Wood bed floor option years?

[Dru]

Hello,

I have seen or read atleast a couple members with wood floor's in their bed, but I had never heard of or seen such a thing beforehand.

The upper rails on my longbed are trashed fairly well, I was about to go over and grab a bed cover I have in a garage tomorrow, and now realized I have some serious metal work to do before I could even get it to sit on there.

So I got to thinking, why not try to search out a wooden floored longbed to replace mine, I even figure as long as the upper rails are good, and the interior metal structure, I could always use the side/sides of my bed I have now for donors, if the bed I find is rusted or smashed in. I may have to decide if I want gas cap doors or not also.

Does anyone happen to know any information about if this option was limited to specific years, code, or anything of that nature? I'm really not sure how rare it even was, but as I said, I've never seen one in person.

Thank you, and any information is much appreciated.

[lilpoindexter]

wood

[N2TRUX]

Originally Posted by lilpoindexter

wood

I believe he is referring to a wood floor fleetside bed. They were rather rare starting in 73, prior to that a bit more common.

It seems to me it would be easier to locate a bed with a clean metal floor and build it with fresh bedsides.

[pig rig]

I dont know if it was really an option as more of the way gm cut cost on the low end trucks. here's my theory on wood beds; 73 was the first year for an all steel bed I belive (thats your option) so gm was using up the leftover wood bed frames on the low end trucks.Ive seen trucks as new as 79 with a wood bed wether it came from the factory that way I dont know.
here in the northwest I remember that you could tell a 73,74 truck because the beds rusted out from the top down and because of that Ive scrapped a lot of wood floor beds.

but if you look hard enough you may find one good hunting

[78 Chevyrado]

I think the wood floors were an option in fleetsides until 78-80 somewhere in there. Maybe they quit the wood floors when they went to the gas tank filler doors instead of the visible gas cap.

[Dru]

Sorry, my fault, I should have mentioned Fleetside, my brain wasn't working correctly that late in the a.m.

N2TRUX, yeah that would be the easier option, and mine isn't reeeeallly in that bad of shape, but by telling myself that my bed rails are all beat up, it helps me justify searching out a wood floor bed, and doing all of the work. If that makes any sense, lol.

pig rig, thank you.

78 Chevyrado, the one here on the red truck that was pictured a few days ago didn't have the filler doors either.

I just figure by looking for one with possible bad bed sides, and it being a long bed anyhow, I might raise my chances of actually finding one for a somewhat decent price. Plus that would give me my filler doors, if I needed to slice my sides off in the upper curve, and graft them to the other.

Wasn't sure if there was anything special that I might look for, but I appreciate the info so far, its helped me narrow it down a little bit.

Thanks everyone.

[bigblock73]

FYI, you could not get a wood bed in short bed fleetsides.

[DBLSPRT68]

I knew a guy years go, with a 76 or 77 lwb fleetside factory wood floor truck. I remember looking at the SPID (buildsheet in the glovebox). I did that because I had never seen one before either!

[ray_mcavoy]

It's RPO E81 and was available in 1973 - 1980 longbed fleetsides.

They weren't made using leftover 67-72 style wood floor assemblies as pig rig speculated. The 73-80 design wood floor is significantly different (has different plank widths, different cross sills, and special flange pieces to mate the wood to the bedsides/wheeltubs).

And they weren't just in the low end trucks either. My dad's 77 Sierra Classic (GMC version of the Silverado) has this option:

Before:

After restoration:


My grandfather was the original owner and he specified the wood floor when he ordered this truck. Based on his experiences with other trucks he'd owned, he found the wood floors to be quieter. Didn't make as much of a tinny/drumming noise when going over rough roads as the steel floors.

[80SPORT]

RPO E81 wood floor actually cost $99.00 as an option in 1980 ....

As a comparison a U16 tach was $62.00 and a cargo lamp was $29.00

[Dieselwrencher]

Ray, thanks for posting the pics info! That is very interesting. Does any company sell replacement floor kits for these? My brother was actually just talking about trying to do this to his 88 V30.

[ray_mcavoy]

Hi Ryan,

Yes, Mar-K (www.mar-k.com) sells replacement wood kits for these years and that's where we got the kit for dad's truck.

