The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Bed Wood... the cheap way out!

Fishing for cheap bed wood ideas.. I have been kickin' around the idea of just laying a piece of plywood down in the bed of the '46 1/2 ton and just coating it with that rino liner stuff, but I do like the idea of the original style slats.

I see the fancy pre-cut kits for $200 and up.. I can't help but think a fella could get the same wood at the local lumber yard for more like $50.. I mean, wasn't the original floor in this thing pine? What am I missing?

So if you've put a cheap, decent looking, sturdy floor in your Deco or AD 1/2 or 3/4 ton pickup, lets hear how ya did it!

Fumblin,

You are correct, the original floors were constructed out of steel strips, holding down yellow-pine wood slats.

I would think if you were handy with a router, have access to some good wood, and your steel strips are worth a hoot, you could probably make a wood floor fairly cheaply yourself.

I don't remember where I saw it, but I visited a website recently, that gave the dimensions etc. of the wood. I'll look for it, and post it, if I can find it again. I think I just did a search on truck bed flooring or something like that.

The bedwood on my first 52 is pretty sad, but still there. The previous owner placed a sheet of steel over the original bed floor, and it holds up pretty well. It's not welded, bolted, or attached by means other than the weight, so I can always replace the wood when I'm ready, without having to grind welds etc.

I'm in the same boat, not wanting to spend an arm and a leg to have the wood floor. So for now, it does just fine.

From the limited looking i've done so far, it looks like the only fancy routing thats done to the slats is so the metal strips sit recessed/flush with the surface of the wood floor.

I wonder why you couldn't just slap the strips on top of the wood without the routing.. that would make the strips stick up a bit, right?

If you can find out the width and thickness of stock boards, that would be cool.

Here's a link to a site that has everything you need to restore your Advanced Design wood bed. I dont know how they relate to a Deco bed but the principle is the same. cheers
http://www.50chevy.freeservers.com/Bed_Restoration.html

I have seen some people use a sheet of plywood, and bolt the strips to the top. I think if they had taken there time and routered the strips in. No one would notice it. You would just have to router an 1/8 of an inch. A sheet of 3/4 treated, I think would last a long time.

-RT1

Fumlin, I believe you're correct on each of those points.

The site I referred to, if I remember correctly, tells you the sizes you're looking for.

It also explains the specific placement, and the correct # of boards. I don't remember the specifics, but do remember that different years have a different number of boards, and different widths.

I'm fairly sure I have that site marked in my favorites at home, as I thought I'd probably need it in the future.

I'll look later tonight, and get back to you, if someone else hasn't jumped in with all of your answers.

Did you ever venture over to that shed I asked you about? I'm curious to know what's in there.

Fumblin,

I think the site Norm 84 provided is the one I had in mind. It appears that it doesn't cover your 46 though.

If you need pictures or measurements for the 46, let me know. I'm not sure I can get exact, but ought to be close, without tearing up the strips etc., but I'll do what I can to help. I've got a Jim Carter's yellow-pine wood bed kit in it.

Fumblin,

So far I have replaced my angle edge pieces with standared angle metal and am planing on using the strips on top of a nice piece of plywood ( all of my metal was rusted to crap and one of the sde panels rusted through). I am probably going to route out a small area for the strips to be flush. So far everything is looking good. When I get done I will post a couple of pictures.

Ed

or you could find some good salvage T&G flooring and skip the strips - they just accelerate the rot and get rusty if you really use the bed - mine's goin on 10 years old now and still works fine

Bill

Ya know, Red.. I was thinking as I looked at the way those strips sit on the wood that they probably wouldn't do much more than offer a place for moisture to collect.

Your tounge & groove bed floor looks pretty good to me.. and probably mighty durable, too.. not to mention the tounge & groove design prevents moisture from sneaking in between the individual boards.

Frank - every old bed I've seen is the most rotten along the edges where the strips sit - a problem because of differential reaction to temperature cycles, and the fact that moisture collects on the metal first when it gets cold

my bed boards were individualy painted all 6 sides w/ marine enamel and fit together, bolted to the cross sills and then the whole assembly got another good coat top and bottom to seal the joints - haven't had any problems w/ swelling or shifting in a very wet climate [daily driver], so I think I got'em pretty well sealed

the wood is actually out of a 100 year old house I helped tear down and is from first growth trees - the kinda straight close grain wood ya can't buy any more!

Bill

Fumblin,Just to add my2cents, Reds right. No matter what you put in there, ya GOTTA SEAL all the sides of the wood.Not just the top,like most do,But the bottom,the ends and the sides as well.This keeps the wood from cupping and checking as it swells and shrinks Regards, Steve Sr.

