Utility Bed To Pickup Bed Conversion
 

I'd appreciate insight on whether it is reasonably possible to remove the enclosed utility bed on my 2001 F-350 7.3 4WD DRW and replace it with a dually pickup bed.

When I looked at some beds for sale last weekend, I noticed (1) that the bolt holes on the pickup beds were 35" on center whereas my rails appear to be 31" on center; and (2) the distance between the front of the bed and the wheel well center on the pickup beds was 56" whereas the distance on my truck is 60".

Other things that come to mind include (3) extending the fuel supply line as the fill point is currently between the bumper and the wheel wel; and (4) whether the 40 gallon rear mounted tank is a problem.

I would hope to defray the cost of the pickup bed by selling the utility bed. I haven't yet figured out what the enclosed utility beds are worth, but would love to get feedback on that as well.

I found a couple of pre-drilled holes in my frame that I used for mounting a filter. I mention this because these frames are made for many configurations and maybe there are holes that fit your bed... or the utility truck is purpose made.

Have you looked at the short and long beds to compare the measurements?

The rear tank is in the place where my spare goes. No harm, unless you don't have storage for the spare.

It sounds like this was bought as a cab and frame by a manufacturer of utility beds. Who knows what they spec'd for the frame.

The 40 gallon rear tank would lead me to believe your vehicle was sold as a cab and chassis which means the frame rails behind the cab are probably flat to accommodate multiple styles of utility bodies/beds. The frames on standard pickups have curves in the frame that the bed rails contour to. I don't think a standard pickup bed would just bolt on due to the differences between the frame rails.

If it started life as a cab and chassis You can fab some brakets to fit the daully bed but you'll have about a 5" gap in between the cab and bed.

The cab and chassis frames are longer and narrower than tha regular trucks

What he said... Longer and narrow. Would be like the old 70's camper special trucks where they added 8" to the bed...

Sounds like your truck started life as an incomplete vehicle.Look for the data tag on the door jamb, it will confirm it.Enter the serial # into the ford fleet info link (it's on this site somewhere) and you can learn all there is to know about your truck when it was built.

Hi there, that is exactly what I did with my F350 2001 crewcab, I bought it with 9ft utility bed because it was a bargain $3000 from a closing roofing company, so with the pick up conversion in mind I face some obstacles, as the narrow and longer chassis rear fuel tank, clearance for the tail gate.
First I did was sell the utility bed $1200 in craigs..., bought the 8ft pickup bed and found that centering the rear tire in the wheel well makes a big gap between cab and bed about 5" and the bed sets way lower than the cab missing the lines due to the flat frame and the chassis was sticking out on the rear about 5" and no mention the fuel door on the front of the bed with a rear tank I knew is going to be a hassle to fill it up running a filling hose that long.
This is what I did, put a couple of square pipes 2"x2" runing along the chassis to lift the bed making a notch on the lower bed beans (remember this bed is coming from a chassis with a hump over the axle) so the beans are not even, as reference the first bean (closest to the cab) was notched all the way to the bed floor(platform) to achive clean line beetwen the cab and bed, also making notches on the square pipes for every rivet on the chassis to make a full contact with it, make sure you have a good gauge square pipe since it going to hold all your load, then I chop the end of the chassis making sure to preserve the four holes on the frame, you will need them to attach the bumper and your hitch in case you want to put one (there is not room for a regular hitch remember you have a rear fuel tank),then you have to fill the gap beetwen cab and bed, there are some kits called "gap filler" or something like that, what I did was to rivet a flexible metal angle to the edge then cover it with fiber glass and finished with body filler (bondo) you can't tell is an adition until you stick your hand behind it.
At the begining I run fuel hoses (filling and return) all the way to the front of the bed but the fueling was in turtle pace because the liquid won't flow that quickly (backing up) so I went to the nearest yunk yard and bought a piece of panel with a fuel door on it and enough space to work with It, then I cut the hole closest to the rear of the bed right in front of the fuel tank making sure is at the same high than the original fuel door welded on place, bondo, paint and looks like allways being there, now I have two fuel doors and looks very nice and the fueling is quicker than the original, let me know if need more tips or pics since I have to figure it out by myself, by that time there were not blogs about it.

The new body should be much lighter than the old one and as long as properly reinforced, you are good. Does anyone know anything about this manufacturrer: www.jomacltd.com?

Also do you think an 8 ft utility body is a good size for my small electrical contracting business?

You may want to start a new thread with your question. This one is over three years old.

Ahh thanks. Sorry about that.

Need help
 

Hey how are you doing I am trying to do the same thing you did with my 2012 ford f350 dually could you please send pics and tips to ottolovejr@yahoo.com please

Reviving this thread almost ten years later. Still haven’t done my conversion. Curious if anyone else has been down this road.

Y2KW57 tagged me in a thread where someone added a pickup bed to a F550 which looks great. See https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/s...868&p=19995329