Aeon Rubber

[kerry]

Yes, I got my Stratos on Ebay. Someone else paid the big bucks to import it and then never installed it. It's not any higher than the OE, or at least not noticeably higher. I love it. I'm carrying a work computer with me on this trip and I don't have my seat sources bookmarked here but I'm pretty sure I found a Stratos importer at one time. I think I have a thread on here with some info on the seat sources I found. When I don't have a need for seats for two additional passengers, I'll get another Stratos for the passenger eventually. If anyone knows of a source for a dual passenger suspension seat, I'd be very interested in that. My daughter and wife are jealous of my slow bouncing up and down in the Stratos.

Here's the thread:

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20711&highlight=stratos+seat

 

[ozzyfishaman]

Try this Guy's,it is the site for the US importers of Stratos Seating
http://www.ltss-seating.com
Cheers Ozzyfishaman

 

[PKDreamers]

Which seats are easiest to fit to a fg649???

 

[DontPanic42]

Try this Guy's,it is the site for the US importers of Stratos Seating
http://www.ltss-seating.com
Cheers Ozzyfishaman

Thanks for the link. I was thinking about checking an Isuzu dealer. The ltss site lists one in Abilene and Odessa. Only a couple of hours from here. Road trip! Just need to get a model number from Kerry or Stratos.

 

[kerry]

Thanks for the link. I was thinking about checking an Isuzu dealer. The ltss site lists one in Abilene and Odessa. Only a couple of hours from here. Road trip! Just need to get a model number from Kerry or Stratos.

I'll look on mine and see if I see a model number. I don't remember seeing one. It looked like a standard seat used for any cabover application. I had to make the mounting system myself to adapt to the FG.

 

[kerry]

Underneath mine in the front it says Stratos 40483. Don't know if that's a model number or a production number. It's the only number I can see.

 

[DontPanic42]

Thanks Kerry,
I'll talk to the Isuzu dealer and see what they say. I remember you saying that you made an adapter to fit the seat and it was pretty straight forward.
Enjoy your trip to the Maritimes. I have a bunch of distant relatives that are in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

 

[kerry]

OK, I got my Timbren rubber springs a week or so ago and tried to install them today on my 99 FG. They don't appear to fit. Rubber attaches to a rectangular steel plate with two bolt holes. These bolt holes don't appear to line up with any existing holes in the FG. Existing rubber stop attaches to a plate which in turn is bolted to the frame rail and the motor mount. I didn't remove the rubber stop because simply looking at the holes told me they wouldn't line up. Anyone have any advice? Am I missing something? I sent an e-mail to SDTruck springs where I bought them but I'm guessing I wont get a reply until the workweek starts.

Has anyone here actually installed a set on a pre-2003 FG? The kit is labelled as fitting 87-2002 FE and FG. I wonder if the stops are different on FE and FG's and nobody has actually tried to install them on an FG before??

 

[kerry]

Sorry, I forgot to mention these are the front Timbrens. The instruction picture does not resemble the FG. It shows a straight frame rail with two bolt holes and the Timbren mounting plate bolting underneath the frame rail into two existing holes. Mounting seems impossible without drilling new holes in the Timbren plate or new holes in the frame rail and motormount bracket.

 

[kerry]

I checked the part number. It's the correct one according to their website. On the 99, the rubber bump stop is bolted through the motor mount plate and frame rail with a single bolt. There's a metal raised platform on top of the spring that the bump stop hits that is held in place with the spring U-bolts.
I had just assumed that once I unbolted the rubber bump stop, I could remove one of the other bolts holding the motor mount plate to the frame rail, and the new plate could be bolted to these two holes but the holes don't line up.

 

[kerry]

Talked to SDTruck Springs. They were clueless. Told me to call Timbren. Talked to Timbren and Ed Sanders, the tech/salesman who is supposed to know them best is out of the office until tomorrow. I took some measurements. Holes in the Timbren mounting plates are 5 1/2" apart. No holes over 3 1/2" apart in that vicinity on the truck. I looked at all the other models for different year Fusos and none looked like they would fit the 99. All the installation instructions showed pictures very unlike the 99.

 

[engineer]

I'm watching this one closely Kerry.....might influence my buying decision....
Get into em mate, If it don't fit, it's wrong!!!!!!!

 

[DontPanic42]

Kerry,
Here a couple of shots of my front Aeon bumpers in place. Everything is held in by the "U" bolts. My FG is a 2004 so I imagine there are some differences. Maybe these will be some help.
By the way I am still trying to get a Stratos seat. Emails going back and forth to folks but sp far no results. Do you have pictures or a sketch of the adapters you made?

 

[kerry]

The Timbren/Aeon's for a 99 are very different. Yours are much bigger. The ones I have are roughly the same size as the original bump stops. I talked to Ed Sanders at Timbren today. He's the one who designed the adapter plate, supposedly for a 99. He said he's sold a lot to people who have snowplows on FG's but there must be a difference in model years on how the system works. The MFFFG is supposed to fit 87-2002. His suggestion was that since the existing bump stop is attached to the motor mount plate/frame rail with a single bolt (near as I can tell), that the rubber portion of the MFFFG kit can be bolted with a single bolt in place of the existing bump stop. I will try this, but I don't know when I'll have the opportunity to attempt it. Ed said that if that resulted in the Timbren not being tall enough (the mounting plate adds about 1"), he could send a spacer. In fact, I think the lack of a mounting plate is better. The rubber portion is about the same height as the existing bump stop, and since it flexes more than the original bumpt stop, I think it will give more travel to the suspension. Eyeing things up, I dont think the additional travel will cause the differential to contact anything.

I'll look for a picture of the Stratos seat adapter. The basic problem is that on a 99, the right side seat mount is about 2" higher than the left side seat mount so the left side has to be built up to get a level mount for the Stratos. I used 3/4" oak flooring glued together then cut to size. I then used 2" channel to span from the oak riser to the right side mount and bolted the Stratos into this channel.

 

[DontPanic42]

Brilliant minds work in the same way I guess. Mine has a similar offset in the floor so I was thinking of using some of my left over oak strips from mounting the subframe of the RV to make up the offset and then using channel as you did to tie in the new seat.