M818....I'm trying a new way to put a bed on it...

Ok.....so I want to keep the tractor capabillity of my M818 but want a bed on it for sum tasks.....in other words "quik change"!
I'm thinking king-pin on the bottom of the bed to engage in the fifthwheel and two pins on each rear corner to slide it in to.....oh and some forklift slots to make R&R easier!

Has anyone done that, or something like that before?

Let me know what you guys think.....

Soni

I think it sounds great!

Maddawg308 is selling the adapter plate you would need to attach to the bottom of a deuce bed here ---> 5th wheel adapters for semi trailers - $75 ea - Steel Soldiers::Military Vehicles Supersite

Also....fyi....he lives 1 mile from my house, and if you wanted one & a couple of the MRAP seats, we could combine them & save you a lot on shipping I only have 13 left right now....

Thanks

Daniel

I thought of doing the same thing with my GMC astro semi truck. I didn't have the time to do the project so I unbolted my fith wheel and put on a flatbed. Allways thought it would be a really sweet acessory. Good luck and post some pics when it's done.

They make 5th wheel wrecker booms that do exactly that and hold a lot more weight, so it should work well. They attach them with chain binders.

Genset trailer converted to a fifth wheel dolly?

when i worked at the quarry, he had dump truck that would come in, he had both 5th wheel and dump , he would raise the bed, put some jack pipes in some brackets in the Conners, lower down on to the jacks, secure the cylinder, pull the hinge and lower cylinder pins, undo the quick disconnect hyd. hose, drive way. reverse the process to install, he could do the change in about 20 minutos

M920 said:

Ok.....so I want to keep the tractor capabillity of my M818 but want a bed on it for sum tasks.....in other words "quik change"!
I'm thinking king-pin on the bottom of the bed to engage in the fifthwheel and two pins on each rear corner to slide it in to.....oh and some forklift slots to make R&R easier!

Has anyone done that, or something like that before?

Let me know what you guys think.....

Soni

Click to expand...

The problem you are going to run into is that the height of the fifth wheel will make the bed sit very high unless you are willing to make a tunnel in the bed for the king pin to sit into.

Also, what are you going to use to remove the bed when not needed. I could imagine some type of frame that you back the bedded truck under and then attach to the corners provided that the king pin released with minimal effort.

Ask hammer he has a great idea on this

Just an opinion, I'd build the bed so the frame and cross runners went around the fifthwheel plate and allowed the plate and the floor of the bed to sit flush on one another. Then pin it front and rear. Maybe through the clevis mounts on the rear.

A: 105 bed is a perfect fit for the back of a 818.
B: The 5th wheel itself comes off VERY easy!
C: a 5th wheel pin between the frame rails of the 105 trailer make for a strong setup...
D: a second set of ramp mounted upside down to the 105 frame will brace the rear very well.
E: racheting binders are easy to setup for the front.

Basically, if you have big super singles, you NEED the extra height from a bed on top the 5th wheel. If you have stock-ish tires, then taking the 5th wheel off first makes more sense.

MY plan.
I have a spare 105 bed. I will take out the wheel wells and move that metal to the outside to make a STRAIGHT bed out of it.
I was planning on using the 105 frame as the subframe from the bed, and have the bed permanently attached to the frame like the stock bed frame was. Then weld on attachment points to the frame that would go down to the angle mounts for the 5th wheel.

What I haven't finished figuring out, what height I would need to keep those tires from hitting the bed under extreme articulation. I did a little testing, and see that the tires have at LEAST 12" of upward travel. I imagine they will move a bit more, but I didn't have a good cliff to run the truck up
If I need more height, I will either use the 5th wheel setup, or add a frame spacer under the 105 frame. Depending on how much height I need.
I would prefer to do the 5th wheel setup, but I need to find a 5th wheel pin like mentioned above, that is CLOSE to me. Shipping kills any savings on that deal...

Btw, the 105 bed leaves room to leave the stock tool box, spare tire and wiffle tree setup all in tact. Even have enough room for putting fuel in the driver side tank!

Thanks for the input! Here is my plan.....

I figured that the king-pin will be the only thing that locks it on to the truck. As I said I want it to be "quick-release"!

I have a spare 5 ton bed that I'm gona cut down to size, since i want the drop sides.

The fifth-wheel stays on and so do the ramps. I will weld a 1/2 thick steel plate directly to the bottom of the bed between the frame rails. This will have the king-pin mounted to it.
I will add a piece of heavy wall square tubing across the end of the 818's frame rails in the back and fab some forward facing "C" shaped brackets on the back of the bed that will
engage on the cross piece on the 818's frame end.
That way, with my two slots for the forklift on the back of the bed, I can pick up the bed, drive up to the back of the 818 and after lifting it to the correct hight, just push forward with the forklift until the king-pin locks in to the fifthwheel. At this point, the two brackets will have engaged in to the ears at the the rear of the frame and....Bingo!

This will also help the truck frames articulation off road, by having a 3 point suspension between the bed and the frame.

I think it will work great.....I will take pics and keep you guys posted.....

What size tires on the truck? Big super singles will most likely hit on that setup.
But, take pictures so we can see how it works for you! Always interesting to see another setup. Always something to learn from each way of doing it.

ive seem 16.00s on several 813s-814s they didnt look like they would hit .i like the idea

Yeah....I'm running 16.00 R20's on it.....that's why I figured that I could use the extra hight and clearance of the fifthwheel.....I guess I'll find out....Lol

I will definately take lots of pics....

need pics!!!!


Vinny

It's interesting, I've been thinking of the same thing but I don't have the time or the funds right now. I can't wait to see what you are able to do.

(if you could design it so you don't need a forklift, that would be very helpful)

if you don't want to use a forklift you could put a mounting point for a removable jacks like the ones on a exspandable trailer

sorry for thread hijack...but hammer you moved up here now? thought you were in cali?

seems like an easier solution is to buy a deuce and use it. it would add to your motor pool, and give you something else to drive when the need for OD overcomes you

Well, getting a deuce is a good thing, but having one of each, then expanding on that, that is so much better!
Heck, I have a couple stock deuces, bobbed deuce, 818, etc. and I still want to do the bed conversion for my 818 (with a fairly quick change-up to still use my 5th wheel trailers.)

And yes, I am in WA now.

TM, yes they DO hit, just under more articulation.