Ranger Wooden Flatbed

[Ordak]

Hey fellas, due to the terrible Pennsylvania weather my bed is in need of replacement. I have looked for replacements but I have not found any my color or any under $700-$800. The couple that I found were almost as bad as my mine and they had more scratches and dents then mine to boot. So as an alternative I have been looking to built a wooden flatbed. I have a general plan so here it is. I am going to use (4) PT 2x4x8 bolted to (4) PT 4x4x8 and then bolt them all to the bed as one piece. I will cut those to 6' or 6.5' depending on the where they line up with wheels. Then i will use (3) PT 2x6 as the outside shirt with one on the left and right and one to use as a bumper(using galvanized lag bolts). The deck will be made of PT decking and will be flush with the 2x6 on the side. I will use c channel to keep them flush. I can figure the lighting once completed. I priced this out to be about 350-500 dollars depending on light style and if i use a sealer.

Could you tell if this seems feasible? I have some woodworking skills but I am far from an professional. Can you see any foreseeable problems with the wood twisting and coming out of place and cracking? My dad does not want me to do this but it seems better to me to do this than to have a rusted out bed. Please give me some advice. Thank you guys in advance.

Also i found a video which gave me my general plan: CLICK HERE!

 

[Ruffinit]

I suppose that this would depend upon how long you want this bed to last whether you would want to go forward with it. The video's method looks to be very functional and I like the idea of using TREX for the bed, but I think I'd carry forward to using it on the outside frame of the bed also. You will want to use pressure treated exterior wood products for maximum longivity. I think that I would also wrap the frame with steel like my hayrack and grainbarge that also have wooden decks.

 

[cvar]

Looks nice. I'd add a sheet-metal heat shield over the exhaust system.
And how do you get if off for maintenance underneath?
For that price, can't you get a replacement Ranger bed from a JY or Craigslist?

 

[Ordak]

Looks nice. I'd add a sheet-metal heat shield over the exhaust system.
And how do you get if off for maintenance underneath?
For that price, can't you get a replacement Ranger bed from a JY or Craigslist?

I have called junkyard and they all quoted me over 600. The quality on those beds are terrible. Craigslist had a couple but the same story as the junk yards. As for maintenance I have changed a lot of parts underneath but still stuff goes bad so that would be a concern.

 

[Andy D]

Think about it. The rusty body weighs 200 lbs. It is easy to remove and replace. 4 bolts and a wiring plug. For any chassis work, fuel system. etc, the bed needs to come off.

OK, How much will a PT flat bed weigh ? Another 100 lbs will impact already crummy gas mileage.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

It's hard to get quality wood anymore that will stay in any resemblance of straight. Especially pressure treated wood.

I've given thought to building a flatbed a couple times now. If it was my truck, I'd be building a frame out of steel and then deck it with pressure treated planks or something like Trex. The steel frame will help keep the wood from twisting/bowing/etc and provide a lot of support with minimal weight. And if you put some thought into it, you could make it so that 6-8 bolts are all that is needed to fasten it to the frame, thus making it not really any more difficult to remove than a regular bed.

 

[tmcalavy]

Don't know about PA, but west of the Big Muddy in farm country you can get a pre-fab bolt-on flatbed customized to your heart's desire for less than $1K. How would the wood flatbed hold up to the weather and road salt in your location, plus there's the whole crappy PT lumber availability thing...now if you could get Cypress or Ironwood might be worth it.