When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Hello everyone I am currently in the process of cleaning this trailer up to replace my old worn out truck bed on my 2000 F250 7.3. My question for the masses is without using the frame from the trailer, what would your advise suggestions comments... be on how to properly install this onto the frame of my truck. I do not have a welder so sadly that is out (at least me doing it myself). There are brackets already on it that mount the bed to the trailer frame but I do not know if they will line up. my plan was if the frame of a 250 was flat like the 450's was to bolt it right to the frame. I am still going to or wanting to bolt it to the frame but I know I will need something as a buffer to make it level. Any advise or helpful comments is appreciated, thanks. Also picture for reference.
Here is my dually with a CM truck bed. I cant imagine this bed you wanna use having such different construction.. What i did on this was set it on the frame lined it all up then used wood strips as shims to level it out. Then i cut some 3/8 flat bar and drilled it and bolted it through existing holes in the frame. Then I drilled through the c channel on the bed and bolted the bed up. I only did 4 per side cause i towed gooseneck black then but i doubt you need that much. I later sold the flat bed and went back to a regular dually bed.
I was gonna use the original bed bolts locations but i wanted the flat bed with no raised bed bolts otherwise I would of done that.
On my service beds ( like tool box type the main C channel lines up to the frame so its simply drilling and bolting them on using some big washers as shims. And i use the existing bed bolt locations if the main bed runners line up. if they dont you can measure it and bring the bolts from the top if you dont mind having bed bolts showing on the flat floor
I want to do it honestly because I can/want to. I got the trailer pretty cheap and honestly I couldn't find a flatbed or custom bed I liked that wasn't an arm and a leg. with me living in the North East, all the direct replacement beds here are in as bad a shape as mine or the "new" ones are shipped up from Texas/South and they want said arm and leg. I've seen it done on some other vehicles and I like the way it looks. With how much stuff I throw around in the bed of my truck I wanted something with sides that was sturdy and not just a thin piece of sheet metal. I like doing things differently and making my vehicles unique. I understand its not everyone's proverbial cup of tea but like others have said its their vehicle. (Not in any way talking down) I think I understand what you are saying about the bolting. Assuming you bolted the shims from the top down into holes on top of the frame? and then made "brackets" if you will to bolt from side holes on frame to bed frame.
**Edit**
I know this isn't my truck but here is a picture of one done.
Last edited by Cspayder76; Jun 23, 2022 at 08:01 PM.
Reason: added photo
I want to do it honestly because I can/want to. I got the trailer pretty cheap and honestly I couldn't find a flatbed or custom bed I liked that wasn't an arm and a leg. with me living in the North East, all the direct replacement beds here are in as bad a shape as mine or the "new" ones are shipped up from Texas/South and they want said arm and leg. I've seen it done on some other vehicles and I like the way it looks. With how much stuff I throw around in the bed of my truck I wanted something with sides that was sturdy and not just a thin piece of sheet metal. I like doing things differently and making my vehicles unique. I understand its not everyone's proverbial cup of tea but like others have said its their vehicle. (Not in any way talking down) I think I understand what you are saying about the bolting. Assuming you bolted the shims from the top down into holes on top of the frame? and then made "brackets" if you will to bolt from side holes on frame to bed frame.
**Edit**
I know this isn't my truck but here is a picture of one done.
No problem bud. i just couldn’t picture that bed on a truck for some reason. i guess its hard to imagine it as i cant really tell dimensions. Now that i see the dimensions i get the visual. I thought the bed was 6 feet long. Its hard to tell in a pic
As fast as the bed basically your ford frame has a few bumps but its mostly flat except where it kicks up at the back of the cab.
Ok if you dont care about having th e factory bed bolts showing on the floor fo the bed. Basically line up the bed where you want it and then mark the location of the factory holes where the original bed bolts were. There will be 4 per side for a total of 8.
NOW
these bed bolts do get rusty and seize up. I had to torch one of my bed bolts and im in california and we have very litle rust. You can buy a whole kit for 40-50 bucks on bay. The factory bed bolts do not use a regular torx head. What you want is a TP45 torx head. A regular torx will be too loose. buy a few as they do break easily. The new bed bolts are usually big Allen head bolts.
So once you line up pull the bed and drill the holes. When you set the bed back down and if yo need to shim it to level it insert either thick washers between the frame and the bed bottom or cut small pieces of pipe in whatever thickness you want and use that. Just make sure the pipe or the washer inside diameter is jsut a bit bigger than the bolt shaft
If you want to do the bed shimmed with wood and then use 3/8 metal pieces you can do it two ways. but i cant see the bottom of your military bed. you can either strap them straight up and down to the truck frame and bed if the bed itself has runners that are the same width as the bed frame
OR
bend the tops of the metal pieces in a L shape and. Them bolt the flat section to the truck frame and the 90* bend of the L to the bottom of the bed ro cross runner ribs whatever is there. Basically imagine the new bed as a gooseneck hitch and the L brackets as the brackets to bolt the hitch to the frame if that makes sense.
The only reason i never did the L bracket thing was because i needed a flat floor cause i carried a lot of stuff on pallets and the bed bolts would snag the pallets up. Like my 5th wheel hitch is a Pullrite and I had to get their clean bed rails that completely remove the rails so there wasnt anythign in the bed.
Hope this helps
No problem bud. i just couldn’t picture that bed on a truck for some reason. i guess its hard to imagine it as i cant really tell dimensions. Now that i see the dimensions i get the visual. I thought the bed was 6 feet long. Its hard to tell in a pic
As fast as the bed basically your ford frame has a few bumps but its mostly flat except where it kicks up at the back of the cab.
Ok if you dont care about having th e factory bed bolts showing on the floor fo the bed. Basically line up the bed where you want it and then mark the location of the factory holes where the original bed bolts were. There will be 4 per side for a total of 8.
