Diamond plate flooring mold?

[1987_3/4ton_chevy]

Heys, as you all know i am restorting a 1968 4wd 3/4 ton GMC. Do you know of anyone that was a Diamond Plate Flooring Mold, that people can buy and put in the truck? Trying to find some diamond plate but wow, that stuff is hard to find that i actually want and looking for. I found some at Fleet Farm but they are in small sheets. I know there is some many different opions with the flooring issue but won't hurt asking.

[Dingfodgy]

I don't know of anyone who makes a diamond plate floor panel for our trucks. Are you looking to overlay or replace the existing floor? Either way you'll most likely need to fab it up from pieces. As far as finding the material is concerned- you might want to give Bellman-Melcor or Des Moines Steel, both in Des Moines, a call - they might be able to get you hooked up. I'm sure there are some suppliers in Minneapolis too.

[ed2552]

Des Moines is a little closer than Mpls is

[1987_3/4ton_chevy]

sounds good, there is sheets of diamond plate at Fleet Farm but just wanted to see what there was... probably better to have someone that knows whats going on to do so. I am thinking about replacing it

[TonyJohnson]

Here's a place you can get 1/4" thick polished aluminum 36"x48" shipped free for $271... other sizes and materials available.
http://quickshipmetals.com/s-al-tread-250-36-48.html

If you were going to put it on top, you could drop down to 1/8" at that size for $139.

[haysonj]

Here's what I did the plate comes in 4 ft and 5 ft wide sheets. I used stainless pop rivets to hold it down and after the truck was painted I had a LINE-X bed liner put in.

[mahanian]

Food for thought, if you are replacing your existing floor you will have to bolt in the aluminum diamond plate rather than weld it due to the large difference in melting points between aluminum or steal. You could braze them together, but I don't know the longevity of brazing.

[slug]

no, ther is no way of welding/brazing aluminum to steel.

[special-K]

Are you talking aluminnum or steel?I don`t think you can get a piece wide enough for a 1pc. floor.At least not for a decent price.Do you just want to do the floor,over wheelhouses too,or sides and all?I go to a truck body place to get that stuff.They`ll sell cut to size,bend,or even fab if I need it.The place I go to is a truck hoist place.To get a piece cut and bent usually only costs their $25 minimum.I gave them a rusty Blazer tank skid plate and they made me a 5/16" aluminum diamond plate copy for barely more than the cost of material.Check those kind of places.Major cities have steel suppliers where you can buy stock.The truck hoist place will order in anything I want if they don`t have it.It`s a great resource.Usually I`ll just give them a drawing with dimensions and degree of bend.

['68OrangeSunshine]

There used to be a kit for skinning the lower quarter panels on a Blazer with 1/4" diamond tread aluminum. It was called "Tuff-Skin" or 'Tuff-Hide' or something. Off Road Design [associated with the Colorado K5 site] was selling it, but when I checked last, it was no longer available.
I then thought of making my own panels, but the high cost of the aluminum killed that. One source of these type panels would be an aircraft surplus supply house. I have bought small pieces from a place in Tucson. [We have a lot of aviation-related activity here]. Their prices are a lot cheaper, but it's all subject to availability.
One suggestion -- if you're rivetting aluminum to steel -- would be to use a good anti-rust primer on the steel side and Zinc Chromate primer on the aluminum side to minimize electrolytic bi-metal reaction.

[1987_3/4ton_chevy]

ok sounds good, anyone know a website so i can contact them?