The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Panels 'N Burbs panel floor wood

first ill say thanks for all the help thus far,i now have a sending/pickup tube and emergency brake cables.frame/motor is done now im heading to the cab,i guess because i have the cab already pulled off i should probably go and do the floor.lmc makes a wood floor kit but i was really wanting to do a tounge and groove type floor,but im not finding boards wide enough for the 10 inch spacing,if i do go with the lmc kit,would i order one for a fleetside short bed?did the panel truck come with the steel runners?thanks in advance

early series panel bodies [pre-55] used planks, later ones [55+] have plywood floors, and yes they all had the skid strips - but the year is needed to say anything specific

Bill

From a Stovebolt search.

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It looks like tjknaus has a 1956 panel. It would have originally had a plywood floor, as posted by Bill.

Regarding buying fleetside bed-wood for a panel rear floor - I doubt that would work, but wait to hear from someone who knows about post 55-2nd+ panel trucks.

Plywood floors in panel trucks started in 1950 (with 5 metal skid strips).

yep Tim, my 52 had the one piece plywood floor and skid strips and is original and a one piece plywood sheet would have to be special ordered as they are wider than average board today. I think somewhere around 54".
Do a search and find lots of reading!

54" width is correct, Alvin. The same width as in the Suburban.

I have heard people say they could find plywood that wide a boat-repair parts company.

You're getting into a heap of work if you want to replace the plywood with plywood. I think Weeds did it a few years ago, although his is the A-D series.

ok my bad,its actually a 2nd series 55 but titled as a 56.it does have a plywood floor in it now,actually looks like treated plywood thats 3/4 inch thick.im not doing a full restore gonna be custom,any ideas on a cool floor concept,im gonna go with some kind of toungue and groove flooring with a dark stain,any ideas

If you go with solid wood, you're going to want the load strips between the planks. The wood is going to expand and contract, and the strips will hide the gaps.

guess I misremembered, was thinking the ply floor started later ....
I've done the floor on the TF series, parted out a '58 and saved the good [oil saturated] floor to replace the one in my old driver, and while it was out I used it for a pattern to make a new floor for another '57 .... a sheet big enough would have been a very expensive special order with months of waiting, so I got 2 sheets of over length marine ply [10'] and made the correct width with a biscuit joint down the middle .... it definitely is a major job

tongue and groove fir floor in my '58 driver - done with salvaged fir flooring, don't think I'd want it in a panel tho'

Bill

Bill, you shoulda come down, we coulda scarfed the ply together, no biscuits needed!

bill was there any problems with the planks that wernt bolted,they try to come up or anything

did that ply years ago Chris, in my neighbors most excellent wood shop

tj - I bolted most all of the planks, and if you finish all 6 sides before assembly, then do an undercoat once it's together it might work OK sheltered in a panel - with the pickup exposed in my wet climate, there's been some cupping and shifting after about 15 years of daily hard use, it needs a good sanding and repaint .... when I get a round tuit

Bill

I used three sheets of 3/4 tongue and grovve plywood. I used the old floor as a template and placed the sheets crosswise, breaking them at the wheelwells. Also used asphalt roofing compound underneath to waterproof the ply. I tried icedam sheeting but would not stick to a horizontal upsidedown position. I'm gonna cove the ply with melamine strips when i put the steel runners back in as a spoil type board situation. i did the research on a full sheet of ply and a 500 dollar prictag was not worth it. I did 3 sheets of t and g for about 120 and im very happy with it plus it was way easier to install in sections. peace.

https://www.stovebolt.com/ubbthread...Main=100320&Number=690514#Post690514


This worked well for me as long as the original floor is in decent shape.



Don J

well i just bought 50 sq feet of white pine tounge and grove flooring and im going to give it a try,if it works it should be awsome looking

got my floor done,dont know how to post pics though,but it looks awsome

click on the bottom left of the page for how to post pictures.
In short...load them up to a site like Photobucket then post a link to that page. Once you do it one time you'll be set. There are guys here to that can walk you though it batter than me!!

We do want to see those pics.

http://s1061.photobucket.com/albums/t479/paintman5851/got an album started.

http://s1061.photobucket.com/albums/t479/paintman5851/ try again

Thanks. Nice job on the floor. As my daddy always said, there is more ways than one to skin a cat. Good job.