farmboyhull

with my bed currently off, i thought it would be nice to have a flatbed, but i don't weld and i can't buy one. anyone ever build a wooden one? i would want to be able to put sides on if needed.

thanks

Hercules

I've never seen one out of all wood. Usually I see them with a metal frame and wooden slats. The sides are usually all wood and removable. I don't see why you couldn't build something that would work. For the most part, your just building a wooden frame. Personally, I'd look into having the frame made out of steel though. I don't know where your from, but, around here there's a guy who makes dump beds. My buddy had him make a bed for his dump truck. I'm sure he could make a metal frame for a flat bed and all you'd have to do is the wood work. The only problem is he'd need the truck. If your not too far from the Pittsburgh PA area, I could ask my friend for his name. Of course, you probably have someone around your area that does the same thing as this guy. I'm just not sure what you'd look under in a phone book to find it.

Dinner

Built this a few years ago when we stopped hauling live stock trailer with the truck. Put this on there so we could carry pallets of seed around, stuff like that when we were into Cash Crop. The main beams (that run along the frame and the ones that go from left side to right side) we soaked with oil before putting on, and then just used pressure treated wood on top. Not perfect, but it worked.



^^That was weight I added during the winter to help with traction. 4 Concrete slabs with the frame built around it..

farmboyhull

that's great! i'm in vermont, so pa is a little out of the question...

i should have been more specific. i guess i was figuring the frame would have to be made out of steel, but i was thinking there was really just 2 rigid pieces running front to back, fastened with the 8 points already there. then i figured i could fasten decking to the top of those with carriage bolts.

any other thoughts?

Dinner

Yea that sounds like it would work. I forget the size of wooden beams we have going from front to back, but they are a good size. Drilled holes where necessary and bolted those to the frame. Screwed down the beams that run from side to side to those 2 main beams. Once that was done we used that inter-locking pressure treated decking stuff and screwed that down on every beam. It's lasted a good 4 or so years now.

farmboyhull

another couple questions -

is there a rule of thumb for a national law/standard for a truck bed size? dinner. i notice you're in canada and have a dually, but perhaps someone knows for the states?

secondly, how about a rule of thumb for how high to have this deck above the rear tires for clearance? i don't think my truck is lifted ( i got it used) but it seems like the wheel wells are HUGE. there is a ton of room above each stock tire. dinner, your deck seems much closer to your rear tires.

thanks

lobes1985

the widest you can go is 8ft, the length really depends on wheelbase

Dinner

I'm not too sure what the laws/rules, etc are in the U.S. We have never had a problem with the tires rubbing the bed before. Even pulling a tandem axle trailer filled with scrap. I suppose if you loaded the bed up really really heavy then their might be a rubbing issue. Our bed is 7'W by 9'L, so it's an alright size.

farmboyhull

well, it appears as though i may try to fix my fuel issue and put the old bed on, but it won't be too tricky to take it off again and get moving on this flatbed.

thanks for the help.

farmboyhull

well the fuel issue appears to be fixed, although only getting the tank close to empty will tell for sure. since it went better than expected, i'm thinking about doing this bed after all.

so, i'm lookin at getting some steel and running a frame out of it. however, it seems like it would be easiest to run four steel members from left to right instead of 2 running front back. the 4 bolts on each side don't match up front to back, but it would be simple going the other way. then i could run 3 or 4 big wooden beams running front to back (these could be steel, but with wood i could fasten the deck easier), then run my decking left to right.

anyone see any problems or have any suggestions? the harder part, for me, will be figuring out the lights and the fuel fill.

thanks

Dinner

Do you tow with this truck? The lights on our flat bed are run off the trailer harness at the rear. Being as we don't tow with this truck anymore, we just took the trailer plug off and wired in the marker lights to the parking lights on the factory harness. But if you have a trailer plug on your truck, you will probably have to figure out another way for lights. You might be able to run a junction box.

Do you have an idea for the filler neck at all?

farmboyhull

i'm putting the bed back on. i can't do this now. i'm going to wash it, hit it with a wire brush, put some paint on, and put the bed back. dinner, thanks for your help. i'll try again next year...

Dinner

No Problem! Good luck with the truck

farmboyhull

Well, it looks like I might try this project out sometime this fall. Here are some newish questions:

I will be towing with this truck, and although I'd like a gooseneck hitch, I probably will end up with a bumper pull trailer. If I were to go with a gooseneck, does the hitch connect to the beams on the truck frame? I wouldn't think the hitch would be connected to the bed (structurally)...

I'm thinking I'll make the flat bed entirely out of wood. I realize that's not the greatest idea, but I don't have a welder, and this truck only needs to last a year or two. Any thoughts about the first wood "beams" connecting to the truck? Should they go left to right or front to back?

Is there some sort of calculation out there for how high the deck needs to be above the tires?

Thanks.

David