Wood Bed VRS Steel Bed

[threeonthetree]

so i have the choice of using a wood or steel bed
with the wood bed i have to replace the floor and the headache
with the steel the headache is clean but the bed is sortta shot


so im wondering what most guys are running
steel or wood?
pros and cons of both?

[unclewatts]

I have a Oak wood bed in my 70. I got it from Classic parts as a kit. The wood arrived unfinished and I soaked the planks in Watco Teak Oil 3 times. Then I sprayed them with 6 coats of Man-o-war spar varnish, steel woolling them between each coat. I had a shop install the bed with all stainless steel strips and hardware. Ya know what? Now I can't haul anything in back there (except pillows LOL) for fear of scratching the wood. That bed turned my truck into a trailer queen! Sure looks good though. Just something to think about. If you're gonna haul stuff you might want to consider a steel bed and have it coated.

[mclairmo]

Depends on usage as stated above. I will use wood because that was oem on mine and I got a defective (chunked out in spots) wood bed kit from the Paddock for under $200, including shipping. I will likely paint the wood body color like oem or throw some clear varnish on it with painted strips so I can actually haul with it.

[threeonthetree]

I plan to haul stuff in the back.
How long do those beds take to rott out
Some people tell me wood beds are rare would this be a fact. Seems like every truck I've looked at these years has a wood bed.

[Green Machine]

We have 3 trucks, the first had a steel floor all rotted out and the cross braces too, converted to red oak. Used unpolished SS strips. Got kind of spendy buying all new cross sills and stuff, but it is pretty.

Truck # 2 had a good steel floor so we left it alone, painted body color, still have to be careful not to scratch it, but it looks good too. It will get a wood floor if this one starts to get too bad.

Truck #3 has a wood floor from factory, so this one is going to get Southern Yellow Pine like the factory used . We will use unpolished SS strips. Figure if this one gets scratched, we can refinish easier than repaint, We intend to actually haul few things with this one. We can also sand blast and reuse and repaint all of the factory rearand cross sills which will save some $$$.

My vote up here in rust country, is that I like the open bottom design of the cross braces, the salt and sand cannot get trapped in there and rot out the braces. Thats what rotted the floor out on the first truck. JMHO.

[71 super]

I have one of each. The bb has a oak wood floor and painted strips and the 4x4 has a pristine steel floor dent and rust free. In my opinion a steel floor that looks brand new says a lot about a truck, if a steel floor is clean and straight the rest of the truck should be as well. With the wood, anyone can do it, not everyone can find a straight original steel floor. If I had been able to find a floor straight enough the bb truck would have recieved a steel floor as well.