Cracked the bed of my truck

[nvlaircrew]

So, this summer my camper spent a lot of time on the truck. Made several long trips. One to Inavale Horse Trials in Oregon and another to Kalispell, MT for The Event at Rebecca Farms. In September I made the trip up to elk camp for the opener then came back down to go to another horse show, Aspen Farms Horse Trials. Then back up to elk camp for a couple more days of hunting. Well, when I took the camper off afterwards this is what I found:



I have been to the body shop for a quote to fix it. Not worried about that part. More concerned about what caused this crack. The camper has been on two trucks and I've been hauling it since new with no problems until now. This is the first time I've taken it up to elk camp, but I have been on other roads with just as many potholes as the forest service road to camp.

Anyone else ever have the same problem? What did you do to keep it from happening again? Suggestions welcome?

Thanks

[deltabravo]

Fordman01 wrote:
Hi Guys, I have had the same thing happen. 2012 F350 DRW, Arctic Fox 990S, I was using a rubber mat at the time. This is the right side.

Tim,

I'll send Hopsing over with some duct tape and bailing wire to stitch up the sheetmetal.

He rides one of the blue "Fast" DRZs.

[69_Avion]

rickjo wrote:

trail-explorer wrote:
What does the Ford Dealer have to say about the cracking sheet metal?

Don't carry 5000 lbs concentrated on two thin rails. :S

Seriously. The truck is 9 years old and there is no warranty that ignores user abuse. If anything, it's a bad Lance design coupled with my 50,000 miles of bouncing the load anywhere and everywhere. I think I have learned not to concentrate the camper weight by using plywood under it.

Rick

That is a fact. Even with plywood, I would made two wood runners to lay in the valleys on each interior side of the ridge that rides on the edge of the camper, where the seam is. Without doing that, the camper will still transfer the weight to those corners as the camper weight shifts from side to side. The transferring of the weight on the edge, down to the bed cross members is essential to solving the problem. The plywood certainly helps spread the load out, but on the two sides where the seam is, the load needs to be transferred down to the bottom valley where the cross members attach. That is where the strength is.

[nvlaircrew]

Mine is still within the 36 mo warranty and Ford told me the same thing. The damage was caused by what you're putting in the bed.

However, I got my "platform" done last night and will be loading the camper up for a trip over to Wenatchee area to do some bird hunting this weekend. We'll see how it works out.

[rickjo]

rickjo wrote:

trail-explorer wrote:
What does the Ford Dealer have to say about the cracking sheet metal?

Don't carry 5000 lbs concentrated on two thin rails. :S

Seriously. The truck is 9 years old and there is no warranty that ignores user abuse. If anything, it's a bad Lance design coupled with my 50,000 miles of bouncing the load anywhere and everywhere. I think I have learned not to concentrate the camper weight by using plywood under it.

Rick

[rickjo]

trail-explorer wrote:
What does the Ford Dealer have to say about the cracking sheet metal?

Don't carry 5000 lbs concentrated on two thin rails. :S

Seriously. The truck is 9 years old and there is no warranty that ignores user abuse. If anything, it's a bad Lance design coupled with my 50,000 miles of bouncing the load anywhere and everywhere. I think I have learned not to concentrate the camper weight by using plywood under it.

Rick

[trail-explorer]

What does the Ford Dealer have to say about the cracking sheet metal?

[rickjo]

54suds wrote:


You might check their history of posting here :R

ps I'm barred from posting there:B

You know, I've managed to post and interact on both forums, but it has been clear also that differences flare up occasionally. Opinions are just that and it's too bad when sharing experiences clashes with personalities. Truck Camper Magazine seems to be able to negotiate the common ground and I'm glad for that.

PM me and I'll try to share the photos you might like to see.

Rick

[54suds]

Registration is free. Another Truck Camper forum can't hurt. Right?

Rick



You might check their history of posting here :R

ps I'm barred from posting there:B

[rickjo]

trail-explorer wrote:

rickjo wrote:
Here's a link to my photos, both before and after.

