fold down bed sides and rear bumper

jenandjon · August 12, 2018

First of all I built this truck with no budget. I had to repurpose things found in salvage yards and farm auctions. The bed I used is only 7 feet wide. I need 8 to fit the golf cart. I temporally built wooden side boards until I figured out what I want to do. Well I think I have an idea. Our mini truck was in the shop getting worked on and the guys folded the bed side down of access to the engine. So I thought why cant I do the same on my flat bed? I can fold them up when I am hauling stuff. Down when I haul the golf cart. The wood boards are 9 inches If I made some out of steel on a hinge I will end up with a 102 width. The wheels of the golf cart will sit on the bed itself (right on the edge) so they don't have to hold a ton of weight. They will need to be strong enough for loading and unloading. I am thinking a 1 inch square tubing with expanded metal.

Another problem I have had Is because the bed sits so high when I jackknife it, the side boards dinged my camper a little bit. So fold down sides would prevent that. I couldn't make the bed sit any lower because thats the way it was made. Its for a pickup not a semi.

I also want to build a rear bumper with a receiver hitch. Strong enough to pull what ever kind of trailer I want to. Also for use as a step to climb up on the bed. I have plenty of frame left to work with to attach it. In all reality I would also like to add a goose neck ball there also.

If anyone else has a better idea please throw it out there. I wont be working on this until this winter after harvest.

Darryl&Rita · August 12, 2018

How cheap and dirty do you want to be? Weld pockets, sized to hold the existing metal posts, to the underside of the bed. Pin in place. You would need to wrestle them into place each time, but it's cheap and sturdy. Next would be to add hinges to the posts, but that would take some re-work of the mounting system to get the heights the same. Hinges would still need some type of support, too.

jenandjon · August 12, 2018

I am thinking make some short stakes out of channel with the hinge welded to them. Bolted into the existing stake pockets. I want them permanent but I don't want to weld them on in case one would be damaged or the need would ever arise I have to remove them. I don't want to be wrestling anything around. I want to flip a latch the drop them down. What I am still trying to figure out is how to hold the sides level with the bed in the down position. When they are up I will have a latch of some kind. I will probably have to make a prototype to see how it works out. I don't want a bunch of cobbled together junk. Some people associate the word "cheap" with trashy. If it looks trashy I wont do it. It has to look decent. I have to do it myself I cant afford to just take it to the welding shop and say hey make me some sides.

I would make a hinge like this. I already have 3/4 round bar stock and expanded metal left over from other projects. I would have to buy some channel and the square tube.

Dollytrolley · August 12, 2018

J & J,

Take a gander at the fold out side bed extension on most heavy haul low boys....

Simply vertical hinged knee triangles that have stood the test of time (and 200,000 lbs of cranes, Dozers, Mine Trucks etc.).

You likely not need 100 ton bed Extender s however they are simple to Fab and just fold flat along the bed sides when not needed.

Simple, tough, self-stowing, can't get lost in the bottom of some too big tool compartment....knee extension'$ are the real deal.....

Now if you need engineer approval, no problem.......just send me a 80 lb sack of alfalfa pellets and when Dolly is done munching the pellets......I will jot down a FAA /PMA / DMERbenginerring approval on the back of the feed bag and send it back to you..

Drive on......(knee brace..... approved!!)

sclord2002 · August 13, 2018

Dolly, you just ain't quite right.......but i love it.😂😂. Charlie

Dollytrolley · August 13, 2018

1 hour ago, sclord2002 said:

Dolly, you just ain't quite right.......but i love it.😂😂. Charlie

Well of course I aint RIGHT...........I am.......LEFT.....

When you know ALL you will ever learn flying you get to be captain and you get the LEFT seat.......NOT........the RIGHT seat.....

I could not afford a real airplane so..........I bought a WWII Surplus TG3A glider to try to lean to fly.......then I bribed a old duster / instructor who took a few touch an goes around the patch and after FORTY-TWO-MINUTES shook his head and ....muttered ........"kid I think this is about as good at the flying gig as you will ever get"......so........he got out of the old Stinson and said " you'll almost certainly kill yourself but try to not kill anyone else".......and I soloed ...........so most of too many thousand hours later I was stuck in the LEFT seat........your correct Charlie..........Not much went RIGHT after........

I once flew (well more than once) for a sketchy off shore outfit and they seemed to need to have me fly a check ride in a OLD wreck of a ugly airplane and we flew around the patch a few times and the old geezer check capt had a glazed look in his eye when I taxied to a stop at the hanger........

He stared down at the wheel and said.........."kid.......how long did it take for you to solo?"............I muttered....."well Capt....uh well...uh about 42 minutes........"..........Capt gazed out the windshield with a thousand-yard-stare and muttered........"F O R T Y... T W O.....M I N U T E S..........ya that figures about right for the way you fly...........well we cant get a real pilot for this crappy job so just kill yourself and try to not hit MY house when you do it...."

Yep I got the job and never hit his house and ya.........It was a really crappy job ..........it was not "right" Charlie it was all LEFT seat.....

Drive on...........(could not get things "right"........stuck in left seat)