Location: wasilla alaska and el pescadero south baja
Posts: 535
thats some deelux fab work. good on ya. im getting ready to recover the stock bed on my truck. the stock plywood had run its course. im thinking of just using douglas fir, id like to find some harder wood, like maple, but its just too expensive here in alaska. i considered steel plate...about $700 for materials...
Here are some pic's of the factory drivers side mount's.I could not get the camera in to take different views, so one is from the front and the other the rear. The two on the passenger side are hard mounted.
Kimosawboy,
Thanks for the pics. Those look pretty easy to fab up. I will design those in to my drivers side mounts similar to yours. Thanks for sending over those pictures.
Deelux
I thought I would post up some pictures of the progress that I've made lately. Things have been going slow but I am happy with how they are turning out. I got the bed back on the mog and fabbed up the mounts and after talking with a few different moggers I'm still not 100% sure how I want to do my front mounts. Right now I have the back 4 mounts bolted up and I left the front two unbolted until I can get it out to see how the frame flex works and see how much flex I need to build into it. One idea I had was to use longer bolts with springs to allow the frame to pull away from the bed when it starts to flex. Will it work? I'm not sure, but I figured it would be worth a try. It's just steel right? Anyways on to the pics.
First pic shows how I finished out the back, I will be mounting my lights and license plate in the space between the crossmember and the bottom of the bed. Behind this area you can see where I moved my batteries to. I made up some new battery cables from old welding lead and so far it seems to work fine.
Second pic is a side view showing how the bed rails finished out. I wasn't sure how I wanted to infill the sides but I had some 3/16" thick plastic that I think worked great. To attach it I used alumium rivets with washers to hopefully resist too much growth or shrinkage from temperature change.
The last picture shows how the back corners were done. I still need to build the mount the fuel cell, spare tire, and install the decking but the big stuff is behind me now and I get to focus on getting this thing mobile again. Installing the 3/4 ton aerostar springs, longer shocks and moving the rear springs to the front and installing longer shocks in the front.
I am also toying with the idea of building the rollcage to allow for a small bench seat to mount behind the cab for wheelin trips when I want to bring the kids along. I will probably hold off on the decking until I decide how I want to build my rollcage and install it.
Bolts w/springs dont think will work since its a twist in the frame your dealing with. That means the frame will go down and toward center on one side will up and toward center on the opposit side. The small arch of the travel on both sides would probably just bind up a verticly placed bolt and spring.
Also there is the fact that these wont support anything well put in the bed. Springs would just compress
Also...... if Im not mistaken... please someone correct me if Im wrong. Belive you want the rear two (left and right) fixed and all the rest fixed only on one side (OEM is passenger side) and flex jointed on the other side. Believe this is how its done with the light troop carrier 404 flat beds.
CoachGeo,
The springs wouldn't be between the frame and the bed they would be used to keep tension on the bolts while it's sitting flat but would allow the frame to pull away when the frame flex occurred. From loooking at the design of the frame I don't see how you could have too much flex at the back end of the frame. It seems to have too many cross members to allow the frame to flex too much from the middle bed mount back. My other thought is that once I build in my rollcage it will take a fair amount of the frame flex out since the cage will be tied back into the frame limiting the amount of flex you could actually have. Do people soft mount the rollcages on their mogs? From the one's I have seen most are welded directly to the frame which seems to me would limit the amount of flex you could have. Just my opinion, not an expert by any means.
Thanks,
It seems to have too many cross members to allow the frame to flex too much from the middle bed mount back. My other thought is that once I build in my rollcage it will take a fair amount of the frame flex out since the cage will be tied back into the frame limiting the amount of flex you could actually have. Do people soft mount the rollcages on their mogs? From the one's I have seen most are welded directly to the frame which seems to me would limit the amount of flex you could have. Just my opinion, not an expert by any means.
Thanks,
Ahhh, the age old 404 rock crawlin/frame flex/roll cage issue. I wish I had a good answer but I haven't gotten to that point myself. What I can say is even a lightly loaded 404 will have frame flex when getting things crossed up offroad. I would say the frame twists torsionally in front of the rear cross members but that does translate to a difference at the back of the frame. I guess the rear of the frame isn't as flexy but it still has a little and the changes in attitude forward of that are carried back. The bed mount on the 404s is a little different that what I have seen on other mogs. Most are referred to as a three point mount. This is similar to how the 404 cab is mounted. Two rigid mounts at the rear and a flexible mount at the front. I was checking out Tennmogger's bed mounts a couple of weeks ago and I believe the middle mount was rigid and the front and rear mounts had a bushing mount centered between the frame rails. Kind of a double three point mount.
Several people that have hard mounted their cages have had to revise them to accommodate for frame flex. The frame flex was causing stress cracks in the cage which obviously decreases the safety of a cage. I have been on the fence on this issue for a long time. I am not worried about losing a little articulation due to frame flex. But I do want a cage that will be safe. I guess you can work with the frame flex or way over-build it so it is not a problem. Your mog is looking great by the way!
.. The bed mount on the 404s is a little different that what I have seen on other mogs. ..was checking out Tennmogger's bed mounts a couple of weeks ago and I believe the middle mount was rigid and the front and rear mounts had a bushing mount centered between the frame rails. Kind of a double three point mount....
This is how the heavy bed/box mounts were done compared to the light troop bed. Radiobox for example.
This flex mount is more like a radio box mount but could be adapted to your bed quite easily. The rigid mount is in front because I wanted a solid mount for the roll cage. The rear two mounts are center mounts and allow the bed to stay straight as the frame flexes. Even the winch is 3-point mounted. If it won't move, it'll break. The pivot points are on rubber bushings inside tubes, kind of like a big shock absorber end.
One disadvantage of this mount is if a large load is placed on the back of the bed, it has a tendency to sway. Not a problem for me because with the winch access, I don't load big loads back there.
You mentioned wanting a cage up front, and that's what I did, also with the idea to put a jump seat there for the kids or grandkids. Plus, there's a FOPS. Once you get the torsion isolation, you can build anything you want on the bed with no worry.
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