'93 F-350 4x4, 4 door, West Los Angeles

[Paul B.]

Looks like you kept the bed level very low, nice work. Let me know how much clearance is really needed. I could use that info on my build.

This particular aluminum bed is pretty thin, only 1" thick at the point where the tire would contact the bed, the framing structure of the bed is 4" thick, but there is no railings there. We mounted it right on top of the flat bed style fuel filler tubes, as low as possible without re-routing the filler tubes. This arrangement puts the top of the tire 7" from the bottom of the bed. The distance between the bump stops is 6-1/2". Tires are 235/85-R16.

I believe the truck is bone stock, suspension wise, but this thing looks pretty beefy. It came from an institutional source, purchased as a fleet vehicle, likely would have been ordered with any and all suspension upgrades available at that time. What, if any, optional suspension packages were available in '93? Any info greatly appreciated.

Another note, as I'm guessing someone out there is wondering, is that the only way I could put gas in it after the bed was mounted was to bring the front filler up through the existing hole in the bed. (Look closely at the picture of the truck with the mounted bed, you'll see the filler sticking up through the bed.). This particular bed had the fillers mounted flat in the actual bed. One can only guess how they got the fuel in when the thing was fully loaded. This issue of the fillers in a low mounted flat bed was brought up in another thread I was following. I'm guessing the Uhaul bed already has some accommodations for this situation in it's initial design and construction.

All said, I'm not at all sure this bed will be used for the permanent build. If it was it would have to be modified quite extensively. But as I said the next step is front bumper/paint/wheels/tires. Between those items and April 15th, won't get to mounting the camper till the summer.

 

[Paul B.]

http://www.fourxdoctor.com/index.html

Local source. Thanks, I'll give them a good look.

 

[Paul B.]

Other suggestions???

A winch is nice to have. I have used mine twice. Not to extricate myself but to assist others with lesser rigs than a F350 CC 4X4:victory:

Mike, what is the weight and cost of the front and rear winches? I remember seeing your front bumper mount winch, is the back winch similarly mounted? I don't plan on doing anything that NEEDS a winch. But, ya never know. And I like helping others out as well. .

 

[ExpoMike]

Awesome work Paul. Man, you did in a few months what I failed to do in a couple years!!!! Congrats on getting the new bed on. If this is a dedicated camp rig, I would permenately mount the camper.

 

[Paul B.]

It's definitely going to be a dedicated camping rig. I am not yet sure about the mounting of the FWC Keystone camper. I want some storage bins, etc. Step atta time.

 

[Paul B.]

Test your knowledge. Bone stock '93 F-350, 4x4, 4 door, manual trans, crank windows, with this feather light bed on. Whaddya think it weighs?

(I had it weighed today.)

 

[pappawheely]

6900

 

[snowaddict91]

I'll say 6600...depending on your fuel?

 

[dwh]

Local source. Thanks, I'll give them a good look.

One of the best in the business. Dr. D. was a buddy of mine long ago when I was into the wheeling scene. Wired up part of his shop and wired up his SCORE Jeep race trailer. Before he opened his own shop (back in the 80's), he was the top mechanic at 4 Wheel Parts in Burbank.

Haven't talked to him in years though - for all I know he's retired and someone else runs the shop. I doubt it, but ya never know.

 

[Paul B.]

6900

5760#. 10 gallons in one tank, the other is close to empty

 

[Paul B.]

So, test fitted the camper onto the project truck. This thing is going slower than I thought but some progress is better than none.

 

[pappawheely]

Are you going to bolt it down to the flatbed? How much does it flex?

 

[Paul B.]

Are you going to bolt it down to the flatbed? How much does it flex?

I'm surely not going to bolt it to that flatbed. I have always thought to bolt the camper to the frame of the truck, with the flatbed in between. How exactly to bolt it I'm not sure. I really don't know how much it will flex. I'm not really planning on rock crawling, but we care going to be out there, so one never knows. Any ideas about methods of attaching the camper to the truck frame are welcomed. Or is the recommended method to get a good structural bed, (flat, stock, or ute) and bolt it to the truck frame, then attach the camper to the bed?
There was another discussion about the distance from the cab to the bottom of the cab-over section of the camper. Currently, with this bed configuration, it's 7 inches. Some seem to think it should be less, others say 6 is good. Again, I'm not sure how much flex to allow for. It seems that if I bolt the camper right on the bed, or use a utility bed with wheel wells, I could get the distance down to 3 inches.
One thing I do like about the current set up is that with the standard 32" over hang of the cab-over section on a four door full size truck, I have room over the front part of the truck cab to mount a roof rack and 2 spare tires. (I know, getting them up and down might be a pain, but where else can they go?)

