Anyone ever replace a LWB Styleside steel bed with wood?

[qwertyd10n]

Hello all,

I took in the World of Wheels show in Calgary last weekend and saw a number of older trucks with beautiful wood beds. So, that naturally got me thinking about what it would take to replace the steel bed in my '66 F100 4x4 LWB Styleside with wood. I did some searching online and didn't really come up with any similar examples. Has anyone done this and/or know where I might find some tech articles on this procedure? Also, does anyone know of a supplier for wood bed kits for my style of truck?

Any input is appreciated as I try to decide whether this is a good idea or just crazy.

Cheers,
Dion

[WrongBedDave]

Ive heard of ppl doing this before but i havent seen anyone conver a LWB to wood. There is a thing called a Show Deck that covers the existing steel bed when you want something fancy and comes out when its time to work. I remember it being very pricey tho. I'm sure that some of the ppl that are better at building stuff than i am will chime in.

[F7BIGJOB]

Someone had an 'overlay' kit for shows, etc. I just tried MAR-K catalog, but couldn't find it, if I recall it was pricey and it wasn't a replacement it was just a cover over, like use your bed for work and put this in before going to a show.

[longcabjohn]

Try this, if he dosent have it nobody does.

www.horkeyswoodandparts.com


Johnny

[F7BIGJOB]

Try this, if he dosent have it nobody does.

http://www.horkeyswoodandparts.com


Johnny

Johnny, that's the one I was talkin' about

[bmcgc]

Thats nice, there was a truck on the Atlanta CL that I was looking at with that type of bed floor. I went to look at it again a few minutes ago and the ad was deleted. I might have missed out on a super nice ruck for 9k.

[Leeroy]

You will need to brace the bed underneath in several spots permanently, and at the tailgate when you cut the bed out. (Temporarily)

I went down this avenue with the last slick. The bed floor was almost non existent but the sides were pretty good so I wanted a polished timber floor. As the remainder of the floor got cut out with the tailgate down, I watched the crossbrace at the back bend nicely in the middle and both rear stake pockets open and take up a new home about 10 degrees wider than they started and the front bed rail crack on both sides behind the cab.
Most of the strength was lost when the floor is removed, so to fight this I decided on having a steel frame outer floor with timber in the middle.....
This picture shows the intent (You can see the bend just above the socket set.)



Even then, with the bed mounted in the 3 usual positions the bed was very flimsy. I got worried about it beeing too weak so I ended up abandoning the timber and bolted in a checkerplate section into the space you see here which was much stronger.

I don't have one straight on, but this was just after placement, bolts to follow.

Dont want to talk you out of it because I think they look coooooool, but the bed will need extra support if you want it to remain strong and square.

[62galxe]

Hope this doesnt get me banned. You might look at how chevy did theres. They used wood into the 70s I think.

[bmcgc]

Here ya go.

http://atlanta.craigslist.org/eat/cto/3637300310.html

[WrongBedDave]

After Leeroy's tale i would say pursue making your own version of the Showdeck, it would allow you to also remove the wood if you ever wanna throw something heavy in the bed. I remember seeing pictures somewhere of a Uni that someone had put a wood bedfloor in and it showed the crossbraces they added but i cant remember where

[f100jim]

Here ya go.

http://atlanta.craigslist.org/eat/cto/3637300310.html

To go to all that trouble installing wood and not fix the dents on the wheel houses .

[Project66]

I am putting a wood floor in mine but it is a short bed. Building a tube frame and adding wood.
viewtopic.php?f=32&t=28932&start=100

[Toyz]

With an old gym floor setting around in the way ( you can only find room for so many work benches ); I considered putting a beautiful wood floor in the lowrider. After realizing the weight of a 6 by 6.5 section of that flooring, I quickly gave up that idea. I would have had to put overloads on my coil-overs .
Here's a pic of a very well-crafted carbon fiber floor that Ezernut and my son and I checked out in Kansas last year:



Paul

[dvotion]

http://bedwoodandparts.com/