The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Making a Stovebolt Bed Aluminum bed floor alternative

For those of you looking to replace your wood bed floor check out Smokey Road Rod Shop (Smokeyroadrodshop.com). Some very traditional looks from solid aluminum planks and strips. Hidden fasteners so you get a smooth look from above. Available for short and long beds, Stepside and fleetside. Pricing seems reasonable.

Note: I nor Stovebolt.com have any affiliation with Smokey Road Rod Shop. Do your own research and purchase at your own risk.

It is interesting. The price does seem pretty reasonable.

My concern would be using the truck as a truck. Wood can be sanded and refinshed. Scratches and such just add character.

They say the durability is comparable to an automotive paint/clear, but every bed I have ever seen that was really used had the paint on the floor pretty chewed up.

I can't see someone investing in these aluminum bed floors if they are going to use it. That is for show only. Reasonable price is relative. Way too expensive for my truck but for what it is maybe not bad.

It is more than I would pay, but I call it reasonable compared to buying an off the shelf wood kit.

Holley (Brothers) wants $1030 for a wood kit that needs hand finished before it can be installed. At $1250 for a ready to install aluminum setup, you are money head vs your effort.

That said, I wouldn't buy the precut kit or the aluminum one.

Yes, if you are buying the would kit I see your point/comparison. I am with you. I would not buy either. I have a would shop and make my own bed boards at a fraction of the cost.

We looked at the Smokey rod shop kits several years ago. As I recall it looked nice with no repeating patterns and looked realistic. For what it is it seemed like a quality product. At that time the plank widths did not match the original sizes. We did not take on the product line. They may have changed it by now

Mark

I have made 2 beds out of aluminum on some show trucks.
They are constructed of an inner frame of 1/2" square tubing which looks like a the side of a Jaws shark cage where the inner bars coincide where the bed strips. The shark cage is sandwiched between two sheets of 1/16" thickness sheets of aluminum. I covered one of them with carbon fiber mat and epoxy resin and bolted SS bedstrips on top. It has been a big hit on the car show circuit.
The other one is still a work in progress. I tried to use woodgrain snap-in vinyl flooring, but it failed miserably in the sun at end joints. The end joints were necessary since they only make the vinyl flooring in 4 foot sections. Those snap-in end joints are very thin and curled up horribly. I need to come up with something else. Any ideas out there? It would need to be in the neighborhood of 3/16" thickness.

My 1956 Ford F-100 had a single sheet of diamond plate steel welded over the original wood bed when the truck was nearly new. It was awesome and durable.

They offer bed floors The tailagte on my 54 is from them and I am very pleased with it. It has been on the truck since the summer of 2006.

Mar-K has always been the go to company for those who don’t have the woodworking skills to make up their own bed. I posted the referenced company as an alternative to wood. The premise was intriguing at the very least.

Ron, we are talking aluminum not wood. FYI, all the usual suppliers have bed wood kits.

Well, smack my hand but I thought both of those in the past carried aluminum. AND it does say alternative.Maybe this time.

This may be what Martin is talking about. We have only used two, one on a 54 3100 and another on a 49 Studebaker long bed. Look very nice but no longer fit for hauling steel fence posts and barbed wire.

[img]https://i.postimg.cc/ZC0yQDG5/IMG-4553.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i.postimg.cc/hXThWFpc/IMG-4554.jpg[/img]