Homemade, self made, or altered factory pick up truck beds

fleetside66, You say that tailgate is old?, what year did it come from? It looks good. $200.00 for all? good price too!

 

This link will take you to the photos of my truck build,,there are photos of the bed we scratch built. HRP

http://public.fotki.com/hotrodprimer/1932_ford_truck/

 

More good ideas, Thanks HOTRODPRIMER, since you sheeted a box frame, do you remember what gauge you used? I'm having some issues deciding if 18 ga would be ok or if I should use 16ga, of course it will depend how much bracing or boxing I do. Since it will be used to haul quite often, I want it to be durable, but not heavier than it has to be.....Dave

 

16 ga is really hard to brake at the length you need for bed rails and such. It takes a big, heavy duty brake. 18 ga is much easier to work. Once I had the beads in mine and had it fully ***embeled, it was really sturdy. My tailgate and header are only 3/4 thick at the edges. It might be better if they wer 1", but otherwise, mine turned out very solid using 18 ga.

 

Yeah Scotty, my brake will only do 48", and believe me, a 4 foot piece of 16 ga is all I want, been there, done that. I've used both 16 and 18ga for different applications and felt that 18ga would work OK, I guess I was just looking for some affirmation. Since this bed will be 7 to 8 feet long, I'm gonna try to do it in two pieces and hide the seam with an upright, some type of trim, or weld and grind

 

Very interesting concepts & bed builds ...... I like it.

PACO

 

From Chester's eBook, how he fabricates a steel T-Bucket pickup bed from just about any junkyard 1/2 ton pickup bed s**** and the finished product.



And you really don't want to ask how he also suggests making this
into a rumble seat for the kids.

 

Here is the bed I fabbed up. I used 14 guage. I will send pics after it is painted, Their is stainless that rivets in behind the rat fink. The bed is low, like you wanted. I have a 6 inch chop on my truck with laid back post.

 

this is the aluminum bed I made for my 31 chevy






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here is the bed I'm building for my 54F100

 

THAT is cool.

Brian

 

The tailgate is 39-41..somewhere around there. I found it for $30, but it needed some TLC. Homemadehardtop from the HAMB louvered it for me. By the way, my bed is 18 gauge, which (although I have it braced pretty well from the inside) I found to be quite sufficient right out of the chute. I still have to make some traditional (bed pocket style) bracing for the corners, but it would just be for looks. The bed is like a rock, since the tailgate is not functional & the whole works is bolted together. I found it a lot of fun to build.

 

Here are pics of my homemade bed, rear corner pieces are 65 riviera front fender tops.

 

I Radiused the front panel to match the cab, moved it forward 1 1/2 inches, Channeled it, Roll pan, frenched lights and plate, filled stake holes, blah blah blah new sub floor opens for fuel access.

 

this is one we did. it is made from 18 and is plenty stiff. also made the strips on the floor.

 

Man, all of these beds are very nice, I knew there were some really good fab guys on the H.A.M.B., these replys comfirm it, now I think I've got too many ideas and may have a tough time deciding how to do mine. A big "Thanks" to all who responded, you guys are the best. Dave

 

You guys are masters ! Although my bed is just a stock repop my mind is now thinking of ways to modify it. You all did great work.

Rick

 

Beautiful truck Rick, I wouldn't touch it

 

On my 35 Ford PU, mine is a Mac's Antique Reproductions Bed. Just looks exactly like the original ford bed and was REALLY REALLY easy to put together. Expensive though.

On my 48 F1, its the original bed...nothing special.

 

Anyone remember a post where a guy pie cut his square stake pockets on the bottom to make em rounded and had his nephew or some guy welded???
I want to revisit that thread.
Thanks

 

TA DA! My Diamond T pickup with homebuilt box. Shown earlier in the thread unfinished. I do finish some things.

Brian

 

built this one for my diamond t. a larger version of the original anthony bed.

 

This was my 40 Chevy, back around 1986. This was before I made the tailgate

 

Slick

 

X2 Gives me some ideas on the present project