Cab and Chassis 3+3 F/B to Fleetside help

[nekkidhillbilly]

would work but would it look better than a regular dually bed?

[Cabnchassis]

Who knows. It would have to look trimmed out like it came that way or I'd toss it.

Aside from not liking the look of dually bed from the rounded line I usually work in cities and don't want any width I can avoid. Plus my driveway is packed with vehicles and I park them mirror to mirror, I'd basically be back 40 point turning into my parking space like when i had the F/B.

What I need to figure out is do I need to take a set of bed mount brackets from the wrecking yard or if I can order the whole bracket with bushing new? I havent even been able to find the bushings online so I must not be looking in the right places.

[joe231]

The beds don't have bushings. I think they may have come from the factory with thin rubber washers but every truck I have taken apart didn't have anything between the bed and frame. And all the bed crossmembers are welded to the floor.

[Cabnchassis]

Originally Posted by joe231

The beds don't have bushings. I think they may have come from the factory with thin rubber washers but every truck I have taken apart didn't have anything between the bed and frame. And all the bed crossmembers are welded to the floor.

Sweet, that should make it pretty easy to stick to my frame then. Thanks

[Cabnchassis]

Finally got some stuff done on the truck, set the bed on it yesterday. Everything fit like a glove and my frame was actually punched for the bed bolts already so i didn't have to drill any holes or fab any mounts.

I still have to cut the inner tubs, but I think I'm going to cut the wheel well in the middle and then weld a piece of sheet metal over the gap it will create when the move the inner portion of the wheel well in 3" =/-

All I have left to do is get the fuel tanks hooked up and find some 1/2" x 12" hardened carriage bolts to replace the two bed bolts that pass through the cross member since my frame is deeper than a standard frame.

Other than that I have a little body work to do before I can move on to some other upgrades.

[Desert1957]

Originally Posted by Cabnchassis

Finally got some stuff done on the truck, set the bed on it yesterday. Everything fit like a glove and my frame was actually punched for the bed bolts already so i didn't have to drill any holes or fab any mounts.

I still have to cut the inner tubs, but I think I'm going to cut the wheel well in the middle and then weld a piece of sheet metal over the gap it will create when the move the inner portion of the wheel well in 3" =/-

All I have left to do is get the fuel tanks hooked up and find some 1/2" x 12" hardened carriage bolts to replace the two bed bolts that pass through the cross member since my frame is deeper than a standard frame.

Other than that I have a little body work to do before I can move on to some other upgrades.

Can't see pics?

[Cabnchassis]

Problem solved. Operator error.

[IMG][/IMG]

[Cabnchassis]

I haven't gotten anything else done on the truck but I did put it under a good load yesterday to see if I have to worry about those outside wheels hitting.

With almost exactly 3000lbs in it, I had no clearance issues. If I loaded it heavier and had to cross a bad RR track or a nasty pot hole and it might strike. For right now I'm not going to do anything about it because I don't often have more than 3k back there. In the future it may require fender cutouts but for now it's peachy.

[Cabnchassis]

So she's returned to daily operation finally and I'm still really happy with the change. I've been loading the holy hell out of it lately only to find that as long as I'm under 5,500 lbs in the bed I have no clearance issues on the outer dual. Beyond that it is possible for the wheel to strike in my opinion but you'd have to hit something hard.

Some other things I've figured out along the way that will matter to anyone who does this later.

Fuel tanks on my truck were set much farther back on the frame than the truck the bed came from. Physics prevent me from being able to pump diesel through the filler neck holes. Too short a distance with too many turns for diesel, it just foams and clicks. I like mechanical work so I'm just going to recess the filler necks into the bed rails and plumb them through the floor of the bed from there. At first I'll probably install them on top of the rails so I don't have to keep squatting down and putting fuel directly in the tank but they can't stay there forever cause they'll be in the way. Plus once I install my big inverter I'll replace the fuel filler necks with outlets and that'll also trim out my outlets without me having to think of something to hide them so people don't realize how much copper wire is run under my truck. Now I just have to figure out battery box location for it. I'm thinking something hanging off the bed or frame rails for that.

