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Was having a steel floor on the beds of a 49 an option? I'm just getting started on the restoration of mine and it has a steel floor with wood underneath. I would much rather have the nice finished wood look when I get my project done . The metal floor isn't perfect and wonder if cutting it out to expose the wood is the way to go.
Was having a steel floor on the beds of a 49 an option? I'm just getting started on the restoration of mine and it has a steel floor with wood underneath. I would Had to replace some supports. Oak harvested from our property.
much rather have the nice finished wood look when I get my project done . The metal floor isn't perfect and wonder if cutting it out to expose the wood is the way to go.
Exposed wood was not an option in 49. I read the reason for the wood under the metal was to absorb shock of loading things in the bed. We removed metal and wood and did an oak floor.
You don't want to expose the wood below for a finished look.
Ford used all sorts of wood as the subfloor and some pieces are even cut on the diagonal. I'd guess the wood in mine was either pine or poplar
As Ken did in the pictures above, I cut out the damaged metal floor, removed the wood sub-floor and replaced with oak in the 48.
I am one of the few that replaced both the wood and the ribbed steel floor in my 49. There was a company back in the 80's and 90's that sold reproduction steel floors. That was when I bought my new floor. Having done it I would not recommend it. Trying to avoid the waves in the steel was not possible. Ford had the same issue.
I personally like the steel floor in the bed... mine isn't that bad, I need to repair some more on mine, as I find more pieces. I like being a little different so I keep the steel.
Moe,
Not sure how you would go about repairing the steel floor. Due to the wood directly under the steel heat/welding is not an option. I guess patch panels lapped with adhesive and fairing it in with filler is a possibility. . I redid my original before the adhesives in body repair hit the scene. My original steel was solid but was a "bag of walnuts".
