Rebuild old flatbed, or start from scratch?
I have a 18K GVRW truck with a 12 foot long Western flatbed on it, with a trashed wood deck. My plan is to drop my current short bed Six-Pac camper on it for a while, then replace it with a larger mo...
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Having done a lot of motor swaps in Jeeps for decades, I would suggest the weak parts, if doing a BIG upgrade in power and torque, are the
frame
rear end gear ratio too low numerically. 4.88; 5.13; 5.87; for the upgrade engine.
transmission
cooling system
If it were me I would look for a Chevy 454 out of a truck. Simple. Legendary. Gobs of power. Easy swap. Your not going to put that many miles on the truck, so you might as well get a gas guzzling V-8 thumper. I still have a Clark 280VO, 5 speed, 5 ton truck trans I could let go for your project. This is the rare one with 20% overdrive out of a 4WD Ford F650 dump truck. . It still has the transfer case lever attached and used a short drive shaft to the t. case, called a divorced t. case.I was hoping to put it in a 50's Power Wagon, but that window has closed. It weighs 225 pounds.
The rear end can probably take it, but you might want to upgrade the entire drivetrain, to be balanced. Remember when you add a LOT of power or torque to a drivetrain, the weaker parts of that drivetrain suddenly become evident.BTDT. Over and over again.
The stock frame My old '82 CJ-8 cracked over and over again requiring chasing a lot of long patch, fish mouth plates. Luckily I had an on board welder and fixed many of these cracks right on the trail. Yes, i took a lot of plates and driveshaft tubing along.
With such a light camper and a 5500 or 6500 truck, I doubt whether you would need a 3-point or 4-point pivoting frame that most of the REAL hardcore off-road MoHo's use. If, however, you are going to put a much bigger and heavier camper on there, I would think about putting together a purpose built pivoting flatbed. Or, you could further cross brace the flat bed and put spring loaded connectors on either the front or the rear of the bed like the military trucks use. It boils down to: how much time? How much money?
jefe
frame
rear end gear ratio too low numerically. 4.88; 5.13; 5.87; for the upgrade engine.
transmission
cooling system
If it were me I would look for a Chevy 454 out of a truck. Simple. Legendary. Gobs of power. Easy swap. Your not going to put that many miles on the truck, so you might as well get a gas guzzling V-8 thumper. I still have a Clark 280VO, 5 speed, 5 ton truck trans I could let go for your project. This is the rare one with 20% overdrive out of a 4WD Ford F650 dump truck. . It still has the transfer case lever attached and used a short drive shaft to the t. case, called a divorced t. case.I was hoping to put it in a 50's Power Wagon, but that window has closed. It weighs 225 pounds.
The rear end can probably take it, but you might want to upgrade the entire drivetrain, to be balanced. Remember when you add a LOT of power or torque to a drivetrain, the weaker parts of that drivetrain suddenly become evident.BTDT. Over and over again.
The stock frame My old '82 CJ-8 cracked over and over again requiring chasing a lot of long patch, fish mouth plates. Luckily I had an on board welder and fixed many of these cracks right on the trail. Yes, i took a lot of plates and driveshaft tubing along.
With such a light camper and a 5500 or 6500 truck, I doubt whether you would need a 3-point or 4-point pivoting frame that most of the REAL hardcore off-road MoHo's use. If, however, you are going to put a much bigger and heavier camper on there, I would think about putting together a purpose built pivoting flatbed. Or, you could further cross brace the flat bed and put spring loaded connectors on either the front or the rear of the bed like the military trucks use. It boils down to: how much time? How much money?
jefe
