Ryoken's 89 Crew Cab Tubebed build... aka Mutt....

[Phil513]

that's lookin great!

 

[ryoken]

thanks!



no painting of alum panels...


single latch chopped in....

some of the panels are proving to be a bit more troublesome than I hoped, design/logistics-wise..... the floor will actually be 2 piece..

 

[ryoken]

hmmm, I'm an idjit....




carry on...


installed the fuel fills.. slick...

gonna be fabbing alum panels all weekend.. cool..










but I am an idjit.. I keep talking about having a slide-out gangplank ramp for the kennel at the rocker.. well, that ain't gonna happen....



unless it runs thru the frame!

so.. if you look at a few inches above the frame, full custom floor, etc... it's still up from the edge of the existing floor by about 8" to 10" once the door is open... probably almost a foot... which is fine for kennel room.. dog is more at face/head level talking to, height..

but I need to see how long the gangplank can be door to door, and where that will come out to at on the ground.. at that raised height, if it's feasible.....

which also kinda means, I'd prolly keep the entire floor at that raised height, door to door... stepped down outside the framerails, doesn't make any sense if the ramp needs to be that height..


that certainly would leave HELLA space under the custom floor on each side... maybe a swing down door/compartment on each side.. toys/leashes in one, kibble/chow/pooch joy in the other???

 

[ryoken]

oh, maybe something like this when the door opens up...

gangplank in blue.... door/drawer/bin in green... vertical drop from that upper blue edge...

 

[ryoken]

the gangplank bottom needs to be 8" above the bottom of the door...

 

[runamok151]

That will be fine under the kennel floor. Just make it the width of the interior, door to door. That will be plenty long to give you a decent angle for your dog to run up. My dog can hop up there w/out a ramp, but she's lighter and more agile than a shepherd will be.

 

[Greg72]

the gangplank bottom needs to be 8" above the bottom of the door...

Can't you just put in a c-notch and just "lay frame" when it's time to load the pup?

You could control the air/hydraulic solenoids from a keychain remote. Way more convenient than pulling out a ramp every time!



-G

 

[ryoken]

Mutt, FOB activated...

 

[TREA18]

Can't you just put in a c-notch and just "lay frame" when it's time to load the pup?

You could control the air/hydraulic solenoids from a keychain remote. Way more convenient than pulling out a ramp every time!



-G

This is so funny. I'm thinking about the design of my wheel chair lift in my suburban and how some of that layout could work in this situation. Plus the smart phone ap to operate it all

 

[ryoken]

I just spent some time looking at it... it's not as severe of an issue as I thought.... won't be doing any drawers, etc either... I can actually get away with having the floor be about 6" above the weatherstripping on the door pinch weld...

but after looking at it, I may actually go up higher , to about 10".. for any that know the CC's, or even I think PU's to some extent, there is a flat 4 to 6" area at the very back before the cab wall.. I may work the kennel floor off of that... than step it down at the front divider wall, behind the buckets...


either way, the job is gonna be quite extensive.. basically a full floor like the K5 has... other than maybe the trans tunnel.. maybe...


just kinda coming up with a material list for down the road.. trying to figure out how stout to make the whole floor and what/where kinda bracing I'll be running... I'm favoring stout over concern for weight...


I can see once I put the 6BT in, I'll be redoing that 8600 lb reg that's on it now...

 

[ryoken]

so the tentative idea at this point is 10 gauge for the whole floor... I want it to be a stoopid SOLID foundation for the sheetmetal/kennel......

with appropriate under-bracing obviously.. probably something like a combo of 1.5 square tube and 1" x 3"s..

the whole kennel floor will be that one raised height..... that way Malakai can look out the windows easy... be at head level... the ramp should be plenty long to still get a good run in/out angle... looks like I can get a 12" to 14" wide ramp past the door when open...

than the divider will be a bolt in alum bar'd unit like we discussed earlier... and screw on alum ones over the side windows...


any Cummins swap guys know how tight that setup will get with an nv4500 and my 205 under the trans tunnel? I'm thinking a new tunnel, slightly roomier down below would prolly prove beneficial down the road...

