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This is sweet. You have a great eye for the details. I'm looking at a Kawasaki Super Sherpa next week to use as my "out" vehicle on the 350 build. I'm stoked to check out the bike, but wet loaded it sits just under 300lbs....:poop: yours is what....half that? Seat looks awesome too, your partner...

BIG fast forward to the beginning of September. I finished welding up this very simple flatbed with 2x8 decking. The decking was coated top and bottom with epoxy resin and each board was bolted to the flatbed frame with 3/8" grade 8 bolts. The flatbed was then bolted directly to the torsion free...

The frame on this thing is definitely not perfect. It's not horrible, but definitely it needed to be cleaned up as it was about to sit for a while while I figured out this torsion free, spring mounted frame. Here it is right after we pulled the bed. Here it is after I spent a day sanding it...

Back again with a bit of progress on the build. We pulled the bed back in July and immediately afterwards I started fabrication on the spring mounted subframe. I was able to sell the bed locally which was awesome. dude got a deal and also threw me a full set of factory Aluminum wheels for...

Excited to see you're back. I was honestly a bit bummed when your thread stopped being active. I'm currently in the process of readying my f350 for a flatbed build and am excited to see you start the build out of wood. I'm actually planning to do the same thing as I feel what has become this...

wow, that' seriously good to know. I'm hoping to start my build soon. I'll essentially be following your design so thanks in advance for all the awesome documentation and sharing you did with the build here and on Pirate. You really think the overhang where the bed portion is would be stable...

@IdaSHO I'm curious, why didn't you weld the entire frame of the camper and process the wood in the same way, sealing with urethane and glassing corners. Any reason specifically? Would you really save much weight using a stick frame over a full metal frame? I don't mean to be rude or anything...

@Motafinga It's difficult to tell if there's a metal spacer under the fixed portion of the frame. I know you shimmed the front with HDPE, is this also the case in the back? It looks like metal on metal contact to me.

Always good to use available resources for the build! That's awesome! A scrap metal yard near me has lengths of 3/16" - 1 1/2" x 2 1/2 square tube that I'm picking up today. $30 for 12ft, so that's what I'll use to build. From my calculations it's around a 50lb difference in using 1/8 to 3/16...

Was there a specific strength advantage you were going for using 1/8" square tube w/ 3x3 in the back and front or was that choice for the specific design of the underside of your Utility bed. Just thinking maybe you could have gotten away with 1/16" 2x2 or 3x3 instead and saved a bit of weight...

Absolutely and I know your system has worked very well for you, my questions are more out curiosity because sometimes I just nerd out on all that stuff. Definitely not necessary to actually know those factors and you're absolutely right your system is much more rigid than the turnbuckles. I...

Ah yes, thank you for this photo! Wonderful idea. I can see the design of the pocket limits motion in all directions and would take a lot of stress off the bolt used for securing everything together. Is that the idea? It would be great to see the camper side of this "joint" when you have time...

@IdaSHO curious how you ended up attaching the camper to the flatbed. I couldn't find images of this on the pirate forum or expedition portal. I was thinking maybe bolts through the floor and into the 2x on your flatbed, but that seems a bit silly as I know you're cold weather camping and those...

bumping this as we are making a bit of progress. We are pulling the bed this week and beginning the design of the subframe. It will get something similar to @Motafinga 's die spring frame. Pretty excited to see the bed come off and start on the subframe. Although I know there will be a lot of...

Awesome, thanks for clarifying! Looks as though those springs are rated for 686lbs at max load. I'm familiar with the idea behind the torsion free frame and am curious what forces are actually being applied to those springs as the frame and camper articulate. Wish we could test this to get an...

@Motafinga could you post the part numbers from mcmaster carr of the springs you got for the subframe? Interested in seeing what max load you went with considering they change as diameter of spring increases or decreases. Looks like maybe 1" diameter springs on your setup? Difficult to tell...

@fatkins the truck is not lifted. This is stock height.

I believe this is a partial body and suspension lift so it's possible this style would alter the payload. I believe I said earlier, but I'll be lowering the truck to something around stock height. I don't want to "waste" the overhead clearance for when we begin the build out. Good point though...

Surprised no one has brought up Veg Oil or Bio-Diesel as an alternative fuel sources for Diesel engines. Cheep to make and even cheeper if you can find a supplier that will GIVE YOU FREE VEG OIL, not to difficult to do. Just bought a 94 Diesel F350 4x4 so I'm not winning any weight...

We are both pretty short so standard cab seemed like the way to go. Saved us a little weight I'm sure. I'm anxious to start the build, but I'm still researching materials. With our payload being pretty light I'm looking at XPS panels reinforced with glass at the moment, but I'm also super...