I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this, but it seemed most logical to me. I've got a Ford F-150 Flareside truck. It's a short bed, but having the gate down is no problem to me. Right now, we have 4 eye bolts sunk down on the bed. We replaced the original bolts holding the bed to the frame with those and torqued them down nicely. They work great when it's only my bike, but when I tried getting my friends KTM on their with me, it wasn't working, couldn't get enough leverage to hold a bike steady like that. Plus with the flareside bed, it's perfectly straight on all sides, but obviously you've got less room to work with. Two bikes can fit in there, most comfortably with them facing in opposite directions, but I don't know what to tie off too. They're is nothing on the sides of the bed to tie down to or on the bed rails. I have a snap down tarp that I leave on, and it has aluminum railing that runs down the bed-rails and underneath there is still nothing. I was wondering if the clamps holding the snap down cover mounts in the front would be strong enough to mount a bike to, just for short trips unless you guys say it's cool. But anyway, I just wanted to know what seemed like a good setup that can be used just as well for 2 bikes as 1. I don't really want to have to mess up the bed with too much drilling, but I will if I have to. What I really don't want to do is have to take off my snap down mounts each time, so that's almost of the question. Anyone have a good plan?
Tie Down Mounts on my truck
- Thread starter jaypro55
- Start date
This seems to be a very common problem. I wouldn't use the clamps to tie off to since they will twist your bed rails and cause damage. I use a 4x8 utility trailer with 2 foot sides so it basicly looks like your truck bed. If I scrunched the bikes together as close as I could with both bikes facing forward I could run straps to the "bedrail" of my trailer and it would work allright. The outboard strap was nearly vertical so it took a lot of tension to do it's job and the bikes weren't secure enough for my liking... but it worked. What I ended up soing was adding (bolting) a piece of 2"x2"x1/4" steel angle iron to the front "rail" of my bed. It is 7 feet long so it sticks out 1.5' on each side. I attach my outboard tie down for each bike to the angle iron, this provides a good angle and good restraint for 2 bikes side by side in a 4 foot wide bed.
Your bikes will fit but you need to get your tie down points farther out. You may consider attaching the steel below your truck to the bottom of your frame rails, like they do with the camper tie downs. It could even be made of a 4x4 piece of wood. Just make sure it is mounted forward of the bikes and can't move.
Your bikes will fit but you need to get your tie down points farther out. You may consider attaching the steel below your truck to the bottom of your frame rails, like they do with the camper tie downs. It could even be made of a 4x4 piece of wood. Just make sure it is mounted forward of the bikes and can't move.
- Thread starter
- #3
Hmm, well you're plan sounds like it would work fine, and would probably be one of the best solutions, but it would involve an awkward looking truck, that would probably take some time to set up if I am picturing it right. What about having mounts drilled into the sides of the bed. And crossing over for each bike,
I have a '00 Dodge and had a similar problem with stock tie down points in the floor. they work great for a single bike but are not wide enough apart to get the right angles for two bikes.
My solution is Ancra tie down points. They are small round brackets that I mounted on the vertical 'side' of the stake pocket. A ring snaps in/out so you don't have the ring hanging out in space when you don't want it. I think White Brothers carries them or you can search on Ancra.
If you do go this route make sure and mount the bases so the ring tang is mounted horizontally. The direction of the applied load tends to pull the ring out of the base if mounted with the slot in a vertical position. These mounts are used in aircraft so it's not a design fault - just an installation/operator error in my case.
Brian
My solution is Ancra tie down points. They are small round brackets that I mounted on the vertical 'side' of the stake pocket. A ring snaps in/out so you don't have the ring hanging out in space when you don't want it. I think White Brothers carries them or you can search on Ancra.
If you do go this route make sure and mount the bases so the ring tang is mounted horizontally. The direction of the applied load tends to pull the ring out of the base if mounted with the slot in a vertical position. These mounts are used in aircraft so it's not a design fault - just an installation/operator error in my case.
Brian
Don't forget that flareside has bedwalls that are 4 feet apart. The outboard tie downs will be vertical with the bedwall mounted rings. Vertical tiedowns offer no resistence to side to side movement so your bikes will fall over. My opinion is it won't work with two bikes and you will just be swiss cheezing your bedwalls. A non flareside fullsize pickup has more like 5.5 to 6' between bedwalls so the angle is less vertical so the bedwall rings will work a bit better. Be warned.
