Alaskan on a 97 F250 4x4 Diesel

[Motafinga]

Pics of of new bed mounts

Here's the piece of mega destruction that I had to McGyver with the steel splint to continue my Utah trip!



After hacking out the destroyed section of C channel and grafting in some angle stock to replace it, I welded on this 1/4 in thick piece of angle iron and welded some 3/4 thick steel blocks that are 4 inches long by 2 inches wide and distribute the bed / camper load nicely along the angle iron.





To spread the load of the bed/camper across more of the frame I used these pressure treated beams, the lower beam is carriage bolted to the frame and a separate beam is lag bolted to the underside of the bed. The beams just rest on each other and bear weight without being attached and allow the frame to flex with fighting the bed. There is another beam just behind the rear axle I don't have a pic of going across the frame rails on 5th wheel brackets and lets the bed rest on top of it. I ditched the spring / bolt rear mounts in favor of grade 8- 5/16th bolts hard mounted. I didn't want the bed potentially bouncing up and down with the spring mounted bolts now being the only rear mounts.
The rear of the camper is attached to the bed with floor through bolts in the aisle of the camper, in the front it mounts through the floor at wider spaced points near the edges of the camper. The significance of this is that the rear mounts do not pull at the corners of the camper the way that using turn buckles attached to corners of a camper might. The frame and bed can flex with translating to camper attempting to pull it apart!

 

[Motafinga]

This all came together just in time to hit the road for some great exploring through Colorado and New Mexico, with the exception of a few other issues I had to deal with on the fly, the truck did great and the new mounting system seems to be quite solid.

 

[Redline]

Cool

 

[Chorky]

Awesome build!! Loved reading this. Looking to do something very similar to my OBS ford as well! Would you mind posting the specs of the service body? I'm curious of its dimensions and estimated weight. Been looking for one for some time now and no luck, so I'm considering having an aluminum one built.

 

[Jsweezy]

Awesome build, loved seeing it come together.

 

[Motafinga]

Awesome build!! Loved reading this. Looking to do something very similar to my OBS ford as well! Would you mind posting the specs of the service body? I'm curious of its dimensions and estimated weight. Been looking for one for some time now and no luck, so I'm considering having an aluminum one built.

Hey Chorky, Thanks for the kind words! I had to scour CL for awhile before finding one that fit the bill, but the main thing to look for is the bed height not being higher than the stock beds, otherwise it would require an overly tall platform in the bed for the camper to clear the top of the beds sides, and raise it way high over the cab. Also one thing that stoked me on the bed I found was that it didn't have the usual top lifting compartments built into the rails which would be wasted space with a camper in their way.
If you go second hand expect to cut and section and re-weld the area behind the wheel wells like I did, they all come one length all the back between the wheels. One exception I know of was a Palimino camper I had that was all one width front to back so it would've slid right in. I can't imagine what a custom aluminum UTE would cost but a steel one built to camper specs was over 6k last time I looked into it. I scored mine for 400 bux! It took some work though. I don't have exact dimensions on hand to share but hope that helps, As far as weight I think it's about 200lbs over stock, but I don't have an exact weight. My bed is pretty simple without the top compartments and built in heavy duty bumper most have, so it's lighter than most ute beds.
What kind of camper do you have or are looking for?
Good luck with your build

 

[Motafinga]

Awesome build, loved seeing it come together.

Thanks!

 

[Motafinga]

Just got home from another great loop through the southwest, Happy New Year everyone!

 

[Redline]

Coolness !

 

[Ohaul]

Hey Chorky, Thanks for the kind words! I had to scour CL for awhile before finding one that fit the bill, but the main thing to look for is the bed height not being higher than the stock beds, otherwise it would require an overly tall platform in the bed for the camper to clear the top of the beds sides, and raise it way high over the cab. Also one thing that stoked me on the bed I found was that it didn't have the usual top lifting compartments built into the rails which would be wasted space with a camper in their way.
If you go second hand expect to cut and section and re-weld the area behind the wheel wells like I did, they all come one length all the back between the wheels. One exception I know of was a Palimino camper I had that was all one width front to back so it would've slid right in. I can't imagine what a custom aluminum UTE would cost but a steel one built to camper specs was over 6k last time I looked into it. I scored mine for 400 bux! It took some work though. I don't have exact dimensions on hand to share but hope that helps, As far as weight I think it's about 200lbs over stock, but I don't have an exact weight. My bed is pretty simple without the top compartments and built in heavy duty bumper most have, so it's lighter than most ute beds.
What kind of camper do you have or are looking for?
Good luck with your build