 

[FrostBite]

Have you thought about a collapsible ramp instead of a "solid" plank style? As long as you kept the individual sections around 12" that should fit between the door and the frame if I remember my slider dimensions correctly.

Googling for "folding wheelchair ramp" turned up several good examples, including these sweet ones.

Put one of these on your key fob solenoids with some door poppers so the door auto opened and your dog would have the coolest ride in town.

 

[streetrodchev]

If the gang plank is at too much of an angle, could you rest it on the rocker panel or other support in that area and then the pooch will have a small step up from the plank to the kennel floor?

 

[ryoken]

As long as you kept the individual sections around 12" that should fit between the door and the frame if I remember my slider dimensions correctly.

than it would be "on top of" the floor when stowed, and take away space from the pooch... and I'd have to have one on each side.. keeping the floor that low isn't important.. the dog doesn't need headroom per se.. making the floor flat is more important..


I like the idea of sliding out the gangplank, on either side, depending on where the rig is parked, etc... Mutt being ambidextrous...

keep in mind guys, this is a scenario where the rig will be parked from a 1/2 hr, to all day, with the dog hangin out...

vital that he can come and go as he pleases in/out of the kennel.. it's not just a "lert him out when I get where I gotta go" type deal..


one thing this did bring up in my mind is the rear door opening points... like I mentioned, to slide something out, you have 12" or so to clear the door.. and that is fine... but I wonder about changing/modding the "stops" to the rears.. so they open up further.. than I could make the ramp say, 18" wide or something..


I'll have to look at that tomorrow..

 

[ryoken]

If the gang plank is at too much of an angle, could you rest it on the rocker panel or other support in that area and then the pooch will have a small step up from the plank to the kennel floor?

something like that could work.. not sure how much of an angle dif there would be.... or if it's gonna matter to an agile GSD.. (his own personal training course!!!!)


but you do bring up sumfin I haven't worked out in my head tho is this... how will it stow and be secure once pulled out/down...

my initial thought is have some sort of notch cut in the bottom of the ramp at each end when pushed in, it drops down into the notch when it slides across it.. (not that it'd go far with the doors closed)..

and when extended, it would do the same at the other side... the only thing that's an issue is, freeing up/raising the the other end to get the ramp free initially.. not insurmountable, but would have to be dealt with..

 

[ryoken]

the only thing that's an issue is, freeing up/raising the the other end to get the ramp free initially.. not insurmountable, but would have to be dealt with..

one solution to this would be to notch both ends of the ramp, have a lip for it to catch on either end, just make the ramp a tad short of full width... that way using it out the ds, put it away, slide it up and in till it drops/locks.. just lift and pull each time..

need the other side, lift it up and push it in the 1/2" or so till it hit's the other side, go to the other side, lift and pull out....

 

[runamok151]

How about a folding ramp like this? I have a set and when they're folded up they're right about the height you'd need to make the floor to clear the tunnel.

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200622238_200622238

Use my set to make a template then make a lighter duty set out of aluminum on a break.

 

[ryoken]

neat... it's conceivable to have the floor be lower with that, but I don't think I need to try and be so fancy with it..

moving parts to fail, etc, x2 coin/time, etc... I spend enough money..

as bizarre as it may sound, I DO try to keep things simple.. in some convoluted OCDish way...

tomorrow I'll show you the stack of 8 x 10 color glossys with the arrows and tape and descriptions on the back, to give you an idea of what I'm thinking of before you condemn it.....




and besides,

that's a horrible surface for a dog...

 

[ryoken]

oh, btw.... I never thought I would say this.. but the most valuable tool in the LAB™ these days is, my borrowed table saw from work... gonna be eatin alum squarely all weekend making up panels...

 

[ashman]

As someone who has a big truck and a big dog already, something you should keep in mind is some sort of good traction slope on the edges of the floor near the doors. At least until it gets old, the do WILL jump out (and probably in) before you can get the ramp out. When my dog would do this off of the tail gate he would routinely slip as he jumped and bang his shins. If I would have had some sort of rubber mat or something he could have gotten a clean jump and been fine. Having the edges there sloped or at least rounded would also help make sure a slip or stumble isn't too painful.