Homemade wood flatbed?

[dansworld77]

Seven foot would probably do it for a dually chassis cab since they have narrower frames and shorter axles. I'll bring a tape measure along when I go look at the truck. This sort of info is very useful when trying to figure out what my final expenses would be if I do decide to purchase this one. Thank you everyone.

[LMJD]

I have also used two pieces turned over on itself, welded together and drilled for a homemade plate to lift an engine. That stuff is pretty strong.

Yea, but what few times I've used a mattress frame for fabbing anything, on the first cut I had this strong feeling I was suddenly White Trash on a reality show. JUST KIDDING!
Dansworld77, what works well and has plenty of strength for the cross pieces from pickup frame to bed is either square or rectangular tubing.
Comes in all thicknesses and sizes.

[dansworld77]

Well, I went to go look at the truck today and it had a blown water pump and head gasket he neglected to mention, plus the tires were down to the wires, so I passed on purchasing it. All this info is still useful though, since no matter what truck I get I think a flatbed will be more useful for my needs. Thanks everyone for your help and advice. I'm very glad I signed up for this forum instead of just being a lurking lurker.

[LMJD]

All this info is still useful though, since no matter what truck I get I think a flatbed will be more useful for my needs. Thanks

I agree, I ran around with a guy years ago who had a factory made flatbed and all things considered I thought it was more handy than a pickup bed, especially with some classy looking sideboards. Plus when I go over a steep rise while turning I wouldn't have to worry about the subframe of my gooseneck horse trailer bashing in the top edge of my pickup bed. The one I'd like is a Hillsboro like this:

[dansworld77]

Ohhh... that is perty. I doubt I'll ever have a need to pull a fifth wheel, so the lower sides aren't really a concern to me for that purpose, but I do really like the look of them, as well as the utility aspect. The convenience of easier access to the bed area, and the larger cargo deck for bulky items, just seem like great advantages when using a pickup for a multitude of tasks. Thanks for sharing the picture :-)

[LMJD]

You're welcome. There's a Hillsboro dealer here in town and I drool every time a pickup goes by with one of their fancy beds. They make a lot of different styles, all classy. Bad part is nowdays I just use my Ford for towing and have done less of that in the last few years so there's no way I can justify the cost of one. Maybe it has to do with my sparsely populated area, but when I talked to a dealer years ago about a flatbed they said even if your stock pickup bed is like new, you can't hardly give them away. However you can always sell a tailgate for a decent price.

[dansworld77]

When I was looking around for truck beds I found out that when coachbuilders (people who put specialty beds/boxes on trucks for industrial uses) get their trucks they take the original bed off and sell it for a pittance, so finding beds for new trucks is a snap, but finding older ones can get difficult and expensive.