bed modification for practicality.

[IDIoit]

as i was taught growing up, "unibodys are for suckers"
this got me thinking.....
why is it that every light duty truck, 1 ton and under, no matter the make or model,
utilizes only sheet metal for beds?
its pretty useless to have a truck that you cant tie things down tightly in.
virtually every bed ive seen, is dented and scared due to people hauling things,
ratchet strapping things down.
so, my next major project will be to add some 2x2 or 2x3, 1/4" box tubing to the entire bed.
with tie down points.
i do some scrapping of metals, and picking up parts for projects.
but pulling home a 7.3T in the back of the bed, im going to need to break out the big guns.

i dont want to put a flat bed on this truck, i like having a bed.
im sure im not the only one that thinks this way.
can anyone post some pictures to see what they have done?

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[Greg5OH]

your thinking X10000.
If you can take the bed off and build a subframe for it that owuld be the best way IMO. Tie it all into the mounts.
PS sell me your mirrors

 

[IDIoit]

what are they worth to you?
there sitting in my storage box.

 

[FarmerFrank]

Ill take some pictures tonight of what my dad did to his bed. Made an excellent farm truck/scrap hauler.

 

[towcat]

in Kali, your pickup is exempt from scales and DOT inspection if the original pickup bed is mounted on the truck chassis. If you have a utility bed or a flatbed mounted in place of a pickup bed, you are now a commercial vehicle and is subject to scale and DOT stops. many skate for years in avoiding harassment from the cops, but the first time you are getting hung for scale ditching, it's a $1500 fine.

 

[IDIoit]

in Kali, your pickup is exempt from scales and DOT inspection if the original pickup bed is mounted on the truck chassis. If you have a utility bed or a flatbed mounted in place of a pickup bed, you are now a commercial vehicle and is subject to scale and DOT stops. many skate for years in avoiding harassment from the cops, but the first time you are getting hung for scale ditching, it's a $1500 fine.

another reason to beef the bed up and not run a flatbed.

 

[nj_m715]

another reason to leave kali and move to America.

(I just left NJ and moved to America)

 

[oztinker47]

In California , you have to register a pickup truck as a commercial vehicle if you run with an open bed (no shell). Didn't know i had to stop at weigh stations with the flatbed pickup here though... A stout box that can slide into the bed for stuff that causes dents and sctratches might work, and it would be cheap and easy.
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[IDIoit]

another reason to leave kali and move to America.

with the blantent disreguard for the constitution Commiefornia has, i would love to move out of state.
however, some things are more important right now.
i have 50% custody of my son for 4 more years,
and my woman cant leave for another 12.
im saving my pennys for that move. 1 day, just not 2day

 

[ToughOldFord]

Yep, we're all ***** for commercial fees on pickups and cargo vans here. Only way to avoid it is to permanently mount seats in the van or put a camper/shell on a pickup.

As far as the scales, they have a sign that says "no pickups", maybe when you remove the bed it is no longer a pickup? I dunno.

 

[towcat]

In California , you have to register a pickup truck as a commercial vehicle if you run with an open bed (no shell). Didn't know i had to stop at weigh stations with the flatbed pickup here though... A stout box that can slide into the bed for stuff that causes dents and sctratches might work, and it would be cheap and easy.
Sent from my LG-VS410PP using Tapatalk 2

it's true pickups are registered as commercial vehicles in kali. BUT as long as you still retain a pickup bed on the truck chassis, you are exempt from stopping at the scales. once you convert the bed to anything else, you are now "supposed" to stop at the scales.
one more tidbit.....notice F450 and F550 pickups aren't very popular in kali? it's because a DMV designated pickup is one that maxes it weight at 12k/lbs. anything bigger is a commercial vehicle no matter if it has a pickup bed on it or not.

 

[jaluhn83]

2x3x1/4" tubing weighs 5.4 lb/ft, 2x3x1/4 is 7.1 lb/ft. Even a basic grid in the bed is going to easily add 500 lb to your truck.... which is 500 lb you can't use to haul stuff, and have to cart around all the time. That's a pretty significant amount of weight to add, not to mention the several hundred dollars the steel alone will likely cost you....

I think you'd be much better off selectively reinforcing spots where you expect to have issue - add doubler plates where you tie downs are, add a plate to front/sides/bottom of bed, etc. Might be better even to use plywood to make a inner bed layer, or get a bed liner.

I personally don't have much problem with these beds, and I've loaded some pretty heavy stuff. Where I think the beds really get beat up is people not caring about them - throwing scrap steel around, running into things, forklift oopsie, etc. If you're reasonably careful with what you do /allow people to do with your bed it shouldn't be much of an issue, and if you are going to beat the snot out of it then having some tubing reinforcement woln't save much.