The area East of Dallas I live in seems like the conversion of regular wide beds to flatbeds is pretty common. Best I can recollect it started about 3-4 years ago and has really took of in the last year.

Heck the guy who cleaned my carpet did it to his personal brand new Tacoma truck.

Just curious if this is going on in other parts of Texas and the U.S.?

You can see why they do it with older Toyotas just to keep the bed and frame rust under control

New I'm not sure why although I think a flatbed offers alot of flexibility.

I was behind a newer Ford with the flatbed this morning , but this guy looked like a contractor.

the reason is that a lot of trucks are getting so high you can not reach inside with out running boards or a step.

i would rather put up with a step than have to tie everything down that i put on the bed. i have known of saddles and coolers and generators to fall off of flat beds.

You can haul much, much more, space wise.

Mine will hold 2 pallets of feed. 4000 pounds. (In addition to my air compressor, 85 gallon fuel transfer tank/toolbox and spare tire. Bed has 4 built in side toolboxes as well.)

Put the rails and removable tailgate on to keep stuff from sliding off.

Son did it to his Duramax, he does haul plenty of hay and stock trailers but also can put a small SXS on it when pulling his bumper pull toy hauler/camper[has kid but refuses to get a 4-seater SXS]

It blows my mind how often I see folks hauling things on these flat beds NOT tied down.

Got a F150 2WD rental last year after a fender bender, at 6'4" I could barely see into the bed over the siderails

Nice unit right there...

As to 'being so high it's hard to reach..etc', I hear ya.. The last four trucks I've had are like that.. About six years ago, I happened upon this at Northern Tool:

https://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200631961_200631961


I use it every time I use the 5th wheel camper so I can reach the handle locking pin and attach the emergency brake cable etc..

I have a Dodge 3500 converted to a dump truck with removable rails.

It can haul six thousand pounds of gravel, sand, mulch or Miracle Whip salad dressing.

The side rail are easily removable for forklift loading.

I am very fond of this arrangement.

Ir depends on whether you use your pickup like a truck, or a "Cowboy Cadillac". Some "trucks" never haul anything heavier than an iced-down Yeti cooler to a tailgate party!

Legally???

Yes

Around here it’s Deweze or Cannonball bale beds for 1tons, can’t haul two round bales with a spike on a regular bed. And light short flatbeds on Tacoma sized and 1/2 tons for let out boxes for the hog and coyote hunters with curs and greyhounds. Drive the backroads until a cur lets loose on pig scent or until the greyhounds see a coyote and pull the cord to dump the dogs.

It's pretty common around here for guys to tear off the rusty box and build a flat bed out of wood. Almost all the stone cutters do it.

Makes 5th wheel work a bit simpler, easier for stock dogs to fall out, and tools, coolers, etc to be discarded in the middle of the road.

Because the top edge of a modern 1/2 ton's bed is around 5'.

It gets worse from there.

Do they belong to the Wood Box Chevy Association ?

Lot of good reasons and ways - depending on one's needs. One of mine is a 72 Chev one ton - originally our motorhome and now a strong flat bed with gooseneck setup and a sleeper behind the cab. A bit unique.

Lee, we actually got one of these at the shop, it even helps when doing "stuff" in the engine bay, on lifted trucks on 35's !

When my dad was in the Dairy business in the mid to late '70s and early 80s most 1 tons arond here were chassis cb with a flat bed of some sort but after 80 factory bedded dually's became more common.

A lot of these trucks being converted around here are not just 1 ton dually's but 3/4 and even 1/2 ton trucks. Some guys are even doing it to older pick-ups not just brand new ones.

I'll agree about the height of modern trucks it's difficult to get thing in and out of the back..

pics?

I will agree that newer pickups are too dang tall and bloated. I am no small man and I have difficulties with the newer trucks.

best factory bed utility was the gm/chevy c-10 squarebody. K-series and fords next. My nissan midsize has nearly the size of the old half-ton full sized pickups, but without some of the utility. could not afford a new full size back when I bought it, though.

I had an old 3500 Dodge bed leftover once. Poor condition.

I listed it at a fairly ridiculous price on Craigslist. I honestly don't remember how much but maybe something stupid like $1,000.

A buyer from New York or somewhere salty drove nearly 500 miles to come get it and didn't even blink at the price.

The only reason I say this is that your take off bed may be worth more than you think.

If you're a contractor, a flat bed makes a huge amount of sense. You can load and unload from the side or back with a fork lift and be done and out of the supply house in short order. If you need to enclose your load it is pretty simple to build/buy side rails that drop in and lock down in a few seconds.... and you don't have to worry about some dumbass on the jobsite damaging your pickup bed by backing into it or having rocks or debris thrown up around it....

