350 Cutaway 4x4 w/ DIY Pop-Top Composite Camper Box (Build Thread)

[PathNotTaken]

Here is a link to the ujoint video of them flexing it out. On Justin’s van doing this same thing resulted in 6in from top of tire to top of wheel well. And his bump stop on that side had A LOT of space (probably 6in+) away from the axle.

Maybe Chris @ujoint could weigh in on what is limiting the travel in the rear/why the tire is barely stuffed into the factory wheel wells/far from the bump stops?

 

[rruff]

My 2 cents is that it has a 6" lift. Also they don't seem to be teetering on 2 wheels. The front is also less stiff than the rear, but if they put a swaybar on that would change.

 

[ujoint]

Vertical travel in the wheel well isn't as important with these E series because the wheel wells are small and the tire will always kiss the back of the fender (or flare) 1st. This is because the lift spring flattens out during compression which moves the axle rearward. The video above was done on fresh springs, they need some cycles to soften up a bit for full travel.

 

[ujoint]

From the looks of your wheel wells in the last mock up pic I'd say you have pretty of room and can certainly shrink them up a bit F/R. Once Do you plan to have the tires somewhat flush with the outside of the box?

 

[PathNotTaken]

From the looks of your wheel wells in the last mock up pic I'd say you have pretty of room and can certainly shrink them up a bit F/R. Once Do you plan to have the tires somewhat flush with the outside of the box?

The box is 79.5in wide, so I assume I’ll have some tire poke with the Dana 70 in the rear. I built the wheel wells with the assumption that a 39.5in tire (37 + chains) would fully stuff and touch the top of a tall wheel well, so I have 40in of width at frame height!

Now that I know the tire doesn’t fully stuff into the factory wheel well, I can definitely shrink it up a bit. If I use the assumption that the wheel only gets 6in from the top of factory body, I could make them really small.

But it still makes me uneasy that friction/bind is the limiting factor and not the bump stop which are more absolute. Theoretically a big bump could send it higher than a static articulation demo? I guess I could always extend them but it seems silly given I’d be extending it like half a foot.

 

[Nicpon]

Hi there. Would you care posting part # for rivets used in the frame build. Thanks

 

[PathNotTaken]

Hi there. Would you care posting part # for rivets used in the frame build. Thanks

I used the BOM R8 Rivet in various lengths. the R8 refers to the 1/4in size, and then the number after (ie BOM R8-6) is in reference to the various grip lengths. You can get these from blind rivet supply.