I've just finished taking all of the diamond plate and the huge steel front piece off the frame of my flatbed, so there was no original parts to the flatbed. Well, there was the original frame and the wood beams that set on top of the truck frame. Which is where I need help.

1st - What kind of wood was used between the bed and the frame. The measurements are about 5 1/8" x 2 1/4" x 119

2nd - How is the flatbed attached to the frame. When I bought the truck it was held on with straps.

My plan is to use a laminated plywood for the bed and then metal strips. But does anyone have photos of what an original flatbed looked like.

Well, on Monday I pickup the body parts from the sandblasting shop and will drop off the flatbed frame.

 

I think the wood rails were a common wood like pine or fir.

Most truck beds are held down with long U bolts over the wood and a tie plate under the frame with nuts. If you are not hauling loads you might use some simple brackets bolted to the frame.

 

Unless you plan to keep the truck inside and never let it get wet or snowed on, nor left in the direct sunlight for any length of time, the plywood is an extremely bad idea.

 

This is how I would do it. I agree with Harley, STAY away from plywood. For the wood rails I always take two pieces of green pine lumber (think planks) and glue them (laminate) together with polyurethane construction adhesive (like PL) to get the desired thickness. I then coat them in truck bedliner to protect. I tie it to the metal chassis with U bolts and a couple of metal brackets/straps. Good luck!

 

Here are pictures of Missy Green, my F350. I used pine 2x10s and mitered the cuts to fit the steel crossmembers and edges. I painted the bottom and sides of the deck pieces and used a known good deck sealer on the top. BTW, this old girl is not a show truck, she gets used.
I am currently working on a script flatbed for Blue, my F4 and will do it the same way.
I am using rough cut 2 X 6s for the frame stringers and they'll be held on by bolts, as stated above.
BTW, the inside deck boards float and are held down by the strips. The outside boards are bolted to the frame.

 

Here's a picture of the main rails from my flatbed. They were 4x6 or 4x8's shaped with the frame rails and held down by U bolts, as described above.



2x4's were tied crossways over them and the bed boards were attached to the 2x4's.

 

HEY THANKS, GUYS! Great info!! I'm glad to hear that the rails were a common wood instead of Oak or something more expensive. My nephew and son-in-law are both finish carpenters and recommended a white oak for the bed; because I'm going with a fire engine red for the truck. I'll enlist their help in laminating some planks and planeing them down to the right dimensions; the best I can do with wood is burn it. I assume the stake are also a pine, right?

Anyone know where I can pickup the clearance lights, the metal cover survived on all 4 but only two of the lens survived, and the light socket needs to be rebuilt on all of them.

Thanks again. Oh, raytasch, those are great pictures, I'll use them for a guide in putting white oak down.

 

I just saw them for sale in a catalog. I think it was in a 57-72 ford truck catalog but will check it later when I have more time. You could buy the whole clearance light or just the lens.

 

I didn't used bed strips on mine, as the 12' strips prices were high and the shipping was outrageous. I also didn't have the luxury of the the original steel frame, so I had to build the entire frame myself. Someone had welded heavy angle iron to the frame in front with 1/2" holes (obviously for a previous bed mount) so I bolted the main beams to them in the front and used Ubolts towards the back.
I measured the frame rails, they were actually 2 3/4" wide. Since I used all rough cut 'sawmill' lumber, I cut and planed the beams to 2 3/4" and had the U bolts made to that size.

I then made all the cross members out of Oak to the dimensions of the original steel cross members, a full 2" wide by 5" tall tapered down just like the steel on the ends.


You can see the rest of the bed build here 'EDITH' Joe's 1950 Ford F5 Stake truck - OnPitRoad's Photos

 

Harleymsn, you have done an outstanding job - Edith is very nice!

Abe, good to know. Please let me know which catelog.

 

something like my signature pic ???

 

I thought I would resurrect this thread instead of starting a new one.
I'm considering starting up on my woof flatbed for my 55 F250.

So, how high off the ground should the bed be on an F250. I wouldn't think it was critical, but it would be nice to have a close estimate as to how tall it should be. I would run around town measuring other peoples flatbeds, but the newer trucks probably have a little different height....ohhh, there is a 54 International with a flatbed close by.....
I figured I would do something like this for my main beams. That is similar to what I had with the Knapahide bed.

 

Honestly, I built my flatbed at a height so when I was sitting at the local shows, etc. I could lift my hip and have my butt sitting on the edge of the flatbed. IMHO, unless you are building it for working purposes, it doesn't need to be real high, just enough to look right.

 

I would think you could put it however high or low you want, as long as it clears the tires with the rear suspension fully compressed.

 

I'll measure mine. Where are you measuring from? I would think an F250 and F350 would be close.