Quote:
Originally Posted by elhigh
Is your F-150 4x4? If not, maybe you could lower it a fuzz, add an airdam to get the wind out from under the truck, smooth things up a bit? Make it easy to remove for when the snow flies. And check out Aerohead's stuff with aerodynamic caps. Certainly there must be some way to make an aero cap to cover the bed, that would be easy to remove or fold or something for when you've got the bed full.
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I'm working on a couple designs like this that would fit my needs. I wouldn't have got the pickup after all if I wasn't going to USE it.
For the aero cap, I was thinking something like a two part cap cut diagonally from a front corner back to the opposite rear corner and pressure fit it in with a wheel and a lever in the middle. Then when you want to take it out, you just drop the tailgate, move the lever over about 60 degrees, making it longer instead of wider, and just lift it off. The three problems I have with this is 1) the quick release mechanism would take up most of the interior space, so I wouldn't be able to use it while hauling much of anything. Not ideal, but could probably be resolved with a little work. 2) it wouldn't be modular or foldable, so it would require more room than I and most other people would probably have to store while not in use. This would be compounded by the first problem, since it would be not in use more often. I'm currently at a loss, how to handle this. 3) it'd have to be light to allow you to lift the whole thing off in one piece, which would probably mean carbon fibre or some such. If it were modular, this wouldn't be such a problem, but that would also make it require more time to remove. I'd prefer to make it out of wood, since that's really the only thing I know how to work with, but I know that's not a good excuse.
The other project I'd like to make is less ambitious. It's a half toneau/motorcycle ramp. I'd like it to be two pieces that could be connected long ways to work as a ramp, or short ways for the half toneau. Simple enough as soon as I figure out how to connect them while functioning as a ramp and be able to support my 350# bike. I'd also like to shape the pieces so that one could still be used while the motorcycle is loaded in the back, but this may prove to be impossible, since the bike is too long for me to close the tailgate. Maybe the other peice could be a down peice to function as a make shift gate.
Sorry for the long post. I had a lot to put out there. Suggestions welcome.