Diving in Head First!
- Thread starter yabanja
- Start date
SkiFreak
Crazy Person
The guys at ATW have been putting camper and bus bodies on the Fuso chassis for quite some time now and are arguably the most experienced at doing this in the world.
Just a personal suggestion, but I would think that capitalizing on their experience and mounting your subframe in a similar manner to the way they do it would be the ideal solution.
At the end of the day, the Fuso chassis is vastly different to the Unimog chassis and this must be taken into account. The Unimog 4 point mount system is brilliant on a Unimog, but on a Fuso... I'm not so sure.
It's your truck and how you do things with it is 100% your decision, but I would highly recommend doing a bit more research before committing to a 4 point mount system.
Well, that's my 2c worth...
Overland Hadley
on a journey
I will second Ski's thoughts on how the camper should be mounted.
Four point mounting on a Fuso frame can lead to focused areas of stress. Not a good thing on the comparative lightweight frame of the Fuso.
Four point mounting on a Fuso frame can lead to focused areas of stress. Not a good thing on the comparative lightweight frame of the Fuso.
westyss
Explorer
This is sound advice to not re-invent the wheel, and also you could look right in skifreaks site here http://canter4x4.com/technical/building-a-subframe-system-p2/
this is a good example of how to do it.
Read about Doug Hackney's experience before committing to a four point system. My truck has a service body mounted with U-bolts and it's been on there for 200k miles without any problems. There's lot of engineering theory about how to mount things on the Fuso but I second the idea to learn from the longest successes.
mog
Kodiak Buckaroo
I'm going to add a +1 to not the way to go on a Fuso. As mentioned, ATW is the leader in the Fuso field, if a 4-point was the hot-tip, they would be using it.
Spreading the load with 'flex' is the way to go IMO.
Take a look at westyss's build here:
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/48351-out-with-the-old-in-with-the-new?p=701584#post701584
The perfect mounting system on a Fuso (and an awesome build!)
yabanja
Explorer
Wow, westyss's build is exactly what I had in mind! I am disappointed in how heavy it turned out though. For some reason I envisioned a ready to go vehicle at 10k pounds.
I got the truck registered today. They made me register it commercial but it was still only $98! Apparently I can just bring pictures once it is converted and I can register it as a motorhome (similar cost).
I measured the height of the truck today(dreams of building one that will fit in a container). It appears that at stock height my cab is too tall to fit into a container. Once I add 37" tires there is no way it will fit! The only thing I can think of is that the fully loaded truck will sag a few inches?
I got the truck registered today. They made me register it commercial but it was still only $98! Apparently I can just bring pictures once it is converted and I can register it as a motorhome (similar cost).
I measured the height of the truck today(dreams of building one that will fit in a container). It appears that at stock height my cab is too tall to fit into a container. Once I add 37" tires there is no way it will fit! The only thing I can think of is that the fully loaded truck will sag a few inches?
mog
Kodiak Buckaroo
Ya, my truck weights in a 10k without a conversion, but I'm sure the liftgate and commercial box are major contributors to the fat-factor. The box being .040 aluminum can't be too heavy, but it has a beautiful oak floor (super tight grain) so I think that is the body weight.
But not fair, the ShamRockAway is 28 feet long and 'only' weights 9.960 pounds :sombrero:
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Remember a 'Hi-cube' container has an 8'5" (2560mm) high door instead of the standard 7'6" (2280mm) door
Click to enlarge:
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graynomad
Photographer, traveller
Also some people have a set of small wheels just for getting in/out of a container, some even drive on the discs I believe.
Or you can make a removable section like Julian did.
http://epicycles.com/Truck%20Blog/2010-01-01/2010-01-01.htm
mog
Kodiak Buckaroo
whatcharterboat
Supporting Sponsor, Overland Certified OC0018
Can I add something here.....the only vehicle I have seen discs fitted to for containerisation had portal axles.......when you load a vehicle into the container, you have to lash the back down then head back to the front of the truck to tie that down then shut the container door. Usually that means sliding under the diffs. I'm not that overweight but try to crawl under a FUSO diff fitted with anything smaller than a standard 16" wheel and tyre (albiet aired down) fitted and it won't happen.
A word of warning.....wear a leather jacket cause the splinters on the floor can be bad!!!
yabanja
Explorer
Wow, I never even considered a removable section. That is very interesting....