Revisit bobbing the bed

After watching the 2006 FE video.... several times now, I can't help but think bobbing the bed is probably a good idea. I read through Hammer's thread and thought that was a bit extreme.

It bothered me to watch the winch bumpers and rear bumpers of a couple trucks get grounded, while the modified trucks looked great and had no trouble.

I'm swapping axles and drive tranes to give me a better road truck with the intension of using it to haul big loads, pull a trailer, and get out on the trails and have fun. I don't have the experience in this truck or on these trails, so I need help from you seven-one-fivers.

Maybe Pabst, 40Grit, SoCal have an idea as to the trails here on the West coast and into Moab country demand increasing entrance and exit clearance. If they do, I will save my bed for my future stock version and find a rotted one to hack up.

Aren't you doing a spring over? That will add a corresponding increase in bumper clearance and I would imagine just guessing at least 5-10 degrees in approach/departure angle.

I don't think the video showed it, but the rock face that both Doug and Joe had to tow me off of bent my front pipe bumper the first time I tried approaching it. I now have a stock type bumper which is where it is supposed to be instead of sticking out an extra 10 inches.

Matter of fact, all the bumpers that hit were non stock ones. Will with his Road Warrior tube bumper, Joe with his custom electric winch bumper and me with drill pipe.

I just went and measured the approach and departure angles of my truck. Now mine has a spring-over lift, front winch and 1100R16 tires. It measured to be: 45 degree approach and 38 degree departure. I estimated that the departure would be between 55-60 degrees if I it was cut 6" behind the rear springs.
As a comparison, my M37 stock, WOW sitting on NDT's was 45 degree approach and 35 degree departure.
Hope it helps.

The stock truck is listed at 45 degrees approach and 25 degrees departure angle...without winch of course.

Hey man, stop in for a beer and look over my bob-job. I went 17" which is about as short as you can get before interfering with the shackle if you keep the taillight outriggers.

Um, I got tired of wiping off the bigger M151 (or whatever) style taillights and it's kinda annoying to drag the rear end on stuff - that's what prompted the bob. It was pretty simple, taking about a day and a half, start to finish - a little longer if you do the body work to make the side seams disappear. I was able to splice the bed floor just right so there's no seam going across at that point and it looks nicer that way.

My problem now is that I'm looking to a spring swap and I don't have much room to grow toward the rear. I may be limited to the 56" GM type. Gonna see today what the Trona J-yards have hidden.

Chris

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Originally Posted by LuckyPabst

My problem now is that I'm looking to a spring swap and I don't have much room to grow toward the rear. I may be limited to the 56" GM type. Gonna see today what the Trona J-yards have hidden.

Chris

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Hey, I expect a report on the Trona J-yards. I'm looking for a tailgate and doors that I can cut up like Tims. I also could use a power steering box.

I found 2 divorced 205's, both probably need bearings but otherwise spin fine. Um, there was a 70's Cherokee for the steering box and pitman arm you'll need. Oh yea, the Chero is good for donor doors also! It's easy to remove the framework so they look just like 715 doors.

I can give you the guys number but he likes to talk (I was there for like 2 hours + and only looked around for about 20 minutes). He seemed to be old school Trona, not like the current generation that's ruining that town. Let me know if you're interested in one of the T-cases because I may try to sell them on here if I can get a good idea of the bearing condition. Also beware the locals - meth sores, tweaker teeth, and unwanted (stomach turning) sexual advances.

Chris

I like the 205, I currently have a married 208 to the TH400. I would love a 205 and have to talk with you. great finds!!

Pretty sure I also saw a married 205, married to something but didn't pay much attention to it. Tomorrow may be the only time I have to run out there again for a while. I just don't want to make another 90 mile round trip so soon.

Shoot, my camera is in Ventura Co. right now. Hmmm. Gotta think on it a bit more.

Chris

Yeah, I chopped mine all the way back as close to the shackle mount as I could, and still make a bumper for it. I really liked the look of it.
It would definitely have issues with longer leaves, but I was going to go with coils, so I didn't care about that part really.
The body work is really easy, and cutting the floor gave me enough room to have a patch over the rusted out part of the bed floor.
And there was still a good amount of bed space left after chopping it. I was kinda surprised by that part.

I loved the departure angle I got from the bob. But for most people, just taking off about half what I did would make a worthwhile difference.

pics?? i amwanting to bob my bed too

Here are a couple pictures of mine, and what he was saying was too extreme for his tastes.

http://froadin.com/images/m715/m715_bob.jpg

http://froadin.com/images/m715/M7_trailer1.jpg

I don't know what you are talking about....

nothing extreme with that truck!!

Haha, nothing at all ;)

It wasn't too bad with the 44" tires, but it got crazy looking with the big tires.

Here's the only pic I have on hand of mine:

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y21...t/P1010128.jpg

It's a little shorter than Hammer's - I had to cut into the little triangular fender gussets. And instead of cutting straight across, I staggered the cut across the bed floor, maybe 2" farther back so it overlaps the same as stock on the rear bed structure. Also because the frame tapers at the end I had to make a new rear frame crossmember from 5" channel because the original 4" wide piece wouldn't work.

Chris

That looks like how I had originally intended to cut mine. I was going to take the vertical bracing, and run it all the way up to the fender flare. But I didn't know how I was going to trim for the big tires, so I never ended up doing that.

Btw, you ever drag those lights on anything? They look pretty exposed like that.