The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Making a Stovebolt Bed Making a Flat Bed - with tool box

Going along with our Bed Clinic, Irwin Arstein put together a nice tech tip on building a flatbed for his '59 1-ton. Plus some step-by-step info and photos on a utility box. And it wouldn't be a complete "Arnswine" story without a zinger for an ending.

Comments anyone?

Nice piece of work. Always wanted a flat bed half ton (no box to rattle) so now I have an idea of what to do. However I would not carry anything heavy back there. The tool box is well thought out. I want one for my half ton but want to make it from old barn wood (if I can find it) and place it in the box near the front panel. Was thinking that if I could put 150 pounds of sandbags in it the rear would ride smoother without floating like it does now over bumps.

Yeah, without a load in it, the rear right brake tends to lock up on hard apply scaring people, but I have those kevlar linings up front so it still stops good. With a load in there the rears work fine.

Barn wood would really look good, give that nice old tyme look.

The hotrodders back in the day liked the 3.73s in the trucks, but had a hard time getting the wheels to hook up. They'd buy a couple of sand bags just to get the wheels to grip.

You like the grey color of the wood?
That's usually just a stain, use new wood, sandblast it light and put on the stain and nobody can tell and mother nature does the maintenance.

Nice article folks.

I though that it would be worth pointing out that the GMC manual for '55-'59 trucks (maybe Chevrolet manual, too) outlines how to prepare the chassis for a flatbed. I believe that this information appears in the body section of the manual.