Rebuilding the Fuso Szulc part 1

The way the camper box was attached to the chassis of the Mitsubishi Fuso FG was rigid in the front with U-bolts and with a pivot in the back.

This allowed the chassis to be flexible, as Mitsubishi designs it.
The frame of the truck could bend to the left and the right, while thanks to the pivot, the camper box remained in the position as the front of the truck was.

However, there is a problem with this way of attaching a camper box to a truck frame.
It works very well with larger trucks like a Unimog.
Who don’t have such a flexible frame like a Mitsubishi Fuso FG.

What can happen when the above-described mounting system is used is that the camper box enforces the flexing of the chassis.
Make it even bend more.

This has been happening with the Fuso Szulc.
After two years of use the chassis was deformed.
In such a way that one front corner of the truck was several inches lower.
If nothing were done, at one point the chassis would break.

Mitsubishi was faced with this situation, and Ron Lucero, manager of Kearny Mesa Mitsubishi Truck Centre did extensive research.
Talked to several experts to find the perfect solution.

Which has become to mount the camper box on the Mitsubishi Fuso FG in a rigid way.
A sub frame is put on the chassis of the Fuso FG and the camper box is attached to it.
Now the flexing needed to drive off road will be done by the suspension.

Step one of this process was to bring the Fuso Szulc to a special place where they can straighten out a chassis.
With chains and hydraulic power the chassis was pulled back into its original shape.
Then it was sandblasted and primed.

Now we are in the stage of building the sub frame.
A small company called Ferguson Truck Body & Equipment in El Cajon, California does this.
Eric Ferguson is an expert for off road vehicles and putting cargo-bodies on trucks.

The width of a Ford F-450 chassis

The width of a Mitsubishi Fuso FG chassis

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