Unfortunately, you need a lot more than just the wood to convert from a steel floor. The cross sills are not as tall (since the wood is thicker) and the rear cross sill (at the tailgate) has a special notch to accept the ends of the boards. There are also about 9 special steel flange pieces that bolt onto the bedsides/wheeltubs. They bolt up to the same holes in the bedsides/tubs as a steel floor and serve to make the transition over to the wood.

During the restoration of dad's truck, we had to replace most of those special parts due to rust. For the cross sills, we bought some un-drilled 67-72 style ones from Mar-K and drilled them to the 73-80 bolt pattern using one of the originals as a template. I modified a steel floor rear cross sill (did a bit of cutting/welding to add the notched area). And we had a local sheetmetal fab shop make replacements for the perimeter flange pieces using the old rusty ones as templates.

The bedsides, wheel tubs, tailgate, and front panel are the same as used with a steel floor.

[TheWhiteElephant]

Originally Posted by ray_mcavoy

Hi Ryan,

Yes, Mar-K (www.mar-k.com) sells replacement wood kits for these years and that's where we got the kit for dad's truck.

Unfortunately, you need a lot more than just the wood to convert from a steel floor. The cross sills are not as tall (since the wood is thicker) and the rear cross sill (at the tailgate) has a special notch to accept the ends of the boards. There are also about 9 special steel flange pieces that bolt onto the bedsides/wheeltubs. They bolt up to the same holes in the bedsides/tubs as a steel floor and serve to make the transition over to the wood.

During the restoration of dad's truck, we had to replace most of those special parts due to rust. For the cross sills, we bought some un-drilled 67-72 style ones from Mar-K and drilled them to the 73-80 bolt pattern using one of the originals as a template. I modified a steel floor rear cross sill (did a bit of cutting/welding to add the notched area). And we had a local sheetmetal fab shop make replacements for the perimeter flange pieces using the old rusty ones as templates.

The bedsides, wheel tubs, tailgate, and front panel are the same as used with a steel floor.

Thanks for that info. My '73 longbed K20 also has a wood floor bed and the cross sills are very rusty. I'm going to tackle that sooner or later.

[ray_mcavoy]

Originally Posted by TheWhiteElephant

Thanks for that info. My '73 longbed K20 also has a wood floor bed and the cross sills are very rusty.

You're welcome!

I just took a look through some of my old info and found some part numbers you might find helpful. I don't think they're listed in the Mar-K catalog ... I got them when I e-mailed their tech support for more info on the 67-72 cross sill dimensions.

#100707 is the number for the un-drilled 67-72 style cross sills (5 required for a longbed)
#100706 is the number for the un-drilled 67-72 reinforcement strips (2 required) ... these are the "smaller cross sills" that go in the middle where the frame humps up over the axle.

In addition to drilling the holes, I also had to saw a few inches off those 67-72 style cross sills and reinforcements. The 73-80 ones are a bit shorter since the wood floor section is a little narrower than 67-72 due to those wide flange pieces along the bedsides.

[Dru]

Originally Posted by ray_mcavoy

The bedsides, wheel tubs, tailgate, and front panel are the same as used with a steel floor.

Thank you for the all of the information, I'm a little curious how this is possible though, is the wood ontop of the steel, and the edging around the tubs is a separate piece of metal?

If not, attempting to cut out a steel floor, and trim around the tubs and everything evenly around would seem like a mess, but I would have to have it perfect, or it would bug me.


Edit:

Originally Posted by ray_mcavoy

The 73-80 ones are a bit shorter since the wood floor section is a little narrower than 67-72 due to those wide flange pieces along the bedsides.

I didnt catch that at first. So its edging all the way around, and there is steel under it, or it it just like a normal bed, but cut out a few inches in?

[KQQL IT]

The whole floor unbolts. With the exception of 2 welds at the rear stake pockets.

Crap pic but you get the idea.

[TheWhiteElephant]

Originally Posted by ray_mcavoy

You're welcome!

I just took a look through some of my old info and found some part numbers you might find helpful. I don't think they're listed in the Mar-K catalog ... I got them when I e-mailed their tech support for more info on the 67-72 cross sill dimensions.

