Thinking about adding a roll back bed to my '59 IH 2 ton..(yeah, I know..not a Ford, lol..but the IH forums I am on pretty much only deal with Scouts and I figure the same stuff would apply to similar Fords too..). This would be strictly for personal hauling stuff, and I have absolutely zero desire to do any kind of commercial hauling period, whether it's in a '59 or a brand new truck, lol. I have a Suzuki Samurai based rock crawler that would nice to haul without a trailer, and occasionally drag home and drag out other projects or parts cars that are....fun..to get on a trailer when they're not easily rolled..like cars that need to go to scrap that are missing axles or half the frame...

That said, I've been having some difficulty in figuring out what's needed frame length wise to do something like this. My current cab to axle center is 102-103", with a total frame length behind the cab of 152". I've seen a couple references to a 17' bed needing a 108" cab to axle, 19' needing a 120" cab to axle, but nothing on total frame length.

Not knowing how rollback frames are set up...do I need to be concerned about frame behind the axle? I get that the cab to axle measurement has to do with balance and weight distribution, in that you don't want a ton of weight behind the axle. If I were to put a 19' bed on it, and being aware of the weight distribution, is it really a big issue if the cab to axle comes up a bit short if I can still maintain more weight ahead of the axle? Or are there other issues I'm not thinking of, like maybe a leverage issue when pulling the load up?

 

I didn't watch this whole thing because....

But it appears the rollback has it's own subframe that has to be mounted on your frame. So your aft of axle frame measurment will depend on the equipment itself.

Go look at some and take a tape measure.

 

Just added a flat tray to my old Kenworth,down here we have a 60% maximum overhang of the wheelbase,.I would imagine it something similar there.

 

I can get some measurements off my Rollback tomorrow. I have a 21ft bed with a wheel lift. The framework for the rollback and wheel lift are welded to the back of the truck frame, than brakets for the tilt cylinders and some other parts.

 

About 144” back of cab to center of drive axle. About 32” from drive axle to back of frame. Heres a couple pics of what’s actually mounted to the frame. A weld at the back. The front stuff is all bolted. I added the tabs with the bolt through it. Will swap the bolt for a hitch pin. But did that so I can use the wheel lift without a vehicle on the bed.