I wish for that as well, but the aftermarket is never going to support an additional single seat. The insurance alone would bankrupt any company not named Ford. Would be cool, though.
ha ha. I thought you might say that! ? I am going to figure out a way to make that happen for you.
A few more dollars for panels that allow the mounting of the jack in it's factory location or relocation of the jack is worth it. Different customers won't have to just "make things work".Alright, here's what the truck looks like without the seats installed. Pardon the dirt. This one gets beat on nearly every weekend. First impression, there is a ton of space back here without the seat. This will make for a really great storage area.
Here is where your opinion counts. We have some options to consider while designing this platform.
Would you rather keep the OEM jack in the OEM location or would you rather have the extra platform space and remove the jack?
Would you rather remove the subwoofer or work around it?
Another option would be for us to provide "patch panels" that take up the space for the jack and/or sub if you wanted to remove those (or didn't have the sub), but that will add to the cost. We probably wouldn't be able to make those components optional just due to the way they'll need to attach to the platform. They would just be included with the product and you could choose to use them or not.
What do you think?
Easy enough! I am working on the floor panels now. There are substantial tie down points. It is working out really well. We can also build specific "rails" that could locate the kennels and you could use the tie downs to just hold them vertically. Anything is possible once we know the constraints.
Rest assured our system, that bolts into factory holes, is made out of metal, and designed with intention throughout, will be sturdy enough to hold the expected gear. The photos below are of a very nice Jeep Wrangler 392 that rolled 7 times on the freeway near our shop. It had our cargo system in the rear (same design as we are doing for the Ranger). It had a full 55L Dometic fridge bolted to one of the slides. It survived all of this carnage and we have the slide and fridge sitting in the shop now. I am not knocking home built solutions, but there is an obvious structural difference between plywood and engineered/formed/laser cut steel and aluminum.A few more dollars for panels that allow the mounting of the jack in it's factory location or relocation of the jack is worth it. Different customers won't have to just "make things work".
Likewise, setups change. For now, I'd like the jack in the factory location but, later, I'll probably want to install a better jack somewhere else. Might even keep the factory jack there as a backup.
It's too versatile to ignore.
My main concern with the whole product is it's ability to withstand ratchet straps used properly on cargo track. I'd be massively interested in installing common cargo track, such as that offered by HiLift, which I use in my Land Rover.
Is the plate strong enough to retain, say, a refrigerator (could be a tool box, or anything else that's relatively large and heavy), in a collision or on higher speed washboard roads for hundreds of miles at a time? It's not just stuff in the bed I need to strap down.
The plate pictured is from my Land Rover. It's fitted with flanged threaded inserts to prevent pull-through; but the plywood itself is strong enough to stay dead flat when cranking down on jerry cans.
It recently withstood being nailed at near 60mph when not moving with a bit of medium mass cargo strapped down. Nothing happened back there. The vehicle was destroyed, but the cargo plate survived, and so did everything on it.
That's what my plate looks like for versatile use anywhere in the world with any manner of cargo. The refrigerator mount was the weakest point, but it held through hell. I need something that can take the same kind of beating that thing did. The tracks were solid as a rock on the plywood.
I see you offer numerous threaded holes, and have mentioned they line up with common track hardware spacing. When one doesn't use track, is he meant to thread tie-downs into those locations?
There won't be any moving pieces, so not much of a rattle situation. We will also offer Mil-Spec lining on the main panels that is great for sound deadening.
Terrible that happened, but that's exactly what I needed to see: Some manner of visible test of attachment, durability, and cargo retention. Given that's an absolute worst case scenario, I would certainly imagine the product will be sufficiently built.Rest assured our system, that bolts into factory holes, is made out of metal, and designed with intention throughout, will be sturdy enough to hold the expected gear. The photos below are of a very nice Jeep Wrangler 392 that rolled 7 times on the freeway near our shop. It had our cargo system in the rear (same design as we are doing for the Ranger). It had a full 55L Dometic fridge bolted to one of the slides. It survived all of this carnage and we have the slide and fridge sitting in the shop now. I am not knocking home built solutions, but there is an obvious structural difference between plywood and engineered/formed/laser cut steel and aluminum.
As for the holes we build into the design. Those are meant for attaching things. That could even be additional mounting backets or L-track extrusion. Our pattern is implemented in 1" increments to make it as standard as possible. I'll share more of the grid layout later this evening. I just cut the first iteration of the support rails. After those are finalized, we'll move on to the platform and the attachment pattern will evolve from that.
We also sell these little guys. They "bolt" into the platform using a thumb screw for quick and easy removal. https://americanadventurelab.com/product/bungee-cord-loops/
Oh that would be neat. I've found the vehicle very quiet, compared to what I'm used to, but it would be interesting if it were even quieter.
Agreed! Coming from the Jeep world, this thing is whisper quiet! ? I don't want to change that either. It's soo solid, it won't be an issue, especially with the Mil-Spec option.
