flatbed...metal...thickness

[flippinover]

I have a 09 tacoma 4x4 4cyl. with a long box. I use this truck for work and travel. I want to pull the factory bed off and build a flatbed. The truck is what I would consider a light duty platform so I need to keep the bed light. I need suggestions on the shape, size and thickness of the steel for the frame. I plan on decking it with White Oak or Cypress in 5/4" x 6" T@G. I leaning towards 6'wide x 6'8 to 7'long.

Thanks
Mark

 

[frgtwn]

Yellow Pine?

I understand that most of the old Yellow Pine is gone, but there are still trees around. Any sources where you live? It would sure make a killer bed. Oak, though traditional is not light, Cypress is highly rot-resistant, but will not wear like Oak. Yellow Pine should be slightly lighter than oak.

Your best information will come from local sellers. Perhaps a sawmill, though I would want kiln-dried for a truck bed.

Good-luck,
Dale

 

[Silverado]

You could use composite 2x4's sold at most home improvement stores. No rot

 

[Antichrist]

It really depends on how many supports you plan/can use, but rectangular structural tubing is going to give you the best support for a given weight. Probably somewhere around 16ga should be about right.

I'd use stock that's the same width as your frame rails and attach them with u-bolts (weld tabs to each side of the tubing and fit a u-bolt from under your side rail). Then however many cross pieces, probably 4 or 5 depending on the length of the bed.

 

[flippinover]

Frgtwn... one of my hobbies is building plywood on frame boats. I use yellow pine for most of the frames. Through that hobby I have found that the best quality wood is in 2 x 10's. I will go through a whole pallet just to get 2 or 3 old growth yellow pine boards. Believe me old growth yellow pine seems to be as heavy as oak.:Wow1: It is on my list as well.

Is there any type of chart on the web that give the strength of steel tube? Oh I must add... that a non engineer can read.

thanks
Mark

 

[flippinover]

Antichrist. I am thinking that I will space the the supports at 16" centers.

I just thought of something. How do I treat the inside of the tube to keep it from rusting?

 

[corax]

Antichrist. I am thinking that I will space the the supports at 16" centers.

I just thought of something. How do I treat the inside of the tube to keep it from rusting?

You could probably go a bit wider on the supports, depending on your choice of wood, since the timber is providing a structural component in itself.

Cap it and don't worry about it or you can use something like J.P. Weigles bicycle frame saver. You could also use C-channel for the lateral supports to save weight and make painting easier - it'll be just as strong as square tube (negligable difference) and easier to anchor the wood to. Next time you're in a parking lot and see a trailer (Home Depot/Lowes usually has 'em on display) with the approximate rating that you're shooting for take a look underneath and you'll see most use simple angle iron for the plywood floor supports - that'll also give you an idea of spacing.

 

[Kohburn]

easiest way to deal with internal frame rails

http://www.eastwood.com/internal-frame-coating-w-spray-nozzle.html

 

[chasespeed]

Stay away from Trex, or other composite decking for a vehicle... its freaking heavy, and not very strong.

Chase

 

[Antichrist]

Yeah, I wouldn't worry about the internal rusting. Cap the tubes and you should be fine. If you wait until you've welded the cross pieces and tabs in place, the tube will be hot and most of the moisture evaporated.

I'm not sure I'd base my design too closely to a Home Depot trailer, they build, typically, to minimum requirements.

I don't think you need the cross pieces on 16" centers unless you're carrying huge loads on a very thin bed. 24" would probably be close enough.

 

[Viggen]

Out of the box but bamboo. That stuff is awesome.

 

[flippinover]

Okay... so here is what I have gotten from this post. I should be okay with 11ga steel in 2" x 3" stock turned on edge for the frame. I am going to make the bed 7" long with 5 cross members including the head and tail. I think I will use 4" u channel run parallel along the frame. I will use what is left from the u channel to make stake pockets for the sides. I will also fab up brackets to atatch the bed to the frame. I have an old ladder rack that I am going to cut down to fit this truck as well. The decking will be wood.

If there are any more suggestions please let me know.

 

[dustboy]

What are you planning to carry? IMO, 5/4 oak will be overkill and very heavy, and the 11 ga 2x3 is going to be super heavy. Unless you're carrying items that are placing a large pound-per-square-inch load (like the feet on heavy machine tools), you should be fine with clear 4/4 T&G oak milled to 13/16"+.

Unless you're really beating this flatbed and loading with a sloppy forklift operator, .063 wall 2x3 should work very well and save some major pounds.

My Taco is the 2.7L and it struggles a bit with the box I built, even with 4.56 gears. See my signature for the build, it started with a flatbed using .063 2x2 steel and 3/4" plywood decking.

 

[flippinover]

dustboy- Thanks for the reply. I have been reading your build. That looks cool what a lot of work was it worth it? Do you like having the flatbed?

 

[dustboy]

flippin, it was a ton of (fun) work but I had the choice between trading for a work van that couldn't go offroad, or building one rig to do it all. I do miss the little lightweight truck it used to be, but in the end it was worth it.

The flat load floor rules, only drawback is that it's ~8" higher than the pickup floor. If you use it for work, you might think about building a shell or removeable sides so you don't have to tie *everything* down.