Welding a dropside bed for a 1 ton van

[Renze]

My mate bought a VW Transporter 5 as his farm vehicle, when the 50 year old T3 became a bit long in the teeth.

He bought it cheap because the bed was partially rotten, the chassis cab itself was fine at 20 years of age. It would not pass DOT inspection as is, but he could get it to pass the annual DOT inspection as a chassis cab for the last 7 years.

The problem with those cheap factory beds is that it is outsourced to the lowest bidder, meaning 2mm of steel, powdercoated. Once moisture gets under powdercoat, rot spreads like wildfire because the skin keeps the moisture trapped.

Last month when he lifted the bed off, the right rear corner just folded up because it was too far gone.

I Would have lost my job per 1 December, (which now became 1st January) so we agreed that i would weld him a lifetime bed, galvanise it, with a diamond plate floor...

A headache rack was also desired, it gives the kids something to hold on to when coming back from the back of the field.

 

[Renze]

Crossmembers every 333mm (just over a foot) to match the 2x1m standard diamond plate size.

Getting somewhere

I welded another crossmember in, just in case he wanted to bolt a cheap chinese hydraulic bed crane in it: Last time he had a flat tire on the road, it was in a town where several contractors workers lived and helped us get the dumptrailer tire back on the truck. But when youre alone, a cheap crane is a backsaver..

He said, in a fixed position its always in the way. Can you make a receiver tube in the bed, so i can store the crane under the rear seat of the crew cab when not in use ? So there it is: a 4x4" receiver tube.

 

[Renze]

welding the bottom side. I welded flatbar under the edge of the C channel, for the diamond plate to rest on.

Galvanising a bed with diamond plate welded to it, creates a washboard, because rolling the diamonds in, puts lots of internal material tension in the plate. In the zinc bath of 450 degrees celcius, (840 Fahrenheit) all that tension sets and comes out and it makes the plates grow 2 to 3% in size. The only proper way to do this, is to galvanise separately, then cut the diamond plate to size, and then mount them with sealer and stainless steel heavy duty pop rivets...

Lashing anchors, two at each side so 8 in total. You cannot have too many lashing points...

 

[Renze]

I hate working in the cold. And with this heater i built in 2021 i dont have to, so i burn all kinds of scrap wood.

21 Celcius is about 70 Fahrenheit... i dont want to get cold when i'm having tea break..

The best part of flame straightening is off course the cooling down...

 

[EddieWalker]

That's a pretty big project. Looks like it's built strong enough to last forever!!! I'm looking forward to seeing how you mount it.

 

[bmaverick]

I'm now following this.

 

[Renze]

That's a pretty big project. Looks like it's built strong enough to last forever!!! I'm looking forward to seeing how you mount it.

I said 3 days of work. Which are spent already on welding, though i spent a day drawing, and will spend another day assembling...

Nonetheless its not really a loss because its for a mate, and it was a nice test of my job assessment ability, before i bid on anything serious...

I think you guys know the Transporter as the Eurovan and probably dont get the chassis-cab due to chicken tax. Yet with 1300kg brutt capacity this is a true one ton truck, though in American nomenclature it would probably called a quarter ton truck...

When i looked up the VW body builders guidelines and found it would fit Transporter up to 2024 (MY2025 is a Ford Transit built in Turkey with a VW grille) he said screw it, it will last my professional life then: I will buy another cheap truck with a rotten bed then and transplant this one: when it will last till my retirement, and writes off not on this one but on vans untill MY 2024, money is well spent !

 

[yanmars]

Interesting

 

[Renze]

Finished the board stakes, tacked hinge weldplates and TICO board locking hooks to the stakes.

Off course the drawing had holes burnt in it, so i printed two at work

Next is finish welding the TICO hooks and hingeplates, and drilling the odd zinc drain hole. (Most i notched by running a 5mm deburring grinding disk into them before putting it out of sight with the side channel)

In case anyone is wondering: The hinges are clamped to a sliding block in a rail hidden in the bottom of the board: This way they are adjustable and the side is smooth. (My mates sister in law was once pulled off her bicycle when a trailers TICO lock grabbed her trousers belt loop when she passed too close )Thats why the stakes extend 30mm out of the edge channel. It looks better too.

The TICO lock is in a recess in the aluminium side board.

 

[EddieWalker]

I love your attention to detail!!!

 

[bmaverick]

I was at a salvage yard in the early fall. Someone was creative. They took a 6.6ft X 8FT utility trailer, cut-off the hitch and mounted that as the truck bed. This had everything but the rear backup lights.

I never seen anything like this before. It looked like this with the utility trailer wood-floor,

 

[Renze]

Hinge plates and rope hooks (for the mandatory safety net) welded under

Zinc drain holes in the mounting brackets. I dont know how they will hang it up when dipping, and i dont want to take chances of pooling zinc.

Cutouts in the side channel for mudguards

Before i can flame straighten it a final time, the wood in my smoker must catch fire good, because i need that bottle on the torch

Off course as soon as Kira sees me grabbing firewood from the garage, she starts grunting of joy because she knows she allways gets a slice

 

[Renze]

All these blue spots are from welding the strips under the C channel to support the diamond plates edges. They shrink, pulling the bed crooked. There was about a quarter inch under the screed when i finished welding..

Yeah, thats true...

For those unfamiliar with the process: when heating steel it expands, as everybody knows. Also, everbody knows heated steel also becomes soft.

But most people dont draw the conclusion what these things combined cause: When you weld, you make the underlying steel expand and lower its yield strength at the same time. It cannot elongate because the surrounding steel which is cold, has a higher yield strength so the red hot spot grows in thickness because thats the only direction it can expand to. Now when it cools, it goes back to the same yield strength as the surrounding steel whilst being shortened, distorting the channel.

To cancel this out, one has to make spots red hot on the other side, to introduce internal material stress to cancel this out..

 

[Renze]

According to Col. Hannibal Smith, overkill is underrated, so i added a brace to the crane receiver tube. Only 1.5kg of weight but it adds a ton of strength.

It might be time to stop throwing wood in the heater because 28 degrees Celcius is 82 Fahrenheit... OK to drink beer in the christmas holiday, but too hot to work

 

[etpm]

I learned how to flame straighten, and bend, decades ago in welding class. In the class we watched a video of the legs for the Seattle Space Needle being flame bent. Very impressive. Just flame and water.
Eric

 

[Renze]

Headgate ready. Its retractable so its galvanised separately. Galvanising is a Euro per kilo, yet if its too voluminous you get charged for volume too.

Plug for the crane receiver tube

All ready to bring to the galvanising plant

Whether i share a slice with her or not: Either way i'm having beef with her

 

[EddieWalker]

I've never had anything galvanized. Just powder coated and of course, painted.

 

[Renze]

I've never had anything galvanized.

In case youre interested:

https://galvanizing.org.uk/design-for-galvanizing/filling-venting-and-drainage/

Just powder coated and of course, painted.

I never had anything powder coated. Once moisture gets behind it, its trapped and then theres no stopping the rot..