bed floor options

[77 lowboy]

has anyone done the bed floor of their stepside with something other than the original style wood kit? maybe a piece of aluminum diamond plate or ? looking for some ideas out of the norm.

[lilpoindexter]

I don't have any pics, but I put in steel diamond plate (i forget how thick) with a hunk of plywood underneath. I painted the thing with primer, and then that black roll on bedliner stuff.

[Tx Firefighter]

I was given a free 78 longbed. Since I'm a shortbed kind of guy I cut it down and found a 75 dollar step bed on Craigslist.



Now, of course a 75 dollar bed has a rotted floor. So, I was trying to figure out a cheap way of solving the problem since my money tree is stunted. So, I took the old long bed floor and stuck it on sawhorses and used my circular saw with a metal cutting blade from Home Depot.



I cut it on all four sides to retain the center section of the bed floor so the little crossmembers would support the bed properly on the now short bed frame. Basically I just laid it out with a tape measure and soapstone and cut it narrower, then shortened it front and rear.





Total cost was two saw blades. Maybe 8 bucks. I just stitch welded it to the old side angle strips every few inches. When I get around to painting the truck I'll sandblast the inside of the bed and spray liner it. But, for now, the inside of the bed pretty much carries over from the patina theme of the outside of the truck.

[Rich84]

Nice job..

[1774btcrew]

Originally Posted by Tx Firefighter

I was given a free 78 longbed. Since I'm a shortbed kind of guy I cut it down and found a 75 dollar step bed on Craigslist.



Now, of course a 75 dollar bed has a rotted floor. So, I was trying to figure out a cheap way of solving the problem since my money tree is stunted. So, I took the old long bed floor and stuck it on sawhorses and used my circular saw with a metal cutting blade from Home Depot.



I cut it on all four sides to retain the center section of the bed floor so the little crossmembers would support the bed properly on the now short bed frame. Basically I just laid it out with a tape measure and soapstone and cut it narrower, then shortened it front and rear.





Total cost was two saw blades. Maybe 8 bucks. I just stitch welded it to the old side angle strips every few inches. When I get around to painting the truck I'll sandblast the inside of the bed and spray liner it. But, for now, the inside of the bed pretty much carries over from the patina theme of the outside of the truck.

That is a great way to do the bed floors on these. I like it a lot better than the diamond plate that I have seen done on a lot of these!

[nekkidhillbilly]

i seen and been around when a 67-72 was changed to metal. they used a piece of bed metal like above it was new replacement piece.

[nekkidhillbilly]

ive also seen just sheet metal used to replace it if thick enough the rolled metal is stronger though. never been a fan of a wood bed on a truck id use for a truck.

[77 lowboy]

there is some options there. i do like the cut down rib bed . i always wondered why they dont offer a metal bed replacement instead of only wood and runners. thanks guys for the ideas.

[nekkidhillbilly]

they do for fleetsides so you could just put one in a stepside like he did