Projects Going rate to replace the wood in a vintage truck bed?

I have a 52 Chevy 5 Window pickup project that came to me partially assembled. I am doing it as time and materials. I have a new bed wood kit and the old bed is taken apart and most of it is filled and painted. I would like to know what the hour expectation is to assemble and trial fit the wood, then finish it and do final bed assembly? I watch Brothers YouTube and he does a great job but I am finding it is taking a lot of hours. Just curious what professionals might estimate to install a wood kit?

 

That pretty well depends on the level of perfection you want or settle for. Sanding the wood, laying on each coat of finish, sanding between coats if that is what is needed. Assembly just depends on your work speed.

 

I’m a trim carpenter by trade,. Sanding takes time if the wood is ruff. Don’t cut corners and work your way up with the grit of paper. Finish can be as simple as a hand rubbed danish oil finish or an automotive clear coat. It just depends on what you are going to use you truck for.

 

Thanks for the replies. I have a center engine ski boat and a common problem is rotted stringers. the replacement cost of the stringer job is between $6k-$8k. What I was hoping to get from this post was a ball park of what people that don't do the work themselves are paying to have new bed wood installed. I am guessing it is around 20 hours of work? This is my first one and I may be a little slow compared to a seasoned professional, which is why I am second guessing my billing on this phase. Yes, I tend to give away free hours on stuff if I feel I am not as fast as I should be.

 

I installed one in my 50 .
I used hand cut wood without the Babbitt.
Used stainless screws in the channels instead of the provided hardware. Worked out great. 20 hrs seems like a good number.

 

As said fit and finish of the wood floor will be the variable. As a wood mahogany boat builder. We finish our wood depending on the placement and can it be seen A surface,B surface and so on . So on the A surface we sand up to 320 and then apply varnish. We then sand up to 5000 and then polish. I think a wood bed on a old truck is beautiful . I dig when they use figured or exotic woods .. So it depends if your going to use the bed to haul treasures or ?

 

Hi John!

 

For the OP, does the owner have expectations of a show truck, or?
Will it sit outside, etc.

I was the “bolt grabber and holder” for my dad as a kid, he had already removed the wood from his ‘57.
He spent a Saturday sanding it, raising the grain with water, all day doing that.
Let it site out all week. Then he stained it with something the next Saturday, let it all dry.
I placed bolts and that the following Saturday
I don’t have any memory on hours. But 20 (in my mind) seems low.

 

I just looked at a '67 Chevy truck that came out of a Mecum Auction. A lot of money was spent on the purchase, truck looked pretty good at first glance, then as looked it became clear it was spit and shine job. What really stood out was the bed wood, one coat of varnish, no sanding, and random cut lengths. They were so badly cut, an aluminum strip from the local hardware store was screwed over the ends to hide the poor craftsmanship. Not only that, as the wood went around the wheel wells, it just straight cut, not trimmed to fit the radius of the metal. I would say this was a 20 hour job.

 

Hello,

As a woodworker and home owner with plenty of projects calling for surface protection from the elements and dings, be careful as to guaranteeing scratch proofing for the truck bed. We have used plenty of commercial products on all sorts of woods, soft to hard. As nice as the final finish is concerned, they all scratch or crack upon heavy loads or just about any loads on top or near. But, they look fabulous when finished.

Truck beds that have steel strips are a little better as the strips give is some elevated surfaces to slide a box or two or even larger items. But, when something like a Harley Sportster is in need of "trucking" home due to engine difficulties not being able to fix by the side of road, puts immense pressure on the treated wood and metal strips.

Jnaki

Of all of the products we used, the smooth finishes are pretty much the same. It comes down to the wood used in the original layout as to how it will look with the finish put on the surface. Of course, you are going to put the stuff on the whole surface, edges and ends. (not just the top or bottom. ) "Water always wins" is something we have always kept in mind during our surf travels and living by the ocean all of our lives. It creeps into the smallest areas and resides to do damage, sometimes sight unseen.

So, if you are doing the wood/metal job for a customer, it is not good to tell them it is waterproof. Nothing in a truck bed is water proof, except for rubber mats and that sprayed on coating. We have done many different treatments on various types of wood, such as wood for hatch boards +railings on sailboats. The elements are as harsh as possible staying outside in 366 days and nights in all weather conditions and sun.

But, eventually something finished stays that way until a tool is dropped or a slight jar hitting an edge of something damages the surface, as little as a small bump starts the cracking and water soaking process.

Note:
One time the longest lasting wood surface protectant was a Polyurethane coating of three layers with sanding between each layer for an absolute protection on Oak wood. Not strips for a truck, although we did use it on that surface, too. but on an antique high chair for our toddler son.

Of all the trials and errors of wood surface protectants, this Polyurethane product was almost bullet proof. Well, at least it was knife and fork proof. The various time of hitting the edges and points on the surface by a healthy, hungry kid, the wood surface never cracked. All it took was a nice biodegradable cleaner wipe on/off and we were in business for the next round of food. YRMV

Note:
To test the surface protection, my wife tried the sharper knife and fork test. The point went in slightly, but did not crack the layers to the wood. The fork points of our own utensils hardly scratched the surface...pun intended.