Again, I've never done anything like this, so all suggestions are appreciated.

 

[underdrive]

I'm surely not going to bolt it to that flatbed. I have always thought to bolt the camper to the frame of the truck, with the flatbed in between. How exactly to bolt it I'm not sure. I really don't know how much it will flex. I'm not really planning on rock crawling, but we care going to be out there, so one never knows. Any ideas about methods of attaching the camper to the truck frame are welcomed. Or is the recommended method to get a good structural bed, (flat, stock, or ute) and bolt it to the truck frame, then attach the camper to the bed?
There was another discussion about the distance from the cab to the bottom of the cab-over section of the camper. Currently, with this bed configuration, it's 7 inches. Some seem to think it should be less, others say 6 is good. Again, I'm not sure how much flex to allow for. It seems that if I bolt the camper right on the bed, or use a utility bed with wheel wells, I could get the distance down to 3 inches.
One thing I do like about the current set up is that with the standard 32" over hang of the cab-over section on a four door full size truck, I have room over the front part of the truck cab to mount a roof rack and 2 spare tires. (I know, getting them up and down might be a pain, but where else can they go?)

Again, I've never done anything like this, so all suggestions are appreciated.

Things ALWAYS go slower than expected, just get used to that and you'll never be disappointed

I'd leave the 6-7" cab clearance as is, as those long wheelbase frames twist quite a bit. If your camper is big enough they will also BEND right between the bed and the cab, not permanently but if you hit expansion joints on the interstate at just the right speed and your wheelbase is just the right length it will get into some oscillations that make you feel like you're riding a wave runner on less than calm waters... Crew cabs rarely have that issue though, it's the shorter ones that usually get hammered pretty bad.

In any case, point is, these frames move A LOT! Thus bolting one up solid to a camper could have rather unpleasant effects on the camper. Actually rule #2 for offroading a slide-in camper in a sheetmetal pickup box is to loosen the rear chains and let her move up and down however she wants to (rule #1 would be to build yourself a frame on the bottom of the bed so that the camper doesn't slide all over the place with the chains loose). Again that is when the bed is fairly flexy, since it's resting directly on the frame it will twist together with it. If, on the other hand, you have a very rigid bed, like a flat deck on a framework of square tubing, that won't move a whole lot, if at all. I'd imagine you could then bolt a camper solid to one of those, however there is still the matter of what attachment points you'll use on the camper - most are not designed to be bolted thru the floor, however some are, and I vaguely seem to remember something about your particular model actually being one of them, call the manufacturer to confirm. Again you are bolting the camper to the bed only, not THROUGH the bed and down to the truck frame - the idea is that if there is to be any relative movement it should be between the frame and the bed, the camper then becomes essentially part of the bed.

How is your flat bed framed? Angle and C-channel twist fairly easy, I-beam also but IIRC to a lesser degree, but rectangular and round tubing is very rigid. I've been toying with the idea of building a sizable square-tubing steel frame under our camper and using vertical pins in the front to lock the camper to the bed (and truck frame under it), the pins will allow the frame (and therefore camper) to lift up as needed without any twisting, yet even with all 4 chains loose she will stay right in the bed without any attempts to slide off the back... Our trucks are Fords and have sheetmetal pickup beds.

 

[Paul B.]

Underdrive, thanks for that insight. You are addressing the exact issues I am concerned about. I guess my next question is what is the difference in the construction of a "chassis mount" camper, and a "slide-in" camper? The grab points must be different. I assume the stock mounting eyelets existing on the camper now must be attached to the aluminum frame. Certainly if I am to mount the bed to the truck and the camper to the bed, the aluminum bed I have would need to be replaced or extensively modified. I don't have that much into this bed itself, it's already served a good purpose as something to put on the truck after I got the lift gate bed off. I guess I will email Stan at FWC and see what he thinks about mounting the '88 Keystone directly to the frame of the truck. Also, likely should take this over to the "Pop-up Campers" section of this forum as I am thinking those guys might have good info, too.