[97 pwr stroke]

does anyone have a regular dually bed on there 450 or 550. i was thinking of doing a pickup bed without extending it. and just putting stacks between the cab and the gap in the bed. any advise would be good. thank you.

 

[97 pwr stroke]

also i live in NH where or how do i find someone to extend the bed to fit on my 550. would i need 2 beds to extend1? or does someone make etension pieces. thanx again for any help

 

[danbob]

Look at the top post above this one, has pretty much all the answers for ya,

 

[SmokeyWren]

[ QUOTE ]
any advise would be good.

[/ QUOTE ]

It's not a job for the faint of heart. A pickup frame and a chassis cab frame are a bunch different. There are a few outfits that will do it all for you, but they're not cheap. Figure around $5,000 if you have it done with all new parts - including paint to match your truck.

It takes a lot of fabrication to do it "right". For a while, one outfit was selling a DIY kit with everything you needed except the Dooley bed. And that kit cost over $2,000. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

In the list of upfitters that will add a tow body or pickup bed to a chassis cab (sticky post at the top of this forum), you'll find several upfitters that will do it. Manning is the most popular right now. Centurion has been doing it "forever". And Roll-a-Long has been at it for awhile.

[ QUOTE ]
also i live in NH where or how do i find someone to extend the bed to fit on my 550. would i need 2 beds to extend1? or does someone make etension pieces.

[/ QUOTE ]

The chassis cab cab-to-axle (CA) length is about 3 or 4 inches more than the CA of a pickup. So if you mount the pickup bed where the rear axle will be in the right place, you will have a 3-or-4" gap between the bed and the cab. Most of the upfitters simply add a filler piece between the cab and bed. Some enterprizing folks, including member weweld, cut the right amount out of the middle of the frame, then welded the frame back together. I've never heard of anyone adding a section to the bed to make the bed longer. But I have heard of several upfitters that design and fabricate their own pickup bed instead of using the Ford stock bed. The most famous is Fontaine Classic Traveler. http://www.fontainemod.com/ClassicTraveler.asp

The frame of a chassis cab also sticks out farther behind the rear axle than a pickup frame does. But that's no big problem - simply chop off the excess frame length at the rear of the frame.

 

[weweld]

I have done it by taking 3.5" out of the frame

http://www.socaps.com/photopost/showphoto.php/photo/446/cat/500/ppuser/24

Then putting it back together

http://www.socaps.com/photopost/showphoto.php/photo/445/cat/500/ppuser/24

Then make the bed mounts and weld them on the frame , cut the excess off the back of the frame and few other things and it ends up like this

http://www.socaps.com/photopost/showphoto.php/photo/2344/cat/500/ppuser/24

GENE

 

[SteveRacer]

If I were in your position I would go for one of those really trick utility bodies that have cabinets built into the sides and are already totally set up for towing.

There's a sticky post at the top of the forum where Smokey keeps track of all the vendors. Once in a while I check the websites and drool... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shrug.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif

-steve

 

[wil]

I had an F550 Crew Cab Lariat done for a guy last year by Centurion. They put a spacer between the bed and cab, and a dually pickup box. Total cost for the bed plus a bunch of extra chrome and other stuff was around $11,000.

 

[one_horseman]

[ QUOTE ]
does anyone have a regular dually bed on there 450 or 550. i was thinking of doing a pickup bed without extending it. and just putting stacks between the cab and the gap in the bed. any advise would be good. thank you.

[/ QUOTE ]

Centurian conversion, I bought it like this

http://members.dca.net/wally/f550/7380160-R1-049-23.jpg

But, I really wanted an aluminum flatbed...
The spacer they used isn't all that thick (3 inches?) I would think
you could contact centurion for just that part.
Or maybe put some kind of roll bar or headache rack in there.
I like the stacks idea!

Wally

 

[weweld]

That spacer sells for $500 it is 2 side pieces of fiberglass and an aluminum top piece. A little pricey in my book /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shrug.gif

GENE

 

[mrwrench]

where can I get the body fillers ?

 

[future_stroker]

I would like to know as well.