The bed on my 75 needs more work then I feel it is worth.
I am looking for ideas for building a Flat bed. Pictures of flat beds on Dent-Sides would be great!

TIA
Muel

 

One long standing bit of advice is this: Whatever you do, don't build a flatbed that weighs more than the original bed of the truck - if you do, you will eat up some part of the total load carrying ability of the truck with every extra pound of weight

 

You also need to find a place to get metal square tube. I'd about guarantee that if you use donated bits of scrap you'll end up too heavy

You also have to figure in either the weight of the wood deck, or what it costs to get aluminum diamond plate.

~ A flatbed is not as simple as it seems


Before you go running off to Home Despot, scrap that idea. What you want to find is the local industrial area in your city where carpenters, welders, electricians, and other tradesman that make their money from getting materials cheaply get their own. Otherwise you will pay retail prices for common materials

And NEVER shop for tail lights at a truck stop! They will rob you blind....
Buy that stuff online from Amazon or wherever, so you can compare prices


I think that what you will find, is that the deeper you get into it - the cheaper a used bed from some other place looks

Go to a couple of scrapyards and get quotes. Find someone with a trailer that will help you, or that you can borrow a trailer from.


I have seen where this road goes. When we re-invent the wheel, the price is often steep

 

I've made dozens of flat beds. A few steel, but most aluminum. I'll see if I can dig out a couple pics of the aluminum ones.......

 

While I've spent more hours in machine shops, it is also true that I have only slightly less time fabricating.
So, yes I have all the tools and welders, CAD systems, and time in trade to know how to use them in most materials.
What I haven't seen yet, including in my sketches, is a Flat-bed that I like the looks of, on the DentSide.

 

My day job is reinventing the wheel... after nearly 40 years, I've learned there is always room for improvement, though sometimes it is not worth the cost.
I thank you for the cautions and the spirit in which they are intended. This ain't my first go round.

 

Here are a few pics of the kinds of beds I've made. Sorry for the crappy pics, but they were prints from my old 35mm days. I just took shots of them with my cell phone, but you'll get the idea..... #ad
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Classic lines and all the D/plate is Cool.
I do like the tail lights!

Thankz!

 

Hopefully it will give you some ideas. I just wish the pics were better......


The two main rails were 4" Al channel, and the cross members were 2X4 Al tubing. All the Al diamond plate was cut and formed by B&B Metal Fab in Portland and then shipped to me. All I had to do was cut and weld. The wooden bed material is 5/4 cardecking that is used in railroad cars.

 

5/4 Car decking... Going to have to look in to that

 

Thanks Ken!

The car decking is tongue and groove so it won't warp and is 1 1/4" thick. I made the diamond plate at the front removable so in the future the owner could take it off to replace the wood...