So I decided to make my own box. I'm looking for extra weight in the back end, and I figured making my own would give me extra weight, by using heavier material, and by making a floor. I went to the local metal shop, and had them bend a piece of 3/16 mild steel to the box dimensions.

They cut it to size, bent it up, cut out the front end, and gave me an extra chunk for making misc things for $500 cash, not a bad deal. I got some 1" black iron pipe, and welded that to the top for the rolls.

I think it turned out ok, now I've just got to figure out how to put the bed wood in, but that shouldn't be too difficult. Haven't got the stake pockets on yet. The roll pan is from our friends at Mid Fifties, and I was very impressed by the quality for the money.

 

I'm going to be completely straight forward: DON'T put wood on top the metal, it will trap water between rotting both the wood and the metal very quickly. I don't know why you wanted the extra weight, but there were a lot of other places you could have put it if you wanted a wood floored bed. I'm afraid you've backed yourself into a corner this way. You could use some of the synthetic wood deck material that won't rot (won't help the metal much tho) and paint it or paint the metal floor to look like wood.

 

Thought of that as well, I'm leaving a space under the wood for the water to escape......

 

Looks great, nice job on the fab! You can get new stake pockets and lower front frame skirts and you will be set.

Now.....can you enlighten us on WHY you want it made so heavy? Seems you would need more springs and a bigger engine just to haul it around? Not being critical, just curious.

 

Problem is the water won't drain unless you park on a hill, it will just evaporate up into the wood as water vapor, staining the wood and lifting any finish, then re-condense on the metal when the metal cools, Dust and dirt build up will just increase the problem. You would need at least an inch of air space and a way to move dry air thru it before it will dry. Just the laws of nature and physics. Sorry just trying to save you money and work. There was a good reason Henry didn't put anything under his wood beds. Commonly used bed wood like oak or treated pine are full of tannin and other salts that is quite acidic and corrosive when dissolved and leached out.

 

You could put in some strategically place drain holes that might help with potential drainage issues . Now I am also curious about the weight issue ,as in how come so heavy ? And what part of BC are you from , if I may be so bold as to ask ?

 

Drain holes were in the plan as well. I wanted the extra weight to keep the wheels on the ground, we have a little more hp than what Henry planned. I also found that the original box was quite flimsy. I understand Ax's concern, but I've planned for it, and it's a fair weather truck at any rate, it won't be out in the rain.

I'm from the southern interior, summers here are well into the 100's.

 

Almost like Arizona climate wise down there

 

Static weight isn't really much help planting the rear and is really old school technology, just takes extra HP to get it moving. A light weight well designed weight transfer control chassis and rear suspension will give more traction and be much more tunable. Before we learned that back in the 60s we often incorporated "heavy" rear cross members and bumpers into the cars, i.e. 4 x 4" square tube rear crossmember filled with old lead wheel weights and/or concrete at the very end of the frame rails. It was not unusual to put 5 or 6" weight filled pipe "push bar" bumpers weighing a couple hundred pounds on the rear. Look at today's pro mods and pro stock chassis, a light weight bird cage of small diameter tubes and highly adjustable rear suspensions. There is not an ounce of weight that doesn't need to be there. Here's a couple shots of my good friend Mike Janis's 2013 Camaro Pro Mod chassis under construction:




Note how little weight there is in the rear of the chassis. He's putting about 8000 HP to the ground!

 

He didn't say he was drag racing...... maybe pulling? Or mud bogging? or sand drags? Who knows. At any rate he's doing what HE wants. Let him do it without criticizing.........

 

Hey Rusted 56,
You have almost a complete bed for $500 - that's not bad. Put a tail gate on there & call it done. We've got a 1950 with a wood bed - it looks cool but it's work keeping it looking nice & you have to cover it up to use the bed etc. I think I'd skip the wood bit & put in some tie downs & paint it.

It's surprising how close to the shape you got just bending up sheet metal.

Good luck over there - nice & creative.

Ben in Austin
1950 F1

 

Paint the wood grain on the metal like they did with the old car interiors and then screw some bed strips down. Wood graining isn't all that hard if you practice a little, at least that's what I've been told. I have to wood grain the interior on my '37 Buick and have been checking out how people who have done their own.

 

Bob, A friend of mine does woodgraining on metal. He paints on the wood color then uses black ink wiped on with a crumpled up paper. Looks very realistic.

 

Exactly....nice job on the bed. If it's not going to see rain then put wood over it. Or the wood effect on the metal would be cool!