flatbed for pickup

[Rich Iowa]

Who all out there have flatbeds on their pickups, and what do you think of them? I had an accident a couple weeks ago, hit some ice and slid into a light pole. Only did damage to the box and it wasn't even that bad, but insurance company approved the body shop's estimate and is sending me a check. I'm considering removing the box and throwing a flatbed on the truck. Thoughts? Good or bad? Oh, it's a 01 Dodge 2500.

 

[Don Anderson]

I have the same year and model of truck as you, mine is an extended cab. I like the flatbed since I can haul longer items by going from the front bumper back past the rear bumper at an angle. For instance 20' sticks of rebar. I even hauled a 40' TV tower one time. I would never consider a box bed on a truck again. My insurance company also insures flat bed farm trucks at a discounted rate. I think I pay around 44.00 per year for liability insurance.

 

[JML755]

Friend has an old Ford p/u with a flat bed for use around their horse farm. On the farm, it's great, no tail gate to mess with, easy access to the side and stuff can hang off the sides/back. But I wouldn't have one as my only p/u vehicle. If you're on the road, you have to strap everything down, no tossing something in the bed and driving off.

 

[PaGlenn]

The only accessory you will need is a few dozen of bungi cords.

 

[Butch(OH)]

We like ours a lot. Mainly because we haul a lot of firewood and unloading is about half the work. We have built 4 and if not for waiting on paint to dry could do one complete in a day. The outside frame is 4" channel and 4" channel is used for the sills between the truck frame and box. 3" channel is used for the cross pieces about 12" apart and we have used both oak and creosote treated pine for the 2" floors and we use the self tapping screws sold for this purpose. Stake pockets can be purchased at trailer places cheaper than you can make them and a 1/4" x 2 is welded outside of them for a tarp rail and bumper strip. If interested I can supply better pics and details.

Two of ours, Red one is only steel floor we have built (and last one)

 

[Lazy WP]

We have a flatbed on a 96 Dodge and love it. We put a toolbox in front of the wheels on both sides. The one we have is a JMS, I think. Came with removable side rails. I also have one sitting here that I took off of a buddies 03 Dodge. It is a Bradford, and in my opinion way out classes my own, but its about twice the price. If its your Sunday go to town vehicle, I would put a box back on. If its a work pickup, flatbeds are the only way to go!!
We very seldom ever have to tie anything down. If its mounted right, everything slides to the front, although I did loose a shovel off the bag when I was deer hunting this fall.

 

[charlie n]

I like mine.Makes hooking a goose neck easy too.

 

[PJH]

I have an old pickup with a flatbed, and I like it.

 

[JD Seller]

If you use the truck for work you will like a flat bead. One thing to check on before you switch it. That would be your insurance company. No Joke. My 1990 Dodge bed got damaged like yours. So I had a local guy here make me an aluminum flat bed for it. I had my auto insurance with Triple A at that time. They dropped my pickup as they will not insure a truck with a flat bed.

 

[Butch(OH)]

Wow, for a flat bed? Sounds like a State Farm rip off.
Auto-Owners said put a value on the bed and send us a picture, done deal.

 

[JOB]

You have a couple of nice looking trucks there. Your red truck, is that gas or Diesel. I like your stack and if it was diesel wondered how you tied it in to your existing exhaust system. I would guess you had to make a 180 degree bend in a pipe. Yes? You mentioned that the red truck has a steel deck on it, and is your last. Why? I am planning to build a bed like you have pictured with a hoist under it. Bed will be seven foot six by eleven foot long. I was planning on putting a steel deck on it. I plan on hauling a little dirt with mine.

 

[JOB]

I have AAA ins. They told me they will not insure a truck with a hoist, and from JD Sellers post above they will not insure a flat bed. Would you be willing to divulge who you are insured with?

 

[Butch(OH)]

Thank you, The green truck looks like a wreck but has 55K miles and zero rust, ex Davie Tree truck. F-350 7.3 5 speed 4x4 We either need a NOT FOR SALE sign for it or quit parking it where it can be seen from the road LOL.
The red truck is an F-Superduty 7.3 PS diesel and is half toy/half work truck. Everything turbo back is aftermarket, we dont have tailpipe sniffers here so the cat got lost in the shuffle. Downpipe is a two-piece 3" set up from Jegs and under the cab we upsized to 4" and then simple 90s and straight pipe to the stack with a short piece of stainless flex since the stack is attached to the bed which is fixed, doesn't dump. Why not steel again? Cost, weight, durability and slippery. For durability the deck ought to be 1/4" but for cost and weight say it needs to be 1/8", 3/16" is not good on either point it is both heavy and not durable. Extra cross pieces fixes the durability but adds both weight and cost, there just isn't a happy middle ground. Ours is 1/8" deck and it took 1 load to figure out we had a problem. We load the trucks with a skid steer or elevator when hauling wood and the deck was denting between the cross pieces spaced at 12". If dents dont bother you use 1/8" and be happy, we now place a sheet of 3/4" CDX or whatever is cheap on it for the wood to hit on. The deck is slippery when wet also which only makes a difference when hauling metal items that are not on pallets, which we do also. For what we do wood is by far the best choice for a floor. Others have different uses and steel or aluminum works OK for them.

 

[Butch(OH)]

A little better picture of the bed. Now has a removable gooseneck ball. I think the bed is 8 1/2', been too long since I had to know?

 

[caseyc]

I wouldn't be without one. I have three pickups, two have flatbeds. Working on the third but management is rebelling. "You already have two, why do you need a third?"