I got my service bed used as well. I didn't originally buy it for a truck camper, so I wasn't worried about the height. Once we moved from a trailer to the truck camper, I had to adapt. Our sun-valley Apache does have straight sided (no flare after the wheel wells) so all I had to do was space for the height and remove the LPG lines on the outside (all bad anyway)

[/IMG]

I'm using the extra space under the camper for a slide out porch and the extra space over the cab for a roof rack...eventually

[/IMG]

 

[Redline]

I got my service bed used as well. I didn't originally buy it for a truck camper, so I wasn't worried about the height. Once we moved from a trailer to the truck camper, I had to adapt. Our sun-valley Apache does have straight sided (no flare after the wheel wells) so all I had to do was space for the height and remove the LPG lines on the outside (all bad anyway)

I'm using the extra space under the camper for a slide out porch and the extra space over the cab for a roof rack...eventually]

Interesting. Good work.

 

[Motafinga]

I got my service bed used as well. I didn't originally buy it for a truck camper, so I wasn't worried about the height. Once we moved from a trailer to the truck camper, I had to adapt. Our sun-valley Apache does have straight sided (no flare after the wheel wells) so all I had to do was space for the height and remove the LPG lines on the outside (all bad anyway)


I'm using the extra space under the camper for a slide out porch and the extra space over the cab for a roof rack...eventually


Cool, I like the slideout porch and you definitely have gobs of storage in that big Ute box!
Enjoy!

 

[Motafinga]

I got my service bed used as well. I didn't originally buy it for a truck camper, so I wasn't worried about the height. Once we moved from a trailer to the truck camper, I had to adapt. Our sun-valley Apache does have straight sided (no flare after the wheel wells) so all I had to do was space for the height and remove the LPG lines on the outside (all bad anyway)

[/IMG]

I'm using the extra space under the camper for a slide out porch and the extra space over the cab for a roof rack...eventually

[/IMG]

Are the rear sections that hang down at the back of your camper just storage boxes? If so would it possible to cut em off and patch it up so you could push the camper forward? I would think that'd get your COG in a more favorable spot and tidy things up quite a bit. Or vice versa with the ute bed

 

[Ohaul]

Mota
The way the floor of this camper built I could probably be cut and pushed forward on another truck.
Mine doesn't have room in front of the camper. I have a freshwater tank (25+gallons) and a battery cradle (4x 6volt GC).
I came up with this set-up back when I was towing the home-built trailer and/or doing a lot of scuba diving.

I had all of the systems install in the truck. Water and heater, propane, electrical (12VDC and 120vAC) solar, Etc. My thought was that I was doing regular maintenance on the truck so I was more likely to keep the camper systems in good working order while i was working on the truck. And I had power and a warm shower after a dive without having to tow the camper. The trailer was a metal tent on wheels.
this is the only pic I have of the tank and battery set-up. Its done now

The slide-in camper was a pretty quick decision & purchase after a trip that...didn't go well. This camper was one of the few we saw in the area, it happened to be the right size to keep the batteries and tank. And it was the right price for the little bit of work that it needed.

 

[Motafinga]

We've been itching to do something different with the interior for awhile as it's looking a little long in the tooth and the wood paneling is cracking and chipping off in high use places as the glue gets old, especially cabinet face corners. Not wanted to make a hasty decision on the direction we'll take we've been waiting for something to really grab us.
Well that insperado has come in the form of....FRACTAL WOOD BURNING!!! : D
This is a process that involves taking a transformer out of a microwave oven and using it to creating LIGHTNING across the surface of wood! The end result is incredibly unique and we think it looks amazing when you achieve a fractal pattern you like.
Anyways after deciding to give it a go we put our feelers out for an old microwave. Within hours we had a lead on one through "Next Door" a neighborhood forum that connects people in their given neighborhood for various reasons. Sure enough it panned out and I had the juicy, candy-like transformer in my greedy little hands in no time for zero dollars.
If you're thinking of doing this just know that it is VERY FREAKING DANGEROUS AND CAN KILL YOU IF YOU SHOCK YOURSELF!
No really..

After hooking up the appropriate wires and taking the appropriate precautions I tried a test burn on a small piece of scrap wood.
It looks like this