Wooden Bed Floor

[barkboy6]

I've seen these on classic trucks but never on an S-10, has anyone?

[Slappy McNasty]

all the ones ive seen have been home made. your choice of wood (cherry, oak, etc). ive done 3 in my truck in the past years, using various woods

[barkboy6]

Quote: Originally Posted by Slappy McNasty

all the ones ive seen have been home made. your choice of wood (cherry, oak, etc). ive done 3 in my truck in the past years, using various woods

Nice! You should do a How-To on it. This is something I'd like to do on my truck. Do you install the wood on top of the existing bed or remove the bed floor, then install? And would I have to get the wood custom cut or could I pick up the pieces, say, at Lowe's or Home Depot and fit it like that?

[old_skool_noma]

i havent done, it but i have looked into it, mainly from my grandpas 1937gmc,

to do it properly, you would need to remove your existing bed floor, but keep the cross members intact, you will use those to anchor small metal slats that will go between your boards and they should also have a lip on either side that will hold your boards that way you dont have any bolts through the wood its self (this can cause the wood to rot around the holes)

you will have to do a lot of calculating on how wide your metal slats are and how wide your bed is to know how many metal slats you need as well as boards, and you will need to calculate the exact width of the boards you need.

you should also use something like a piece of c channel around the perimeter of the bed to hold the edges of the boards down. and hide your end grain from the back of the truck (it will give you a more finished look as well)

it get the best result you would want to go to a wood working specialty store or a lumber mill to get your wood, you should be able to tell the mill the exact sizes you need and they can cut, plane, and joint it for you, all you would need to do would be to test fit, sand, stain and apply either an outdoor polyurethane or to get it sprayed with about 3-5 coats of an automotive clear coat, and then of course install it

[old_skool_noma]

here are the photoshops i did to get an idea of a wood bed floor in mine

[barkboy6]

Damn that looks pretty good, even as cartoon-lookin. I think I'd go with a little more wider wood pieces (5 or 6 pieces). It's night time right now and I have no outside light so I can't look, but what would I need to remove the steel bed? Cut/weld it out or bolts? Slappy McNasty please do a how-to!! Where can I get more info on this?

[JohnnyDigits]

I have no experience on this either and a how to would be a cool thing to see. I was at a show several years ago and some old timer had bowling alley lane wood in his 60-something C10. I wouldnt go that route myself but thought it looked different in a good way.

[96blazer]

If it's just for show, some people fake it:

[barkboy6]

Quote: Originally Posted by 96blazer

If it's just for show, some people fake it:

I'm not too sure a wooden bed is anything but show. I know if I had one, it wouldn't be a work truck. I wouldn't be hauling anything heavy duty that's for sure.

[old_skool_noma]

Quote: Originally Posted by barkboy6

Damn that looks pretty good, even as cartoon-lookin. I think I'd go with a little more wider wood pieces (5 or 6 pieces). It's night time right now and I have no outside light so I can't look, but what would I need to remove the steel bed? Cut/weld it out or bolts? Slappy McNasty please do a how-to!! Where can I get more info on this?

it would be spot welds holding it to the crossmembers and you will probably need to cut the sides away from the floor, i cant remember for sure right now though, if i was looking at my bed i could tell you

also, good luck finding boards wider than 6-8 inches, you almost have to use 8+ boards

[94SDimeDriver]

If you have wood working skills and are fairly mechanical this would be an easy mod. You wouldn't even have to remove the existing bed floor if you didn't want too. If you put a bed cover on it you could use most anywood you wanted(even hardwood), if not then you need to use a wood such as poplar/redwood/cedar(non-rot woods). i would personally go with poplar since it's a harder wood than redwood/cedar. I am going to do a wood bed and this is what I plan on doing. First I will have my Vortex spray liner done first, then I will make stainless tracks that attach to the bed floor(every 18 in and the front and back) itself to give an airspace between the wood and the metal(i will not cut the bed floor out since moisture could come from underneath as well) and for my fastener to attach to. Next will prestain and lacquer my precut boards on the ends and bottoms(make sure to sand your ends smooth) and stain only the top and then i will attach my my boards using stainless screws and recess them and fill them(you don't have to do this step you could just get flush mount stainless screws for easier removal, but my truck is garage kept so I don't care). Then I will carefully add my lacquer(with a UV additive) on top after I touch up the stain over my filled screw holes. The next thing I will do is add a stainless C channel to cap off the ends towards the tailgate(you will need to do this toward the cab side as well so you can slide the boards into these 'tracks' before you add the boards). Then I will add a stainless T or flat cap channel material to hide the gaps making sure this isn't installed tightly between since you need about an 1/8 inch all the way around for expanding/contracting of the wood. As far as the width of the boards I am personally going to use 10 inch boards that are 3/4 in thick and my tracks I will make will only be 1/2-3/4 in thick as well so as not to rise up my bed floor too much. The possiblities are endless, use you imagination. I you want to use wider boards get a stain grade poplar plywood in sheets and make them however wide you want on a table saw. Good luck and have fun.

[94SDimeDriver]

You could even make the tracks for the boards to rest on and the C channel and use tounge and groove boards and then you would have no strips to cap off with and it would look like a hardwood floor. These types of boards usually come in 6 in widths(5.5 actual inches) but you might be able to get wider special ordered from your local lumber yard or make your own t&g boards but that'd take a while longer.

