Steel floor in bed??
 

When did this start? Did they make a 72 with a steel floor in bed?

Re: Steel floor in bed??
 

No idea when it started..... but my '72 K20 (built August 1971) has a steel floor.

Re: Steel floor in bed??
 

I believe it e
Was standard 67-72. If the spid lists wood floor that’s was an option

Re: Steel floor in bed??
 

my 68 gmc has steel bed

Re: Steel floor in bed??
 

Long horns aways got wood though. Along with 1T step sides.

Re: Steel floor in bed??
 

Other than a longhorn or stepside bed, I have never seen a fleetside bed with wood, unless it is older than a 67. I know folks said they came with wood beds in fleetside, I have just never seen one. Starting with 1973, all fleetside beds were steel and the stepsides stayed wood until 1988. Then there were no wood beds at all after that.

Re: Steel floor in bed??
 

My 72 K20 fleetside came with RPO E81, the optional wood floor.
(yes that's an ultra-rare "CX" coded K20 ;)... Nope, just kidding, it's an original factory typo, the metal tag VIN has the correct CK).

Re: Steel floor in bed??
 

I went to "out in the shop" and looked it up earlier, but E83 just says "pick-up box floor" without specifying what that option is.

Re: Steel floor in bed??
 

All 67-72 fleet side long or short beds could be had either way. The wood bed was still used into the late 70s...

Re: Steel floor in bed??
 

My C20 has a wooden floor and the C10 i sold had a wooden floor. Both fleetsides

Re: Steel floor in bed??
 

The 67 CST my grandpa is building to flip is a factory wood bed, SPID lists on the glovebox. My 68 is a steel floor.

Re: Steel floor in bed??
 

My base 67 GMC, and base 68 Chevy both have steel floor.

Re: Steel floor in bed??
 

So when I built my 68 C10 I thought about a steel bed floor. My body shop guy said "go wood" and I don't regret it for a minute.
Pic.

Re: Steel floor in bed??
 

^^^^ Great choice! I would be afraid to put anything in that bed -- it sure is a beauty!!

Re: Steel floor in bed??
 

I thought all step side trucks had wood flooring .

Re: Steel floor in bed??
 

It's interesting how the wood beds went from the beater option to works of art

Re: Steel floor in bed??
 

I think you are correct, but the Long Horn and 1T I was pretty sure of.

Re: Steel floor in bed??
 

I put some moving blankets down when I put stuff in the bed . Not that I haul with it but just stuff like coolers chairs and pop up canopies for car shows

Re: Steel floor in bed??
 

In regards to hauling everyday stuff I have a 22 Ram. I know oh the horror!
But in the 68 bed I did as said above I use old moving blankets to protect the wood bed.
But I was concerned that the blanket, cooler, chairs and or luggage may slide around. So on both sides of the bed in front of the wheel wells I replaced two of the bolts with "I" bolts. Then I bought one of those stretch PU tail gate net things. Two hooks on both sides. Worked great keep stuff from sliding around.

Re: Steel floor in bed??
 

If I remember right for the 67-72 years 67 wood floor was standard and steel floor was the option. In 68 the metal floor became standard and the wood floor was the option. Again this was for 6.5 and 8 foot flletside beds. All stepside beds, regardless of length only came with wood beds until the GMT400, or 1988.

Re: Steel floor in bed??
 

^ Gotta look at a lot of trucks, I guess. One thing's for sure, it changes all the time.

Re: Steel floor in bed??
 

Although probably even less common than in the 67-72 era, RPO E81 did continue into the early square years on fleetsides - the below 74 C20 still has its original wood bed floor (and its original bed wood paint!)

Re: Steel floor in bed??
 

That is cool. I didn't know the wood was available after 72. NIce truck there.

Re: Steel floor in bed??
 

The wood floors were for hauling livestock so they wouldn’t slip so much and go down. Slide in pickup racks came along and they had a wood floor in them. Then came the bumper pull livestock trailers and the wood floors in a pickup box were a thing of the past. Now they are making a comeback and look neat.

Re: Steel floor in bed??
 

I had seen well-documented fleetside wood beds in GMs as late as 1977, and for a long time I assumed that was the last year. 1976-77 was a watershed moment for the squares, since they also brought in power windows and discontinued low rise buckets. Lots of even more subtle design changes occurred as well, such as the gauge font, or the addition of a fuel door. So it seemed likely that at that point they had done away with wood.

Then last year I found a very highly optioned 1980 GMC in a junkyard that had a wood bed. I am pretty sure that was the last year for the wood bed in a fleetside. Of course as everyone knows the stepsides had them until 1987.

I have always wondered who the supplier for the wood beds was at the GM factories. Or did they have a woodshop?