wooden bed floor conversion , how to ?
 

hey guys , i have an 8ft bed with a steel floor and finding a wood bed floor around here is as rare as hens teeth! anyone know how to convert the steel to wood ? i dont want to just lay wood over the steel either , i want the real deal , anyone have any idea ?

Re: wooden bed floor conversion , how to ?
 

Are you talking fleetside?

Re: wooden bed floor conversion , how to ?
 

Yes sir, sorry i didnt mention that

Re: wooden bed floor conversion , how to ?
 

I personally have only seen one. It was a 8' dually wood bed floor!

I would assume that you would need 8' stepside bed strips, probably more then a stepside, for the middle.

Stepside cross sills. both heights and will need to be make longer?

You will need angle brackets for the bedsides.

I think I remember some sort of funky "flange" around the wheel wells that sits on top of the wood.
Searching for pics would probably answer that.

Hope this helps. Super cool project

Re: wooden bed floor conversion , how to ?
 

Your going to have to be a savvy fabricator. I'm pretty sure there are MAJOR differences between wood and steel floor boxes, more so than peeling a skin and adding a couple brackets

Re: wooden bed floor conversion , how to ?
 

Yes, there are special flange pieces that allow the standard bedsides, wheel wells, and front bed panel to mate up to the wood floor. All of the cross sills underneath are unique to the wood floor but ones meant for a 67-72 fleetside wood floor can be modified to work. The rear cross sill is special too ... it has a notch for the ends of the boards to lay into. Mar-K (and probably some other vendors) offer the wood & bed strips pre-cut for factory 73-80 8' fleetside wood floors.

Here's an old post of mine with some pics of the fleetside wood floor I restored in Dad's 77: http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=376467

Re: wooden bed floor conversion , how to ?
 

Thanka for all your help guys ! Kinds sounds like there is nothing in the aftermarket thus far though sadly ? Hopefull someone will come out with a kit soon

Re: wooden bed floor conversion , how to ?
 

They sell kits that go over your steel floor you have now,The other way is find a bed that had it and swap beds.

Re: wooden bed floor conversion , how to ?
 

Modify the 67-72 fleetside flanges etc??

Re: wooden bed floor conversion , how to ?
 

Even if i could just find an original 8ft flt side wood bed floor to get measurements from i might be able to do it , just wish LMC had a kit , must have been a rare option??

Re: wooden bed floor conversion , how to ?
 

LMC Truck have the brackets etc for wood floor on the step side. Looking at the catalog I think you may be able to adapt many parts to do a fleetside, or even manufacture parts using one cross sill wood bed part from the stepside and extending it to span a fleet side.
The next couple of pages in the catalog show the other parts available.
I would mill or have milled your own choice of wood rather than buy a wood kit.

http://www.lmctruck.com/icatalog/cc/full.aspx?Page=41

Also on eBAY I have seen the bed strips polished, chromed or whatever you desire.

Hope this helps

Re: wooden bed floor conversion , how to ?
 

Buy the correct flanges from LMC, or cannibalize a 67-72 bed. The over the floor kits are silly.

Re: wooden bed floor conversion , how to ?
 

i agree ! kinda cheesy if you ask me lol but i dont think LMC makes them for a 73-87 , im looking into buying a kit for a 72 then doing some customizing :)