Loading with a flatbed and service body

yblaw wrote:


There is a potential issue with tie downs. My Host Mammoth is the same width as the Douglass body; Host requires the use of springloaded turnbuckles, which I use. The Host mounting brackets are recessed a few inches from the outside of the truck body; the tie down brackets extend past the side of the truck body; in order to attach the turnbuckles to the tie downs and not hit the truck body, I had to make some extensions to attach to the Host tie down brackets to allow the Fastguns to attach to the frame mounted tie downs. If I had it to do over again, I would ask the folks at Douglass to engineer that set-up differently. Douglass is a great company to work with, so they likely would design something. Douglass' standard tie down method was to bolt some brackets to the top of the truck body, line them up with the camper tie down brackets, and secure the camper with 1/2" bolts. The only problem with that (other than Host's "suspension mounting" requirement), is that if you are on uneven terrain and use your jacks to level your rig, you have to unbolt the Douglass brackets to allow the camper to level separately from the truck. It's difficult to re-align the camper/truck body brackets.

If you need any more information, send me a PM.

Looking closely at the pictures on the Douglas site I see what you mean, I was hoping to avoid frame mounted tie downs but that wouldn't be a deal breaker. It was also brought to my attention when I picked up my Host that sprung mount suspension wass required for waranty. Do you have a picture of the modification you made? I wonder if the frame mounts for a 2017 3500 would also fit a 2018/19 5500.

Also how wide is the large compartment against the cab? I was wondering about a sliding tray that could hold a couple mountain bikes in a state of partial disassembly.