A message comes up and says "Sorry, you don't have permission for that!"

Registration is free. Another Truck Camper forum can't hurt. Right?

Rick

[trail-explorer]

rickjo wrote:
Here's a link to my photos, both before and after.

A message comes up and says "Sorry, you don't have permission for that!"

[Fordman01]

nviaircrew, The damage on my truck was only good roads, although a little rough coming up North on Hwy 101 from California into Oregon this spring.

I don't think the 5th wheel prep package adds any stiffness to the bed, but mine still had the hard plastic pucks installed under the rubber mat. I still think that contributed to the damage on my truck in the first place. But after seeing your damage I may be mistaken unless you still have the pucks installed also.

I also have the Torkift frame mounts and I am using the old style springload tie downs, maybe I am tying it down to tight?

I think I am going to built a set up like Camper_Jeff_&_Kelli has. I may drop the bottom of my camper and inspect the supports just to make sure nothing is broken. I don't know how the camper was treated before we bought it.

Tim

[nvlaircrew]

Tim/Fordman01 - What type of roads are you traveling on? I didn't see any type of cracking/deforming of the truck bed until I took it many miles off the beaten path. Did you notice a greater amount of porpoising? I was tell the DW about this posting and we both agree that with this truck the camper seems to porpoise more than the last one. I don't have the 5th wheel/gooseneck hitch installed on mine although it does have all the support for it. I wonder how much stiffer it makes the middle of the bed. Where the older model didn't have that support.

Rick - Thanks for sharing your thread on the other forum. Reading through that gave me an idea to change the way I planning to put my plywood support together. Especially after looking at the pictures atchafalaya_man posted of the foam board compressing and the damage to the bottom of his camper. I don't have any deforming on the bottom of my camper, yet. I do agree that the bulk/all of the weight is supported by the box/tub of the camper, and thus putting more pressure on the seams of the bed with any type of roll or porpoising. I know how you feel when a bump or pothole sneaks up on you no matter the speed.

06Fargo - I have Torklift frame mounted tie downs with Happijac shackles. The shackles are as old as the rubber bed mat. I've been talking to the DW about replacing them with Fastguns. She said to put them on the wish list. 😕 The Happijac's still work although with a little less spring in the fronts.

All - thanks for all the discussion. It has helped me fine tune my plans to, hopefully, prevent any further damage.

[ticki2]

rickjo wrote:


I've had this problem in spades. Seems to be an F350 (or Ford bed?) problem with heavy campers from the other replies I'm reading. My major tears are in the rear panel metal above the license plate.

Rick

This is my suspicion also . If it were simply a matter of flexing stresses of carrying a TC many more truck beds would be displaying similar symptoms . There seems to be a design or support flaw with the way those panels come together on the Ford bed . A hard look at under that joint might reveal some clues .

[Fordman01]

Camper_Jeff_&_Kelli wrote:

Fordman01 wrote:

Camper_Jeff_&_Kelli wrote:
You can't just put a sheet of foam board in the bed of the truck. You need to have a solid material around the perimeter or the weight of the camper on the stiff, solid sides will crush the foam down and the flexible meddle flat area of the camper will not compress the foam as much as the hard edges. I built a wood frame for my TC and the inside of the frame has foam board. I think what you have there is the edges settling and the belly being pushed up in a bowing fashion.
Picture of mine.

If that is the case why not just have a piece of plywood?

Plywood is fine if it is as wide as the tub of the camper. You may also need 2 or 3 sheets to get the lift you need. Building the frame and fitting foam board to the center provides insulation to the TC basement and all the tanks contained therein. Also, building a frame with foam is much lighter than straight plywood. My frame also is fitted tight to the sides of the bed to keep it from moving.
If you look at the side edges of the frame, you can see the darkened lines where the downward force of the side walls of the camper is most concentrated. The dark lines are only along the edges, nowhere through the central area of the camper tubs bottom sheet of plywood. You can also see that the tub of my S&S is a little wider than a standard 4x8 sheet of plywood.

OK I see what you mean, that makes sense.

Thanks for the explanation.