Initial Flat Bed idea

So I am really beginning to toss the idea around of building the flat bed.  Obviously these are very crude not to scale drawings without a lot of information/measurements such as frame height and what not.  But I have two ideas in my head.

1.  Make the flat bed with wheel well cutouts and snug it up to the frame such that the tire is allowed some travel room but that limits the overall storage space and some functionality.  It also presents a potential problem of tires contacting loaded equipment.
1a. Keep the wheel well cutout idea but fabricate a wheel well arch which again limits storage space but negates any potential impact of the tire with the load.

Both 1 and 1a would allow for future suspension options though, such as adjustable ride height/air.

2.  Probably the best idea is to build the bed above the tire account for suspension travel and have a fully functional solid "flat bed"

I have not determined what I would put on it yet, wood or sheet metal....I am leaning towards wood.

This is all just a vague idea in my head right now, I would greatly appreciate opinions please!  My only real goal would be to fab it up such that it mounts to the same locations in the frame as the original bed, that way reverting it back is easily achieved without grinding off any welds.

This photo is what prompted me to consider wheel well cutouts.  I would not build one this bulky, but the options of suspension travel are extremely limited here.  The ride height seems good in relation to the cab, but I also like the idea of converting to an air ride suspension.  No I dont want a low rider truck, air ride is comfortable, and the ability to adjust the height when loaded down is also good.  I like a more squatty but not low ride look for these older trucks....something like photo 2, just not necessarily a big tire drag truck.

You might want to read through this thread on FTE.  And RAY1986F150 is our own Ray Cecil.  

I'd go with photo #2...  




A flat bed is an invitation to overload a 1/2-ton.  But if it's mostly wood, that should discourage you from putting more than a ton on it.

I certainly wouldn't leave it open-wheel; that's not legal on public roads in most places I've lived.  Beyond that - the decision to keep it flat or low depends on what you expect to haul.  But if you're already lifting something requiring a flat bed (very bulky) high enough to get onto the frame, an extra inch or 4 for wheel travel doesn't seem like a huge problem.  Just remember that you have to design for wheel travel with the suspension compressed.  Gary has a Body Builder's Layout Book or 2 available here, with plenty of drawings & specs.  You can download them to a desktop, then use the appropriate pages as background images in a CAD program - I use & recommend DraftSight.
https://www.3ds.com/products-services/draftsight-cad-software/latest-version/

That one was gorgeous, thanks for sharing that.  I am surprised he went the wood route on the whole bed with no steel supports but it was a dang nice job for sure!  And the look is incredible in my opinion, that one is proof the bullnose can rock out the flat bed look for sure.

jstone4646 wrote

I am surprised he went the wood route on the whole bed with no steel supports but it was a dang nice job for sure!  

They outlawed complete wooden beds here years ago. They will allow them now only with a steel frame or steel skeleton of some kind. They were popular at one time when the beds were rapidly rusting away. There is a guy with a Bullnose (with a wood/steel bed) just two doors down from where I work, and I sold an 8' bed to another guy with an 83 with a wooden bed just a couple months ago, so they're still around.

Did they fall apart too rapidly?  Or break easily?

Thanks for the compliments. I was broke as a joke back then. That is why I did a lot of things the way I did. My uncle owns that truck now. Still rockin the cheap flat bed....