Originally Posted by CapelConcepts

I have a question regarding frame flex though. In the off-road/desert racing side of things we’ll full cage a truck to make it more ridged, get rid of frame flex, and increase the effectiveness of the suspension. I was wondering if you had considered go this route…with the a structure solid mounted to the frame and the suspension doing the flexing. I haven’t seen any large trucks doing this and I was wondering why. Is it because to get the spring rate they need, to carry the large loads, the spring they use don’t really move? Or if they do move, does the truck get a ton of body roll?

Hi,
thanks for the great question, it’s something I was trying to figure out as well.

There’s a couple of key points that I think lead to the answer:

1 – This truck has solid axles both front and rear, and leaf springs up front while the rear is exclusively airbags. So you don’t get a whole lot of articulation on a truck of this size. Nothing like my Jeep. Which means when you go over something with one wheel, the entire axle is going to want to tilt.

2 – The wheel base is 250″, and the basic design is still two frame rails spaced fairly narrowly apart. You would need a VERY substantial cage to try to stiffen that up to stop the twist.

3 – The big problem with using the camper box as that ‘cage’ is that it tranfers all the stresses of the twist into the body, which does not do well on more fragile parts like windows and furniture. That’s the whole basis of the dynamic body mount, which allows the frame to do what it needs to do, while isolating the camper body.

There’s been a lot of talk about this topic on the forum, with some very helpful thoughts and ideas from people like: joaquimsuave, robthebrit, chip haven and charlie aarons. Do a search around and you’ll find some great info!