I've also seen lots of guys with dog carriers on their flatbeds, which makes a lot of sense. Easy to let them loose and recover them when necessary...

Interesting.. What's the truck's GVW, rear axle rating from the door tag and year? Not doubting, honestly, just curious..

Son in Law has a '15 Ram 3500 crew cab. Well drilling crews had smashed the bed to hell over the last five years. The quality flat bed was about 1/4 the cost of a factory replacement bed. He does miss the back up camera.

I do not know if this is still true today. At one time dealers offered substantial discounts on cab/chassis units. It was cheaper to buy the truck with bare frame rails, then add a flatbed.

Flatbeds come with stake pockets, just so a guy can add rails to keep schitt from falling off and onto the road. Just saying.

I have seen some placarded as 12,000 gvw.

Check the payloads out here. Less the weight of a flat bed, 6,000 looks easy. I was doubtful too.

https://www.ramtrucks.com/towing-guide.html

Mine's 14,000#, but the door tag indicates only a bit over 4800# is max.. (F-450 CC DRW)



Well, yeah, but that depends on the year of the truck.. Much older than about 4-5 years and the payload does down - a lot.. Same with the rest of 'em too.. And his truck has a dump box on it also.. Have to add that in..


There's an RV couple on YouTube that I watch on occasion.. He was towing a triple-axle Momentum 5th wheel with an '06 Chev 3500 DRW... The math was done by another RV couple and that truck was way overloaded - even with that pin weight of only #3500...

I think the Bongo truck beds in Iraq were a great idea. All 3 exposed sides dropped down and locked in either the up or down position. Best of both worlds.

I will chase your answer to the best of my ability here in the next few days.

The truck was born in 1998. At some point in time a good friend of mine converted her into a dump truck. Custom built. Massively rebuilt the frame cross members and so forth. Used a hydraulic cylinder off of a grain truck. He put her in service as a privately registered (not for hire) vehicle and legally hauled materials for himself for over a decade.

Thousands of tons. I have used her in a similar manner.

I have had #6,100 in her without the slightest worry. Dual air bags, rated axle , rated tires etc.

No Quarry has ever refused to fill her and the quarries in Virginia are very particular about legal matters.

Because she's private neither of us have ever experienced any VDOT challenges. I am not sure if her GVRW was formally increased.

This may not be a satisfactory answer for you and I fully understand. I have never sought out legal definitions on this particular truck.

After he sold me the truck , he had a similar situation on a dump trailer. VDOT rating was lower than the placard or something. It was becoming a real can of worms for him. Eventually Virginia State Police advised him that the limits did not apply because the trailer was for private use and not used commercially. I think I have this story straight. If it sounds funny to you I will give you a phone number and we can discuss it further and include the owner of the trailer as to exactly what transpired. It is not my intention to misrepresent anything.

I do believe the rating applies two commercial vehicles for hire. That is why I responded Yes legally previously.

Mine will be getting a flat bed next year.

Texans have to haul a load of bullschit everywhere they go so I’m sure it’s more of a priority down that way.

Around here, they sell a lot of trailers with 12k-14k ratings.
Despite the fact that any trailerover 10k is cdl.
Requiring a combination license on the pulled.

Occasionally the bears, often Maryland, seriously just someone's ads for it.
More often, it slides.


But if a log truck had a "shaky" chain, it would be ticket time.

Here, those are medium duty trailers.

My big gooseneck is 22k.

No CDL required.

Our vet patches up or puts down lots of dogs that fall off flat beds at high speed.

I like the idea of a flatbed but the tailgate on my Dodge is 35" high. Add another 9 or 10" to get the bed above the wheels and it's too high for my old carcass to load and unload anything.

In Kentucky it means somebody bought a used truck with a rotted out, rusty bed.

I gladly would try to post a pic or two - can someone here kindly state, in simple shortcut, how a guy can post pics here?

Been common around here since the 70's. If it is a working PICKUP it has a flatbed. Never have seen a truck with a pickup box on it except for I think ford builds a 450 with a pickup box on it.

Just got this one setup.

Ain't gonna work, talk about weak rear springs.

I figured an F350 was an F350 and could actually haul chit but this is a tinker toy compared to the springs under our dually.
(might need to start a suspension question thread rather than hijack)

Sam O,

Does that thing have 6000 or 3500 pound rear spring leaves?

I put 3500 pounders on "my" company truck because we use it to plow more than haul. We've got another 350 and because it carries giant tool boxes, we installed fresh new 6000 pounders. Oh, man that thing rides STIFF. But loaded up, it is at least level and the weight smoothed the ride.

