Truck Faltbed Project

[CCOUGHRAN1]

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.


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.



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.


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.



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.



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



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?

 

[RobertN]

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?

 

[deezler]

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:

 

[radioman]

:thumbsup: looking good!

 

[Johndeere3720]

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:

 

[schmism]

Any recommendations on paint?

spray on bed liner or POR15.

 

[CCOUGHRAN1]

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.

 

[CCOUGHRAN1]

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.

 

[CCOUGHRAN1]

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.

 

[tlbuser]

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.

 

[CCOUGHRAN1]

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.

TLBUSER,
Thanks for the infon on the Eastwood, I'll do some reading on it.

As for the power jacks... My only experience was on a 2003 LQ horsetrailer that I used to drag around the country. It was a 4 horse, with mid tack, slide out, and 16' short wall. It was one heavy SOB, and the dual jacks were operated by an electric motor and chain drive. If for some reason the batteries were down on the trailer, I would have to hand crank, on the low speed, and if I recall correctly, I think I cranked something like 50 times for an inch of elevation... Anyhow, I have considered going to a hydraulic jack setup on a couple of my larger trailers, but haven't made the decision to spend the coin yet...

 

[dodge man]

I had some POR15 once, but I don't remember the details. It seemed like it was a prep type coating, not a final coat. As I recall, it could just be brushed on, and it was meant to convert/neutralize the rust for painting.

There are time I wish I had a flat bed, but I think the look better on dual rear wheels than singles.

 

[CCOUGHRAN1]

I had some POR15 once, but I don't remember the details. It seemed like it was a prep type coating, not a final coat. As I recall, it could just be brushed on, and it was meant to convert/neutralize the rust for painting.

There are time I wish I had a flat bed, but I think the look better on dual rear wheels than singles.

I agree that with you about the flatbeds looking better on a DRW than a SRW. That said, I still run a flatbed on my 2002 Dodge 2500 4x4 SRW.

Here's a pic of my "day rig" The trailer is a 16x5 half top, and is the exact width as the SRW truck.




Here is a backside shot showing the trough that I cut in a while back.

 

[LBrown59]

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

Be sure to make it a dump bed.

 

[CCOUGHRAN1]

Made some more headway on the flatbed yesterday.

Rear skirt, and both side skirts are installed. I still need to weld on the safety chain tie downs, and the stake pockets and rub rail.

 

[CCOUGHRAN1]

I appreciate all of the input on the paint. I ended up going the easy route, which I may regret down the road...

I shot it with 3 coats of Rustoleum gloss black oil based paint. Also managed to get the tail and marker lights installed. Still need to hang the mudflaps, install a license plate light, hook up the fuel filler hose, and install the aux. fuel tank/toolbox combo.


Rub rails installed, still needed to install the headache rack bracing in this pic

 

[schmism]

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?

spray on bed liner can actually be rolled on with decent results espeically for diamond plate surface. there are plenty of vids on youtube showing people useing a simple HF undercoating gun to spray it on with really good results.

Por15 is nasty stuff. Dont plan on cleaning anything up. plan on tossing the brush, wear gloves and drop cloth anything on the ground you dont want to be covered in splotches of paint for the rest of your life. Creates a hella hard paint that will last forever.

 

[Bob77064]

CC, it looks real good with the gloss black.

 

[radioman]

looking good!

 

[CCOUGHRAN1]

Thought I would post up an update on the flatbed project. I have now installed all the LED lights, including some green LED's in the gooseneck trough to give some soft light to see while hooking up a trailer in the dark. I've also installed the fuel tank / toolbox combo, the ice chest, some dog snaps with vinyl coated cable, and stainless steel fasteners.


When all of that was done, I saw an open spot on the bed, just to the right of the toolbox, that looked like the perfect place for an accessory I've been wanting, a gasoline air compressor.


So, I did some research and shopping, and placed the order last week. The compressor came in last night, and I broke out some more stainless bolts and mounted it to the bed.