Truck Faltbed Project

   / Truck Faltbed Project #1  

CCOUGHRAN1

Silver Member
Joined
Jun 22, 2006
Messages
193
Been looking for a good used flatbed for one of my trucks, and stumbled across one last week that I thought would work for me.

The truck I want to put it on is the 1999 Dodge 3500 4x4 DRW. The bed was advertised on CL and the man had it installed on a 2005 Dodge DRW. I knew the rear skirt would need replacing, as the man had done some modifications that I did not care for. Other than that, the bed was in very good shape, with no rust.

Here is what I started with last week.
5G75Eb5Fa3Ia3Na3p7c69abbb63bcc4ed1417.jpg5L15Id5M13k43G33Jdc69a64c37abc37d1220.jpg5Nc5H85M73E13kd3K4c691754b1edbab81ede.jpg

After an evening of cutting and grinding, I had the rear skirt removed from the flatbed, the factory bed and bumper removed from the truck, and placed the flatbed on the truck for a test fit.

IMAG0487.jpgIMAG0488.jpg

After seeing the flatbed on the truck, I did not care for how the side skirts lined up with the body on this truck, so I decided to cut them off and start from scratch on the rear and side skirts, as well as install a new trough liner.

Here's the pics of the truck without skirting.
IMAG0497.jpgIMAG0501.jpg

Another full evening with the grinder, and I was ready to start putting things back together. I built a new rear bumper/hitch out of 4x4 tube, and mounted a 2" receiver through the 4x4 tube. Then uses some 3x3x1/2 angle for my supports.

IMAG0507.jpg

This pic is the rear skirt, and trough liner waiting to be installed. They were cut out on a CNC Plasma table. Once the rear skirt is installed, I will then take my measurements and have the side skirts cut out.

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Here's a pic of the rear skirt sitting in place.
IMAG0511.jpg


Having now installed a Bradford Built bed, and cut in my own trough on my 2002 Dodge 2500, and made it to this point in rehabbing a bed for the 1999 Dodge 3500, and having rebuilt a skirted CM flatbed for a 1993 Dodge 2500, I believe that the next bed I build for my 2003 Dodge 3500 will be built from scratch. I think it will be easier than dealing with the cutting a grinding required on a rebuild, and certainly be better constructed than a CM or some other mass produced bed.

Any recommendations on paint?
 
   / Truck Faltbed Project #2  
Looks like a fun project.

What is the trough for though? A friend has had a couple flatbeds over the years(last was F450 w/hydro dump). I had never seen that trough. Can it be covered?
 
   / Truck Faltbed Project #3  
Wow, I am impressed that you had the confidence to go cutting that old bed up. It looked pretty stout to me!

Of course, your rear skirt design looks much better.

Sorry, no help on paint, just wanted to give a :thumbsup:
 
   / Truck Faltbed Project #4  
:thumbsup: looking good!
 
   / Truck Faltbed Project #5  
Great job on the new skirt, looks a lot better! :thumbsup: As far as paint, I would go with black paint. :thumbsup: Great job, looks great on your truck! :thumbsup:
 
   / Truck Faltbed Project
  • Thread Starter
#7  
Looks like a fun project.

What is the trough for though? A friend has had a couple flatbeds over the years(last was F450 w/hydro dump). I had never seen that trough. Can it be covered?

I have three trucks and four gooseneck trailers that are constantly being swapped around. I don't like having to back the truck up, then step out and adjust the jack on the trailers for each truck, so having a trough helps with that issue. Additionally, having a trough keeps me from having to jack the trailer up 4" over the top of the ball in order to clear the rear of the bed. As soon as the hitch clears the ball, I am safe to pull the truck out, and back one of the other trucks underneath the trailer.

I imagine it can be covered, but I have never had a need to cover it. I can haul feed sack, pallets, hay, etc and the trough is never an issue.
 
   / Truck Faltbed Project
  • Thread Starter
#8  
spray on bed liner or POR15.

I've never tried to do a spray on liner at home, nor have I used POR15... Any tips or tricks to applying either of them?

I was thinking about prepping the bed, then spraying a primer and black paint from RustOleum, as it's going to get beat up driving through pastures and general use, but if there is a much better option, that is marginally more expensive, I am all ears.
 
   / Truck Faltbed Project
  • Thread Starter
#9  
BTW,

Thanks for the kind words regarding the flatbed project. I was able to get measurements for the side skirts last night, and hope to have them cut out on the CNC today.
 
   / Truck Faltbed Project #10  
POR-15 is pretty good for a rust restorer type paint. With diamond plate, it's tough to get the nooks and crannies unless you're media blasting. Eastwood has a ceramic chassis black which we just used on a couple of frame jobs. It's an epoxy type and not too hard on the wallet.
Eastwood 2K Ceramic Chassis Black Kits

That's gonna be a nice truck when you're done with it. The trough can make life easier, but so do power jacks. :)
 
 
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