47-55.1 Pickup bed metal

[mobileortho]

The cost of a wood has me thinking about using metal in the bed of my truck but insure of what gauge would be best. I don't plan on hauling anything & I'll probably spray the entire bed with Raptor liner. Is 16 gauge thick enough?

[dsraven]

what you could do is get a bed floor from a newer fleetside truck and cut it down to fit the width of the box you have, with a little to spare so you can fold it under for strength and something to bolt onto. that would give you a nice strong corrugated floor that wont bend or deform easily when you stand on a spot that is between the cross braces underneath. I have used 16 ga on the floor of rail buggies etc and it holds up well for that but then again there is a smaller span between the baces there. flat 16 ga is quite slippery for a bed floor but if you spray it with liner that would help. ensure to put a couple small drain holes in at the front so water can drain off and not pool and stain the liner. if the floor warps and causes low spots they also become areas where stains can form from the minerals etc in water plus usually the water kinda changes the color of the liner I find.

[dsraven]

I haven't checked but new bed floors are available for the newer corugated steel style. that way you have a strong floor that was never spot welded to and doesn't have any damages from stuff getting dropped or skidded accross. you could compare the costs to the 16ga that will likely need some forming on a brake to get it to work well.
also, some have used the plastic decking materials, like trex, that are solid plastic throughout the board with no voids. if cuts and works a lot like wood but messier to clean up after the job is done, lol.
up to you, just giving options

[mobileortho]

I'd looked into the corrugated steel but only found it in sections to repair existing bed metal. May have to make a trip to a boneyard to see what's out there.

[leegreen]

I used the whole floor of a recent model full size shortbox including the cross pieces. You could just as easily use a long box

Cut the rear sill wide enough to go inside the stake pockets and the floor slightly wider than the wheel openings of the box. The width of the AD box is about exactly the same as the width between wheel tubs .
Cut the spot welds to remove the wheel tubs and save the flange they attach to. You need to reverse that flange so it points down and turn a flange in the box floor....I clamped a angle iron where I wanted the flange and hammered it over. The box sides bolt to this flange
Trim the rear sill until it fits into stake pocket, I also added some rectangular tube to make this joint stronger where it bolts up to stake pocket

this is the best picture I have right now of the finished box, ropes were used to lift it by 4 cargo rings in corners. I am very happy with how it turned out. Strong and able to do truck things. Nothing to varnish. Low cost.

[dsraven]

holly makes a full bed in brand new sheet metal
I used a well used 88-98 bed floor in my 57 step side. doing it again I would buy a new one because mine had qyite a few bumps that were un noticed until the sander came out.

[dsraven]

https://www.supershops.com/products/.../parts/BFC87SB

[leegreen]

Ouch, that might make wood look like a bargain.

Around here there are lots of city slicker trucks that never hauled anything, not too hard to find a box with a decent floor for a fraction of that. But I wasn't looking for a perfect and it lives under a stall mat in any case.

[mobileortho]

Originally Posted by leegreen

Ouch, that might make wood look like a bargain.

Whew! That’s true!

[dsraven]

yep, but a good used floor, from a bed with rusty outer fenders, will likely be cheap. cut off the outer parts and keep the floor. it's not that tough really, they're spot welded like everything else. get the newest one you can, less possible rust on the part you need.

[dsraven]

this is what the floor from an 88-98 flare side box looks like. the box with the fiberglass step sides. it is pretty well just a rectangular and the edges of it are already bent for attaching the box sides. I don't have a width dimension or a length dimension, sorry. there are a few spot welds to cut through on any of the used bed floors since the cross sills are spot welded on, the front and sides are spot welded on, etc. I use a cheap 1/8" drill bit that I buy at the local princess auto, double ended and sold in a pack of 8 or something, and drill the centre of the spot weld right through. then a 5/16 or 3/8 drill floows that. not too worried about the size of the hole because I will me welding through that hole later so better to have a hole big enough for a good plug weld rather than hope for the best when you can't see if the weld puddle actually contacted the bottom of the weld hole. anyway, you get the idea, like LG says. cheap if you get a used box. if you get one with good outer parts you can likely sell the skins and make your money back, along with the tailgate if it comes with.

[leegreen]

I retained the cross sills that came with the floor for the most part. Couple notches, some adjustment to how it mounted to frame. My frame is c10 so YMMV on an AD frame but I doubt it would be much of a challenge.

The 1952 cross sills I had were all rotted beyond use, so the new box floor is the structural support for the box.

If anyone goes this route with a used box, give the cross sills a good check before you buy it. Around here they are prone to rusting out, the floor itself will be mint, but the sills filled with wet silt and rotted.

[leegreen]

found more pictures

here is rear sill inserted into stake pocket and rectangular tube that got welded to box floor to strengthen box side joint


And a better picture of the floor installed

[dsraven]

My cross sills were rusty so I had some made to fit my needs. I have my 57 sitting on an envoy frame.

[dsraven]

nice job LG. looks like it was supposed to be like that.

[mobileortho]

Originally Posted by leegreen

I retained the cross sills that came with the floor for the most part. Couple notches, some adjustment to how it mounted to frame. My frame is c10 so YMMV on an AD frame but I doubt it would be much of a challenge.

The 1952 cross sills I had were all rotted beyond use, so the new box floor is the structural support for the box.

If anyone goes this route with a used box, give the cross sills a good check before you buy it. Around here they are prone to rusting out, the floor itself will be mint, but the sills filled with wet silt and rotted.

I like it! Nice!

[vintovka]

Sounds good in dry areas but here on the Oregon Coast having as little metal (especially steel) in high wear areas seems the goal.

[leegreen]

modern box floors seem to have some pretty good coatings, scratches don't rust much. I'm near the ocean, but not in a salt spray zone.