sabconsulting wrote:
69 Avion wrote:
Some of the military trucks use a spring mount that allows the frame to flex more than the flat bed. An example would be the older 2-1/2 ton trucks. The bed is seperated from the frame with wood and the front bed mount has springs.
Trying to remember what my WWII 2-1/2 ton had. Don't recall it having spring mounts at the front, but it would make sense (I admit I never crawled under the spare wheel mount to see how the bed was attached).
Jfet wrote:
...The 20 foot steel flatbed is quite thick and rigid and is u-bolted in many places to the frame. I drove a tire on a curb and the frame/flatbed seem to stay as one unit, meaning there may not be issues with twisting being transfered to the camper frame (except the cab/camper overhang clearance issue, which I have given almost 5 inches allowance).
So all of that said, I am thinking of using your typical camper tiedown devices directly to the flatbed.
edit: After looking at the link you posted, I also see that they were refering to mostly wood frame glue and screw campers. I do wonder if my fully welded tubular steel frame might hold up a bit better to flex...
The loadbed and frame staying as one unit when a wheel is lifted may simply mean that both are twisting slightly together - i.e. the flatbed is twisting and that twisting would be transferred to anything rigidly bolted to it. I used to be involved in heavy vehicle trialling years ago (tanks, 6x6 army trucks, etc.) and noticed how much the load beds of these big flatbed trucks twisted when offroad. OK, that's an extreme example, but worth considering.
Hence I think you are right to go with regular TC tiedowns - specifically spring-mounted so they allow a corner of the camper to lift if needed. If it were rigidly bolted to the bed then I would worry about the very rigid camper trying to resist the entire bending force of the frame causing cracking in the camper's welds - in a way the more rigid it is the more vulnerable as it won't flex with the load bed / frame but will try to resist it.
I also wonder if some sort of rubber matting between the camper and the load bed might be an advantage too to absorb vibration.
Steve.
I had two in my backyard, but I'm down to only one now. It is a 1975 AM General with about 12,000 miles on it. I have taken the beds off before so I remember the springs on them. I imagine that the reason the 2-1/2 ton trucks have them and "on the road" trucks don't have them is because of the rough use the military truck get put through.
