Hard wood (oak) on the commercial trailers, or apitong it is lighter and maybe even as tough. It is hard to find good trailer decking, (none anywhere around here).

I know several that use cottonwood in horse and stock trailers and like it.

For a dunp bed I would use metal, everything slides easier. If it is setup for wood c perlin works great.

 

Thats it... Apitong.

-Enjoy
fh : )_~

 

i got her all bolted down.
i used balsm poplar (basically like the cottonwood.)
it's very light and didn't cost much.
for my line of work,i don't think im going to be breaking the decking -loading firewood by hand,or shooting in wood chips.
if this lasts a few years i'll be happy,just because it doesn't weigh much is nice.
i opted for the lag bolts after all.i like the idea of being able to keep the same holes for my bolts rather than frig around and mess up the c channel lip over the years from board replacements with the screws.
it's likely the decking with rot out before i brake a solid one,so im going to prime and paint them to gain me more time.

also,i notice with the old C-channel,was that right above the wheels,where the tire throws up the road crap,was where it was eaten most naturally.
im going to place a section of pressure treated plywood up under the bed,over the wheels to slow this possess down.
plus,im going to maintain the paint on the bed which is most important.

she's all painted flat black and pretty much all bolted.i need to grab some more hardware to finish it.
then im going to work on enclosing the top of the stake body.new plywood sides,and get that painted etc.
future pics coming.

she dumps GREAT! just like there's nothing on it.

 

I guess I don't see how the self tappers would hold better than bolts w/ lock washers, washers and nuts. The wood will experience shrinkage over time regardless of what fastener you use, so I would think you'd experience loosening regardless.

Self tappers will drill clean through c-channel. If you want self tappers that have a flange with knurling on the bottom surface (for biting into the wood more) of the head, look at Simpson Strong Tie STS screws. They're awesome. If you lived near me, I'd tell you to stop by my work and I'd give you a box of them.

Your dump bed looks good man. I really could use one of those right now. I've been pipe dreaming about flat beds and dump beds lately.

 

Is a PTO pump better or worse than electric? I have the ZF5 and I think it has a PTO window and I have considered running a pump but don't know a thing about it.

 

IMNSHO Mechanical is always better then electric ...

Better price one though ...

-Enjoy
fh : )_~

 

most prefer the electric.simply because all you need to do is back up and hit the button.
it's simply a starter motor basically with it's own reservoir.
there's no need to shift the T-case etc.it's simply much easier and if you have a problem with a fluid line,your not going to be stranded because your trans leaked all over and now wont shift.

most are just power up/gravity down.mines power up & down.kinda odd.not sure what advantage there is to it.iv been debating bypassing the hot to it,so it just gravity feeds down.i don't see why i should waste running the motor to bring the bed down?
there must be a good reason for power both ways,as i see 'em for sale on abletrailer.com....i dunno.

you can expect to pay for the convenience of the electric over the older pto setup though.

 

Simply untrue!

What does a fluid line have to do with the inability to shift ...

No point in powering it down ... Whats that got to do with a PTO pump versus an electric...

-Enjoy
fh : )_~

 

oh yeah lol,

i got all my goods to work on the stake body.
i used a whole gallon of that rustoliem flat black.i coated it three times! frame and all.
i guess your not supposed to paint over POR-15 once it cures because it wont stick,but i don't care if flakes off and goes back down to the POR-15 paint on the frame.
anyway,so yeah i stopped in an got some plywood,hardware(rest of the bolts for the deck too) for it,primer,paint for all the wood,and im going to setup a few things for the side to hold a rake/shovel,a ladder rack etc.etc.
going to rig the top up,so the back section is hinged and flips up over the front section,this way when loading/stacking firewood etc,i can get up and still stand up etc.plus the rear will need to be lifted while i chip,as of now,the shoot goes right over the rear gate.i like that,as i don't even need to swing it open.
gunna be cool.
doing this tomorrow.so more pics soon.
i grabbed some more paint for the stake body metal too,so that's getting hit inside and out once i strip the old plywood off.

 

Should of coated the wood with Thompsons or something that soaks in like it and protects the wood before anchoring it down.

Paint really won't keep the water out, and can actually hold water in.

-Enjoy
fh : )_~

 

oh man.more $ to spend.great,thanks Festus lol.
ok,i'll check to see what they get for a gallon at the local hardware.
sounds like a good idea.iv spent so much now though i already want to cry lol.

i had to get the decking down asap though as i needed the bed for chipping yesterday.

 

on the power up/down argument, right now our hoist is plumbed to only go up, but it is a 2 way cylinder (unless the fitting at the top is just a breather or something). The only problem with ours is if you have something heavy, like a hay bale or a pallet of concrete on the back of the bed, the bed wants to work its way up. One of these days when I get some other projects out of the way I'm going to re-plumb the whole system so it is dual way system and so it is more efficient and so I can have a hydro filter.

 

Then the pivot placement is wrong ...

-Enjoy
fh : )_~

 

The power-down is convenient when your pivot is not at the very aft end of the deck, but say two feet in front of it due to a short truck frame - in those setups with the body up the rear edge comes down real close to the ground, which makes loading things like stones and stuff real easy, just keep the gate latched and chuck 'em in there against it - then when the body goes down and level all that weight at the very rear of the deck may cause it to come down real slow due to the cargo almost balancing out the front of the body, or you may get whatever Farmboy 1285 experienced with the body trying to work its way up.

 

Looking forward to more pics. I scored a flatbed for the F250, but I have another one I was thinking about making into a dump and putting on my '80 Chevy.
The pics are getting me thinking.