new bed

[amccomb]

Sometime soon i need to replace my wood bed. I have a 66 k10 fleetside long bed. I have done a little researched, lmc looks like they have a descent kit. What do you guys recommend?

[Clyde65]

I would just find a good replacement, there are a bunch down here you could get. would be probably cheaper and fit alot better.

[Bears63]

I wouldn't deal with LMC if my life depended on it. I gave up ever getting a correct order from that place. For bed wood, check these guys out: http://www.mar-k.com/

I have not used them myself, but I have known of quite a few people that have and all the reviews have been good.

[steverino66]

If you have more time/energy than money…
I had boards planed and cut at a cabinet shop, cut the edges and finished myself, saved about $250, but it is a lot of work even if you have the woodworking tools you need (Mar-k and GMC Paul's have specs on their sites).
There are some decently priced kits on eBay, but can't vouch for their quality.

[kieth]

I bought #2 pine in longer lengths and widths, cherry picked the wood, cut it down to the proper width, then using a inexpensive table saw and some old dado blades cut the wood on the sides (Mar K shows the proper widths and the detail of the sides of the boards. The wood cost $56.00 bought a polished SS set of rails and bolts, and did it myself. It did make a lot of wood chips but it turned out alright. we are installing the wood right now and driling the holes. Kieth

here are the before , after painting, and we are just now installing after a few months. will show pictures when it is finished. Kieth

http://kieth.smugmug.com/Trucks/66-G...83248339_rLQkT

[Clyde65]

Sorry, I mis read the post. I was thinking bed itself and not bed wood.
I have used Classic Parts for bed wood before, good quality and cheaper than most. I also have dont the cabinet shop too. I have a friend that used to own one and he did an remarkable job on my dad's bed wood.

[Shaky]

Check the last page of my '67 C20 thread below. Mar-K had a deal a couple of months ago. 10% off and free shipping. I didn't think they'd honor the free shipping on 8-foot bed wood, but they did.

I though it would get damaged by UPS, but it didn't. I bought the oak - it came out looking good.

[XtechX]

Don't buy the wood from any of the truck stores, they're way over priced! Go to a saw mill and get it, there has to be one somewhere close to you. You can get your lwb wood for about 100-120 bucks. Oak or Walnut ...what ever you want

[J.Cagle]

What kind of wood came from the factory?

[XtechX]

Originaly, I believe it was southern yellow pine.

[jonzcustomshop]

mar-k.

[amccomb]

Great info guys thanks.

[Scot_Douglas]

Originally Posted by kieth

I bought #2 pine in longer lengths and widths, cherry picked the wood, cut it down to the proper width, then using a inexpensive table saw and some old dado blades cut the wood on the sides (Mar K shows the proper widths and the detail of the sides of the boards. The wood cost $56.00 bought a polished SS set of rails and bolts, and did it myself. It did make a lot of wood chips but it turned out alright. we are installing the wood right now and driling the holes. Kieth

here are the before , after painting, and we are just now installing after a few months. will show pictures when it is finished. Kieth

http://kieth.smugmug.com/Trucks/66-G...83248339_rLQkT

Doing this right now as well. I'm going to try cedar.

[gpk1961]

I used Mar-K from OK City and it was a good kit. I 'lost' a bit of width moving into the middle and had to make a rail to cover my mistake...so make sure the bed is straight and lined up. I used marine varnish to finish. What a difference in how the truck feels (and of course sounds). GPK1961 - Frisco TX

[jocko]

I've been researching also - if/when I do this, it'll be a Mar-K kit. Good price, excellent reputation. Just look at gpk1961's bed - looks great!

Although you could make it out of any wood you want (if you make it yourself - and I noted many recommend that as it's much cheaper - but if you don't have a wood shop set up, hard to beat the overall value for the $ and YOUR time of a Mar-K kit) - I believe I would choose oak. (haven't seen many advertised in Southern Yellow Pine - but make sure you don't use "any" ol pine - Southern Yellow is a hardwood, regular ol Pine is not....)

Oak appears to be the least expensive to me - and I would paint it black anyway as that is how it came from the factory. If I wanted to customize a bit - I'd do it just like above with marine varnish and let the wood gran show through. Unless it's a no-kidding show truck, I think the wild zebrawoods, etc look a little out of place on our trucks. But it does look nice, can't argue with that. Bottom line - for ME anyway, it's enouhg of a job to put the wood in, I think cutting it is not worth my time since I seem to have so little of it - and no matter how careful I was, it would not match the quality of most kits - remember there are grooves in the wood that the rails clamp onto - you can mill them, but again, just more of your time.

To each his own, no wrong answer. But for me - Mar-K with either black paint or clear varnish.

Can't wait to see yours!

[gpk1961]

Jocko - my nickname is Jocko too (my Dad was Jocko as well) Small world! gpk1961

[brokenspoke]

I used yellow pine and coated it with 2 coats of linseed oil and lamp black as orginal..

[KVB]

Originally Posted by brokenspoke

I used yellow pine and coated it with 2 coats of linseed oil and lamp black as orginal..

I bought some yellow pine as well, and am doing this job. I wanted to get the original look as well, but what is lamp black?

[Andice]

I used Mar-K for the metal strips and an eBay seller for the oak boards. I then coated them with two layers of Por-15 followed by two coats of Behr black paint.

[brokenspoke]

Originally Posted by KVB

I bought some yellow pine as well, and am doing this job. I wanted to get the original look as well, but what is lamp black?

I found lamp black at my local hardware store.....Its used to tint paint....I bought a guart for $9.00.....I then mixed some with linseed oil...It took 2 coats to cover good..looks factory....I figered it will be easy to touch up..later...I decided to go this route as I have never seen any varnish hold up well...my 2 cents

[kieth]

We did finally finish installing the pine bed, here is a final shot with the fuel filler door. Don't pay attention to the sawdust we used chasis saver satin black to paint the pine boards, I bought the pine locally and cut the wood ourselves so we could splurge on the polished SS hardwar.......I think it came out pretty good. Kieth

http://kieth.smugmug.com/Trucks/66-G..._5cxcPkV-XL-LB

shot of the finished truck:
http://kieth.smugmug.com/Trucks/66-G...206593_wLm4dMM

finished bed and back of truck and floor:
http://kieth.smugmug.com/Trucks/66-G...4_hqh5spr-A-LB