When I redo my bedwood it gonna be Ipe\' Pronounced ee-pay. It's a very dense wood used for high end decks. Very strong and weather resistant. You don't even need to seal it but helps to retain its original color. I have found it available locally for about $2.65 a foot. So 8 boards at 7' lengths would be about $150.00. That's about what a wood set from a vendor costs but this stuff will definitely outlast pine or oak it's a beautiful reddish brown color but changes to a silver grey w/out any sealer. This stuff would look awesome w/ S/S bed strips. MY2CNTS

Hey Shipwright What a great idea.I had heard of IPe^,GRREEAAT deck timber,but expensive here on L.I. but as you say Ya dont need much I,m gonna look into it for my 52 1Ton.Should,nt be too bad at about 200.00 for mat. Regards Steve sr.

I redone the wood in my 64 with standard lumber yard wood. all you need is a router and table and a rabbiting bit. I bought new strips and galvanized carrage bolts and started in the middle and worked my way out one board at a time. My truck was just a driver so I sprayed it down with clear deck sealer when I was done.

Question; On my 64, the old wood was pine. On my 63 I beleive the wood was original and it was oak. The question being, was the kind of wood a factory option or did they just use whatever was supplied to them at the time?
Scott

Scott, Everything I have seen has been Pine originally. Factory Oak would be news to me.

Scott; Ditto never heard of anything but pine on any GM from the factory.

BTW,Shipwright;
Regarding your signature line, I guess I've been lucky-the white knuckle fever didn't start for me until about 95mph in my '57 GMC.Except for the first on-ramp pulling my 35 foot 5th wheel,where I had to make a fairly hard right turn at about 40 mph and THAT's where I discovered how bad my kingpin bushings REALLY were. Good thing I only had 770 more miles to cover! Now,back to our program...
Speed

This topic, "white knuckle fever" deserves it's own thread! (I'm gunna go make one!)

Couldn't you cut the slits for the rails on a table saw? there is a gmc website somewhere that has all the dimensions for bed wood and it includes chevies as well.

gmcpauls.com - has the dimensions for chevy wood beds.

red58 - nice bed! I like that idea.

shipwright - I think I read once about someone using the Ipe wood for their truck bed... I can't recall if it was here on the 'Bolt or another forum. Seems like it would work great though.

fumblin46 - mar-k has the

Bed Assembly Instructions
Complete Bed Instructions

Instructions for complete bed assembly including bed panels, cross sills, and wood, strips and hardware. Includes measurements and many pictures for your specific truck bed. Sold separately or included free with bed side order.

http://catalog.mar-k.com - Part Number: INST41CHEVSS Price: $10.00 EACH


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I stick this in here in case someone stumbles into this thread later...

1947-1951 (9 boards)

1955-1959 (8 boards)

http://www.chevytrucks.org/tech/bedwood.htm

Fortunately, the wood on my 52' was complete and not badly compromised. I put the weather side through the plaver 1/64' at a time. Finished it with the orbital all sides. Coated with Spar Varnish thinned 6 coats. Ready for another 50 years!
Oh ya, SS strips going back in.

If you want to go real cheap, do what I did 3 years ago. Find a lumber house that sells Ping Pong table plywood and cut it to fit. They come in sheets of 5x9. A normal plywood pieces is about 1" too short width wise. Afterwards I simply layed down stainless steel strips. Has held up to the weather very nicely.

Ok...since many people know aboout gmcpaul's for the Chevy/GMC beds, does anyone know of a site with bed wood dimensions for a 29 Model A F**d? I've been lookin for at least a week and haven't run across anything on the web...so far.

I'll answer my own question. I found a book, "Restoring The Model A Pickup" that has patterns and dimensions for the bed wood. I ordered it and it's on its way.

I have seen lots of links for AD and later trucks. Did anyone come up with anything for Art Deco, Streamline and earlier trucks?

My brother owns a company that makes and installs custom high end moldings and casings for hotels and retail stores. Mostly to some architects whim.

I mentioned the simple rabbit that is routed off the sides of our truck boards. He could have a set of knives made to cut this. And really it is so simple you could do it at home on a table saw

I would like to make my own boards, but I don't have the earlier widths. My truck had home made bed wod in it when I got it, so I don't have the originals to go by.

Bill Schickling

Bill,
I have never heard of a "Streamline" truck...educate me


Stuart.