When you cut the tubs you'll have to tack weld the i beams through that section back to the bed. If it was tack welded before the welds broke. Not a huge deal but if you walk in the bed you hear the sheet metal moving around.

You'll need two 1/2" x 12" carriage bolts because the C&C frame is deeper at one bolt location than the standard frame.

I do sometimes miss the ability to haul pallets and am considering building a metal rack to support pallets and sheet good, at the same height as the fender wells.

I'll be going through the DMV/Highway patrol stuff soon so I'll update on the legal aspect at least as it relates to CA. I've got to get it scaled first though and I have to pull my knack box back out to do that since it weighs as much as an extra passenger and holds about 300 lbs in tools. I get screwed on registration so I wanna make sure this thing sheds ever pound possible before weigh in.

[Oregoon]

Very cool!

Sidebar: I drive truck for a living, and we no longer go into California because Caltrans sucks so bad. There is nothing like a scale-cop who has never had a CDL thinking he or she will tell a guy with 20 years experience what's what...

Easier for us to have a California-based hauler bring our freight to Portland, and we disseminate it from there. Class-A Intrastate Oregon rules are a lot easier to deal with!

[v30crewcab]

got any pics of your filler neck situation? the factory ones are a 90 out of the tank and a 45 up to the neck. just curious how far back your tanks could be. the factory one is almost against the spring hangar.

[Cabnchassis]

We call our commercial impounds "scale seizures" thanks to the mandatory 30 day impound that ensues for some violations. By the time you get your truck back you're out 5 grand if you got lucky plus lost time. Most small company's box rigs that get impounded aren't even close to worth what 30 days storage and a 40 ton wreckers tow bill will cost you.

I haven't been stopped by anything but that stupid highway patrol silverado except one time when I first bought it and reg stickers hadnt come yet. They don't seem to realize that when you stop me during my work day your wasting my money and I'll return the favor. "Oh sorry officer I'm not exactly sure what my truck weighs right now I've never had this much weight in it before." Just to make him crawl around that camper finding all the parts to the portable and then having to set it up only to find out I'm 2 tons shy of shy of my gross.

Once I do the paperwork though that should all be a thing of the past at least in my own personal truck.

[Cabnchassis]

Originally Posted by v30crewcab

got any pics of your filler neck situation? the factory ones are a 90 out of the tank and a 45 up to the neck. just curious how far back your tanks could be. the factory one is almost against the spring hangar.

So I took the filler necks that came with the beds and they made like a 45 down then 90 forward toward the cab and ran forward about a foot or so to the fore of where my tanks are located.

Where my tanks are set the tank mouth is in a straight line from the filler neck. so to hook the tank up to the neck was so simple I knew something would screw it up. So the filler has that angled metal part on the bottom and from there you go toward the frame about 9" then drop about 4" and having those 90s right there I can't even use the crappy diesel pumps cause the foam trips it. I'm not brave enough to try the real truck pumps cause I'll probably wear a bunch of diesel home if the little nozzle is kicking off from foam.

Thats probably a pretty half way explanation I'll try to grab some pics tomorrow. I know one of you guys will probably see a better way right off.

[v30crewcab]

I have to have the nozzle 2/3 of the way out, start slow, get it going, and then once its going about 1/2 gal slow it will take it faster. sucks.

[Cabnchassis]

Most companies when i work in house for them want me driving their trucks since my screams redneck out the straight pipes. One of the Dmax trucks I drove had the big fillers on the utility bed and I was getting spoiled to how nice that is cause we have a lot of stations around here with them. But at this point I'd be happy to just put fuel in it without having to get under it and find the sweet spot on the handle to pump .002 gallons per minute...

[Cabnchassis]

Here it is. I'm not sure if all filler necks are squished in the middle like these are, I never noticed it was more oval than round at the bend. Either way it's a short trip so it seems like it'd work, it just doesn't.

[Cabnchassis]

Double post