#100707 is the number for the un-drilled 67-72 style cross sills (5 required for a longbed)
#100706 is the number for the un-drilled 67-72 reinforcement strips (2 required) ... these are the "smaller cross sills" that go in the middle where the frame humps up over the axle.

In addition to drilling the holes, I also had to saw a few inches off those 67-72 style cross sills and reinforcements. The 73-80 ones are a bit shorter since the wood floor section is a little narrower than 67-72 due to those wide flange pieces along the bedsides.

Thanks so much!

[ray_mcavoy]

Originally Posted by Dru

Thank you for the all of the information, I'm a little curious how this is possible though, is the wood ontop of the steel, and the edging around the tubs is a separate piece of metal?

If not, attempting to cut out a steel floor, and trim around the tubs and everything evenly around would seem like a mess, but I would have to have it perfect, or it would bug me.

Edit:

I didnt catch that at first. So its edging all the way around, and there is steel under it, or it it just like a normal bed, but cut out a few inches in?

Hi Dru,

Yes, it's edging all the way around. Looks somewhat like a steel bed that's been cut a few inches in but it's not. The edging is made of 9 separate steel pieces. I called them "flanges" for lack of a better term. They bolt up to the bedsides/tubs using the same holes as where a steel floor assembly would attach. This pic shows the bed assembly with those flange/edging pieces installed but no wood yet:


The steel floor assembly shown in KQQL IT's pic is entirely eliminated and replaced with the wood floor assembly. The only steel underneath the wood is the cross sills. The 73-80 wood floor assembly bolts together pretty much like the pre-73 ones. Here's a pic with the wood partially installed:

[Dieselwrencher]

Man that's sweet!

[Dru]

Wow!!!

Thank you for the floor pic, KQQL IT. I honestly didn't even realize they came out that easy.

ray_mcavoy, thank you so very much also, the added information and pictures really explained everything to me pretty well. The bed looks very nice, by the way.

Thought I was going to have to find another bed, but I suppose I could massage mine out to look decent, and save the hassle, and expense of actually trying to find one, then modify it without feeling bad. I'll never use my stake pockets, could just fill them, and notch out for a piece of square tubing for added support to straighten the rails.

I would just need to then notch my rear floor sill as you did, and if anything, I could fab up my own flange pieces. The rest seems like I could use the 67-72 pieces, I appreciate the part numbers.

A friend needs a custom wood bed with a hump done for his 66 sometime, and I was planning to do it for him, this will give me some added practice beforehand.

Very cool. Thanks so much to everyone.

[slugish]

Originally Posted by ray_mcavoy

It's RPO E81 and was available in 1973 - 1980 longbed fleetsides.
Love that bed > Beautiful


They weren't made using leftover 67-72 style wood floor assemblies as pig rig speculated. The 73-80 design wood floor is significantly different (has different plank widths, different cross sills, and special flange pieces to mate the wood to the bedsides/wheeltubs).

And they weren't just in the low end trucks either. My dad's 77 Sierra Classic (GMC version of the Silverado) has this option:

Before:

After restoration:


My grandfather was the original owner and he specified the wood floor when he ordered this truck. Based on his experiences with other trucks he'd owned, he found the wood floors to be quieter. Didn't make as much of a tinny/drumming noise when going over rough roads as the steel floors.

love that bed > Beautiful

[KQQL IT]

^^^ agreed

[astjohn]

Is fabricating from scratch the only option for replacing the perimeter flange? Or is there a company that makes/sells them?

[Keith Seymore]

Good input guys - thanks for posting.

I wasn't that familiar with wood bed floors either; all the fleetsides were pretty much steel by the time I came on board (stepsides, of course, were still wood).

K

[ray_mcavoy]

Originally Posted by astjohn

Is fabricating from scratch the only option for replacing the perimeter flange? Or is there a company that makes/sells them?

Hi astjohn,

Dad and I both did a lot of searching for a company selling those perimeter flange pieces back when we restored his 77. We couldn't find anyone making/selling them. We searched for NOS and good used ones but couldn't find any of those either. So, as I mentioned in an earlier post, we ended up taking the old rusty pieces to a local sheetmetal shop so they could use them as templates to make new ones.

Dieselwrencher, Dru, slugish, KQQL IT, & others ... thanks for the compliments!