There is no going rate. What is your time worth? How do you spend it and calculate the cost when something is drying on a rack? We all judge what we are worth when doing projects. If you are a custom hot rod shop, you already have a minimum rate for jobs. If you are doing a friend a favor, minimal cost is always good for friendships. Materials cost is mandatory, but perhaps, friendship is more important than time spent on the labor. YRMV

 

That boat gives me wood! See what I did there?

 

no bearing matl for the wood?

 

I don’t understand. Please explain.

 

I think the word that auto correct changed to Babbitt was Rabbet, which is a groove cut into the edge of a piece of wood.

 

Which is a great example of why people claiming that the sky is falling out of the classic and custom car market based on auction values is silly. A lot of cars get "dressed up" for the auction.

 

Hey, 32T;
Might try checking w : horkeyswoodandparts.com .
Bruce might be able to give you ballpark #'s. He's done these kits for decades+, vendor at Btt50's & I'd guess NSRA. His stuff seems to good quality.
Kit could be one of his?
FWIW.
Marcus...

 

Being in the middle of removing the bed out of my truck to remove the old finish and refinish it, 20 hours for the job you're doing sounds more than reasonable. I could see 15-30.

The time needed to finish the wood can easily be underestimated, but it's a time-consuming task.

 

You know that you tend to undervalue your work, and the job was time & materials. The first time you do something, it will always take longer. Once you become skilled, the profit from your labor goes up, but it should never be a loss. I'd suggest that you should bid high, and either the job sells and you make money or you don't do the job. Your name is going to be on the finished product and you have to eat.

Since you have experience and figures on how much you tend to be low, use a percentage to 'pad' your numbers to reflect actual time. This is often the amount that covers the phone calls, interaction with the customer and other non billable hours. Don't be afraid to charge more for customers that use more of this valuable time. The guy that says "I trust you, let me know when it's done and what it cost" is taking up less than the guy that wants exact time and cost and requires updates. The former is the one you want to develop a relationship with and will be a valuable reference. The latter guy is going to want more of that business time and expect discounts later.

 

Oh I see. Yep sorry meant Rabbet

 

Like it was said earlier it all depends on what level you are trying to achieve.
If you finish the bottom side like the top...

Recess some hold downs...

Turn the stainless...

20 hours may not be quite enough. I imagine I easily tripled that figure.

 

Well, I started with rough cut, air dried walnut. Planed to thickness, ripped to width, sanded all 6 sides to 320 with a random orbit air sander. Then cut the rabbets in the edges. I didn't keep close accounting but probably 12 hours to that point.
Then coated all six sides with an epoxy bar top coating, twice, sanding flat between coats... Actually that may be 10 sides with you include the rabbet sides/bottom. Then sanded flat again and stored. That probably took 8 hours

Next step, just before installing in the truck will be 3 coats of automotive clear over the epoxy, cut and buffed of course. Silly but that's what I want. The clear is actually needed as the epoxy stuff doesn't stand up well to sunlight. And the epoxy is much cheaper to fill the wood pores that a whole lot of clear

Probably 12 hours there too.
So 20 should cover it, IF you have the correct tools. When figuring cost to a customer be sure to include plenty of sandpaper etc.

 

Find a take off bed from a utility bed company and Rob the steel bed. Skip the wood.

 

You can do it yourself with a pre-cut wood bed kit : wood and metal strips. I did it and it worked out fine.
One place to look is:
https://www.lmctruck.com/1948-59-chevy-gmc/ca-1947-59-stepside-bed-wood-kits
another:
https://www.classicparts.com/Wood/products/16/
I think I used Mar-K:
https://www.mar-k.com/partList.aspx
don

 

Back in the 30s & 40s, that wood floor in the Dodge pickups would have been painted black, along with the entire inside and outside of the bed, unless the original buyer sprung for a bed color option that matched the cab color.

None of that fancy stained wood stuff.

 

Quote a higher price and if it is accepted as others have said. If the work takes less hours then reduce the invoice to the lower cost. That way you were paid to learn and in return are fair to the customer.

 

I will be trying these on mine. Menards also sells lumber.....boom done.

 

Time & material.

 

That is beautiful!

 

Just from a different angle, look for different sources of wood, nice wood can be expensive. I built this wagon out of 50+ year old White Oak fence boards. Found a farmer putting in new fences. Boards were pure bleached out gray, cow crap stained boards. FREE. I ran them through a planer till I got the honey color I wanted. The stringer kit was for a Chevy C10. If I were putting them in a street rod, I would have sanded to at least 1000 grit. But, it's just to display my chainsaw collection on.

 

How wide is that gap between the boards?

I need to calculate my project materials.

Also, how thick are these boards you guys are using?

The wood I'm looking at is 1" and 5/4"