wooden bed

[Rhino]

what is the quickest way to get the wood out of the bed?? Do you have to remove the bed? will it still be safe enought to drive with the bed still on minus the wood ?

[Gee_Emm]

I dont think it would be possible to drive it with out the bedwood since the cross members that support the bed have the wood attached to them. The bolts that hold the bed sides down run through the wood. In theory if you removed all the wood and center strips the bed would lift right off. So unless you rig something up the answer would be no.

[Longhorn Man]

My longhorn has more holes than wood back there, and he is right, I think we could lift it off without touching a wrench.
It made the trip ok from PA though...
Why you removing it? I'd leave it there untill you had something on hand to replace it with.

[dion]

I'm pretty sure you can replace it without removing the bed but it would probably be a lot easier if you did and I wouldn't drive it without the wood, jmo.

[Rhino]

Thanks, that is kinda what i was figuring, i was just wanting to refinish the boards...they have poly on pine boards and it is starting to come off....they with all the rain we have been having they have been getting pretty wet as well and i wanted to pull them out before the water does too much damage one of them has already cracked, it is a one of the short ones behind the wheel well so i figured it could be replaced simple enough.....thanks again for the input

[Gee_Emm]

Well in that case what i would suggest is removing the bed from the frame, take all the wood out and cut up some plywood or one bys and run them the width of the bed, just to support the bedsides and to keep the bed attached to the truck. The big funny looking offset bolts are the ones that hold the bed to the frame.

[SWINGSAX68]

I don't think the bed can have the wood out......, you could have just the bedside rails attached to the braces and then with the bed mounting bolts attached, but it would be a bit noisy and not very stable.....it takes time to replace bed wood whatever you do, but if you want to take the bed off you are gonna need some buddies for that long bed. It took me about 3 days for my bed, and it was a stepside that I left on the truck. I worked at least 6-7 hours all three days, I but I started with already cut wood (me and my girls dad) and a lot of the time I spent ripping everything else that was old rotted and rusted from old bed floor. A HUGE SET OF BOLT CUTTERS IS VERY USEFULL AND A SMALLER SET FOR THOSE HARDER TO REACH AREAS. thats if the bolts are not torchable or rusted real bad.

[Southpa]

I found its easier to just turn those old, rusty, fused carriage bolts the other way and snap them. I've had all the wood out of the truck with the box still on. You just have to lift up each side and slip the new wood underneath. The framework rests on the crossmembers, which, in turn, rest on the frame rails. I wouldn't drive it around like that tho.

[okietruck]

When I swithced to a long stepside, I didn't bolt through the wood. I just used 1" bolts and went through the brackets under the bed. It sits very solid but does rattle some. Mine's a lot like Longhornmail's, more holes than wood.

[XXL]

I've logged more miles WITHOUT wood in my beds than WITH. Starting with my first '68 stepside back in high school, one of the first things to come out was the wood. And, thanks to a BIG motor and a fat foot, I rarely had extra cash, which meant it was a looooooong time before anything went back into the bed. After you take the wood out, a few well placed bolts will secure the bed. Think about it how it's in there now... it's not wood holding the bed onto the truck, or you'd see a lot of flying beds as the wood rots and lets go. The (8??) large bolts with the star-holed washers on them are the ones holding the bed on. Just make sure they get put back in place when the wood's gone. I used to stack whatever I could find for spacers and just use the same bolts-- lug nuts, stacks of washers, whatever.

Kenneth