bed wood without metal strips anyone done it?

[harley rider]

getting ready to redo the bed wood in a 67 .looking for pics of beds with out the metal strips.I dont mean just covered with ply wood. not looking for lessons on how wood expands and that is why the metal is there .I know how to deal with that. just wanted to see if any one else has done this.

[Classic Heartbeat]

Should be pictures on Mar-Ks website. They sell a kit that has hidden strips. WES

[67ChevyRedneck]

Are you looking for something cheap? I used treated deck boards for my bed. No strips.

[WadmalawJoe]

I'm in the middle of doing my bed and I haven't decided how I am going to do mine. I am leaning towards doing it without the strips for a cleaner look. I am thinking I would have to drill some extra holes in the cross sills and run short screws up from under the truck bed and just have only the perimeter bolts showing.
I am buying the wood from a local lumberyard and milling it down to fit.

[BAT]

Originally Posted by Classic Heartbeat

Should be pictures on Mar-Ks website. They sell a kit that has hidden strips. WES

Actually the Mar-K option is for hidden hardware, the steel strips are still there.

[harley rider]

Originally Posted by WadmalawJoe

I'm in the middle of doing my bed and I haven't decided how I am going to do mine. I am leaning towards doing it without the strips for a cleaner look. I am thinking I would have to drill some extra holes in the cross sills and run short screws up from under the truck bed and just have only the perimeter bolts showing.
I am buying the wood from a local lumberyard and milling it down to fit.

that is my plan too. what kind of wood are you using? any extra holes in the cross sills will need to be sloted as well as the holes in the wood around perimiter,to alow for expantion of the wood. I will probably tonque and groove the boards and cut grooves in the under side to help control cupping of the wood.I will probably use yellow pine or white oak .

[SS Tim]

Here is a bed I found looking for Longhorns. Really can't see the benefit of eliminating the strips they do a lot to tie the bed together.

[biggestjohn]

In my opinion, a bed with out strips is going to be a large bland panel with out contrast to break it up.

If you want to do something different, make strips out of Ebony, or some other different shade of wood.

Or you could do what I'm doing..............

my two cents.............

[harley rider]

Or you could do what I'm doing..............

my two cents.............[/QUOTE]

what are you doing?

[harley rider]

Originally Posted by SS Tim

Here is a bed I found looking for Longhorns. Really can't see the benefit of eliminating the strips they do a lot to tie the bed together.

all the metal strips do is hold the edges down and allow for expantion of the wood.

[stevencvn72]

Subscribing. I too like the rough look without bed strips and was planning on doing the same thing on a two inch raised bed. I also wanted to somehow add a piano hinge across so I could lift a section up to access the air ride stuff underneath. I thought of adding three or four aluminum strips across the bottom to tie everything in but am worried about dirt and gunk building up on top of them. I never thought of the wood expanding and contracting, but the porch I built off the back of my house hasn’t buckled yet and it’s pretty well secured.

[harley rider]

Originally Posted by stevencvn72

Subscribing. I too like the rough look without bed strips and was planning on doing the same thing on a two inch raised bed. I also wanted to somehow add a piano hinge across so I could lift a section up to access the air ride stuff underneath. I thought of adding three or four aluminum strips across the bottom to tie everything in but am worried about dirt and gunk building up on top of them. I never thought of the wood expanding and contracting, but the porch I built off the back of my house hasn’t buckled yet and it’s pretty well secured.

your wood deck is not surounded by steel. it may not be buckling but it is moving.

[stevencvn72]

Originally Posted by harley rider

your wood deck is not surounded by steel. it may not be buckling but it is moving.

So how do strips differ from just having a gap in the planks?

[SS Tim]

Originally Posted by stevencvn72

So how do strips differ from just having a gap in the planks?

For the most part the bed boards are clamped by the strips to the crossmembers. In places there are backing washers to allow the clamping effect. The strips also prevent bowing of the boards the length of the bed and help prevent cupping by allowing the boards to contract and expand width-wise while maintaining a clamping load. Finally they help prevent damage to the wood surface from scrubbing loads by being the highest part of the bed as a rub rail.
Doing away with the strips will require an alternate method of board retention to cope with thermal and moisture related expansion activity. In addition spreading the loads to adjacent boards to reduce point loading needs to be addressed. Plus this method must locate the boards to keep the bed square and firmly attached to the chassis during torsion, positive and negative loadings.

[WadmalawJoe]

Originally Posted by harley rider

that is my plan too. what kind of wood are you using? any extra holes in the cross sills will need to be sloted as well as the holes in the wood around perimiter,to alow for expantion of the wood. I will probably tonque and groove the boards and cut grooves in the under side to help control cupping of the wood.I will probably use yellow pine or white oak .

I think I will be using yellow pine, do to my budget restrictions, it's a 1/3 the price of oak here in the Charleston SC area. I have called all around.
Instead of doing slotted holes I may just drill the holes just large enough to allow movement without the screw head pulling through.
It's not really surrounded by steel, there is a gap between the end of the cross members and the outside side wall of the bed. The front panel of the bed isn't all that stout, the rear crossmember is the most rigid.
I think if the boards are tongue and groove I think they will work together to distribute the load weight. Also, I wouldn't jam them together to tight, maybe leave them a little loose to help with expansion and contraction.

my two cents!

[harley rider]

Originally Posted by WadmalawJoe

I think I will be using yellow pine, do to my budget restrictions, it's a 1/3 the price of oak here in the Charleston SC area. I have called all around.
Instead of doing slotted holes I may just drill the holes just large enough to allow movement without the screw head pulling through.
It's not really surrounded by steel, there is a gap between the end of the cross members and the outside side wall of the bed. The front panel of the bed isn't all that stout, the rear crossmember is the most rigid.
I think if the boards are tongue and groove I think they will work together to distribute the load weight. Also, I wouldn't jam them together to tight, maybe leave them a little loose to help with expansion and contraction.

my two cents!

ok maybe not surrounded. wood moves side to side across the grain not length wise, the wood is bolted to the inner panel of the bed. and if the holes in the wood are not slotted it could buckle .I would make the joints in the field tight so that the entire floor moves together and moves under the steel. I will also keep the boards under 4 inches wide. I have been a wood worker for over 30 years and have built many things that spend there whole life out doors. there is a lot of tricks to control movement of wood when attached to steel structures that dont move the same as the wood. oak costs a lot more here in kansas too.I have a wood shop and have a lot of leftovers of both, mostly that some one else payed for, I will probably use what ever I have the most of .

[WadmalawJoe]

I'm leaning back to oak, I found 4 boards up in my barn loft today. They are left over from some job I must have done a few years ago.