Gary Lewis Posted September 9, 2019 Share Posted September 9, 2019 Someone on here just completely rebuild a Flareside bed, hopefully either he will see these posts or Gary will connect you with him. That would have been me. I can provide any measurements needed, but my bed is currently sitting in the warehouse at my work, and I'm at home right now. First thing Tuesday am I can post info. Thought that might be you, Cory. But let's get a little bigger view of that illustration on here: EDIT: I wasn't done! And, once we get the dimensions we can update this table: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rembrant Posted September 9, 2019 Share Posted September 9, 2019 And, once we get the dimensions we can update this table: It will be important to know what his intentions are...as in what style of wood floor. Ron/Reamer and I would be two of the very few people that went with a plywood floor with surface mounted metal strips. Most people do go with actual boards with the metal strips sitting in grooves in the wood. I have the Mar-K instructions which shows how to do all this if making your own boards. If it's plywood and surface mounted strips, it's pretty straight forward...but the surface mounted strips are very hard to find (if not impossible). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grumpin Posted September 9, 2019 Share Posted September 9, 2019 And, once we get the dimensions we can update this table: It will be important to know what his intentions are...as in what style of wood floor. Ron/Reamer and I would be two of the very few people that went with a plywood floor with surface mounted metal strips. Most people do go with actual boards with the metal strips sitting in grooves in the wood. I have the Mar-K instructions which shows how to do all this if making your own boards. If it's plywood and surface mounted strips, it's pretty straight forward...but the surface mounted strips are very hard to find (if not impossible). Welcome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArdWrknTrk Posted September 10, 2019 Share Posted September 10, 2019 Good signature. On the bed dimensions, let's make sure we are talking about the same thing. Our Year-To-Year differences page says "7 pieces of wood and 6 metal strips before 7/82, and 3 pieces of plywood and 5 strips after 7/82." So yours should have the 5 strips, right? Welcome to the forum! Rotary cut Fir marine ply would have been stock in '85. Is it going to be out in the sun a lot? Is it going to be used as a truck, or just a grocery getter? If you intend to go with solid wood I strongly suggest 1x8 White Oak for a stock appearance or one of the tropical hardwoods for durability. I can offer some advise for color, janka hardness, split resistance, sustainability and cost if you know what you want it to end up looking like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snakebite8 Posted September 10, 2019 Author Share Posted September 10, 2019 Welcome to the forum! Rotary cut Fir marine ply would have been stock in '85. Is it going to be out in the sun a lot? Is it going to be used as a truck, or just a grocery getter? If you intend to go with solid wood I strongly suggest 1x8 White Oak for a stock appearance or one of the tropical hardwoods for durability. I can offer some advise for color, janka hardness, split resistance, sustainability and cost if you know what you want it to end up looking like. I only have four metal strips for the bed and they are very rusty so I am thinking I am missing one or two. looks like I will have to replace all of them. I did not know I could just use plywood. I am not making a show truck. I am just really trying to get it on the road and usable. so I am really trying to save as much money as I can. I am repairing the sides of the beds now and fixing the fiber glass flares. the decklid is in great shape. the rear piece of the bed is rusty on the bottom but I believe I can repair it. all the other metal needs to be replaced. I will take pics and show u what I have tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted September 10, 2019 Share Posted September 10, 2019 I only have four metal strips for the bed and they are very rusty so I am thinking I am missing one or two. looks like I will have to replace all of them. I did not know I could just use plywood. I am not making a show truck. I am just really trying to get it on the road and usable. so I am really trying to save as much money as I can. I am repairing the sides of the beds now and fixing the fiber glass flares. the decklid is in great shape. the rear piece of the bed is rusty on the bottom but I believe I can repair it. all the other metal needs to be replaced. I will take pics and show u what I have tonight. The Flareside beds changed as of 7/82 build dates. Prior to that they had 5 individual boards, and after that they had two (three?) pieces of plywood and most of the metal strips were on top of the boards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rembrant Posted September 10, 2019 Share Posted September 10, 2019 The Flareside beds changed as of 7/82 build dates. Prior to that they had 5 individual boards, and after that they had two (three?) pieces of plywood and most of the metal strips were on top of the boards. The outside dimensions of the wood floor would be 78.5" long, and 54" wide. The original floor was 3/4" thick. The thickness is determined by the spacing on the front and rear sills. If you go with a thicker wood, it won't fit in the end sills. Here is what mine looked like before installation. I went with approximately 3/8" gap between sections. And after installation with metal strips on top. (Two strips are covering gaps, and the other three are just sitting on top of the plywood.) However...I have to note that they were special strips that were flush on the bottom side (for surface mounting). They came with a used bed I purchased and have no idea where they came from originally. They are not the original Ford strips. The new strips you buy now are made to sit "into" grooves in the boards. See below: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snakebite8 Posted September 10, 2019 Author Share Posted September 10, 2019 The outside dimensions of the wood floor would be 78.5" long, and 54" wide. The original floor was 3/4" thick. The thickness is determined by the spacing on the front and rear sills. If you go with a thicker wood, it won't fit in the end sills. Here is what mine looked like before installation. I went with approximately 3/8" gap between sections. And after installation with metal strips on top. (Two strips are covering gaps, and the other three are just sitting on top of the plywood.) However...I have to note that they were special strips that were flush on the bottom side (for surface mounting). They came with a used bed I purchased and have no idea where they came from originally. They are not the original Ford strips. The new strips you buy now are made to sit "into" grooves in the boards. See below: THANK U EVERYONE! U GUYS R THE BEST!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted September 10, 2019 Share Posted September 10, 2019 THANK U EVERYONE! U GUYS R THE BEST!! Welcome to the family. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ford F834 Posted September 10, 2019 Share Posted September 10, 2019 Welcome to the family. Gary, is this info (dimensions, end profiles etc.,) in documentation? Or might this be a good post to add in the resources folder? Questions about bed wood get asked a lot, for obvious reasons...Welcome to the group Joe! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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