Has anyone done this? how much trouble was it?

I have searched the forum with no luck so any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

I had a 10' service deck on mine. Have an 8' dually box now. Really easy. Not sure if yours would be the same???? Likely it would be. Mine's a chassis cab unit. All the bolt hole sitll lined up perfectly. Mind you, mine's also a crew cab. I don't think a regular or extended cab chassis cab unit would work.

 

the one I am looking at is a regular cab f450 with the 7.5x12 foot bed which I am hesitating buying because of the huge bed. If I know it would be an easy swap to put the 8ft bed on it I would buy it and start shopping for a bed.

 

Chances are that the cab to axle length is far too much to properly fit a regular box.

 

X2 I think the back axle is too far back to put a regular bed it could be done but lots of work not worth it IMO.

 

tks that what I was afraid of.

 

Hey, all is not lost. This is our 97 F-Superduty, was 14' box truck now 9' flatty. Cant remember the wheelbase now but I think it is 150". Took 35" out of it right behind the cab. Can you weld? Can PM you some help that is way too long winded to put here but we cut it and had it back together in one day. Took a couple more days after work to get the fuel lines, drive shaft and such done. I did it and I am no genious.

 

That looks sharp bro.

You know you said you took 35 inches out and installed a 5ft shorter bed. I looked at this truck yesterday and it looked like the bed stuck at least 2ft past the truck frame, on a short bed is it even or does it still stick out past the frame?

 

Real sharp rig butch!!!!

 

That is a very clean truck.

 

Thanks and yes I said 5' shorter bed and 35" out of the frame. The 14' box hung waaay out back of the axle. My son has a similar truck on 137" wheel base but I like to be able to load the front axle with a load in the bed, drives nicer.

The youngest's 92 350 4x4 w/ 55K miles 137: wheelbase 9' bed

 

Nice job Butch! I didn't want to mention cutting and welding as some (like me) aren't very good at it. But yes, with a torch and buzz box, all is possible.

 

Nice job seen your rig on here before I never knew you cut the frame on it,quick question did you have a hard time lining up the rear end when you were welding it back up? musta been hard and you had to do lots of measuring to get the back axle true to the front, I did this job on a tandem L 9000 we had a heck of a time getting the back true to the front.

 

Both of those trucks look good. I like the red one a little more though.

 

Thanks for all the compliments on the F-Superduty. I always that that 1 ton flat beds were cool if done right but easy to do wrong. I fretted over the WB and bed width and length quite a bit. The F-Supers had 4.63 gears so I dont get much for mileage but I can drag a trailer with the best of them. In a week or so Jim Rose is getting my injectors for a stage 1 rebuild and will be doing the adjustable chip deal too.

Getting it straight to weld back together was actualy quite easy. We ground the frame clean enough to put a long straight mark on the outside where it was easy to see and lay a straight edge on. Before we cut it I welded two pieces of key stock on each side that were out past the work area and exactly "X" inches apart. We cut the 35" out of the double frame with a Milwalkee metal saw and hoisted it out of the way then ground and beveled the ends. We butted it up, leveled things with a straight edge using the lines scribed on the frame side then measured between the key stocks welded on the frame to get exactly the intial merasurement less 35". Tacked it, welded it then bolted on "fish plates" over the joint. Done deal. Taking out exactly 35" made it easy to cut and splice fuel lines, drive shaft etc.