I know this is a little bit different than your application but maybe one of these set in the center of the bed would help. This is my two-bike set-up on the Z71. I also have a 97' F150 Flair side that I only haul one bike with sometimes, I just walked out and looked the bed mount bolts to see what you were talking about, mine has two boat type tether anchors on the sides of the bed wall behind the cab, these are at least 6" further out than the bed mounting bolts. If you don't have these, I would suggest them, mine are stock. Ok, cut two 14" to 16" 2x4's, nail them together, actually 2" less than the distance between your fender mount and your front tire, NOW you have a rigid front end to tie down, so it does not matter if the outside tie-down is vertical or not. Hope this helps. ;)
Good luck,
Good luck,
- Thread starter
- #9
whyzee, I don't have those anchors on the sides of my truck. My dad used to have a 98 F-150 and it had them, but I guess in the older models they didn't come stock. Are you talking about rigging a system on your bikes whyzee that keeps the front suspension from compressing. THat's what I got out of it. I saw those expensive pieces you can buy to keep the front end stiff, and I figured making something like that would be pretty easy. There isn't really a deadline on any of this, I just have to find something that works.
Also highbeam, I figured I could crisscross the die downs to get that side to side stability. Meaning that the bike on the right would be tied down to the left side and vice versa. That would give it a pretty stable feel.
Also highbeam, I figured I could crisscross the die downs to get that side to side stability. Meaning that the bike on the right would be tied down to the left side and vice versa. That would give it a pretty stable feel.
Yes. :silly:
I just measured the distance on my YZ between top of tire to btm of fender... 12", so if two 2x4 blocks 10" nailed together, ... you gotta stiff front end to tie down after two inches is compressed by the tie downs. Result, it won't move in the bed! sell the other 76" left of the 2x4 for a profit and invest! :confused:
Rodzilla
LIFETIME SPONSOR
- Jul 21, 1999
- 615
- 0
Jaypro,
Does your truck have under rails like a standard truck? if so look at this Http://www.prorack.com It works for me.
Or do a search for "bed buddy" it's similar to the prorack but bolts to the front wall of the bed. My bud uses one and it works well. It can be a pain in the rear :moon: to mount so bring a friend and grab a beer to get it done.
Rod
Does your truck have under rails like a standard truck? if so look at this Http://www.prorack.com It works for me.
Or do a search for "bed buddy" it's similar to the prorack but bolts to the front wall of the bed. My bud uses one and it works well. It can be a pain in the rear :moon: to mount so bring a friend and grab a beer to get it done.
Rod
It may be a bit pricey, but what about a sheet of plywood or steel plate in the bed of the truck and mount a couple of ATK bike shoes to it?
You could still tie down the bikes if you felt it necessary, and the shoe would be taking all of the lateral forces.
You could still tie down the bikes if you felt it necessary, and the shoe would be taking all of the lateral forces.
Criss crossing tiedowns is great for one direction only. I agree the bikes wont fall out of the truck but they will fall in towards each other without something pulling them out. A vertical tie down has does not pull the bike outwards toward the bed rail. (only very small bit). It doesn't matter if your suspension compresses or not, you still have no force pulling your bike away from the crisscrossed tie down. You can't push a rope. You must have a force opposite your criss crossed tie down for it to work. Unless you get the outboard tie down at an angle then you will not have lateral stability. I've been there and offered my solution.
The bikeshoe idea may be just the ticket. You're going to have to be creative on this one. Sorry.
The dean of our engineering department back in school said when you are all done with a civil engineering degree you will probably only remember two things.... you can't push a rope and F=MA.
You can't push a rope.
The bikeshoe idea may be just the ticket. You're going to have to be creative on this one. Sorry.
The dean of our engineering department back in school said when you are all done with a civil engineering degree you will probably only remember two things.... you can't push a rope and F=MA.
You can't push a rope.
- Thread starter
- #15
Haha. Well I am thinking about a custon job that would work here. I saw the bike boot and I didn't see the price but I'm guessing it's pretty heft. So I was I thinking this, get a 2x8 board and lay it across the bed horizontally at the front. Then mount too small 2x4s on each side to hold the front wheels in place. That will create some good stability, and the tie downs will suffice to tie it down anywhere.
- Thread starter
- #16
Yzeater gave me the idea I think I'm going to go with. Lay a 4x4" the width of the bed across it at the front and nail a piece of plywood the same width to the back of it. Then either using wood or prefereablly metal brackets of some kind, mount 4 rail type pieces to hold each bike's tire in place. This gives the lateral stablity needed to make the tie downs not so important. It's basically the same system as the ones you can buy, but a lot cheaper surely.
Skid Jackson
Member
- Nov 1, 2000
- 191
- 0
The bike shoe is something like $65 at dennis kirk or chapparel. If you got plenty of time playing around with wood might do it. Otherwise go bike shoe.
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