Wood Bed Question

[69 COPO]

I'm redoing my wood bed floor. Thought about buying wood and cutting it my self. If I do that does anyone know what kind of wood the factory put on the floors. Thought someone said White Pine, but not sure. If I buy precut & drilled boards, where can I get a good quality kit. (Boards, tracks, bolts etc.) LMC? Thanks Copo

[ckhd]

It is white pine. If you are going for "original", you'll need to paint the wood too, but just on the top. I think that LMC and pretty much everyone else sells oak.

[Sillyoldman]

Got my pine wood, bed strips and bolt kit from Mar-K. I toyed with the idea of making my own. I have a router table and still decided it was too much hassle to bother with. Glad I bought the kit.

[thecatseye66]

Originally Posted by Sillyoldman

Got my pine wood, bed strips and bolt kit from Mar-K. I toyed with the idea of making my own.

If you don't mind me asking, what did you pay for the kit?

[69 COPO]

Thanks for getting back to me on the wood bed question. That really looks like a nice truck Sillyoldman. Wood bed looks great, sounds like it might be the way to go. Did every thing fit well, are pieces pre-drilled and notched. Can you give me some info on the Mar-K, never heard of it. Was it costly to do it that way? Thanks Copo

[OhioDan]

Here's their web page. Some items, like always are a little pricey. Hope this helps?

http://www.mar-k.com/home.html

Bought my tailgate handle relocater kit from them. Less than most competitors at the time.

[Sillyoldman]

The wood was $215.00. The bedstrips come in a variety from primed to chrome and hidden fastener strips. The price difference from raw quality pine lumber to the manufactured wood was not significant enough to allow for an error margin. After rebuilding a bed I can truley say I dont care to do it again.

[69 COPO]

Ha Sillyoldman, thanks for the reply. I tore mine yesterday, it is a job. Kept the boards to use for measurements, but Mar-k board kit sounds better all the time. Did the boards line up right, was it a good kit (nuts & bolts) how about the strips are they like the originals. Was it worth the money? Thanks Copo

[guyryan100]

There's a guy on eBay selling pre-cut setups in a range of wood choices. Seems like he was letting them go for < $200.

[Mudder]

I had my oak boards cut locally for about $80. Most of the vendors here will sell you the stainless strips and bolt kits for the beds. I enjoy taking a bed apart and putting in new boards. I would highly recomend stainless bolts. The next time you take it apart it will be worth 20 times what you paid for them.

GMCPaul has all the board sizes on his web site.

[Sillyoldman]

The kit was great. I could have milled my own boards, but feared allignment & fit problems. If you are going to use the bed I would suggest stainess bed strips. I used the primed and painted them to match. I could see the finish being banged up quickly if ever used to haul anything. Everything was just as original. You do have to drill the holes in all of the boards front and back, sides and wheel tubs. Not a big deal though.

[86swb]

I would go with mark-K. I personally do not like the painted wood bed-but the OE wood bed were painted. I have heard nothing but good things about Mark-K wood beds. You can get the whole kit. Thats just me.