Steel Bed Floor?

[tc187211]

I just ran across this thread, I am looking to do steel in my 78 stepside, i called my local steel recycler and they will custom cut a piece of floor plate steel for $84.95. In 1/8" thick weights 167lbs. This is the diamond plate design. Anyone know if this will be thick enough? The guy said 1/4" would be 305lbs and way more then needed but he said to check around? This seemed to be the easiest way to get it made to fit perfect.

[198plus]

Heres one I found a while back.........I'm seriously thinking about going to a steel bed like this, even though I already have a new wood bed kit.

[srsummers]

OB1Monkey
Is that steel bed floor from a 73-87? or a 67-72?

[63bigwinder]

Think that bump in the bedside is for a fuel door, so I think it's a 73-87 floor.

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by 63bigwinder

Think that bump in the bedside is for a fuel door, so I think it's a 73-87 floor.

Tubs are 73-87 so floor prob is as well.

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by ob1monkey

surprisingly no it lined up fine. I did however have to slightly drill out the holes in the frame. But that may be due to the hitch I welded in the frame.

What about the bedside holes where they bolt to the floor? I haven't measured mine yet but maybe you could save me the trouble of having to do so..... Did you have to drill any new holes in the floor to bolt the bedsides or front panel together or are the mounting holes for the 60-66 sheetmetal similar to the 67-72?

I have a floor that I was repairing for my 68 beater that's now sitting in storage (I was going to sell it). I had planned on re-using my wood floor in the 64 but found it's in worse shape vs. what I thought. Like many others.... funds are tight so instead of buying a new wood floor kit, that steel floor is looking to be a really good option.

[white71c10]

I just bought a '70 LWB that has a steel floor in it. I'm thinking of pulling the steel and putting in wood. It looks like I can just unbolt the floor sections and put the wood in. Or am I just making something hard look easy? It also means I'd have the floor panels as surplus if anyone wanted them.

[rain_man]

i have a sheet of diamond plate just sitting in the back of my truck not bolted down but i had the bed and the sheet sprayed with liner and it looks great i just need to figure out how im going to hook it up for good but i like the way it looks.no pics but ill post some tomarrow

[Captainfab]

The front bed panel is different between the steel floors and the wood floors. The one for the wood floors is taller to accomodate the thickness of the wood. That steel floor is one large piece, not sections.....unless someone has cut it up in the past.

Originally Posted by white71c10

I just bought a '70 LWB that has a steel floor in it. I'm thinking of pulling the steel and putting in wood. It looks like I can just unbolt the floor sections and put the wood in. Or am I just making something hard look easy? It also means I'd have the floor panels as surplus if anyone wanted them.

[62 short step]

I finished mine awhile back. Got a 72 lwb floor and cut it down. It wasnt too bad to do, always wanted a steel floor now i have one. here are a few pics.
In the first pic i had to trim this section a little, so the back of the bed would fit. I also had to redrill holes in the frame for the bed to bolt down. The last mod was to get the front bed panel rebent to bolt up to the steel floor. Thats all the modifications i had to do.

[Oklahoma]

I'm going with a steel bed also, just havent had the time to do it yet, it looks pretty simple.

[Sixxer]

Here's my contribution... It's not steel, just wood and aluminum

[irish1966]

LMAO!!! Love it Sixxer!!! I dred to ask how many drunken nights u spent acquiring all of those road signs. We used to wake up with road cones in our house after been out drinkin.

[fryer1979]

Sixxer; glad your not it Ca with that, CHP would have a field day with you. Very ingenius though, I'll give you points for that.

[Sixxer]

Haha thanks for the comments guys. Don't worry though, I have them under legit circumstances. They are all old and were removed because of either vandalism or other damage by a local public works dept.

[Rich 5150 69]

Diamond plate on a widebed, ( 2 piece ) used for hauling everything, been in in sinse `93...

[66-PMD-GMC]

OK, I hope I have this correctly in my brain..............
I bought my GMC with no bed.
I bought a 3/4 60 GMC bed from an old private wrecking yard and had to completely disassemble it to get it out of the sea of cars it was in piece by piece.
There were two spot welds on each side of the rear rail support that had to be ground away to separate the sides from that rear most rail.
One cross piece was welded to the frame. Couldn't get that piece.
So.... since I don't remember exact details of the bed together....
Will I need to fashion a 1/2 inch spacer for the forward most cross rail and bed floor to go between the floor and forward most rail since the original wood floor measured 3/4 and the steel floor is about 1/8 inch ????
If that is the case, it only seems logical that I would need that same 1/2" all the way back. (Except where the floor will go over the rear cross rail)
Originally The side lip of the bed sat on top of the wood, the front panel bottom lip under the wood and the back was tucked into the back rail... right ??????

[Captainfab]

If you are using 1/8" thick metal sheet for a floor, you will need something like 5/8" square tube to make up the difference between the new 1/8" floor and the original 3/4" wood floor.

[66-PMD-GMC]

Originally Posted by Captainfab

If you are using 1/8" thick metal sheet for a floor, you will need something like 5/8" square tube to make up the difference between the new 1/8" floor and the original 3/4" wood floor.

