Hey all, I mostly hang out on the older truck boards. But last winter we swapped the flatbed off of my dads 1983 Ford F350 XL with a 6.9 on his new truck.

The old ford quit building oil pressure at just over 400,000 farm miles and we think that the pickup tube is broke because it would only build it on a downhill slope. And to fix that it requires removing the engine. Dad already totally rebuilt the truck 15 years ago and he didn't want to do it again.

He got a 2008 Ford F350 with the 6.4, Lariat Package, Longbed, crew cab and 4wd.

It takes a good bit of steel, time, and money to build a steel flatbed. So on a hunch we went out and measured the frame widths between the two trucks and sure enough they were the exact same width. So we rolled the old Ford into the shop and set about pulling the old bed off.







A little bit of cutting, grinding and the old bed let go.





We discovered this crack on the truck frame



It doesn't look new but the truck had well over 5000 pounds of corn seed + the weight of the bed and a chemical trailer behind it this spring. But we figured that the bed caused the frame to become extremely rigid and caused the crack just in front of the forward most bed mounts because it put all the flex there.

We set about getting it ready for the new truck. We had to make a few modifications. We had to adjust the height the mounting blocks and extend the side rails out to make room the new tool boxes because they would have to stick out farther to make room for bigger spring hangers and exhaust.

We built up some of the rusted spots and put some patches in here and there. We then put a ball hitch in the bed to tow with which is hid under a cover so it doesn't affect bed deck any.

We then rolled it out and sandblasted and painted it. Rolled it back in and put new lights and toolboxes on it.



We put it on the new truck frame and decided not to put bolts toward the front to allow the frame to flex under the bed. It has worked all year pulling trailers hauling many tons and no problems.

We decided also to reinstall the rear bumper because it is very nice to use as a step but we had to trim it down a little bit to fit. Also the trailer plugs and plate were already mounted to it.

Then we installed a Ranchhand bumper on the front for the Reese hitch on the front which is great for pushing trailers into sheds. And because deer are a very big problem around here and with a junk plastic grill on it and around 6 coolers on the front of the truck, one can only wonder how much it would be if a deer punched it's head through the grill.

Here is the result.

 

looks good.

 

That flatbed looks good on the new Super Duty.

 

Looks good. Lasts forever.

Farm Show Quality