F450 Fiver Bed - Will This Fit A TC?
Hi all, I've been considering a TC for sometime now and I've decided to pull the trigger if one will work with my current truck. I have a 2004 F450 4WD with a Fontaine Classic Hauler Bed designed for ...
Forum Discussion
Ok I found a few old photos from the plant where the beds were made.
The blue F-550 was the prototype of the Classic Traveler. It made it's public debut at a SEMA show, I think in November 1999. Might have been 2000... memory is fading. Anyway, it was initially called the "Super CrewZer II", because Fontaine also built the F-650 Super CrewZer for Ford, which was sold as a completed vehicle by Ford. In fact, this plant was immediately adjacent to Ford's Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville. The Super CrewZer II name got nixed for the F-550 version of RV haulers, partly because it was not sold directly by Ford, but sold as an authorized ship through.
Notice the plain diamond plate under the rear cab window of the blue truck, instead of the smooth chrome trim with the letters "Classic Traveler" cut into it? That is the clearest evidence visible in this photo that this truck is "pre" Classic Traveler.
The blue F-550 also has the Silent Drive rear air suspension, rather than the parallelogram ReycoGranning (and later, the Link) air suspension. There are other small differences, but this post is about beds, so I'll focus on that.
The steel tub that is hidden underneath the fiberglass beauty cover is seen fitted to the F-550 frame in the image directly below the blue truck. Notice there is no suspension system on that F-550 frame, because the original springs were removed in prep for air suspension installation, part of which usually got put on before the bed was fitted (the transverse track rod and axle cradle in between the rails). The remainder of the air suspension system is outboard of the rails, using it's own subframe between the front hangar and axle that sisters to the main frame.
The steel bed has heavy gauge hat channel cross sills, and two tubular steel longitudinal runners. Below these runners are a "cushion" of solid oak. This is the most textbook perfect second unit body installation you can get... going by every letter of the book from Ford's Body Builder's Advisory Service. Those engineers like to see spacer between the truck frame rails and the second unit body rails as a "cushion" to allow for frame twist.
There are also sheer plates from the steel tube subframe that bolt to the side (web) of the truck's frame. Again, by the book. No Ubolts. No flange mounting. This is how it should be done. The two black tabs you can see in this photo that bolt to the web of the frame are the hitch platform assembly that is integrated width the bed mounting. Notice those huge bolts that double as huge shear pins, and still allow for flexibility.
The next photo is of the welding jig in the plant used to fabricate the subframes under the the steel tub. Notice the frame rails appear deeper in this bottom left hand image than in the image of the chassis (with tires) in the picture immediately above it. That's because the chassis pic with the tires is an actual F-550, and the jig in the pic below simulates an F-650 frame. The steel beds and subframes for the F-550's and F-650's were welded on the same jigs, since both frames conform to the NTEA standard of 34" frame rail outside width.
Using the jigs is also another indication of the care and quality put into production of these beds. The idea was to keep the computers in the trucks protected from stray welding currents, and to keep the truck wiring harnesses away from molten metal sparks flying hither and yon. Also, the cabs stayed nice and clean, and there was more room in the shop without the entire truck being present.
So most of the trucks were stored outside during the various stages of production. The right hand column of images shows the trucks being parked in the yard, with the smokestacks of KTP in the background.
The top two images on the right (of the white truck) are of the steel bed, mounted and coated, ready for the fiberglass dress. As you can see, the yard is filled with F-650s and F-550s side by side. You might notice a competitors RV body in the yard, as well as the late '70's dump truck!
I had forgotten whether the ends of the steel tub were closed out or not at this stage, and it turns out they were not, so I'm posting these pics for the OP (Mike) so he can see them for purposes of having his bolt on and off tailgate made. Turns out there was no back side wrap, so forget what I was guessing about that "2 inches" on either side.