Stuart,

It is probably made up. I have read a couple of books that call the 1939 and 1940 trucks streamline.

Bill

For some reason my shop does a lot of 47-55 1st series trucks and we've replaced a LOT of bed wood over the years. Here are a few tips that may help. First remove the bed, it's only a few bolts and some of the nuts are really hard to get to with the bed on. Next stand the bed on it's front panel, on a pad if finish painted. This allows you and your helper access to the bolt head and nut without one having to lay on their back getting a facefull of fifty some year old rust and dirt. If you have to torch some of the bolts, the're up in the channel crossmembers and the hot slag won't be falling on you. About half(at least) of the carriage head bolts will spin and round out the square hole, so if you have a welder dot the head of each bolt to the strip if the strip isn't rusted away--otherwise torch it. If the bed is going to be all refinished just cut the heads of the carriage bolts off because it's a lot easier than reaching up in the channels to cut the nuts off. With the old bed wood out and whatever finishing is done set the bed on two sawhorses and square it diagonally, this is essential. If the angle strips on the sides are bad you can get cover strips that fit on top from Mar-K in Oklahoma City or Chevy Duty in K.C. Now for the wood--two ways to fit it: (1) down and dirty, get two 1X8's and six 1X6's and slide the two edge boards under the angle strips on the bed sides and use two of you new 1/4" carriage bolts for spacing the next board over 1/4 inch for the right gap. Continue spacing the one by sixes this way until there are three on each side, then measure the remaining space and subtract 3/4"(this is the sum two 1/4" gaps between the allready in place 1X6's and the two 1X8 center boards plus the 1/4" gap between the 1X8's). Now rip an equal amount off each 1X8 so together they equal the remaining gap less the 3/4". Set up your table saw so the blade is up 5/8" and have the blade just barely missing the fence. Clamp a second guide as tall as the fence so the board on edge will just slide through and cut your grooves-- remembering the side boards just need a groove on one side and not on the side that fits under the angle strip. Now reset the blade height to 1/8" and the fence to 5/8" from the far side of the blade and trim the groove side. A router will work fine but is slower. Now for the dirty: set the boards back in place and where ever there isn't a hole, drill a new one. The metal is soft and thin and with a good sharp drill it's a breeze. If originality is important measure the spaces between the factory holes in the crossmembers(rear is best) and rip each board to size. This takes more time and since it's weird widths you'll have a lot of scrap left over but looks nice. It's hard to start the flat washer, lock washer and nut in the confines of the crossmember channels so hold them up in place and have your helper turn the head of the carriage bolt until the nut is started. Well, I guess after this novel " War And Piece" will seem like a short story.

Thanks Evan, I did it your way, the old school way, and I've hauled engines and cordwood on my pine bed. Now if you go for show you either pay for it or take your time building it yourself as all the demensions are available for our old beds.

coilover,
What is "our shop" and why would you do lots of AD beds. Your step by step is wonderful, it sounds like you could do it in your sleep. It looks like following your directions would make it a PEACE of cake.


Stuart.

http://www.mar-k.com

claims to have how to manuals for the beds.

-W

To atomarc: I don't know why we do so many AD trucks(we call them "roundbodies"). The very first truck I did after retiring was a 51 GMC that I put on a 74 Cadillac chassis with the big old 472 and all the power everything transferred to the jimmy. That was 25 years ago and it still gets an occasional trophy. I guess a lot of people have seen "Cowboy Cadillac" and the many others always around the shop and tell themselves, "hey that guy works on these old trucks". Right now there is a 53 five window original frame off restoration, a 54 five window going onto a S10 frame, and a 50 three window that is being pro-streeted. There are also several brand X cars and trucks under construction. My shop is about 65 miles NE of Dallas and has never had a name or for 23 years of the 25 years, a telephone. It does have a 2 1/2 year waiting list for a complete resto or rod project. If I were'nt such a high tech moron I'd put pictures on to help some of the guys with their personal projects. I bought a digital camera and can get the little 1 1/2 inch square pictures on the computer but can't make them bigger to show any detail. Oh well, I can now set the clock on my 98 truck--only took me 7+ years. Evan

Evan,
I think you just let the cat out of the bag. You mentioned a '54 going onto a S10 frame..I know I have seen questions about this in one of the forums. You might have just made yourself "da forum man". Thanks for the interesting info on your operation.


Stuart.

Woogeroo,

I haven't called Mar-k, but when looking on their website, you get a nice disclaimer that they don't have patterns for 1940 1/2 ton.

I was very surprised.

Bill Schickling