My son & I are restoring his truck. 1980 F-100 stepside He bought this truck at age 15 working all summer with me at work. He is just about 16 & ready to start his driving test. My question is about the bed wood. It is in bad shape ( I know this because I build custom cabinets & know good wood when I see it.) Does anyone have a pattern or blueprint for the bedwood? The wood is missing and deteriorated & I what to make it perfect for him. We are painting the truck black & want to do the bed in cherry, which should look sweet together. We wood appreciate any help you great readers have.

My truck is a 2004 f-250 crewcab FX4 offroad 6.0L PSD auto arizona beige & I love it, like life itself!

 

hey tex-can you can look in this site or go to one of the many suppliers for this . I got mine from a company called mar k also theres lmc truck , npd
type in wood bed kits for ford truck in your search engine youll be amazed. I will say the pieces i got from mar-k are very good quality.

 

I have found these kits, but we were looking to do ourselves.

 

I did mine myself. (Check my gallery for a photo).

The original wood bed used boards of varing widths, (2) 6" - (2) 9-1/2" & (3) 7-1/2". I decided to use equal width boards, so I went to a lumber yard and got some 1" X 8" wide White Oak. These finish to a width of about 7-1/2" which is just about perfect. Cut length is 78-3/4".

If you do this you will have to drill some new holes for the metal trim strips (2 rows). The boards need to have some dato cuts (1-11/16 wide x 3/16" deep) in the edge to recess the metal strips.

The original wood was pine, but the White Oak or Cherry in your case really looks a lot nicer. I got some Spar Urethane to coat mine. Look for a type that will resist yellowing in sunlight. If you plan to paint it, then the pine is OK. Just remember to coat top, bottom, and all edges before you install it.

If you want some additional photos and information, email me.

 

Thank you for your help I would link to e-mail you for more information on this & some more ideas. By the way, Looked at your gallery. Truck looks great. Nice to see a original owner restore his own truck. When I was a kid, this was my favorite body style & still are! Glad my son feels the same way. Tex-can

 

Really the only pattern you need are for the boards on the outside (wheel wells) but you can just use the inner fenders to get tis pattern, as you will have to remove the bed (it will make it 10x easier), also start soaking the bolts in a rust breaking compund a few days in advance before disasembly, i have totally disassemble one of these beds (parts truck for my 82 flareside), My flareside is black, and you should take a look to give you some ideas for additions (but simple) mods that really make these trucks look sharp.

I myself am just going to replace the few broken boards then i will coat the wood with will a heavy duty industrial wood coating, then i am going to put in a sheet of polished aluminum diamond plate as well (1/8"), this also looks very sharp on a black truck.

 

Thanks for the comments. They are appreciated.

 

My Dad and I replaced the bed in my first truck (82 F150 stepside) together the summer I turned 16. It was pretty easy. Only hard part was the 2 outside boards. We put down a piece of cardboard on the bed and butted it up against the wheel well. Then used a compass (needle side against the fender) and traced the shape of the bedside onto the cardboard and used that as out templet to cut those boards. The rest of them are straight boards. Cutting the groove for the metal strips was pretty easy. Just measured gap for the bolt then meassured where the groove needed to be on each board and set the saw to the proper depth and cut a slit down each board.

It was easy and looked real good. While you have the bed gutted go ahead and take care of any fuel tank, exhaust, shocks, wiring, or fuel line issues you might have. Makes it real easy to get to that stuff.

 

One more thing, take the time and clean up the metal strips, and the part of the inner fenders where the bolts go, top and bottom, then get so bed liner (the do it yourself kind) or some other rust prevention paint and cover the strips good as these parts are expensive to replace.

 

Thanks guys, I didn't know if the boards needed to be paticular sizes. All your help will have his truck up and running in no time, if we can work on it sooner than later. Thanks , Tex-can

 

jrocco, I know this is old, but I did a search for the bed wood specs.I just bought a 1983 f-100 and it had plywood for the bed and just came to pieces when I removed it so I needed the wood specs.I justed wanted to say thanks,the measurements worked great.Carl

 

could a person take the bed on a 83 f-150 and make wood for the bottom? The bed is currently all metal and i want to change the look. Bought the truck 6 mos ago for a work truck and i see a lot of potential. Thanks.

 

You would probably be better to just put the wood over the metal floor. The way the original wood beds are made, the wood actually slips under the flanges on the bed sides.

Just make sure to get all the rust off the meal floor and paint it before covering it with the wood strips.

 

Eh i did my bed a little werid in mine, i laid the boards left to right insted of up and down, i like it better like that, trimmed out the boards indivisually and tounged and groved it the bed is made out of some strong *** duckfur wood(pretty expensive wood) but it was actually easier to do it this way and it looks good so i like it

 

1980_f_100, if you get a chance, could you post a pic of your bed--I'm interested in seeing it....

thanks