[98noma97]

im gonna do this in my truck but im gonna stain the bords to an almost all black color with billet strips

[98noma97]

but we do need a how to on this

[94SDimeDriver]

I'm still finishing up my mods and welding in my gas filler door on the inside of my bed. If no one has done this by spring then I will show mine off.

[98noma97]

come the end of next summer im gonna take my bed off and start on this wood bed floor too

[old_skool_noma]

Quote: Originally Posted by 98noma97

im gonna do this in my truck but im gonna stain the bords to an almost all black color with billet strips

use walnut for that, it is a dark wood to start with

[old_skool_noma]

Quote: Originally Posted by 94SDimeDriver

If you have wood working skills and are fairly mechanical this would be an easy mod. You wouldn't even have to remove the existing bed floor if you didn't want too. If you put a bed cover on it you could use most anywood you wanted(even hardwood), if not then you need to use a wood such as poplar/redwood/cedar(non-rot woods). i would personally go with poplar since it's a harder wood than redwood/cedar. I am going to do a wood bed and this is what I plan on doing. First I will have my Vortex spray liner done first, then I will make stainless tracks that attach to the bed floor(every 18 in and the front and back) itself to give an airspace between the wood and the metal(i will not cut the bed floor out since moisture could come from underneath as well) and for my fastener to attach to. Next will prestain and lacquer my precut boards on the ends and bottoms(make sure to sand your ends smooth) and stain only the top and then i will attach my my boards using stainless screws and recess them and fill them(you don't have to do this step you could just get flush mount stainless screws for easier removal, but my truck is garage kept so I don't care). Then I will carefully add my lacquer(with a UV additive) on top after I touch up the stain over my filled screw holes. The next thing I will do is add a stainless C channel to cap off the ends towards the tailgate(you will need to do this toward the cab side as well so you can slide the boards into these 'tracks' before you add the boards). Then I will add a stainless T or flat cap channel material to hide the gaps making sure this isn't installed tightly between since you need about an 1/8 inch all the way around for expanding/contracting of the wood. As far as the width of the boards I am personally going to use 10 inch boards that are 3/4 in thick and my tracks I will make will only be 1/2-3/4 in thick as well so as not to rise up my bed floor too much. The possiblities are endless, use you imagination. I you want to use wider boards get a stain grade poplar plywood in sheets and make them however wide you want on a table saw. Good luck and have fun.

if youre using hardwood ply, why not use oak or something with a nice grain? the 2 veneered hardwood faces dont change hardly anything about the construction of the material, the core of the ply is still going to be SPF (spruce, pine, fir)

[98noma97]

Quote: Originally Posted by old_skool_noma

use walnut for that, it is a dark wood to start with

thanks man

[2dimes]

heres mine its home made about 160 bucks

[V8Blaze]

what did you use for the metal strips. Yours is one of the best homemade ones ive seen

[goddspring]

are the metal strips just to cover up the seams or does it kinda float so the wood can swell with the seasons and such?

[barkboy6]

2dimes that looks nice...what's your specs on that?

[2dimes]

thank you for the compliments, the metal stips are aluminum carpet thresh hold strips and the wood is 1" by 8" pine planks 8' long (cut to fit ) the floor is still underneeth I built 4, 2/4 rectangle frames high enough to cover my notch then screwed the planks into those frames that are attatched to the steel bed floor only placing the screws along the edges of the planks then i used stainless screws to hold the metal stips over each seam so you can not see the screws that hold the planks down all the supplies were picked up at lowes the whole project was done for under 200 bucks im on a tight budget so i have to be creative...the floor is very strong but yet all of it can be pulled out for maint or whatever

[staylow]

I like that shit. 2 dimes that floor looks killer

[24digger]

They just did one of these on Gears today on speed..

[ur2highmn]

ive had my wood bed floor in my sonoma for about 4 years, now there are quite a few s10s out there with them...

[ur2highmn]

[ur2highmn]

[94SDimeDriver]

Quote: Originally Posted by old_skool_noma

if youre using hardwood ply, why not use oak or something with a nice grain? the 2 veneered hardwood faces dont change hardly anything about the construction of the material, the core of the ply is still going to be SPF (spruce, pine, fir)

I am personally not going with any plywood on my build I was just giving some options. I am going to go with either a 1x6 or 1x8 made of poplar due to it's non-rot characteristics. I think it will hold up better over time. If it weren't so soft i would use redwood or cedar and leave the wood natural instead of staining it plus where I live poplar is cheaper than those two materials. Carpenter by trade, fabricator by choice. Holla

[old_skool_noma]

yeah, poplar is cheap, but IMO it doent look that great,
i like to use nice hardwoods or for cheap and similar looks of oak, ash or sassafras, and my way around the rot is to use kiln dried wood, and have it finished with an automotive clear, for the bottom i was even thinking about putting a layer or two of fiberglass to take the impact of any road debris

[94SDimeDriver]

I would just keep the stock floor and go on top of it since you wouldn't have to worry about the road debris too. I personally use have used alot of poplar and when you stain and finish it it looks fine to me because it is more 'clear' than the other woods you named. I don't want any knot holes. But you know what they say opinions are like assholes, everyone has one.

[old_skool_noma]

i dont like the look of it sitting up higher than the stock floor because your tailgate will be obviously lower than the floor by about 1-2 inches, also if you get cabinet grade hardwood, you shouldnt have any knots

[98noma97]

well i will most likely not be doing a wood bed floor now im gonna do a sheet metal one instead