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Truck Cargo Box Fold Down Side Storage Access Mod - Finally Begins


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#1 ckent323

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Posted 28 June 2018 - 02:48 AM

Last year I found an experienced body man who was willing to take on modification of a spare cargo box I have for my 1993 Dodge Ram W250 Club Cab Long Bed.

 

I commented on my plans here (see comment #13):  

 

http://www.wanderthe...323#entry179899

 

 

The general plans and pictures of initial progress to create wheel well storage areas and fold down bed sides to access the storage are in my gallery here (several of the pictures were too big to attach to this post).

 

http://www.wanderthe...age-access-mod/

 

 


Edited by ckent323, 28 June 2018 - 08:26 PM.

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1993 Dodge Cummins W-250 Club Cab long bed, 2007 FWC Keystone


#2 DavidGraves

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Posted 28 June 2018 - 04:47 AM

Wow

 

Very exciting that you got it started !

 

It is the most direct way to all that valuable storage lost on most of our trucks.

 

Best luck moving forward with it.

 

David Graves


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#3 CougarCouple

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Posted 28 June 2018 - 11:00 AM

Hi ckent323
That looks cool, should end up with a lot of usable space that's easy to access.

Russ
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#4 Cayuse

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Posted 28 June 2018 - 02:28 PM

Looks amazing!  Looking forward to seeing how it all works out.  Would love to have additional space.


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#5 Vic Harder

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Posted 28 June 2018 - 03:31 PM

Love this idea.   Just thinking out loud, but in terms of effort/cost, would it not make sense to remove the box entirely and build something like it out of alum?  All that cutting/welding is going to take time.  I love the whole idea, because it is NOT a flatbed, but a "camper on frame" with custom built storage.  


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#6 cwdtmmrs

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Posted 28 June 2018 - 03:48 PM

Very clever and clean idea! The only problem I have with more storage is that I carry more "stuff" that I don't need! :)
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#7 ckent323

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Posted 28 June 2018 - 08:14 PM

Vic, et al,

 

The idea is to create a space to get the tools, leveling blocks, firewood, spare fuel, spare oil, shovel, axe, extension cords, roll up table, screen tent for the table, and whatever else I can get out of the camper and out of the way.   

 

I am going for a clean look on the outside so that the fold down panel will not be obvious and the whole job will look factory instead of looking like a work truck.  We shall see how close I get.

 

I love the idea of utility cargo beds but they look clunky and they are very heavy.  I stumbled across a couple of consumer aftermarket cargo beds a couple of years ago that had contours to match the OEM vehicle contours and shape but those companies had already stopped making the beds for one reason or another by the time I found them (or they do not make them for Dodge trucks).  The only way to do this now is custom.

 

Cutting the metal is easy.  Cutting the metal straight and in the right place takes some skill. The guy doing most of the work is very experienced and skilled at the welding and the metal shaping.  I am helping him and overseeing his work but I am mostly his go-fer in between making real time decisions on tricky cuts and shapes.  

 

Cost may not be too bad.  He took this on as fill in work so he gives me an hour or two a day while he is waiting for a paint job to dry or whatever.

 

So far it seems to me that building a bed from scratch would probably be much more expensive.  There are lots of little hidden pieces of various shapes in these beds that that make them rigid and which we do not have to make but which one would have to make if building from scratch.

 

I am making an effort to assemble a sequential photo history of the build in case someone else has interest in doing this or something similar.  I need to figure out a better process of getting the photos moved from my iphone to the computer and then saving them in the right format and file size (I do not have any photo editing software and have been using powerpoint and Adobe Acrobat to cut and paste, save and convert images.  I can get the job done but it is not efficient.

Cost may not be too bad.  He took this on as fill in work so he gives me an hour or two a day while he is waiting for a paint job to dry or whatever.


Edited by ckent323, 28 June 2018 - 08:30 PM.

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1993 Dodge Cummins W-250 Club Cab long bed, 2007 FWC Keystone


#8 DavidGraves

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Posted 28 June 2018 - 10:26 PM

Are you thinking of fold down door or fold up door ?

 

I am a little surprised you decided to trim head of wheel wells.

 

Your carboard mockup shows that you are really going to gain a lot of storage....

 

Are you going to a through bolt method to attach camper to bed ?....I did and it is working out very well....very simple to acomplish with my Chevy....through bolted to frame itself.

 

Rock on with the project.

 

David Graves   


Edited by DavidGraves, 28 June 2018 - 10:27 PM.

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#9 ckent323

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Posted 29 June 2018 - 12:54 AM

David,

 

The cargo bed I am modifying is off of a 1993 Dodge Ram it is identical (pre-modification) to the cargo bed on my truck so it already has the mounting features to attach it directly in place to my truck frame once I remove the original cargo box.

 

The side panel on both sides (driver and passenger) will fold down not up (i.e hinge line is on the bottom).   I plan to use appropriately sized gas struts to support the fold down panels.  The gas struts should also help hold it closed.  I want a concealed latch but have not worked out the details yet.

 

I measured the travel of the rear axle and then decided where to cut down the wheel wells.  There remains at least 10" of clearance between the top of the tire and the bottom of the cut down wheel well.  The cab and cargo bed of this model truck are raised pretty high on the W250/W350 (4WD) models.

 

I am trying to keep the appearance of the outside of the cargo bed as close to stock as I can so that the storage area as well as access to the storage will be somewhat concealed.

 

In the end this is a one off experiment and there will undoubtedly be things to learn along the way as well as do differently if another one is ever made (there are still a lot of these 1st generation Dodge Diesel pickups on the road in the West.  I still see them pretty regularly so perhaps others will try this if this works out satisfactorily.


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1993 Dodge Cummins W-250 Club Cab long bed, 2007 FWC Keystone


#10 DavidGraves

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Posted 29 June 2018 - 03:52 AM

Howdy

 

A friend who is a body man extroidinaire uses the very thin little 4 " grinder discs for all his cutting....width of kerf is around 1/16 ".

I am glad you got it started.

 

David Graves


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