Chainsaw_Monday
Junior Member
Hello!
After reviewing other posts / ideas of how people were mounting flagpoles, I came up with what worked for me. I'll include as much info as I can regarding parts and work required. I am by no means an engineer of any sort, but I enjoyed problem solving and coming up with what I think is a great solution. Feel free to ask any questions or provide feedback if you have any!
Materials List
----------------
Flag Pole Mount:
2" PVC (White)
1/2" Drill Bit
Heavy Duty Zipties (200lb Tensile Strength)
Felt Tape
Flag Pole:
1" PVC (Dark Grey, for the actual flag pole)
1/2" Drill Bit
5/16" x 3-1/4" Eye Bolt (two)
5/16" x 2-3/8" Interlocking Spring Snap (two)
13mm wrench (to tighten nut onto eye bolt)
Loctite
Sharpie
I started with the flag pole mount. There were two main challenges I wanted to overcome. The first being I didn't want to drill any holes into the truck. The second being, I wanted to retain the functionality of my tonneau cover without having to remove the mount.
I determined I'd use the location near the tailgate, where there is already a lower mounting point (loop) incorporated into the bed, and would use nearby existing holes in the wall of the truck bed for the upper mounting point. In the two images below, you can see where the black zipties utilize these points. In order to run these through the 2" PVC, I used a 1/2" drill bit and eye balled two holes for the lower mounting point, as well as two holes for the upper mounting point. The lower point and upper point are offset from each other, so just eyeball and mark with a Sharpie where you plan on drilling these holes in the PVC.
NOTE: I did NOT actually ziptie anything down / tight until AFTER I'd mocked up the entire setup, including the 1" PVC flagpole inserted into the 2" PVC. I wanted to make sure everything was going to work before fully tightening everything down.
I took the 2" PVC and held it in place, marked a line with a Sharpie. I cut the pipe so that it was JUST shorter than the top of the black truck bed lip, see picture below. This allows me to leave the mount permanently attached, and still be able to close my tonneau cover after I'm done flying a flag. In this picture, also note the black felt tape I decided to use between the top of the 2" PVC pipe and the bed wall, to minimize any chafing over time, as well as possible noise.
At this point I realized that the tighter I pulled the upper ziptie, the more it was going to pull the top of the flag mount toward the back of the truck. I didn't want this, as simple physics told me this was going to try to happen naturally anyway while driving, since the wind and flag would be pulling everything in that direction. To solve this, I decided to chain multiple zipties (white) together, and utilize the lower mounting loop at the FRONT of the truck bed, in order to provide a constant pull on the top of the flag mount toward the front of the truck, thus "locking" the entire assembly into place much better. See picture below. I also ziptied a microfiber cloth around the ziptie that was making slight contact with the wheel well to avoid scratches as well as any vibration noise. Once I was happy with the setup, I drilled an upper and a lower through-hole in the 2" PVC and tightened everything down. The mount is extremely solid.
I then inserted the 1" PVC into the mount and marked the upper and lower drill points with a Sharpie. I drilled the through holes through the 1" PVC that aligned with the mount holes in the 2" PVC. I also used a 3' x 5' flag and marked where I wanted the holes to be drilled for the eye bolts as well. The eye bolts are what I attached the spring snaps to, and the flag attaches to the spring snaps. See pics below. I used a dab of Loctite on each eye bolt to prevent the nuts from working themselves loose over time.
The final product allows me to slide the flag pole into the mount, use 2 zipties (or you could find a 1/2" x 3" threaded rod of some sort if you didn't want to use zipties every time, and run them through the lower and upper holes in order to hold the flag pole tightly to the mount. I'm happy with the outcome, and just wanted to share my personal route with this in hopes that it'll both help and inspire others to take on a similar project!
After reviewing other posts / ideas of how people were mounting flagpoles, I came up with what worked for me. I'll include as much info as I can regarding parts and work required. I am by no means an engineer of any sort, but I enjoyed problem solving and coming up with what I think is a great solution. Feel free to ask any questions or provide feedback if you have any!
Materials List
----------------
Flag Pole Mount:
2" PVC (White)
1/2" Drill Bit
Heavy Duty Zipties (200lb Tensile Strength)
Felt Tape
Flag Pole:
1" PVC (Dark Grey, for the actual flag pole)
1/2" Drill Bit
5/16" x 3-1/4" Eye Bolt (two)
5/16" x 2-3/8" Interlocking Spring Snap (two)
13mm wrench (to tighten nut onto eye bolt)
Loctite
Sharpie
I started with the flag pole mount. There were two main challenges I wanted to overcome. The first being I didn't want to drill any holes into the truck. The second being, I wanted to retain the functionality of my tonneau cover without having to remove the mount.
I determined I'd use the location near the tailgate, where there is already a lower mounting point (loop) incorporated into the bed, and would use nearby existing holes in the wall of the truck bed for the upper mounting point. In the two images below, you can see where the black zipties utilize these points. In order to run these through the 2" PVC, I used a 1/2" drill bit and eye balled two holes for the lower mounting point, as well as two holes for the upper mounting point. The lower point and upper point are offset from each other, so just eyeball and mark with a Sharpie where you plan on drilling these holes in the PVC.
NOTE: I did NOT actually ziptie anything down / tight until AFTER I'd mocked up the entire setup, including the 1" PVC flagpole inserted into the 2" PVC. I wanted to make sure everything was going to work before fully tightening everything down.
I took the 2" PVC and held it in place, marked a line with a Sharpie. I cut the pipe so that it was JUST shorter than the top of the black truck bed lip, see picture below. This allows me to leave the mount permanently attached, and still be able to close my tonneau cover after I'm done flying a flag. In this picture, also note the black felt tape I decided to use between the top of the 2" PVC pipe and the bed wall, to minimize any chafing over time, as well as possible noise.
At this point I realized that the tighter I pulled the upper ziptie, the more it was going to pull the top of the flag mount toward the back of the truck. I didn't want this, as simple physics told me this was going to try to happen naturally anyway while driving, since the wind and flag would be pulling everything in that direction. To solve this, I decided to chain multiple zipties (white) together, and utilize the lower mounting loop at the FRONT of the truck bed, in order to provide a constant pull on the top of the flag mount toward the front of the truck, thus "locking" the entire assembly into place much better. See picture below. I also ziptied a microfiber cloth around the ziptie that was making slight contact with the wheel well to avoid scratches as well as any vibration noise. Once I was happy with the setup, I drilled an upper and a lower through-hole in the 2" PVC and tightened everything down. The mount is extremely solid.
I then inserted the 1" PVC into the mount and marked the upper and lower drill points with a Sharpie. I drilled the through holes through the 1" PVC that aligned with the mount holes in the 2" PVC. I also used a 3' x 5' flag and marked where I wanted the holes to be drilled for the eye bolts as well. The eye bolts are what I attached the spring snaps to, and the flag attaches to the spring snaps. See pics below. I used a dab of Loctite on each eye bolt to prevent the nuts from working themselves loose over time.
The final product allows me to slide the flag pole into the mount, use 2 zipties (or you could find a 1/2" x 3" threaded rod of some sort if you didn't want to use zipties every time, and run them through the lower and upper holes in order to hold the flag pole tightly to the mount. I'm happy with the outcome, and just wanted to share my personal route with this in hopes that it'll both help and inspire others to take on a similar project!
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