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Hope everyone is staying healthy and safe right now, we've been staying as isolated as possible and sticking to backcountry camping (as usual) so unless we're getting supplies we haven't really seen people much. We've been poking around S. Utah mostly, taking in the always incredible scenery and...

Figured I would add to this old thread with a design I came up with for an OBS F250 using a Tool Bed and an Alaskan camper.I got some great info from this thread during my research. There are more a lot more details in the build thread in my Sig line for anyone interested.

Eureka Dunes

Pinnacles

Pics!! Spangler Hills

The springs I got from McMaster Carr, they are called "die springs" and seem to be what other people use for this kind of application. The colors are indicative of rate, the red is a stiffer spring and the blue is lighter. I used the red ones nearest the rigid mount and the blue after because...

The subframe is working great so far and we've done a bit of off-pavement too. First stop was Spangler Hills outside Ridgecrest, CA for a couple days. We met up with a buddy who had been out there for a few days after also escaping the bay area and the Covid shelter in place mandate.We had a...

Over the last 3 days we've been in overdrive mode since our business has shut down due to the Covid 19, we have no desire to sit around in our apartment for 3 weeks under shelter in place so we are prepping to bug out to the Mojave and shelter in place there with a bit of open space. After doing...

A few action shots from our trip to Anza Borrego last November before she came apart, love that area can't wait to see it again. Gotta keep in perspective why I spend countless hours, measuring, cutting, grinding and welding pieces of steel together..

Did a little testing the other day to make sure everything's working as planned and to make sure there is no binding or other surprises and see how much spring compression is happening etc, etc Living in a city means I had to get creative about finding obstacles to simulate off road scenarios...

Cool please feel free to ask any questions you might have about the conversion. Tackled a clearance issue with the E brake cable interfering with the springs. Turned out to be an easy fix as the bracket has plenty of room to drill a couple relocating holes outboard of the originals and there...

I definitely recommend you do some kind of torsion free subframe if you pick one up. I think you will need to do a lot of modifying to make it fit a FWC as the campers I've seen from them have a side section that extends over the wheel wells so you'd need to trim that out and re-box it in...

If you get a camper with a bigger rear area behind the wheel wells like most campers, you'll need to do some modifying to your utility bed as the utility is usually about 4 feet in width the whole way front to back. I have an Alaskan sitting in a utility bed so...

Thanks! Now that the updates are in real time here's another progress update, Today I decided to add some downward extensions to spread the load down the whole frame rail instead of a smallish area. I used some 3/8 X 2 bar and 1.5 I beam type C channel. I think this will significantly add...

Next was some 1/4 pieces of HDPE for the guide plates, the subframe now sits nice n snug between the guide plates but not too snug to inhibit movement up and down. I needed a way to keep the wear strips fastened and came up with a solution of using long "quick release" hose clamps that wrap...

Got the truck home now from the shop I've been using for fabbing and welding the big stuff so I can get some of the smaller details dialed before it gets some final fitment and re-installation. Next was to fit up the pieces that go between the guide plates and the subframe rails that ride on top...

I have an Alaskan and while you can't leave your thick blankets and stuff made up to the edges of the bed, if you just make a couple folds towards the middle of the mattress you can leave all the bedding in the cabover with the top down. The fold down walls around the cabover is the reason. We...

More mounting tabs I put on in front and rear using big angle to bolt through the floor.

Next was to do the "guide plates" these are 3/8 plate and keep the SF centered over the truck frame yet allow it to slide and articulate up and down. The springs keep everything clamped down during normal driving and can be adjusted to control flex etc, these are "die springs" available in tons...

Most of the frame was just tacked together up to this point so after feeling pretty good about the fitment of everything so far, I put some more substantial welds on the frame. I also added some supports for the side boxes and some angle iron for the forward and rear parts of the bed to bolt to.