NOW
these bed bolts do get rusty and seize up. I had to torch one of my bed bolts and im in california and we have very litle rust. You can buy a whole kit for 40-50 bucks on bay. The factory bed bolts do not use a regular torx head. What you want is a TP45 torx head. A regular torx will be too loose. buy a few as they do break easily. The new bed bolts are usually big Allen head bolts.
So once you line up pull the bed and drill the holes. When you set the bed back down and if yo need to shim it to level it insert either thick washers between the frame and the bed bottom or cut small pieces of pipe in whatever thickness you want and use that. Just make sure the pipe or the washer inside diameter is jsut a bit bigger than the bolt shaft
If you want to do the bed shimmed with wood and then use 3/8 metal pieces you can do it two ways. but i cant see the bottom of your military bed. you can either strap them straight up and down to the truck frame and bed if the bed itself has runners that are the same width as the bed frame
OR
bend the tops of the metal pieces in a L shape and. Them bolt the flat section to the truck frame and the 90* bend of the L to the bottom of the bed ro cross runner ribs whatever is there. Basically imagine the new bed as a gooseneck hitch and the L brackets as the brackets to bolt the hitch to the frame if that makes sense.
The only reason i never did the L bracket thing was because i needed a flat floor cause i carried a lot of stuff on pallets and the bed bolts would snag the pallets up. Like my 5th wheel hitch is a Pullrite and I had to get their clean bed rails that completely remove the rails so there wasnt anythign in the bed.
Hope this helps
Forgive me for stealing other peoples photo's as I do not have a picture of the bottom and google makes things faster. But below is the bottom of the trailer. My thought was to if needed either add shims like you had said, added benefit of not having to cut a hole for fuel neck. Or, running a square tube from front to back with said spacers and having a buddy weld it to the bottom of this beast. 3rd option would be to put bed rails that protrude like if it was a stock bed. I would prefer to keep all mounting hardware underneath as it is flat and smooth inside. while I do not haul a 5th wheel or goose neck, I do use my bed ALOT for moving lumber and other things that frankly annoy me when I get caught on the current bed bolts. I appreciate your insight and helping me figure this out. once I get the time from work and everything figured out I'll probably make a post of the whole journey. It is going to be fun.
In this case I would
set the bed on the frame where you like the positioning front to back and side to side.and shim it using wood strips. You can use the shim wedges that is used for shimming cabinets. You get a pack of 15/20 them for 3/4 bucks. They come in plastic and wood. They are wedge shaped so if you overlap two of them at each other you can use them to raise the bed in small increments by pushing them together.
basically they work on this principle….take your left and right hand and point yiur index fingers at each other. Now slide one finger on top of the other. Yiur two fingers are now one thicker finger that gets thicker as your fingers get pushed to go together more, sort of that concept
i would take some 3/8 steel flat bar and bend it in a L shape. Drill a hole in each flat part of the L shape. Find holes that are in line with the ribs of the bed and bolt them to the frame. Don’t tighten them yet.
mark the bed because now the flat horizontal side of the L brackets are gonna butt up against the bottom flat part of the bed cross rib. That’s where you drill your holes. At this point I would drill the holes slightly smaller so you can tap the ribs for the bolt or use these things called riv-nuts. I use those when I have a blind hole that I can’t get to the back side to put a nut. They look like a giant rivet that has threads on the inside. They work pretty well.
it may be hard to visualize. I can try to explain it better if it’s confusing. Look up cabinet wedges and rivnuts and you’ll see what I mean
In this case I would
set the bed on the frame where you like the positioning front to back and side to side.and shim it using wood strips. You can use the shim wedges that is used for shimming cabinets. You get a pack of 15/20 them for 3/4 bucks. They come in plastic and wood. They are wedge shaped so if you overlap two of them at each other you can use them to raise the bed in small increments by pushing them together.
basically they work on this principle….take your left and right hand and point yiur index fingers at each other. Now slide one finger on top of the other. Yiur two fingers are now one thicker finger that gets thicker as your fingers get pushed to go together more, sort of that concept
i would take some 3/8 steel flat bar and bend it in a L shape. Drill a hole in each flat part of the L shape. Find holes that are in line with the ribs of the bed and bolt them to the frame. Don’t tighten them yet.
mark the bed because now the flat horizontal side of the L brackets are gonna butt up against the bottom flat part of the bed cross rib. That’s where you drill your holes. At this point I would drill the holes slightly smaller so you can tap the ribs for the bolt or use these things called riv-nuts. I use those when I have a blind hole that I can’t get to the back side to put a nut. They look like a giant rivet that has threads on the inside. They work pretty well.
it may be hard to visualize. I can try to explain it better if it’s confusing. Look up cabinet wedges and rivnuts and you’ll see what I mean
That is the finished product took longer than Id like but yeah.
yeah I checked it out. If yiu jajt need a bed for a construction truck that bed will take more abuse than a regular truck bed ever will. Too bad you weren’t closer. I have a complete bed and tailgate you could have for $500. And Im in California so no rust
yeah I checked it out. If yiu jajt need a bed for a construction truck that bed will take more abuse than a regular truck bed ever will. Too bad you weren’t closer. I have a complete bed and tailgate you could have for $500. And Im in California so no rust
like i said in that thread i got a buddy in TX who was like come down ill have one waiting at the house for ya. lol honestly it was a time spent driving and fuel cost that had me saying no. It will defiantly get used and hopefully not too abused in the bad sense, but yeah.
Rezvani's Latest Post-Apocalytic Monster Is a Ford F-150 Raptor Underneath
Slideshow: Called the Fortress, the 850-horsepower pickup combines Raptor underpinnings with military-inspired features, survival equipment, and a starting price of $285,000.
