bed floor question

[mrh]

guys, I'm building a 67 swb stepside gmc that had a wood floor. this truck (bed) will see alot of use so I want to go back with a steel floor. there is a complete swb bed (fleetside) local I may can pick up for $100.00 with a good floor. I want to keep the stepside and use the steel floor. I know I will need to change the bed front panel but would the side panels interchange? as far as the steel floor goes, doesn anyone know how much would need to be taken out of the middle to make it fit? am I nuts for thinking of doing it this way?

thanks

[chevy_mike]

I would almost think it would be easier to get a late model (88+) step side and cut the floor out of it and put it in yours.

Seems like using a fleetside would require a lot more cutting.

[pocketpool]

buy the fleetside, scrap the stepside.

[Dingfodgy]

Personally, I'd gnaw off my own arm to get to a Short-Fleet bed for $100! And I certainly wouldn't hack the floor out of it and / or beat it to death haulin' a bunch of stuff around. I think by the time you buy a bed floor do alot of cutting, welding, and fabricating to make it work- you'd definately be time and maybe even money ahead to just replace the wood floor. There's this misconception that the steel floor will haul more than the wood version that simply is not true.
I would buy the fleet bed, restore it and set it aside. Then I'd replace the wood floor in the OE stepper and slap a piece of Diamond plate on top if you're concerned about strength. Once your done thrashing your truck- slap on that Fleet bed you've had stashed away. That my friend is a win-win in my book!

[jb4short]

replace the wood with c-channel...voila....steel bed floor

[Chevyman680063]

You can also have a piece of flat sheetmetal cut to the inner dimesions of the bed. My grandfather did this on his '68 stepside, which I now have, when the wood started rotting. He didn't weld it in though because he had it cut to fit perfectly in the bed and it looked like you could have bought it like that. He just used some sheetmetal screws at the front and back to be safe. The sheetmetal stayed in it for probably around 30 years with no problems. I finally removed it last year though because I plan on putting wood strips back in it when I restore it. He used a piece of sheetmetal that was the same thickness as the frame so make sure you have help installing it if you do go this route because it was very heavy when I removed it last year.

[jorgensensc]

If you plan on using the truck I would stick with wood. Besides the fact that later on if you restore the truck you would want to remove it, The wood is a lot more forgiving of things being bounced around in the bed. On top of that, when it gets really beat up you can replace it. Much easier to do than replacing a welded in metal floor. Plus you get to paint the wood or stain it in some really cool designs and colors. JMHO.
Shawn

[Chevyman680063]

You can also just use a piece of plywood in the bed. My '63 has 2 pieces of plywood bolted in it that the previous owner put in it. I think 1 piece would look a little better though. I have hauled a number of things in it like furniture, a large pile of those decorative stepping stones or whatever you call them to make walkways, and other heavy objects in it. I plan on putting the wood strips back in it though when I redo it.

[Shyguy]

I have a similar situation. We put the long stepper bed off of my '67 C-20 donor truck on my '71 C-10 lwb after we took the fleetside bed off and put it on my son's wife '68 lwb truck that is being restored.

The '67 long stepper bed had a piece of sheet metal tacked in which had to be removed to take the bed off and mount on the '71.

When we got the piece of metal out I saw that most of the wood was rotted away and that the metal strips including the side ones were totally shot from rust.

I am going to remove all the rusted metal and clean up and paint what is left then put a sheet of 3/4 inch plywood in it with a rubber mat, of course I will have to install some spacers here and there to make it level and some side angle iron.

Since this is a daily driver farm truck it should be ok for now and when I do decide to restore it I can just remove the plywood and rubber mat.

Danny

[Sammy]

Pull your bed sit it aside to redo when you can afford to do it up stock. Find a flat bed or make one to use for a few years.