Casey in SD

 

[Duner Wi]

in google search tupe in
"Home Depot Rental truck"
Then click on images.
I like the way the side boards flip up or down,

 

[S.Crum]

I built this out in the backshop 6 years ago. No problems with inspection or insurance. All steel frame and pressure treated floor. Also built it with a 1000 lb hydaulic crane in the left front corner.

 

[old]

Back about 2005 I got my 1980 Chev heavy half and it had a flat bed on it and I thought it would be ok but also thought it would be a problem but other then it sitting up so high I love it.

 

[Dick2]

Insurance companies know that the courts have consistently ruled that if a vehicle is altered from it's original factory configuration, the original manufacturer has no further liability if there is an accident.

Basically, the owner assumes ALL if the liability when that person alters a vehicle. The insurance companies know that they have no chance of recovering any costs from the manufacturer. If the person who altered the vehicle has limited assets, the insurance company is stuck for the balance.

So the next time you are tempted to alter a vehicle, think long and hard. Even changing the original wheel rims can be interpreted as altering the vehicle. The original manufacturer is overjoyed to find that the vehicle that they made was altered before it was in an accident - they just walk away without any liability and leave the owner holding the bag!

 

[OliverGuy]

Everytime we crunch a bed plowing snow I take the insurance money and buy a flatbed. An older truck got one of those $850 steel jobs in the auto and rv. Hasn"t been too bad. Just paint it every year or two. A newer truck got an aluminum one, man is that bed sweet. No more painting! I put a cheaper aluminum bed on, the fancy one from a dealer nearby was $5k? Couldn"t swing that.

 

[D7fever]

I made a flatbed for my Dodge 3500, was insured as a "car" cheaper that way. When I put the flatbed on, had to insure it commercial. Had to register it commercial in the first place because it has 6 wheels. That is MA way of taking the $$$ out of your pocket.
By the way, the flatbed is more useful that the pickup body. Put a flatbed on the truck I had before too.

 

[D7fever]

Oh, if you buy a cab and chassis, is putting s body on it : changing" the truck? Would seem to me that going that route there would be nothing to worry about. In my case the truck is 15 yrs old, so a moot point anyway.

 

[Bruce from Can.]

This is th 3rd truck under this ceck plate flat bed. Very good way to make an old truck live on. Bruce

 

[Scott.ID]

This is my go-to truck if things look like they might get a little "hinky", plus it makes a GREAT plow truck w/ 3 pair chains and 3/4 ton of gravel in the back. '82 K30, 454 w/ granny plus 3.

 

[JOB]

Your red truck is pretty much what I have. 97 F350 super Duty, 7.3 with turbo, five speed transmission, 84 inches cab to axle. The one I bought is white from Arizona with no rust, frame is perfect. I could not find one like I bought with a flat bed and hoist
so I get to build the bed. I was going to use steel for the deck, but am having second thoughts after what you said. Leaning towards wood now. Did you use two by something or one by six tongue and grove? I like that red cab, silver wheels and black bed, looks sharp.
I would guess that truck must have a muffler of some sort or it might have a bit of a bark to it?

 

[Puddles]

I haven't owned a pickup since the early 1980's. Built this 14-feet flatbed dump for a 2004 F-550. Sold it in 2007, then bought a Dodge, bought an aluminum bed for it.

 

[Butch(OH)]

Ours is a 97 too, 5 speed with a US Gear OD and gear splitter. No muffler at all just pipe, noise it not excessive due to the turbo and outlet being high and pointed up. As I remember the WB is 150" we built it 4-5 years ago. The truck used to be a long WB. We took out 36" right behind the cab and spliced it back together. The wood floors we have put in are simply 2x6 or 8 and we space them about 1/8" when installed dry. Tongue and groove would be nice especially if I could ind an old wood stave silo to take down to get it for free.

 

[JOB]

I don't know what a US gear OD is and gear splitter, so I doubt I have that. What I have is just factory stock. Thanks for sharing your experience.

 

[Brad Gyde]

This is my flatbed truck.. I like the bed A LOT. If it didn't have the side boxes, I would probably build short sides for it.

For a tailgate, I cut 4 pieces of angle iron about 10" long, and bolted them vertically to each tool box box, spaced 2" apart, then I slip a 2x10 cut to the inside width between said angle irons.. Easy to remove when needed, and keeps the junk from rolling out the back.

This bed has a "flip up" goose neck ball, which I also like. Flip it down, and nothing to catch stuff on when sliding stuff in/out.

Dad had a bed on his 98 GMC.. I think it was a B&M or B&W.. in 98 it was cheap, none the less.. it was kinda flimsy compared to mine, and when the truck was sold it was starting to rust through.

By the way, I gave less for this truck than I'd sell the bed for today! I was going to just drop the bed onto another truck when I bought it, but decided this truck with a blown engine was in better shape than the one I was driving at the time.. Dropped a engine in her and been running it since.

Brad

 

[Rich Iowa]

Thanks for the help everyone, and the pictures. There are some nice looking trucks and beds out there. I better check with my insurance agent before I throw a flatbed on the truck. Someone asked who my insurance was with, I go through Cameron National out of Cameron, Missouri.

 

[Don Anderson]

y insurance is through Kansas Farm Bureau.

 

[Ken Macfarlane]

Not entirely true, if you have conformed to the body builders guidelines they don't have much to stand on otherwise they wouldn't sell cab and chassis or bed delete options. They generally have to prove the modification somehow contributed to the accident, which may or may not be easy to do.

The flat beds can get into trouble due to the fuel filler neck standards. A conventional bed is designed to shear away from the neck leaving the cap on the fill tube. The vents are also designed not to siphon fuel out of the tank in a rollover, this can get messed up by a flatbed install. Note how many problems there are trying to get flatbeds to take fuel properly.