Hey y'all. I did a search, but didn't find exactly what I was looking for.

It's time for me to replace the floor in my '56. I've tentatively decided to go with white oak. The truck is a work truck, and I've read a lot about white oak being very tough. That said, it's a work truck and I don't want to spend a ton of money putting a floor in the bed. I haven't begun pricing wood yet, because I've got a size question.

On the 9' beds, does anyone have the proper measurements for the individual boards? My truck has 9 of the metal runners, and they're not evenly (or symmetrically) spaced in the bed. I'd like to reuse them with the new floor, but I can't decide if I want to reuse all nine of them. I'm thinking about using 12" wide boards, which would eliminate a few of the runners. Opinions?

Likewise, do the bed boards themselves need to be grooved for the runners to fit? I haven't yet disassembled mine, because I can't tear it down until I have the stuff together to reassemble it. I'm assuming the runners are what actually secure the boards down.

Lastly, what thickness should the wood be? The best measurement I can get of the old floor is about 1 3/8", but I want to be sure before I start buying it.

Thanks!

 

To my knowledge the runners do hold it down. A quick use of a router or a table saw can make the notch pretty easily. The 12" could work well, though with wider boards like that there is more risk of it warping or cracking, if you do go this way be sure to keep the runners you don't use!

Don't have any measurements, I have a flat bed on my truck but its a custom one made out of metal... that seriously probably weighs 4,000#s and will not be surviving this build, lol, but I'm sure someone on here will be able to help a lot more than me, I just like to hear the sound of my own voice, lol... wait that doesn't work on the computer...

 

Bob Jones is probably the guy to ask on the flat beds. He's a Bonus Built guy but probably has into on Effies as well.