So I wanted a wood bed...my bed was in excellent shape, but still wanted that wood look! Didn’t want to rip out existing floor panels. Thought about Horkeys Show Deck, but price was crazy and their response was not very good considering how much I was going to spend. So I decided I can do the same thing, with a little planning for far far less. Spent a buck fifty on red oak from a local saw mill and used a 2x4 floating floor for support. Staining and fasteners next!

 

I think the largest problem you face is a moisture trap. Try to locate another bed with a bad floor that you wont feel bad about cutting up and go from there.

 

I like the wood look too.

 

thought about that but hopefully won’t be too bad as I keep the truck in the garage and don't really drive it in crappy weather. I will keep a eye on it to make sure nothing going south on me!

 

You could cut small vents into your support bracing which would allow for airflow

 

Being it is sitting on a ribbed metal floor it should get a little air flow no?

I like wood floors on flare sides but when the cross members & sills run $1000 plus wood & hard ware on a $800 truck did not make sense so I want metal ribbed from my parts truck.


I can always get the CM's, sills and wood and bolt my sides to the floor as that is how the factory did it.
Dave ----

 

 

Yes a little airflow which is why I suggested the additional venting. Even a 1" hole saw in a couple of places would help. Parts are expensive for everything and you are fortunate to have obtained welding skills to allow you to work with metal.

 

Just finished my wood bed. I took the use from Horkeys Show Deck. I can remove everything if needed as it’s a floating design. I gapped the boards for airflow.

 

So, my long bed is shot. How would you go about doing a wood bed in that case?

 

There are a few different ways to go depending on who is doing the work and the skill level of said person.
They say on the later trucks (70's?) you can get an even later year (90's?) floor new thru Ford and graft it in.
With that said measure newer bed floors and bolt hole locations to see if they line up with yours.
If so look for a cheap bed with a good floor or a take off bed where they pulled it for a different bed type.

Now for a wood floor you need to know how the flare side wood bed floors are put together.
There are cross beams or cross members that get put across the frame rails.
Then the wood gets put on to the cross beams / cross members and the bed sides bolt to the wood boards.
The bed bolts go down thru the wood and some of the cross beams / cross members to hold it all together on the frame.

The style side has wider cross beams / cross members as the inside of the bed is wider than the flare side.
So I think you would need to start off with style side cross beams / cross members.
You also have to have a wide enough lip on your bed sides to bolt to a floor, 1" wide lip is enough.

So with the cross beams / cross members on the frame, lay the wood on top of them and the bedsides on the wood.
You will need to trim the wood around the wheel wells and drill the holes for the bed sides and the bed bolts to the frame.
You then end up with a wood floor style side truck.
Oh you will need to do a ground for the bed lights because they and now on wood.

I did this just the other way around with the metal floor.

Dave ----

 

Unfortunately my computer experienced a cyber melt down and consequently lost most, if not all, of FTE members threads on the subject, recall there were a couple who posted photos where they purchased either a diamond pattern or plain sheet metal from metal recycle source and cut the sheet to fit. I found the wood bed on my 65 flareside, installed new, has been the family workhorse in hauling asphalt, compost, gravel and a number of similar types of material over the past 15 to 20 years and still holding up well even though truck has set outside in the elements for the past 30 plus years. With regards to my 65 Styleside the prior owner hacked the bed to installed spare fuel tanks so I am considering taking vehicle to shop and have them weld in pieces that were cut out?

 

Love the bed i have a 62 but a unibody need to do my bed was your's hard? Do you have a build on it I went thru all your post didn't see it. Beautiful trk love the blue.