[tecknojoe]

I'd like to install the motorcycle restraint pictured below. The options are to get a large piece of plywood to put inside, or drill through the floor. I prefer to mount through the floor so it has a better chance at staying in place if I have a bad wreck.

Are there any negatives, or do's/don'ts when it comes to drilling through the floor? It'll be four pinky sized holes for bolts.

Or if I used a metal plate like below, is there a way to secure it to the van so it can't move?

 

[Moot]

Check out https://www.fleet.ford.com/truckbbas/topics/2015/2015_Transit_BEMM_v1-0.pdf

There is a section devoted to no drill zones. I have two 10' lengths of E-track mounted on top of a plywood sub floor. The E-Track is screwed into the plywood but bolted through the floor about every 12-14 inches.

 

[USMC Vet]

technojo,

Possibly affix plywood to floor using the factory "D" rings and then attach bracket to plywood. Would that do it?

Semper Fi

 

[tecknojoe]

Check out https://www.fleet.ford.com/truckbbas/topics/2015/2015_Transit_BEMM_v1-0.pdf

There is a section devoted to no drill zones. I have two 10' lengths of E-track mounted on top of a plywood sub floor. The E-Track is screwed into the plywood but bolted through the floor about every 12-14 inches.

Great link, thank you. It did no specify any part of the floor as being a no drill zone. My main concern is will it rust later.

technojo,

Possibly affix plywood to floor using the factory "D" rings and then attach bracket to plywood. Would that do it?

Semper Fi

I just looked at the van for a minute. There's a couple spots where I could potentially put an angle bracket at the edge of the plywood and bolt it to the side that way (next to the tie down "D" rings).

 

[Moot]

Great link, thank you. It did no specify any part of the floor as being a no drill zone. My main concern is will it rust later.

Section 5: Body and Paint. Page 135 shows the no drill zones for the gas engine Transits. As for future rust, I used stainless steel bolts, washers and nuts and then sprayed the underside where the bolts are with a rubberized undercoating. I did the same with my last two Chevy vans and no rust problems.

 

[plhalle]

I doubt that this will be any different in your case, but if you want to reference the Ford BEMM here is a link to the August 2015 version:https://www.fleet.ford.com/truckbbas/non-html/2015/Ford_Transit_2015_North_America_BEMM_08_2015.pdf

 

[tecknojoe]

Section 5: Body and Paint. Page 135 shows the no drill zones for the gas engine Transits. As for future rust, I used stainless steel bolts, washers and nuts and then sprayed the underside where the bolts are with a rubberized undercoating. I did the same with my last two Chevy vans and no rust problems.

Oh thanks, I think I found the first no-drill section and assumed that was it. good to know, as I plan on adding a second motorcycle restraint later on

 

[cargovanconversion]

In my previous converted Dodge B-250, a rear sofa was installed by means of a (very) heavy angle iron, that in turn was bolted to and through the floor. So that type of installation is probably the way to go, with all the precautions mentioned in the previous posts.

Van Williams

 

[alarmist]

You can drill wherever you like. What you can't do is drill through the floor and keep going until you hit the gas tank, etc. Forget the no drill zones. Look under where you plan to drill regardless of where it is. Avoid coming through on the edge of the frame sections for one thing. Use a step drill and you will end up with a nice round hole and little chance of unintended perforation. If there is no access from below for a bolt/nut you can use rivnuts/plusnuts. I put a shoe and tie down anchors in the back of my E150 with plusnuts and hauled a liter bike to 100 track days.

 

[rickhoran]

Good advice regarding the step drill or at least a bit with a hard stop. Almost had a bad situation drilling an 8 mm hole through some inside sheet metal using a regular bit. As soon as the bit penetrated the metal it pulled the drill in and I almost went though the outer skin. It was very close and it happened very fast. Take your time, think it through and do it right.

 

[tecknojoe]

Thanks for all the responses. I've eventually found some great ideas without drilling the floor. For now, I'm going to do the below picture with plywood. As soon as I find a metal fabricator, I'm going to do the metal version in the second pic.

 

[orton]

Good advice regarding the step drill or at least a bit with a hard stop. Almost had a bad situation drilling an 8 mm hole through some inside sheet metal using a regular bit. As soon as the bit penetrated the metal it pulled the drill in and I almost went though the outer skin. It was very close and it happened very fast. Take your time, think it through and do it right.

