Can you tell me how much higher a flat bed is than a stock bed?

I'm curious about mounting a camper on a flatty, I saw one in Cal., it was a pretty neat set-up. I could mount or build storage boxs to fill in the sides and hang more storage boxes underneath the bed.

The main problem is a higher center of gravity, allready a problem with campers, especially on a 4x4.

A pop-up camper on a flatty 4x4 might solve some of those issues.

I found a nice 93 flatty with lower miles for a fair price, with a extended cab, the only one I've seen.

So, I guess my two big questions are the height versus a stock bed, and weight.

Will a flatbed way more or less than a regular bed? I heard a figure of 400lbs for a stock bed, I don't know how accurate that is, but those flattys seem to have a lot of thick lumber and steel wrapped corners. Hmmm...

 

I found a picture of the same flatbed style as the one I found for sale, and these beds look very heavy:

http://www.bradfordbuilt.com/stock.htm

 

Don, the hieght of the flatbed will depend on how it is mounted to the frame rails more than anything else. Mine is about 6 inches higher than the frames tallest point( if that makes sense to ya) You can kinda figure that if you add the hieght from the ground to the top of the frame rails hieghest point with the thickness of the bed, you will have a pretty good idea of what you will have for overall hieght.
Never seen a camper on a flatbed....dont think I would do it....
I do know that most flatbeds weight considerably more than the factory box-beds.
The flatbeds tend to be steel and have I-beam frames. My 10 foot bed took five of us to lift into place on the frame rails .......

 

Yes, the steel ones are very heavy.

I bought a used aluminum flatbed at an auction. 96"x 9'. Two poeple can carry faily easy. It is probably even lighter than a box.

 

I have to agree with Chrisreyn.
It will depend on how it's mounted to the frame. I've made and mounted a few at work that are actually lower than the stock box by 1 1/2 inches. The deck sat flat on the high hump of the frame and the rest of the support was blocked on the front and rear lower frame rails. I laid a thin slice of re-inforced rubber (conveyor belt) on top of the frame hump under the deck to reduced rattle noise. Worked great.

 

So a flat bed could be installed low enough for a camper, interesting...

Sounds too difficult to try to buy the right one, especially since the beds seem to be mostly too wide and too long for a camper.

Making one would be better, but sure not easier (at least for me).

Maybe a utility bed with a camper, seen a couple of those.

Problem there is price, as far as I have been able to learn, utility beds start around $4000, and no used one would be the right size.

Thanks for the advice, folks.

 

my flatbed sits at 45" off the ground at the bumper and 39" at the cab. if that gives you something to work with.