I'll soon be getting a 1980 F350 with a rusty flat bed that just has to go. I was curious as to the compatibility of other generations of truck beds?

 

80 -86 beds wheel wells will match.87-96 beds will bolt up but wheel wells has different look.lots of guys have done it here.

 

Might want to make sure it wasn't a chassis cab truck. I think the axle is located further back on the frame.

 

good call.never thought of that.cioara is that truck a dually.

 

its not a dually, looks like a short bed

 

Just saw this thread in a search.
I have a 1986 f350 duelly with a rotten welder's rig on it. Probably left ford plant as a cab and chassis only, welder body installed by third party, i would suspect.
Want to replace it with a standard f350 duelly bed.
Will the 80-97 beds still work?
What should i look out for?
thanks inadvance, dave

 

if it left the factory as a cab and chassis it probably has a longer wheelbase,and i believe a different frame.you will have to check the vin to see if it was a complete pick up orcab and chassis.

 

thanks for the reply.
the vin reads 1fdkf37....
1fd think is incomplete truck, might be wrong in my translation
k is class 3, 14000 lbs
f37 is f350 regular body? truck CA, XL (does this mean xtra long?)
this is tanslated through the ford fleet site, guess thats as accurate as a translation as I'm gonna find.

 

i believe xl is trim package.there will be guys on later who will be able to decode to find out what you need.

 

https://www.fleet.ford.com/maintenan...ls/default.asp
I have always used this for my vin concerns, very handy, very detailed.
Give it a try, it will tell you what you need to know

 

thanks for the replies
The ford fleet site is where those translations came from.
Its the 1fd that is really throwing me off, according to that site it is listed as "pickup" but on another site is listed as incomplete truck.
Visual looking at the bed it looks the frame looks to be of standard length, actually looks short. Has a regular cab to.
Guess I'll have to take some measurements.

 

Does it give the wheel base on the door sticker??

-Enjoy
fh : )_~

 

Use the FTE vin decoder, that will at least tell you if it's complete or a chassis/cab truck

 

according the ford fleet site its a pick up with "regular body"

 

I figured I would post to this thread rather then start a new one.

I have an 85 F150 short bed and its also a little skinnier. The passenger side is all banged up. I figured on taking the bed off and making a flat bed out of salt treated lumber and maybe some diamond plate to dress it up.

I haven't been able to find any pics for an example but a F250 down the road has done it with 2 4x4's running down the frame with steel spacers to fill the gaps at the bottom. Then he ran 3 cross members over the 4x4's and built the bed on that.

It believe the truck had a lift on it but I'm curious as to the clearance of the tires on my truck that has an original suspension with slightly over sized tires. If anyone has some examples of a F150 ShortFlat bed, I would love to see them.