Is the bed supposed to look like it's flexing a lot going down rough road?

[Detroit80]

Well aware...I've been playing with turbo cars most of my life. Still didn't leave me any less surprised at just how quiet this truck is, lol.

 

[Tacoma_IDI]

Based on your description of the mounting job, I suspect the bigger issue might be the lack of any sort of rubber bushings or spacers between the frame and bed. Or perhaps, really old and cracked ones if they used any at all? I would think that a flatbed and standard bed would need rubber bushings for the same reasons: dampening the transfer of vibrations that lead to stress over time.

 

[Detroit80]

Oh no, it's definitely way more movement than would be allowed by bushings, even if the bushings where shot and allowing an inner sleeve to bounce around inside the outer sleeve. But it's also much too smooth of a movement to be trashed bushings.

From what I've seen of modern commercially installed beds, bushings aren't typically used, though I do see some people putting a hardwood board between the flatbed and truck frame to provide abrasion resistance between the two.

Either way, the mounting job is absolutely getting trashed and redone, along with verifying that the gooseneck hitch was properly installed, some fuel system repairs, and general cleaning/repainting of the frame back there. I even used it as justification to buy new tires for my tractor, so I can use the FEL to pluck the flatbed off the truck

 

[IDIBRONCO]

I even used it as justification to buy new tires for my tractor, so I can use the FEL to pluck the flatbed off the truck

Boy that's an expensive way to take your flat bed off. Those tractor tires aren't cheap.

 

[Detroit80]

Boy that's an expensive way to take your flat bed off. Those tractor tires aren't cheap.

$326 delivered for a pair. I spend more than that on a pair of rear tires for the Cadillac, and replace those more than 10 times as often, lol. I'm sure these are China's finest tire, but for tires on an old Ford 8n that I just use to maintain a 1.5 acre desert lot, I'm sure they'll be fine.

Tractor needed them though...I ran them WAY longer than I should have. Should have replaced them years ago, and now the dry rot has gotten so bad that I can measure some of the cracks as inches wide.

The death blow finally came a few weeks ago when I wasn't paying full attention to what I was doing, and inadvertently ran over the landscape rake on the back with the F350. Turns out those tines are a LOT stronger than I expected them to be. Didn't bend at all, AND took out the front tire of the truck too. Did push the tractor over a bit though, and now one rear is losing air.... Figured it was a sign that it was time for new tires....

 

[IDIBRONCO]

That's probably a pretty good price for a pair of rears. Even on a 8N. The thing that I liked best about them was that they're so small that you can pick them up and almost shove the entire inner bead onto the rim.

 

[Detroit80]

It is...it was the absolute cheapest tires I could find, lol. Next cheapest were Carlisles as $225/each, and local places wanted $300+. Just hard to justify for something I use very little, and like RV tires - they'll fall apart from dry rot before I wear them out. Plus, this is really just a shop gap tractor anyways...I really need something much bigger for the lifting I do, but it was all I could afford at the time.

And they are small by farm tractor standards at 11.2-28. bigger than most of the import CUTs these days like my neighbor's new Yanmar, but tiny by "real" farm tractor standards.