The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Making a Stovebolt Bed Plywood bed-floor for a working truck ?

Trying to get my '54 3/4-ton back into service.

Box floor is gone; needs floor, and rust-repair around the edges.

I have none of the original bed-wood.

The rear and intermediate cross-sills are present and usable.

Looking at kits from the various vendors, it appears that the OEM plank-style wood kits are made-up from 3/4" stock.

Has anyone done a 3/4-ton ("long-box") floor with a sheet of 3/4" plywood (exterior or Marine-grade) ?

If one sheet is not wide enough, I was thinking of doing two sheets and running an original bed-strip down the center and using original-type bolts / washers in the stock locations...

Anybody else gone down this path ?

Thanks !

Frank

I did a '66 GMC short wide bed using two sheets mated in the middle with one strip-really worked well for small $$$$$.

When I bought my truck, previous owner had installed 3/4" Marine grade plywood, bolted onto stock cross-members, and stained it.
Didn't look very good but matched rest of the truck. I would guess it was at least 7 or 8 years old and had held up OK

If you're just trying to get it back into service and are happy with this as an end result at least for now, why not?

I know a couple of guys who have done this and apparently the secret of making it look really good is good prep, cleaning up the wood, sanding, a few coats of good stain, making sure it really soaks in and then several good coats of varathene preferably with UV protection... if you do this it should last for years...

Back in Sept. 2010 I did pretty much exactly what you are describing on my short stepside bed. I removed all the original rotted out bed boards and then used (2) pieces of 3/4" pressure treated plywood. Functionality on a budget and not beauty was the goal. The center seam is covered by a stainless bed strip and the wood is attached to the bed around the perimeter with carriage head bolts.

More information can be found at this link, go to post #34: http://talk.classicparts.com/showthread.php?t=13928&page=3

Photos:

http://inlinethumb58.webshots.com/25913/2143589390103882008S600x600Q85.jpg

http://inlinethumb57.webshots.com/48184/2385634420103882008S600x600Q85.jpg

http://inlinethumb01.webshots.com/11200/2427079860103882008S600x600Q85.jpg


I have a heavy rubber bed mat that I throw over it now which helps to keep things from sliding around.

http://inlinethumb59.webshots.com/5818/2180952850103882008S600x600Q85.jpg

Good Luck and I hope this Helps!

John

Short bed but yes. One piece of 3/4" pressure treated plywood. Sealed it and it was cheap. Dose the trick. Been 1 year and still looks ok.

http://talk.classicparts.com/picture.php?albumid=180&pictureid=1330

Has anyone tried coating the pressure treated plywood with roll-on bedliner? Do you think the bedliner material would stick to the pressure treated wood?

I'm just getting ready to do a roll on bedliner in my new truck and I'd think that using pressure treated plywood AND roll on bedliner is almost redundant... bedliner offers so much protection why would you need pressure treated ply?

If I were going to go this way I'd apply a coat of roll on to both sides and all edges of ordinary plywood...

You might want to round off the square edges of the wood a tiny bit first though... just take the edge off with sandpaper so it's not a sharp corner and your end result will be a lot better...

With ANY finish you put on wood it is always thinnest at the corners and rounding them a bit allows whatever product you use to flow and remain thicker at the edges which will prevent moisture from getting in and ruining the wood over time...

Hope that helps...

I think the bedliner material will eventually peal off the pressure treated plywood. The chemicals in pressure treated wood "outgasses", http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outgassing meaning gives off vapors. The bedliner will trap the vapors and this will break the adhesive bond between the bedliner material and the wood.

Products like Thompsons Water Seal soaks into the wood, but still lets it breathe.

For what it's worth I used 3/4 pressure treated plywood on my 53 truck, and it has been there for 5 years.

I must point out that my angle strips along the lower edge of the bedsides were rusted to peices, so I replaced them with 1/8x2x2 angle iron, which makes them wide enough to cover a single sheet of plywood. After I let the pressure treating moisture dry thououghly (a couple of months) Iused Thonpsons water seal. Since I actually used the truck for work, I eventually got oil stains on the plywood and it looked bad..

This summer, I figured what have i got to lose, and applied a couple of coats of Mahogany stain. Didn't get the reddish color I hoped for, but the floor is pretty much all the same color, and the oil in the stain gives additional protection

Thanks GMCFreak for your post... I recently did my bed in the same material... Hope that it will last 5 years too...

For the ones who have gone the plywood route. I have the box off my '51 GMC. Is it easier to install the plywood and cross sills on the box and then install the box on the truck?

Are there any tricks to getting things properly lined up dimension-wise?

Allan, I did mine on the frame but not bolted down... I think it might be easier if you had it off the truck... Be prepared to have help putting it back on the frame, it will be heavy...

I measured the bed dimensions... Making sure that the bed was squared when making my measurements... It was a bit difficult for my bed because it has not been together for 20 years... I did not know for sure where the cross stills went in relation to the bed and the frame...

I used two 4 x 8 3/4" sheets of treated plywood... Had them cut where I bought the plywood,( note that lumber stores that have their trim saw inside may not cut them )... The two pieces are the same size so the seam lined up in the middle of the bed, this made it easy to insert the plywood under the welded bed strips... I put a few coats of water seal/stain on them...

The cost for materials was about $ 150... I plan on using it to haul things so I went this route...

Thanks healingbear. I have the box off but as you mentioned, I'm not sure of the exact locations for the cross sills.

Allan, if you know the locations of the cross still it would be easier drill in holes for the bolts... I did mine on the truck but had to more the bed side to side and raise the bed to drill the holes... An easier way might be to mark the holes, take the plywood off and drill your holes...This will work if you know the locations of the cross stills... I figured mine out by looking on the frame and saw wear marks and confirmed the front one by asking here on the forum...

why wouldnt you put all the bed strips in. would make it look a little more original. a little time with a router and straight edge and it would look better than original and probably last longer than the original boards with the pressure treated plywood. would let the wood dry outside sitting flat for a month or two first to acamalate to the weather and shrink up. then router and drill, seal everything with a good sealer and install. if done right would look original and nobody would know the difference.

3/4" ping pong table plywood (which is bigger than the typical 48"x96")does wonders. Cut and rip it to fit your bed. I've had it in my truck for over 20 years of service.

I took cmayna's advice on this and used 3/4" ping pong table plywood as a temporary bed in my '50 -- works great

I searched and searched for "ping pong table plywood" and couldn't find any, did you guys have to special order it?

i got mine for free off craigslist. look at the boise craigslist, there's one listed in meridian right now for $5. might be what you're looking for.

I wanted to post some photos on this thread now that I have finished the bed on my truck.

Pretty happy with the plywood bed floor.

http://inlinethumb03.webshots.com/48514/2359637820103882008S600x600Q85.jpg

http://inlinethumb25.webshots.com/49816/2888749260103882008S600x600Q85.jpg

http://inlinethumb49.webshots.com/50096/2667281780103882008S600x600Q85.jpg

http://inlinethumb08.webshots.com/50311/2375730440103882008S600x600Q85.jpg

http://inlinethumb43.webshots.com/49834/2320431890103882008S600x600Q85.jpg