Frame Stiffing to reduce Porpoising?
Got a question for you seasoned drivers with older rigs. I have a 1999 F350 Dually Quad Cab Long Bed. I've been driving it for thousands of miles and for the most part, it's been fine. However, while ...
Forum Discussion
FB guy is/was overloaded a similar amount as you are currently. Possibly less overloaded if your unknown camper weight is 5klbs. Based on gvwr of both trucks.
Heavier camper? Yup for sure. Far more stout of a truck? Yup for sure.
There’s always 3 sides to every story and I would 100% believe that truck got to experience some extreme dynamic loadings.
Human nature is to defend one’s own position. And “forget” that little “episode” when the camper got airborne over an unexpected bump….or 3.
The difference between driving to Alaska and driving in Mehico compared to 99% of the roads in the L48 IS real.
Despite best efforts, when we drove to AK and around AK a whole summer I hit countless major frost heaves, where I was surprised the truck was still in one piece and the camper wasn’t laying in the road behind it.
Compare that to 1000s of miles in or between the Cascades, Rockies and Midwest, those types of things were and are MUCH less prevalent here in the contiguous US of A.
You could likely go another 10 or 100 years and the truck frame will be just fine, or you could come around a corner and the road settled due to a landslide and hit it and the whole thing fold like a tortilla.
That said, you’ll be hard pressed to find anyone to box or flitch plate the frame that isn’t just a backyard fabricator who doesn’t care about having a $3M corporate liability umbrella. Any shop with real sense about liability protection will either laugh or politely refuse the work short of doing anything that isn’t on a stamped plan/calculations. Period.
And there ain’t many places with mechanical engineers on retainer to do this. That’s the other side of this.
Find someone to cob up what you think you want? Sure.
Have the design calcs to back what is done? Nope.
Maybe 30-40 years ago. Not now.
Signed
-Someone who gets structural engineering designed regularly and has seen a decided shift in how “everyone” looks at liability.
25 years ago, no one had an issue with me designing a formwork or scaffolding or false work system even though I was a new engineer/Supt and didn’t and still don’t have my PE.
Now, on most public works projects, you literally can’t do anything that supports any live load or construction load without a stamped design.
Different industry, exact same principles. Exact.
Nevermind all the previous discussion about ROI which is also way in the red.
This is one of those, time to find a new thing to use as a brain teaser.
Heavier camper? Yup for sure. Far more stout of a truck? Yup for sure.
There’s always 3 sides to every story and I would 100% believe that truck got to experience some extreme dynamic loadings.
Human nature is to defend one’s own position. And “forget” that little “episode” when the camper got airborne over an unexpected bump….or 3.
The difference between driving to Alaska and driving in Mehico compared to 99% of the roads in the L48 IS real.
Despite best efforts, when we drove to AK and around AK a whole summer I hit countless major frost heaves, where I was surprised the truck was still in one piece and the camper wasn’t laying in the road behind it.
Compare that to 1000s of miles in or between the Cascades, Rockies and Midwest, those types of things were and are MUCH less prevalent here in the contiguous US of A.
You could likely go another 10 or 100 years and the truck frame will be just fine, or you could come around a corner and the road settled due to a landslide and hit it and the whole thing fold like a tortilla.
That said, you’ll be hard pressed to find anyone to box or flitch plate the frame that isn’t just a backyard fabricator who doesn’t care about having a $3M corporate liability umbrella. Any shop with real sense about liability protection will either laugh or politely refuse the work short of doing anything that isn’t on a stamped plan/calculations. Period.
And there ain’t many places with mechanical engineers on retainer to do this. That’s the other side of this.
Find someone to cob up what you think you want? Sure.
Have the design calcs to back what is done? Nope.
Maybe 30-40 years ago. Not now.
Signed
-Someone who gets structural engineering designed regularly and has seen a decided shift in how “everyone” looks at liability.
25 years ago, no one had an issue with me designing a formwork or scaffolding or false work system even though I was a new engineer/Supt and didn’t and still don’t have my PE.
Now, on most public works projects, you literally can’t do anything that supports any live load or construction load without a stamped design.
Different industry, exact same principles. Exact.
Nevermind all the previous discussion about ROI which is also way in the red.
This is one of those, time to find a new thing to use as a brain teaser.
