Cross-member for pickup truck box

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9783245-B1
Application number	US-201615337421-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Oct 28, 2016
Priority date	Oct 28, 2016
Publication date	Oct 10, 2017
Grant date	Oct 10, 2017

Abstract

A pickup truck box assembly includes a pair of longitudinal frame rails, an extruded cross-member, and a truck bed. The cross-member has a uniform longitudinal cross-section assembled perpendicular to the rails and defines a rectilinear profile with a front flange extending from a cross-member upper portion on a front side and a rear flange extending from the upper portion on a rear side. The truck bed is secured on top of the flanges and the cross-member upper portion. The cross-member may include a first end adjacent a first wheel well defined by the truck bed and a second end adjacent a second wheel well defined by the truck bed such that the cross-member spans between the wheel wells. The ends may be spaced from their respective wheel wells a distance selected to provide space for a truck box inner panel.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A pickup truck box assembly comprising:
a pair of longitudinal frame rails;
an extruded cross-member having a uniform longitudinal cross-section assembled perpendicular to the rails and defining a rectilinear profile with a first flange extending from a cross-member upper portion on a front side and a second flange extending from the upper portion on a rear side; and
a truck bed secured on top of the flanges and the cross-member upper portion,
wherein an upper portion of the cross-member defines a first fastener hole and a lower portion of the cross-member defines a second fastener hole, and wherein the cross-member is arranged with the truck bed such that a bed hole of the truck bed is in registration with the first fastener hole and the second fastener hole to receive a fastener to facilitate securing the truck bed to the cross-member.

2. The assembly of claim 1 , wherein the cross-member includes a first end adjacent a first wheel well defined by the truck bed, and a second end adjacent a second wheel well defined by the truck bed such that the cross-member spans between the wheel wells.

3. The assembly of claim 2 , wherein the ends are spaced from their respective wheel wells a distance selected to provide space for a truck box inner panel.

4. The assembly of claim 1 , wherein the cross-member further defines an upper surface sized for applying an adhesive thereto for securing the truck bed to the upper surface.

5. The assembly of claim 1 , wherein the cross-member further defines first and second lower flanges extending from a lower portion of the cross-member.

6. The assembly of claim 1 , wherein a lower portion of the cross-member defines a first surface area, and wherein the first flange, the second flange, and the upper portion define a second surface area greater than the first surface area.

7. A pickup truck box assembly comprising:
a pair of frame rails;
a cross-member mounted to the rails and having an upper wall with a top surface having a surface area S 1 and a lower wall with a bottom surface having a surface area S 2 less than half of S 1 , and first and second spaced walls forming a box channel with the upper and lower walls; and
a truck bed mounted to the top surface.

8. The assembly of claim 7 , wherein S 1 is further defined by a pair of opposing upper flanges extending from an upper central portion of the cross-member.

9. The assembly of claim 7 , wherein the cross-member further includes an upper hole in the top surface and a lower hole in the bottom surface, wherein the truck bed includes a bed hole, and wherein the upper hole and the lower hole are in substantial registration with the bed hole for receiving a fastener to secure the cross-member to the truck bed.

10. The assembly of claim 7 , wherein S 2 is further defined by a pair of opposing lower flanges extending from a lower central portion of the cross-member.

11. The assembly of claim 7 , wherein the truck bed defines first and second wheel wells, and wherein the cross-member is arranged with the truck bed such that a first cross-member end is adjacent one of the wheel wells and a second cross-member end is adjacent another of the wheel wells.

12. The assembly of claim 7 , wherein the cross-member is extruded as a single component.

13. The assembly of claim 7 , wherein each of the first and second spaced walls has a thickness greater than a thickness of other portions of the cross-member to provide bolt clamp load strength.

14. A truck box support cross-member comprising:
a lower portion having a bottom surface with a first surface area; and
an upper portion having an adhesive receiving surface with a second surface area greater than the first surface area, wherein the lower portion and the upper portion define aligned fastener receiving holes between a pair of vertical walls having a thickness greater than the other portions and extending between the lower portion and the upper portion.

15. The support cross-member of claim 14 further comprising a pair of opposing upper flanges each extending from a central area of the upper portion.

16. The support cross-member of claim 14 further comprising a pair of opposing lower flanges each extending from a central area of the lower portion.

17. The support cross-member of claim 14 , further comprising:
a top wall further defining the upper portion; and
a bottom wall further defining the lower portion,
wherein the pair of vertical walls are arranged with one another to define a rectilinear box channel and the top wall is wider in a longitudinal direction than the bottom wall.

18. The support cross-member of claim 14 , wherein the cross-member is sized to extend between first and second wheel wells of a truck bed of the truck box.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Marchlewski Jack
• Reiners Robert
• Stojkovic Dragan B
• Hemphill Joshua R

Classifications

• B62D21/03

  transverse members providing body support · CPC title

• B62D27/065

  using screwthread (connection of crossbeam to A- pillars B62D25/147; mounting load bearing surfaces B62D21/09; securing mudguards B62D25/163; connections for synthetic parts B62D29/048) · CPC title

• B62D65/02

  Joining sub-units or components to, or positioning sub-units or components with respect to, body shell or other sub-units or components · CPC title

• B62D33/02 Primary

  Platforms; Open load compartments {(flat wagons including posts or standards B61D3/08)} · CPC title

• B62D27/026

  Connections by glue bonding (in general F16B11/00; processes C09J5/00) · CPC title