Cool beans Cap..fab,
I am using a stock, clean floor from a 67 LWB truck chevy.
The sheet metal is certainly not 1/4" (.250) and looks more like 1/8th" but I haven't put a set of micrometers on it to check yet.
From previous posts around this site, 1/2"has been the suggested spacer so hence my question. Thanks for the heads up.
I was going to put a 96 sport bed on my short bed 63 but I found a shorty fleetside so I am doing my first steel floor on my LWB 66 and then I'll move on to the 63.
I am also looking for a lightweight rust proof coating for the underside of the bed as well. not that AZ is near the rust belt...

[66-PMD-GMC]

I am also considering using 5/8ths plywood and coat it resin like someone posted here much earlier.
It would seem to be the easiest way of doing it.
My concern with this step in the build is making the truck heavier.
Each step I have taken with this particular build has been to consider weight and milage since this trucks main use will be over the road hauling.
Now if I could find an 8 lug rear that has 3.00-3.55 gears... my "3.42" deisel rear that I bought turned out to have 3.73 gears... darn the luck!

PONTIAC/

[Captainfab]

I thought you were using just a smooth metal sheet of some sort. If you're using a steel floor from a '67, I was thinking you could use the crossmembers that are spot welded to the floor? I believe thst is what member 62shortstep did in his post above.

Originally Posted by 66-PMD-GMC

Cool beans Cap..fab,
I am using a stock, clean floor from a 67 LWB truck chevy.
The sheet metal is certainly not 1/4" (.250) and looks more like 1/8th" but I haven't put a set of micrometers on it to check yet.
From previous posts around this site, 1/2"has been the suggested spacer so hence my question. Thanks for the heads up.
I was going to put a 96 sport bed on my short bed 63 but I found a shorty fleetside so I am doing my first steel floor on my LWB 66 and then I'll move on to the 63.
I am also looking for a lightweight rust proof coating for the underside of the bed as well. not that AZ is near the rust belt...

If you're looking for a taller geared 8 lug rear end, look for a Dana 60, 60HD or 61 from a 3/4 ton Dodge van. I've seen them with 3.23 gears, although I don't know how the width would work out. A lot of the Ford and Dodge 3/4 tons had Dana 60's in them. Might be worth a look to see what you can find gear wise in one of them.

Originally Posted by 66-PMD-GMC

I am also considering using 5/8ths plywood and coat it resin like someone posted here much earlier.
It would seem to be the easiest way of doing it.
My concern with this step in the build is making the truck heavier.
Each step I have taken with this particular build has been to consider weight and milage since this trucks main use will be over the road hauling.
Now if I could find an 8 lug rear that has 3.00-3.55 gears... my "3.42" deisel rear that I bought turned out to have 3.73 gears... darn the luck!

PONTIAC/

[mbgmike]

Originally Posted by 66-PMD-GMC

I am also considering using 5/8ths plywood and coat it resin like someone posted here much earlier.
It would seem to be the easiest way of doing it.
My concern with this step in the build is making the truck heavier.
Each step I have taken with this particular build has been to consider weight and milage since this trucks main use will be over the road hauling.
Now if I could find an 8 lug rear that has 3.00-3.55 gears... my "3.42" deisel rear that I bought turned out to have 3.73 gears... darn the luck!

PONTIAC/

The later model 80's Ford steps had plywood instead of individual boards.

[66-PMD-GMC]

All right..
after a little detective work I found out a few things.
The bed I have has a front and rear bed rail and one in the middle, sort of.
The PO of this bed told me he had no idea what year it was but it was on his 67 when he bought it.
Looks like it was converted from a wood floor to a steel at some time.
No bed rails are spot welded to anything and the floor looks like it never really had anything spot welded to it ever.
I'm going to wait and reset the cab on new cab mounts and then work on the bed. Probably 5/8ths ply under the sheet metal.
Getting a camera tomorrow and I'll photo the whole thing.

[66-PMD-GMC]

I found out some information that I would like to share.
If I use terms that are unfamiliar please understand that for the last 30+ years I have worked excursively on 55-79 Pontiac's.
60-62 bed support cross rails are not the same as any other years that I can find. The frames are completely different than 63-66 and 67-72.
63-66 and wood bed rails for 67-72 seem to be the same.
Steel bed floors for 67-72 body style do have the support rails welded to the floor.
In my case for the floor I bought, I am guessing that at some time the floor was replaced and for whatever reason the bed rails were not spot welded to the sheet metal. Another possibility is that the support rails just were poorly welded and they just fell off. At any rate they are missing.
Missing the cross rails for the steel floor, I tried using the rails I had and they don't fit because they are for the 60-62 beds so now I am rethinking everything.
I found the bed rails that are for the 63-72 wood floor beds and may just get them if I can't find a steel floor with the rails. I may just opt to build my own but I don't like flat plain metal nor do I like the diamond plate look. so...... I just don't know and sure would appreciate some advice.....

[Captainfab]

Something I thought of doing many years ago but didn't was to make up some formed steel 'planks' and bolt them together side by side. These would have to be made on a press brake or a sheet metal brake. They would be flat on the top and then would have 2-90* bends on each side to form a sort of 'C'. These would have a somewhat smooth surface but still resemble the wood floor. I don't know how cost effective it would be either......just an idea.