F450 Fiver Bed - Will This Fit A TC?

Mike@Asheville wrote:
BigToe, my bed rail height concern is based on my understanding of the 13" height on my bed vs the 19" height on a pickup bed and the gap that would create for the TC. If I understood others comments correctly that visually would be an issue, am I correct?

When I ordered the bed I had the option of the tailgate. It was an additional $1000 and at the time I didn't think it necessary. Having the cutout done and a tailgate fabricated from it is a great suggestion. Would the way the rear flares out keep a TC from fitting?

Yes, you are correct about the visual gap of the camper along the side of the truck. I simply misinterpreted your earlier post as suggesting a change in tailgate would have a cause and effect relationship with clearance gap, and was back to thinking about fivers, and somehow imagined you were thinking about putting a pickup bed tail gate on the Fontaine. My bad.

So I don't misinterpret you again, I have to ask what you mean by "rear flares"?

If you mean the fiberglass sides that serve as dually fenders that blend into the tail light buckets and also blends into the rear bumper cover, then no, I don't see an interference.

The break line where Fontaine put their tailgate in that bed is even with that little bump out hump just under the recessed 3 lamp marker ID lamp trio, which is just under the V notch in your fixed back panel. Below those three ID lamps, there should be the word "FONTAINE" embossed into the bump out bumper mould, right above the licence plate bucket.

With the tail gate option, the three recessed ID lights are moved down to where it says "FONTAINE". (Hence, this mold had to be modified to be smooth so as not to look tacky). When the tail gate is opened, the load surface of the tailgate is even with the load surface of the bed tub deck. That puts the hinge pivot point of the tail gate about even with the bottom of the tail lights.

There is quite a bit of fabrication involved. That's why it cost so much, and that is also why it was an option, and not standard, to keep the truck more affordable, since the target market didn't need a tailgate anyway, and in fact most dedicated fiver totes remove the tailgate and replace it with a notch gate.

I was sort of suggesting a compromise after the fact modification. No doubt, the factory build would be better. But that water was under the bridge.

The more I think about it, the more I think of this as an opportunity for you to do something out of the box (ha ha). You might consider having a truck camper specially built for your bed. You have a 4x4, and while it isn't a jeep, it does afford you some unimproved fire road camping capability, similar to what a light brush truck fire apparatus might be able to traverse and come back home in.

With that in mind, I can see the inconvenience of pulling a trailer on solo trips. And I can also see that while your truck might be able to handle a big 11 foot Lance or heavy Big Foot 3000 series, you may not need a camper that big when exploring solo. So something small, tight, and light might be to your benefit. It may not even need to extend beyond your truck bed end wall.

The fact that your air suspension has built in KNEELING capability could allow the custom built camper to be raised over and above the existing notched wall of the kneeling truck, if sturdy enough camper jacks were built into the your custom camper.

Also, the bed rail gap would no longer be an issue, and you could leverage all of the space available in the non standard dimensions of the interior steel tub to make a camper base the most efficient and stable possible.

Or do like my neighbor... he rigs up a pickup truck "bed tent" he got for $200 when he goes hunting and fishing solo.