From fire truck to MTV

Lostchain said:

That’s a nice looking seat. Where is it from?

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Ford Transit van

If anyone wants the seat plate, I had mine made though oshcut.com for $156 shipped, 3/16 plate a36. Attached are the cad files. This works for the transit seats, but you could use the bolt hole locations for a different plate.

To make diagnosing electrical issues much easier, I rotated some of the wiring TM pages and made them searchable for my specific GenIV trans/A1R combo.

aw113sgte said:

Finished the double seat. I cut a lot of the base bracket off to lower it as much as possible. It ties into the stock m8 holes and also the m6 holes used for the m16 mounts.I'm 6'4" and my head grazes the roof insulation(stock A1R insulation).
Also picked up some square steel tube to lift the shipping container and some weathering steel (corten) to mount it to the chassis.
Currently thinking of just bolting the box straight to the chassis, similar to m1087, the box is way stiffer than the frame.View attachment 909671View attachment 909672View attachment 909673

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For the M1087, the box has 4x rubber isolated bolts on the mount on each corner with quarter turn connector similar to ISO shipping containers. These pictures were sent to me from the owners of the YT famous Bantha M1087FMTV

serpico760 said:

For the M1087, the box has 4x rubber isolated bolts on the mount on each corner with quarter turn connector similar to ISO shipping containers. These pictures were sent to me from the owners of the YT famous Bantha M1087FMTV
View attachment 909735View attachment 909736View attachment 909737

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Interesting, didn't know they had any rubber isolation
Looks like the weight may be supported along the length of the frame as well not just those four points

aw113sgte said:

Interesting, didn't know they had any rubber isolation
Looks like the weight may be supported along the length of the frame as well not just those four points

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I'm sure those nice folks would happily give you more information about that. Just contact them on their Instagram they were prompt to reply to my questions.

So I tried the MWME boots for the alignment rods and they were just far too small to work. I ended up ordering the ones from MTP drivetrain and the boots fit great. They have a slick install tool but for the boots close to the frame the tool is too long. I ended up making a short sleeve and that worked great. Unfortunately the band clamps they sent are just slightly too small, another .5mm diameter would have been perfect (they are 89.5mm) the manufacturer of the clamps doesn't even offer them in that diameter/width (5mm). Seems this was a custom order, which explains why I was only able to install one clamp and broke 5 trying to get them to lock. I have up and just used safety wire and that seemed to work quite well (zip ties I could get enough tension on).

Mounting plates for the box are basically done. 2" angle 3/16" thickness Corten steel.
Painted with rustoleum oil gloss black. Takes a while to dry but seems pretty durable.
The box has 20 c channels I will be tying into. I've decided I will just bolt the frame and box together, with some isolation washers and plastic rub plate. Springs can't take up the amount of flex present and the "isolated mounts" that are trendy I'm not a fan of. Too much height added, lots of uncontrolled movement even with dampers.

Be sure to leave yourself enough room at full suspension articulation so the tires don't try to occupy space in the box. The walking axles will use a surprising amount of their travel. The camera work leaves a little to be desired, but there are several clips where you can see the rear tires above the height of the frame rail on the 1088:

ckouba said:

Be sure to leave yourself enough room at full suspension articulation so the tires don't try to occupy space in the box. The walking axles will use a surprising amount of their travel. The camera work leaves a little to be desired, but there are several clips where you can see the rear tires above the height of the frame rail on the 1088:

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I think I'll be okay, I have the frame doubler unlike that 1088. I will have ~2" of clearance after bump stop contact. If really crossed up it could get close though. Do you have a measumet from top of your tire to the box? Any issues with rubbing?

Boys stole my cribbing to build a fort (will use to lift the shipping container.
Cut out the section needed to clear the transmission.

aw113sgte said:

Mounting plates for the box are basically done. 2" angle 3/16" thickness Corten steel.
Painted with rustoleum oil gloss black. Takes a while to dry but seems pretty durable.
The box has 20 c channels I will be tying into. I've decided I will just bolt the frame and box together, with some isolation washers and plastic rub plate. Springs can't take up the amount of flex present and the "isolated mounts" that are trendy I'm not a fan of. Too much height added, lots of uncontrolled movement even with dampers.

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You need at least a foot from top of tread to the bottom of container

aw113sgte said:

Boys stole my cribbing to build a fort (will use to lift the shipping container.
Cut out the section needed to clear the transmission.View attachment 910152View attachment 910153

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I thought they were playing giant Jenga!

chucky said:

You need at least a foot from top of tread to the bottom of container

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Bump stop is 7.5" away, box will be 8.75" away from tire. I'm going to see what kind of flex I can get under testing once I get some more weight on it. I will have the option to raise the box (but want to avoid that due to cg), I also have significant amount of material I can remove from the bottom of the box in the wheel areas to clearance (about 4" before getting into the insulation). So I'm going to see how it does and go from there but I have some good options IF I need more flex.

aw113sgte said:

Bump stop is 7.5" away, box will be 8.75" away from tire. I'm going to see what kind of flex I can get under testing once I get some more weight on it. I will have the option to raise the box (but want to avoid that due to cg), I also have significant amount of material I can remove from the bottom of the box in the wheel areas to clearance (about 4" before getting into the insulation). So I'm going to see how it does and go from there but I have some good options IF I need more flex.

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So, the bump stop travel of 7.5” only applies if both sides of the axle travel the same 7.5”.

The tires are outside of the bump stops….. If one tire droops to its full extent and the other side is against the bump stop, you now have a lever pushing the high tire further than the bump stop. The bump stop is now the pivot point on that side. Does that make sense?


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ramdough said:

So, the bump stop travel of 7.5” only applies if both sides of the axle travel the same 7.5”.

The tires are outside of the bump stops….. If one tire droops to its full extent and the other side is against the bump stop, you now have a lever pushing the high tire further than the bump stop. The bump stop is now the pivot point on that side. Does that make sense?


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Oh for sure, but I'm going to see where the tires actually end up when crossed up and with the load I have. Then will adjust as needed. With a 5 spring leaf pack I may never flex enough...although spring rates on this bogie suspension aren't as simple a calculation as on the single rear wheel trucks.

Don’t forget most bump stops will squish quite far
This is a different series truck m939, but gives you an idea of how much an empty cargo truck will give. Also I think your trucks have more axle outboard of the bump stops than these, which will allow more up travel when crossed up. A smooth bottom, or no crossmembers for the tire tread to grab is also helpful.

Cut some isolaters for the box to frame interface from HDPE. Hopefully box to be mounted this week.
Removed the air over oil pump and about 8 hydraulic lines I won't need (suspension cylinders, feed and return from aoo pump). Did have some issues with the spare tire cylinder locking up but Ronmar has some great info on how to fix trapped air. I would like to just eliminate the cylinder safety feature though. Moved the ABS controller to the old pump location since I'm planning a cab pass though on the left behind the driver seat

aw113sgte said:

Oh for sure, but I'm going to see where the tires actually end up when crossed up and with the load I have. Then will adjust as needed. With a 5 spring leaf pack I may never flex enough...although spring rates on this bogie suspension aren't as simple a calculation as on the single rear wheel trucks.

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This is me in the desert with the right intermediate tire on a boulder, and the rear tire hanging in the air. Now I didn't have much load in the bed other than a thousand pounds Max

serpico760 said:

This is me in the desert with the right intermediate tire on a boulder, and the rear tire hanging in the air. Now I didn't have much load in the bed other than a thousand pounds Max
View attachment 910420

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The box will be about where that cross rail is in your picture, looks like still a few inches to that beam.