The last pic on the bottom right hand corner is of a completed F-650 Super CrewZer bed, with no tail gate. Yes, what you see is fiberglass, but what you can't see is a lot stronger than a normal pickup bed.
The blue F-550 was the prototype of the Classic Traveler. It made it's public debut at a SEMA show, I think in November 1999. Might have been 2000... memory is fading. Anyway, it was initially called the "Super CrewZer II", because Fontaine also built the F-650 Super CrewZer for Ford, which was sold as a completed vehicle by Ford. In fact, this plant was immediately adjacent to Ford's Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville. The Super CrewZer II name got nixed for the F-550 version of RV haulers, partly because it was not sold directly by Ford, but sold as an authorized ship through.
Notice the plain diamond plate under the rear cab window of the blue truck, instead of the smooth chrome trim with the letters "Classic Traveler" cut into it? That is the clearest evidence visible in this photo that this truck is "pre" Classic Traveler.
The blue F-550 also has the Silent Drive rear air suspension, rather than the parallelogram ReycoGranning (and later, the Link) air suspension. There are other small differences, but this post is about beds, so I'll focus on that.
The steel tub that is hidden underneath the fiberglass beauty cover is seen fitted to the F-550 frame in the image directly below the blue truck. Notice there is no suspension system on that F-550 frame, because the original springs were removed in prep for air suspension installation, part of which usually got put on before the bed was fitted (the transverse track rod and axle cradle in between the rails). The remainder of the air suspension system is outboard of the rails, using it's own subframe between the front hangar and axle that sisters to the main frame.
The steel bed has heavy gauge hat channel cross sills, and two tubular steel longitudinal runners. Below these runners are a "cushion" of solid oak. This is the most textbook perfect second unit body installation you can get... going by every letter of the book from Ford's Body Builder's Advisory Service. Those engineers like to see spacer between the truck frame rails and the second unit body rails as a "cushion" to allow for frame twist.
There are also sheer plates from the steel tube subframe that bolt to the side (web) of the truck's frame. Again, by the book. No Ubolts. No flange mounting. This is how it should be done. The two black tabs you can see in this photo that bolt to the web of the frame are the hitch platform assembly that is integrated width the bed mounting. Notice those huge bolts that double as huge shear pins, and still allow for flexibility.
The next photo is of the welding jig in the plant used to fabricate the subframes under the the steel tub. Notice the frame rails appear deeper in this bottom left hand image than in the image of the chassis (with tires) in the picture immediately above it. That's because the chassis pic with the tires is an actual F-550, and the jig in the pic below simulates an F-650 frame. The steel beds and subframes for the F-550's and F-650's were welded on the same jigs, since both frames conform to the NTEA standard of 34" frame rail outside width.
Using the jigs is also another indication of the care and quality put into production of these beds. The idea was to keep the computers in the trucks protected from stray welding currents, and to keep the truck wiring harnesses away from molten metal sparks flying hither and yon. Also, the cabs stayed nice and clean, and there was more room in the shop without the entire truck being present.
So most of the trucks were stored outside during the various stages of production. The right hand column of images shows the trucks being parked in the yard, with the smokestacks of KTP in the background.
The top two images on the right (of the white truck) are of the steel bed, mounted and coated, ready for the fiberglass dress. As you can see, the yard is filled with F-650s and F-550s side by side. You might notice a competitors RV body in the yard, as well as the late '70's dump truck!
I had forgotten whether the ends of the steel tub were closed out or not at this stage, and it turns out they were not, so I'm posting these pics for the OP (Mike) so he can see them for purposes of having his bolt on and off tailgate made. Turns out there was no back side wrap, so forget what I was guessing about that "2 inches" on either side.
The last pic on the bottom right hand corner is of a completed F-650 Super CrewZer bed, with no tail gate. Yes, what you see is fiberglass, but what you can't see is a lot stronger than a normal pickup bed.
trail-explorer wrote:
Is a fiberglass bed going to have the floor strength to support a camper? I don't know.
