well im planning to make a short box flat bed for my '79 because i cant find a bed anywhere else. i was just wondering if anyone has ever made one and how hard it would be to do this job? do i just measure the old size of the bed and go from there? any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

 

hows your fabrication skills ? do you have the tools welder stuff to cut steel with ?
how big of tires do you have on the back or are planning to put on ? that can be one thing to think about if you would want the bed to cover all of the tires .
last one i built for a short bed was 80 inches wide x 80 inches long made out of 3 inch channel with 14 gauge diamond plate on top

 

I have a 77 F150 Shortbox that the box needed to be replaced. I lucked out and had an old International out in the back 40 with a flat deck that is in need of new crossmembers and wood deck. I have not really had time to do anything with but a little cleaning and primer. The deck is about 7 1/2 feet long and overhangs the frame at the back about 1 1/2 feet. this should be just about perfect to my liking. The flat deck is made from channel for the sides and angle front and back. It will be a light-duty deck for maybe a couple dirt bikes. It wouldn't be to hard to build one from scratch. a few notes to take in. What are u using it for.? Are u going to be hauling heavy loads. Will u use it at all? I have other trucks that I use for hauling so mine only needs to be light-duty. It wouldn't be to hard to build, depending on the price of the material, and if u have access to a welder.. Ihave pics of my progress but have yet to submit any with the deck.. I will if u like..

 

yeah i have all that stuff im a senior and im restoring my first truck and i have shop and dont have anything to work on and i would just be hauling a dog box and maybe some wood. it has 11 inches of lift and im planning on 37 inch ground hawgs so i dont really know what measurements and what materials to use. any more tips are apreciated. thanks!

 

with that much lift keep the bed as close to the frame as possible , and consider putting on a way to climb up there !!

 

here is what I did:

The Street Slammer Project - The Bed

 

I'm using 3" channel layed flat under the side beams as the crossmembers and I have lots of different thicknesses of strong rubber belts to cut and use for mounts so it doesn't ever rub metal on metal with the frame. I plan on only doing three cross members ( locations for 4) to aid in body flex when four wheeling ( i'm omitting the front cross).Two mount locations are the same level but the front one is not.I'll just use a piece of thicker stuff to make up the diff.. The bed acually only over hangs the frame 1' at the back and is excactly the same width as the cab. I've incorperated 3 sets of cut tubing welded down each side to act as hinges with stakes that lock upright for "a flip down stake side, this really work well. The front of my bed will have a lock box built into the front panel with a vented box on the pass. side for a 5" stack for the exhaust. It's alot of work but it will be the way I want it, nothing beats that. We did a 52" flat deck trailer for a rig with Chinese Bamboo and was really impressed on how strong and glossy it was, so I was hoping to save up and maybe get some. It would give the truck less of a boring look from behind. I've still got to weld my crossmembers in and a few pieces at the front but feel free to click my user name and check my garage, I think there is a pic of it.

 

well lets see the picture !! sound nice

 

I cannot post pics in threads as i only have a free membership (one downfall).. U will have to check out my garage. You should understand that most of this is in my head. I haven't had time to work on this as I do bodywork out of my 30'x50' shop so space to work out of the cold is few and far between. I'll probably start on it in the next few weeks. But, build it the way u want it, Im just throwing ideas out there. I see 79bigblock has stacks already so building a toolbox between them might be ideal, just a matter of getting up there (because of lift) when needed as pointed out by cj06. Could mount a spare tire between.. Maybe lock boxes just infront of the rear wheels like some old 3 ton trucks had. Somewhere to put stuff whithout climbing up there. Anyone else have any ideas or pics of a flatdeck they are working on ???