Folding sides for a Flatbed

[AltavistaLawn]

Anyone have any ideas on how to make fold down sides for a 12' flatbed dump?

I'm thinking of using round stock for the hinge, and c-channel for the standers; need help on the latches.

Also swinging barn doors for the rear.

Thanks.

 

[deereguy]

On the beds I have seen built commercially, I think they use the same ideas you have mentioned, round stock and pins welded to the side for hinges and square stock welded to the middle (6') to stabilize the center and rear corners for the barn doors/latches.

I have a 12' flat dump on a old Ford SuperDuty and a 9' flat dump on an '04 F350 4WD and went with the factory racks w/ plywood on the inside for bulky loads (mulch/topsoil/firewood/etc) and also made 2"x12" sides for each truck when I don't need the taller sides (usually use the shorter sides from July-Feb). I hinged the rear racks so all you have to do is pick them up to get them out of the pockets (truck eq dealer wanted too much $ for the kit). I got 4 hinges from TSC and some rebar to make it work.

If your interested in pictures- I will snap a few.

Good Luck.

 

[BTDT]

This is only about 5', but maybe you can adapt to your needs.

 

[bobodu]

I made "piano" hinges out of 1/2 pipe and made removeable pins out of round stock.Made the same thing for all four corners. I used pipes for stake side bracktes. Also put half hinges on the end of the bed,Now,I can pull the pins and move the sides to the matching half hinges on the rear and use them for ramps! Good old boys at the shows scratch their heads and wonder why they hadn't thought of that. Did much the same for my dump truck.
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