I'm one of those guys who got a set of oak bed wood from ebay. Not slamming ebay, but the wood kit I bought for about $200 is pretty sad. This week I've been coating the boards and in the process of installing it. The side boards don't even come close to fitting under the bed sides. I had to take about 1/8" off with a router table. The length was 1/2" too long and had to be shortened. Two of the boards are crooked and require a lot of bending to lay flat. The quality is pretty bad also. Different grain oak and some are dark cherry color, others are light white oak, making it look non conforming when installed. I'm only posting this to warn you guys who are planning on bidding on the bedwood. I consider this a bad product review. I'd pay a little more and buy the bed kit from a reputable company. It'll save you alot of headaches and time. To say the least, this simple wood replacement has been a nightmare and could of been avoided.

 

FYI the set i got with my bed from northern truck parts took about 20 minutes to sand, looks pretty good for thier intended use .This is from a cabinet makers eye.

 

Noted. I will keep this in mind when it's time to do mine.

 

After aqcuiring my bedwood kit, I was irritated with myself that I didn't just go down to Lowe's and hand pick my own wood. It would have been cheaper and turned out better. There is nothing to these bed wood strips. Very straight forward if you have a router and a saw of some sort. That's it. Sand it, stain it, paint it...whatever.

 

I agree with 53fat, I thought the kit was more complicated. My friend who is a carpenter for the studios came by and showed me how to use the rotor table I've had for the past 5 years and never used. I couldn't believe how easy it was to route the wood to make it fit. I'd pick some good wood besides oak next time. I guess you learn the hard way.

 

More please

I am still in two minds about my bed floor.

The practical, steel working side of me says "Drop in a sheet of 1.8mm"

My heart says "wood looks good"

What too do ???

Can someone point me at bed wood dimensions/plans, I'm itchin to try out my dads spindle router and saw bench.....when he's not looking

 

For a temporary bed I used pressure treated 2 x 8 spaced 1/2 inch apart on top of 4 x 4 crossmembers as the original parts were gone. That was 7 years ago - I guess temporary is just a state of mind.

I may lay finished wood crossways on the "temporary" bed to make the bed look wider as mine is an 8 footer on the F-3. Not sure how that would look - anyone try that or have seen that done?

 

imlowr2,thanks for the info i have been eyeing the sale on the wood kits on ebay,i guess lowes or the home depot will have to do i got the blue prints from another forum here the other night.it does look pretty simple it shows the cuts,measurements etc.

 

olered53,

If there is a way you could share those blueprints on here I think alot of guys would appreciate it.

Anybody have the diagrams or dimensions of the 48-52 beds??

Bobby

 

I got the plans from one of the older postings here also, and took them to a cabinet shop about 20 miles away. They cut and routered the edges all for just the price of the wood (found out my boss's husband works there so he donated his time for the plowing). Ended up paying $128 total for red oak.

There is a LOT of oak in Missouri, and there must be a couple dozen cabinet shops in the area so that helps.

 

OleRed53, where did you get the prints? Did it include info for a F-1 truck (51 to be specific)? I've thought about just going to the local Lowes/Home Depot/lumber yard of choice and buying the lumber and doing my own thing. Can't be that hard and you get to pick through the boards yourself. Be nice to know the proper dimensions though as my truck came with a sheet of nasty looking plywood in the bed - functional but not much more!

Thanks!

OilLeaks

 

Scott123,
Cool, I'll do a search. I checked out your gallery....nice work on your 51!!

Bobby

 

I can take some quick measurements on my bed if you want? I think all the boards are the same. VERY straight forward process.

EDIT: I believe 50-72 use the same bed sides, and it looks like the floor, that being wood, is the same as well.

 

For any of you guys with F2/3s looking for info on bed wood, there's a thread active now on the Bonus Built site about that. Stu

 

i got the prints from earls world http://www.clubfte.com/users/earl/index.html then go to reference material click on it and scroll down the page.there is some good info here.