I was taught the same lesson on the first hole I drilled in the inner wall of the Sprinter. Put dimple in outer sheet metal. From then on I put a wood spacer on the drill bit to limit travel.

I put two additional holes in the Transit floor to hold down the floor and 80/20 framework. No problem if you measure to be sure it is clear under the van.

 

[orton]

Thanks for all the responses. I've eventually found some great ideas without drilling the floor. For now, I'm going to do the below picture with plywood. As soon as I find a metal fabricator, I'm going to do the metal version in the second pic.

[/IMG]

Is that floor that thick because they are transporting elephants?

 

[V37]

I was taught the same lesson on the first hole I drilled in the inner wall of the Sprinter. Put dimple in outer sheet metal. From then on I put a wood spacer on the drill bit to limit travel.

I put two additional holes in the Transit floor to hold down the floor and 80/20 framework. No problem if you measure to be sure it is clear under the van.

Did you drill through the boron?

Any opinions about drilling through, and attaching to, boron?

How does your framing work with the "unibody?" For reference,..in my 4x4,...when I engage the 4Hi or 4Lo there is more noise than in a non-unibody vehicle (supposedly because the components cannot be isolated as in non-unibody vehicles),...so I'll add more sound-deadener, to see if that helps. The point being,...this unibody construction seems to behave in non-traditional ways.

BTW....do love that the Transit has so many existing holes,...but for conversion variations,...new ones will have to be drilled.

 

[tecknojoe]

Is that floor that thick because they are transporting elephants?

No, there's 4 screws that attach the metal plate to the wood in the picture. They are about 1.5 inches long, so the second piece of wood is needed to keep the screws from hitting the floor. The screws are specific to the plate because the top portion of the screw is used to hold another mechanism in place, so you can't just swap to a shorter screw. The bottom piece of wood will have a hollowed out section to allow the screws to stick through

 

[lepelch]

Moot can you specify the brand name of the rubberized coating you sprayed your stainless steel bolts and where you purchased it?
If you ever had to remove the bolts would the rubberized coating make that difficult?

 

[alarmist]

No, there's 4 screws that attach the metal plate to the wood in the picture. They are about 1.5 inches long, so the second piece of wood is needed to keep the screws from hitting the floor. The screws are specific to the plate because the top portion of the screw is used to hold another mechanism in place, so you can't just swap to a shorter screw. The bottom piece of wood will have a hollowed out section to allow the screws to stick through

I thought he was making a Cagiva joke.

 

[orton]

Did you drill through the boron?

Any opinions about drilling through, and attaching to, boron?

How does your framing work with the "unibody?" For reference,..in my 4x4,...when I engage the 4Hi or 4Lo there is more noise than in a non-unibody vehicle (supposedly because the components cannot be isolated as in non-unibody vehicles),...so I'll add more sound-deadener, to see if that helps. The point being,...this unibody construction seems to behave in non-traditional ways.

BTW....do love that the Transit has so many existing holes,...but for conversion variations,...new ones will have to be drilled.

The two additional holes I drilled for the floor attachment were 2 1/2" toward drivers side of the van centerline. One hole about 7 1/2" forward of the rear door frame (above spare tire) and the other about 61 1/2" forward of the rear door frame. The floor was not boron steel. Easy to drill.

Did find boron steel above the optional left side sliding door. Tried to drill it to attach my replacement wireway with 1/8" pop rivits. Gave up and put inserts in 3 existing holes. The back wall above the back window indent drilled easily for the Pop rivits.

Lots of the holes in the Transit walls are the correct size for 1/4-20NC prebulbed inserts.

 

[orton]

No, there's 4 screws that attach the metal plate to the wood in the picture. They are about 1.5 inches long, so the second piece of wood is needed to keep the screws from hitting the floor. The screws are specific to the plate because the top portion of the screw is used to hold another mechanism in place, so you can't just swap to a shorter screw. The bottom piece of wood will have a hollowed out section to allow the screws to stick through

I understand. Sorry for the smart a$$ remark. Thought it was someone else's van.

The floor in that area is not hard to drill.

 

[tecknojoe]

It wasn't offensive. Just looking to share knowledge here, it's very common for motorcycle guys to do what's talked about in this thread