Mounting flat bed

[kc0stp]

Alright so is this similar to floating design, goes body, rubber bushing, frame mount, spring, washer, bolt head its what our newer busses use on the front mounts (about rear of tranny forward). Figured Id double check since if it is I can get it from our bus part dealers easily

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[John Deere]

Same idea, just uses an insulator to reduce vibrations. Should work just fine.

 

[RLDSL]

I ve got a Western Hauler bed, and while I've never been overly thrilled by how stiff it is ( of course, an air seat cured that ... keep in mind, I have no discs left in my back so I REALLY feel any little thing ) but I'd be hesitant to load some of the things I've hauled with a loose mounting setup like that.

Even the buses that use springs at the occasional corner , still have rigid ubolt mounting along the frame rails.

My bed is rigid mounted much in the way described in that manual you found , It is raised up off the frame rails and only contacting at the mount points and doesnt have paralel running rails running on top which I could surely see as an over stiffening point begging for problems, plus on the western hauler, teh frame of the gooseneck hitch goes across the frame mounts and IS part of the bed where they are all welded together, where the entire bed is 3/16 diamond plate so the entire bed becomes part of the hitch . It's built to haul ANYTHING, which I really like.

Sometimes when you have something like a flatbed, you just have to learn to slow down when you get off of a road, or at least get rid of the overly abusive gabrial or monroe or rancho shocks and put something on there like some bilsteins that will let you drive on rough surfaces without tearing your truck (and your body ) apart and still be able to control the load going down the road

 

[kc0stp]

Dont get me wrong I fully plan to have the bed raised slightly off the frame and at the very least the rear hard mounted however this truck does go off-roading on occasioan (okay once or twice a year...) so extreme frame flex is possible, the bus mounting with springs on the occasional corner (for the sample bus every mounting from the rear of the tranny forward) the body cant go down as the 2 brackets are against each other but the frame can flex down ward in relation to the body essentially enlarging the gap between the body and frame. Done correctly this means no matter the weight you put on the bed on level ground the frame and bed will be the same distance apart and have hard metal to metal connections (same as if you had 2 angle brackets with just a nut and bolt connecting them). I will admit the bed could be pulled upwards away from the frame essentially doing the same as the frame flexing which is part of the reasson why Im still not sure what Im going to do for mounting, debating between 6 hard mounts (I like to over do it...plus itll spread the weight from the bed out more) or 2 hard mounts and 4 floaters (rear most hard mounted, middlle and front floaters). If I go the floater route I have a feeling Ill end up over torquing the springs and end up with the same as hard mounting them anyways and I think a large chunk of it is going to come down to cost, I still dont know how much those springs would cost and Im on a small budget.

Long story short floaters have pros and cons and Im still undecided.

*edit* Think you may have cracked part of the problem with frames cracking due to solid mounts, you have no spacers (just empty air) something I noticed in Fords recomendations is taperd vs straight spacers to allow frame flexing. Maybe John can spread some more light but Im begining to wonder if the frame cracking is more due to the spacers not allowing enough flex vs the mounts.

 

[John Deere]

Have never used spacers except to set the bed height during assembly, once it was mounted the spacers were removed. The only places the bed has contact with the frame is at the mounts.

As stated this mounting is designed to allow for the puckup to go through a twist and not put anymore stress on the frame or body components than if the pickup still had its box on it. The major difference is a box twists with the frame, a flatbed is so rigid that it does not flex, putting the frames flex into just a few areas instead of over the entire length of the pickup frame.

That said most flatbeds are mounted solid, and that works for 99% of people, I just showed an alternative for those of us that the old way no longer works for.

 

[CaptBuffalo]

Rather than start my own thread, i'd thought that i would bump this older thread. Do you guys have any updates as to how the bed mounting went, and any issues discovered?
Also, info on the springs?

I have a flat bed i am going to mount soon and i like the idea of not breaking my frame. And i have gotten myself into situations of extreme flexing (getting stuck in sand, with two open diffs)