Frame Twist Off Road?

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GTGallop

GTGallop

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Here..... Let me clear this up for you all. See any Flexing??? It aint no Tacoma, zero damage. No contact between bed and cab.
Don't kid yourself... there is flexing. It's great to be "brand loyal"... but be realistic. If there was no flexing your truck would weigh 10 tons.
Don't be Daft.... Obviously Captn there will be. However, I have provided a real world experience vs theory. The flex is acceptable and nothing like the Trucks of old.
You said "See any flexing"... mic drop
Gent's - Let me see if I can clear this up. My question was a comparison of the relatively loose and floppy trucks of the 70s and 80s to the trucks of today. Trucks from 40 years ago had enough space between cab and bed to stick a tennis ball back there - And there are still occasions where bed and cab banged together or knocked into each other. The spirit of the question was about our trucks flexing and by how much? Do they flex like the old trucks of yesteryear?

The answer is No.
Sure they flex some. Even a Convertible Sports Car has more body flex than a coupe. The point I took away from Stangman was that even under extreme angles with the heavy end of the truck suspended in the air, the amount of flex is imperceptible with out being there, getting up close, and measuring with instruments.

SM and HM - Thanks for contributing to the discussion an furthering my knowledge it was a nebulous question at best and answered quickly with real world examples followed by clarifying debate that really gave me a solid understanding. Thank you both.
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HenryMac

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.... (until you go back 100 years to model a frames, etc which are stronger than even most big rig frames made today).
AA Model trucks were pretty hefty, sure. But not Model A pick up frames. They are identical to the car frames and are so light weight that 2 guys can pick a bare frame up and twist it. Been there, done that.

Boxing the frame helped... but it's still really flexible.

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You said "See any flexing"... mic drop
Well did you? I was there and looked at it first hand before I pulled it out. Yes of course it there was a tiny weenie bit of flex. However did I measure it with a set of Micro-calipers? Obviously not because it was irrelevant and negligible. Not worth the worry. Most pavement princess at stock ride height need not be to concerned as they only drive through mall parking lots. But yet again I thought we would go down the path of cutting the crash bars out and how we ruined our warranties and frames. BAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWAAAAAAA!!! Drop that Mic
 

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Not flexed like Stangman, but on an RTI and no noticeable bed / cab flex.
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[/QUOTE

Hey nice color! Not that I biased in anyway, lol. I agree the frames are fairly solid, not like my old Tacoma. I've been 3 wheeling in the Ranger more times than I can count now off road. Something I had to become accustomed to.
 

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These trucks are incredibly rigid. I don't doubt there is flex, but from what I've seen of these things running obstacles on the trail, it's minute. Pretty impressive.

I read some time back that, even while our truck is based off the Asian/Australian market Ranger, Americans' tolerance for NVH is way less than foreign buyers will put up with, thus our frame features the aforementioned improvements.
 


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I am sure there is some degree of flex, however I have not noticed it yet

I regularly go off-roading or camping about once a month, and depending on the trip I have anywhere from 700-1200 lbs in the truck (enough to need air bags, see my other posts) and do not have any flexing issues
 

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FWIW: I put a dial indicator on my truck to check the movement between the bed and the cab...

But I didn't bury it on it's side in a "sippy hole" to check for movement :wink:

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Big Troy

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Never really thought of gauging the bed off-road. I do know that when I get a little bit off camber it pops my gas filler door open...
 

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FWIW: I put a dial indicator on my truck to check the movement between the bed and the cab...

But I didn't bury it on it's side in a "sippy hole" to check for movement :wink:

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Your quote: ( But I didn't bury it on it's side in a "sippy hole" to check for movement )

Bawaa you mad bro? Didn't mean to easily offend you with posting a pic of my Ranger in a real world situation. I think someone's a little intimidated with that fine specimen of a Ranger on it's side. I often forget how "sensitive" people can be sometimes.

The fact you spent the time to put a dial indicator on this just tickles me pink inside, lol. However, you should have went with a more sensitive indicator so you could show more movement on that gentle slope you have there. I would highly recommend the .001mm increment range next time. I have a ton of these dial indicators from when I worked Robotics with DNS Electronics (Screen). Had to use these constantly to complete our mechanical setup references after a crash and parts replacements. So the average person who doesn't know how to utilize these dial indictors would think..... Wow that's a lot of movement, when in fact it's not.

Hunting season is here, so I'll be certain to pop one of these and the base in my Ranger to repeat the process for you in a more drastic "ZIPPY hole" ???. I must say great photos you have there to reflect the amount of deflection that I find is.... well just irrelevant under light off road use or just crawling over mall humps. Kudos to you Sir.
 

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Never really thought of gauging the bed off-road. I do know that when I get a little bit off camber it pops my gas filler door open...
Big Troy..... Your Ranger photo makes me feel.... Well Ford Brand Loyalty..... Ford tough baby, now that's how you dirty up a Ranger!!!
 
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FWIW: I put a dial indicator on my truck to check the movement between the bed and the cab...

But I didn't bury it on it's side in a "sippy hole" to check for movement :wink:

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Three to seven hundredths of an inch? Am I reading that right?
That's negligible at best. The fact that the amount of flex requires NASA instruments to be noticed is amazing.

I'll bet my Ford Fusion had more body flex when I took it off road.
 

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Three to seven hundredths of an inch? Am I reading that right?
That's negligible at best. The fact that the amount of flex requires NASA instruments to be noticed is amazing.

I'll bet my Ford Fusion had more body flex when I took it off road.
Yep. A little over 1/16" in the one case, and about 1/32" on the other.

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HenryMac

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Your quote: ( But I didn't bury it on it's side in a "sippy hole" to check for movement )

Bawaa you mad bro? Didn't mean to easily offend you with posting a pic of my Ranger in a real world situation. I think someone's a little intimidated with that fine specimen of a Ranger on it's side. I often forget how "sensitive" people can be sometimes.

The fact you spent the time to put a dial indicator on this just tickles me pink inside, lol. However, you should have went with a more sensitive indicator so you could show more movement on that gentle slope you have there. I would highly recommend the .001mm increment range next time. I have a ton of these dial indicators from when I worked Robotics with DNS Electronics (Screen). Had to use these constantly to complete our mechanical setup references after a crash and parts replacements. So the average person who doesn't know how to utilize these dial indictors would think..... Wow that's a lot of movement, when in fact it's not.

Hunting season is here, so I'll be certain to pop one of these and the base in my Ranger to repeat the process for you in a more drastic "ZIPPY hole" ???. I must say great photos you have there to reflect the amount of deflection that I find is.... well just irrelevant under light off road use or just crawling over mall humps. Kudos to you Sir.
I actually talked about using the dial indicator on the second post of this thread.

Actual data trumps speculation... so I felt it was worth 10 minutes of my time to put some actual numerical data into the conversation.

Flexible Flyer... A dial indicator attached to the bed, and indicating against the cab, with a go pro recording would be interesting.
 
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It’s amazing the lengths you guys will go to find problems that don’t exist.
 

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Saw this on the 2019+ Ford Ranger Club USA Facebook site..

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