Wooden Bed Builds

[ICPete]

Randy, nice looking wood bed! As well as the whole truck... I like your side lighting.

Pete

[roadfitter]

 

 

Alan HI!

What did you do buy a new truck or did your Toterman bed get wrecked?

My green treated wood bed has been on for 9 years now, with one up fit on the deck. I raised it up to get 8' leveling board storage. Every 3 years or so I lightly sand and recoat the deck with

(Akso-Nobel Sikkens cetol srd). Pricey but great stuff. The stuff I use was formulated for use to protect Cedar cabins up in the north woods and Canada. The guy down the street from me retreats his cedar fence about every 3 or 4 years. It is close to 20 years old now and looks like he just put it up! He power washes his fence then gives it a new coat. It takes me about an hour and a half total to redue my deck. Alan shoot me a call or e-mail me (roadfitter@msn.com)

Did your son get his trailer repaired?

 

HAPPY TRAILS

roadfitter

[JPL]

Randy Your skills are always amazing. Hope you are feeling better! Take Care Pat

 

 

The Old Sailor

[hdonlybob]

Hi Al,

 

This past April I rebuilt my wooden bed completely. It had been built two owners ago in 2007, using Green Douglas Fir that was not treated. When I started to install D-rings to secure a motorcycle, I found the planking was rotted. After removing some planks I found the longitudinal stringers were also rotted, as were sections of the transverse 4x4s. So I stripped off ALL the old wood and started from scratch, using pressure-treated wood.

 

 

Here are more photos of the finished bed:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/61dlcubfab62vz4/AACW-aR8w8G5f8kNyU21-SeDa?dl=0

 

There are six transverse 4x4s bolted to the truck frame rails. The rearmost two make use of existing holes in the original fifth-wheel-hitch angle iron members. The other four beams use "fish plates" under the top flange of the frame rail, so the bolts are just touching the frame rail flange, but no holes needed to be drilled. IOW the fish plates clamp the frame flange up against the bottom face of the wood beam.

 

The original bed then used 2x4 longitudinal stringers lying flat, but I used 4x4s instead. These are bolted to the transverse beams using a single 1/2-inch hex bolt at each intersection, counterbored at the top to leave a flat surface for the planking. However where two of the stringers lie directly above the frame rails, they use lag bolts into blind holes in the transverse beams, since the frame rails would interfere with through-bolts.

 

The planking is 2x8s and is fastened with two #10 x 3-1/2" torx-head deck screws at each stringer.

The edge banding (painted black) is 2x12s and was drilled using hole saws for all the lights before painting and installation.

I made sure the planking is slightly short, so one or more planks can be removed easily when needed (IOW they are not butted tightly against the edge banding 2x12s).

 

I feel this bed is robust enough for the 650-lb motorcycle shown in the photos. I think it will probably be adequate for a Smart car as well. The ramps shown are 14-foot by 19-inch wide from Discount Ramps. For the bike I position them against each other for a single 38-inch-wide ramp. I drilled holes for 1/2-inch lag bolts to secure the top of each ramp during loading. For loading a Smart I would have to separate them of course. I have designed (in my head) a kind of step-bracket that would sit on the frame rail where the top of the step is, and would provide a cantilevered shelf for the forward ramp to rest upon. So the bracket would act like a temporary filler for the missing section of planking. Not sure whether it would need to remain in place while the Smart is on the deck (I like having that area open to provide better access to the tank filler).

 

The total cost of materials (wood and fasteners) for the bed was about $1050. Of course I supplied all the labor! It took me probably 40 hours of work to dismantle the old bed and build the new one. It's hard to say because while the bed was off I did a lot of service to the truck suspension over several weeks. And I work pretty slowly!

 

The ramp holders are a custom design; I included a PDF drawing in the photo folder linked above. I wanted robust and secure confinement of the two ramps on the bed, and designed the hold-down system specifically to make it hard to steal the ramps. The straps over the top of the ramps are 1/8-inch by 2-inch 304 stainless steel, secured by padlocks to stainless steel hasps bolted to the bed. The outer ends of the straps are trapped in welded stainless hinge-pin brackets. The bolts go through the bed into tapped aluminum plates underneath, which are 1/2-inch thick. Each aluminum plate has two holes, so it cannot be rotated to unscrew it. The heads of all the bolts are trapped under the straps, so there is no way to get a wrench on them. An angle grinder or torch would make short work of the straps, of course, but short of that I think they are pretty secure. My total cost for fabrication, metal, and hardware to make this hold down system was about $750. The ramps were about $1000. Yeah, I know, the economics don't make sense. The fabrication cost for some of the bending and welding got out of control because I was in a hurry and didn't have time to scout around for the best pricing. Custom fabrication gets expensive very fast!!

 

BTW, the motorcycle cover is only used while parked, not while driving!

 

Let me know if you want any further detail, such as dimensions. I don't have a drawing of the bed itself, but could take more photos and/or measurements. The deck planks are exactly 96" long.

 

Peter

 

SWEET

[RandyA]

This is a great thread. How many inches of spacing do you allow when the air bags are drained? Would it hurt if the bed slightly touched the tires (I'm thinking a cheap parking brake)?

 

A lot will depend on how wide your bed is and how far down your wheel well openings drop on the outer edges of the tire. Aluminum wheels have a wider track than steel. Thickness of sides comes into play so consider inside width as well. If you make the bed 102" you avoid part of the problem. Bottom inside of bed should be 6" above the rails - not 5" or 5-1/2" typical of a single 4x6 or 4x4 plus 2x4 laid flat. You may need to add a 4"X3/4" piece to the pile on top of the rails too. Space under the bed where the peak outside curve of your tires is needs to be the same 6". When bags are flat any stringers fore and aft of the tires needs to clear the surface of the tires along the descending part of the circumference. My first design was with worn tires that came on the truck. When I put on new tires they had deeper tread and thus a greater radius - I had to add 1" to the axle bump stops to avoid any rubbing or hitting with bags deflated. At least this is what I found on my truck and build - other folks may have different measurements depending on materials, wheel size, etc. Measure twice and have a plan before cutting. I would not want the tires to touch any part of the bed when the bags are deflated. Too much to go wrong there. IMHO, the best cheap parking brake addition to your spring brakes is a set of wheel chocks from left over pieces of 4x4 or 4x6.

[Darryl&Rita]

This is a great thread. How many inches of spacing do you allow when the air bags are drained? Would it hurt if the bed slightly touched the tires (I'm thinking a cheap parking brake)?

 

 

 

You all , of course, realize your foundation brakes have a built-in parking break?

[alan0043]

Alan,

 

You might be able to pick up a used stake bed with racks for cheap. Wood decking might need replaced, but with some refurbishing, it could look cool and be functional for more than just an rv.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2011-Knapheide-Stake-Rack-Bed-1-Ton-Chevy-Ford-Dodge-No-Reserve-/272128933122

 

Hi Rick,

 

Thanks for the idea. But I am going to stick with my idea for now. Right now the plan is to use 5 @ 4"x 6" x 8' treated lumber as main beams. These beams will go across the truck frame. The problem that I see is bolting down the main beams. I will try to take advantage of the angle iron that is bolted to the truck, that held the 5th wheel. I want to have pockets under the bed to store the ramps for a RZR or Smart car. I am trying to build this bed with as low as cost as possible.

 

It would be nice to see some pictures of how the main beams are held down.

 

Always looking for ideas,

Al