Will Fiero fit in a pick-up truck's bed? (Page 1/1)
007DOUG JAN 20, 07:49 PM
Yes, sort of



Arrived at recycle yard OK

[This message has been edited by 007DOUG (edited 01-20-2023).]

IMSA GT JAN 20, 09:02 PM
Funny and sad at the same time. Funny to see this and wanting to see the look on the faces of the people you passed on the road

Sad because this is the end of an era for you. You provided a ton of amazing parts for the Fiero community so it's sad to see you leave

[This message has been edited by IMSA GT (edited 01-20-2023).]

Notorio JAN 21, 12:00 AM
Please tell us how you got it into the bed without destroying anything ...

And I'd be willing to bet that in the Entire History of the Fiero, this has never been done before. Bravo!

[This message has been edited by Notorio (edited 01-21-2023).]

jim94 JAN 22, 04:05 PM
My go-kart fit in my pickup with tools.
Newbfiero JAN 22, 11:16 PM
Wow 😮 !!
FieroMontreal JAN 23, 07:24 PM
Whoa, those were nice calipers and rotors
007DOUG JAN 23, 10:39 PM

quote
Originally posted by IMSA GT:
Sad because this is the end of an era for you. You provided a ton of amazing parts for the Fiero community so it's sad to see you leave



Thanks, I still check in here monthly, I've been Fieroless for a few years. SAGE is still making the fiberglass parts. I'll see you all at the 40th.

I haven't stripped down a Fiero for at least 15 years. Used to travel 2-3 hours for parts cars back in the day. The supply was running out and I quit chasing them. Took 10 years to sell off the warehouse full of used parts. I was shocked to find this Fiero hiding only a few miles from me....thought I knew every local Fiero. Having sold the heavy truck and trailer years ago I had no way of getting this Fiero to me except tow rope. Had a buddy pull me while I steer/brake.


quote
Originally posted by Notorio:
Please tell us how you got it into the bed without destroying anything ...



Put a heavy pipe in the truss, attached a winch, raised, drove under Fiero. Wasn't sure truss would hold the weight, was confident truck would. I must've measured this 10 times. Thought if I removed doors it would set down between the sidewalls. The axel & wheel studs prevented it, needed a few more inches. Fiero sat perfectly on top bed. No damage at all.

As you see pictured Fiero was 1900 lbs w/engine & auto tranny. Truck is 2001 Chevy 1500 2WD 4.3 V6. I was 300lbs under its GVWR. 18 mile trip at 55mph smooth as rails.

The Fiero was an 85 GT with 66K, incredible interior, no warped parts, bad bad undercarriage damage. Sat 30 years in a storage unit after accident

[This message has been edited by 007DOUG (edited 01-23-2023).]

Notorio JAN 23, 11:58 PM

quote
Originally posted by 007DOUG:

Put a heavy pipe in the truss, attached a winch, raised, drove under Fiero. Wasn't sure truss would hold the weight, was confident truck would. I must've measured this 10 times. Thought if I removed doors it would set down between the sidewalls. The axel & wheel studs prevented it, needed a few more inches. Fiero sat perfectly on top bed. No damage at all ...




You have given me new respect for trusses. BTW, what was your reception at the wrecking yard? This might have been a first for them too.
theogre JAN 24, 11:53 AM
Yah, should had saved brake and other suspension parts. Even if the calipers are "bad" you save them for core to get parts.
Its hard or impossible to get many Fiero parts now. Having "dead" calipers can still help when replace brake hose and have stripped threads.
Example: Dorman and others no longer have valve cover for dukes in recent months.


quote
Originally posted by 007DOUG:
Put a heavy pipe in the truss, attached a winch, raised, drove under Fiero. Wasn't sure truss would hold the weight, ...

You got lucky.
Trusses can and often will fail without warning for heavy loads pulling down the bottom boards.
That's even w/ a big bottom board as shown here.

Trusses are design to take whatever loads at specific points and put heavy load in weird places can cause bad problems. Worse when have snow on the roof because trusses can easily max out snow loads and hit w/ a spot load puts some truss parts way into overload.

And that's assuming "perfect" boards etc. A Board w/ notches and other "defects" can take loads being normal part of a truss but fail supporting spot loads.

------------------
Dr. Ian Malcolm: Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.
(Jurassic Park)

The Ogre's Fiero Cave

Mike in Sydney JAN 24, 05:59 PM
With the amount of weight that was removed from the car (engine, interior, etc.), there was little chance of a truss failure. They are pretty rare and you would get some warning of imminent failure before it happens. You'd have to be a real goose not to hear or see it happening. Plus, the weight of the the car was supported on a pipe that most likely spanned between two trusses. Assuming that the weight of the car was 1200lbs after stripping it and the weight was distributed across 2 trusses, the weight on each truss would have been ~600lbs.

In Wheeling, WV, the building code mandates designing for a 40psf snow load. The trusses appear to be engineered trusses from a truss manufacturer. I expect the design was based on 40psf plus a factor of safety of 2. The bottom chord length doesn't appear to be ridiculously long and the trusses look to be 24" or less on centre so the risk of collapse = pretty low.