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
I don't know how this is turning into an argument about weight but since that seems to be the focal point of this thread...
The first weight I provided of between 4500lbs to 5000lbs which was a guesstimate accounting for camper dry weight, water, food and gear. I was basing that estimate on what I believed the camper dry weight to be 4000lbs and everything else depending on how I loaded it another 500lbs to 1000lbs. It turns out, the actual camper weight to be 1240.06 kilograms or 2733.8lbs when it went out the factory door.
Now, that doesn't include the Onan 2500 genset added later which weighs 113lbs or the AC unit also later added which is ~130lbs give or take a few so dry weight of my camper is 2976lbs. I guess you can add in the LiFePo4 battery and round it up to an even 3000lbs.
As far as the truck is concerned, BigToe, you clearly put a lot of effort into your analysis. No, my truck is not a California truck, it actually came from Texas. It passes smog here in California and that is all I care about. As far as your breakdown of weight analysis, you are quite knowledgeable or have a lot of time, maybe both but in spite of your best efforts, you were off by quite a bit. I can't believe I am actually doing this as I had to dig it out but for the sake of putting this argument to bed...
According to the scales, my truck weight is 7600lbs. By the GVWR rating of 11200lbs on the tag of the door, that leaves me with 3600lbs of capacity, not the 2961 you estimated. The axle rating on the truck is 8250lbs for the rear. By the CAT weight scales, I only have 3380lbs on the rear. That leaves me with 4870 lbs of rear axle weight capacity.
So now that we have the truck weight and the camper weight, we now know that dry, I am 600lbs below the GVWR of the truck. Sure, add in propane, water, food, pots, pans and all the other stuff and I'm sure I'm running over that 3600lbs but it isn't by a whole lot, certainly not overweight by the 1000lb to 2000lb BigToe, GritDog and valhalla360 seem to think. With the axle capacity of 4870lbs, I am confident I am well below that by several hundred pounds or more.
It might be an excellent breakdown but it was wrong. As far "insisting that it's OK because he wants confirmation" I asked for no such thing, I only asked if it had been done. I again point out that the question I started this thread was:
There have been several people who didn't focus on the weight and answered my question about adding rigidity to the frame based on their own experiences and knowledge and for that I am thankful. Clearly this isn't something commonly done and there is limited experience. THAT is the answer to the question I asked and for all of you who did focus on the heart of my question. Thank you.
The first weight I provided of between 4500lbs to 5000lbs which was a guesstimate accounting for camper dry weight, water, food and gear. I was basing that estimate on what I believed the camper dry weight to be 4000lbs and everything else depending on how I loaded it another 500lbs to 1000lbs. It turns out, the actual camper weight to be 1240.06 kilograms or 2733.8lbs when it went out the factory door.
Now, that doesn't include the Onan 2500 genset added later which weighs 113lbs or the AC unit also later added which is ~130lbs give or take a few so dry weight of my camper is 2976lbs. I guess you can add in the LiFePo4 battery and round it up to an even 3000lbs.
As far as the truck is concerned, BigToe, you clearly put a lot of effort into your analysis. No, my truck is not a California truck, it actually came from Texas. It passes smog here in California and that is all I care about. As far as your breakdown of weight analysis, you are quite knowledgeable or have a lot of time, maybe both but in spite of your best efforts, you were off by quite a bit. I can't believe I am actually doing this as I had to dig it out but for the sake of putting this argument to bed...
According to the scales, my truck weight is 7600lbs. By the GVWR rating of 11200lbs on the tag of the door, that leaves me with 3600lbs of capacity, not the 2961 you estimated. The axle rating on the truck is 8250lbs for the rear. By the CAT weight scales, I only have 3380lbs on the rear. That leaves me with 4870 lbs of rear axle weight capacity.
So now that we have the truck weight and the camper weight, we now know that dry, I am 600lbs below the GVWR of the truck. Sure, add in propane, water, food, pots, pans and all the other stuff and I'm sure I'm running over that 3600lbs but it isn't by a whole lot, certainly not overweight by the 1000lb to 2000lb BigToe, GritDog and valhalla360 seem to think. With the axle capacity of 4870lbs, I am confident I am well below that by several hundred pounds or more.
valhalla360 wrote:
Excellent breakdown of the subject but I'm betting the OP just keeps insisting that it's OK because he wants confirmation, not an actual answer because it's most likely not the answer he will ike.
It might be an excellent breakdown but it was wrong. As far "insisting that it's OK because he wants confirmation" I asked for no such thing, I only asked if it had been done. I again point out that the question I started this thread was:
adamis wrote:
... So, my next thought was to look at having my frame reinforced. I know there are all sorts of complications when going this route though. Ford does fully boxed frames for a reason because it gives so much more rigidity. I no there is at least one person that has done this on their 7.3 from a posting on the Ford forums. This is obviously a huge expense and extreme measure.
Has anyone else gone through this or found a way to handle excessive porpoising on older C channel frame trucks?
There have been several people who didn't focus on the weight and answered my question about adding rigidity to the frame based on their own experiences and knowledge and for that I am thankful. Clearly this isn't something commonly done and there is limited experience. THAT is the answer to the question I asked and for all of you who did focus on the heart of my question. Thank you.