As for flatbeds, they work if you have to haul and unload/load multiple times, multiple items, and quickly rather than jumping up into the box and lifting everything under the sun three times.l

This what I was thinking on reading the title....
Figured the flat bed might be lighter. But not with aluminum factory beds.

RBBR, nice rig. That is like a utility body crossed with a flatbed. But more versatile..

Redneck, (two Lee's here)
In some states, if you up rate the springs the DOT will allow you to up-rate your load rating. The downside is you have to up rate your insurance too.

Dave, I don't know what it has for springs other than they are weak sauce.

It has a total of 4 springs. 3 mains and a helper.

Our dually has a total of 10.

My '03 has a total of 6.



I didn't even think to question it but it's going back to Ford for heavier springs no doubt.

You can change out the rear springs to the exact same as your dually.

Did exactly that to my 99 7.3.

Worked out great and rides fantastic.

I'd order this spring from ATS Springs.

https://www.autoandtrucksprings.com...w-heavy-duty-rear-leaf-spring-43-1263hd/

You gotta buy older sam..lol we have 1992 superduty with a 5 ton dump bed. I've hauled 6 ton with it and its squatty but still drove good. It's a dump truck, not hauling a dump bed trailer.

I like your set up though.

Higginez, thanks for the link man. I'm checking out their options as we speak. I'm not much of a gearhead, just load 'em up and go. We'll get something figured out!




Joel, I think they gayed up the suspension on these things for the weekend warrior Home Depot mulch crowd!

Those bales weren't even that heavy. I was curious so I drove into the elevator and checked the weight. 3300lbs for the pair, 1650 apiece. Nothing crazy at all.


Duals are great for hauling and pulling but I wanted a feed pickup with singles for mud and snow work. A Ranch Hand bumper grill guard is on back order and when these tires are shot I'm getting a set of Toyo MT's.

Already deleted and piped it. It hauls ass.......grin

One thing though - look at where the weight is. The front bale is only slightly in front the axle. The other is way behind it plus there's the weight of the loader back there. It's leverage and it'll take considerably heavier springs to handle it. The same setup on a longer wheel base might work just fine.

Laffin

Round here unless you're pulling the space shuttle you ain't got schidt. My truck'll haul a fair bit, but isn't rated for texans. A guy needs to step up to the F550's or Chebby Kodiaks to haul that much hot air.

Even for singles, 3300 shouldn't be a problem. I agree trucks nowadays aren't trucks. City cars with beds. I will admit though my friends 2019 superduty is nice, just dont want the payment

The same setup works really good on a regular cab with duals and heavy weight springs. That is the gold standard for hay hauling.

The extended cab uses a slightly shorter bed and the weight hangs further back.


Snow White just needs some beefier springs and she'll be fine.

The bed must be heavy as well. It was about 1/2" away from bottoming out on the 'rubber stoppers'.



I like to rag on newer pickups but they are pretty nice. Roll down the highway pulling a trailer at 75mph and no worries. You wouldn't do that with 1977 F250. I guess you could but it would be a handful!

I heard those badass Toyata's can pull anything...............ANYTHING!

Sam, ain't nothin' a new set of airbags won't fix. I love airbags, until you get a leaky fill line one one side or t'other.

Les Schwabb will put a set on there for you, or additional leaves in the springs. Just a few crisp new $100 bills.

I had a 98 f150 in AK and with my Yamaha bigbear in the back I was on overloaders. I bought 3/4 ton springs for it and it was a rough ride but could handle weight. Borrowed my buddies 1979 f150, threw a Polaris 6 wheeler in the back and the bed barely moved. He laughed at me and I coulda shot him...

I can deal with older trucks just to have a real truck.

'Shooter, we thought about airbags but I'm afraid they might not fare well in frozen mud/ice?


Heavier springs should be worry free.

Air bags Sammy, air bags. Da be da chitzels.
Turns an F250 into a F350 with a squirt of air.

W. Bill

Profits go to the emperor sipping sake in his silk kimono, but the labor was American so by jiminy they are awesome.

Of course the high milage they used to tout went down the shidter when they started making them big enough to compete with American trucks, but hey let's not get into the weeds.

Sam, how many over the road tractors use air bags in Montana weather? Most of them.

We are already in weeds billygoat...lol

I got a 96 z71 1/2 ton with airbags. Also had it in AK. Airbags worked. Haven't put air in them in 10 years but up there they worked. I just didnt want to carry around a air compressor so I went with springs on my ford.

I had bags on my '76 3/4 ton when I bought it. They leaked. I tossed them. But they were a shadetree install. I thought about putting bags in my power wagon, but figured if I need that I needed a bigger truck. And one more point of failure I'm introducing into the equation.

Makes for the best threads!

W. Bill, I'm just worried about the mud(snud) build up on the under carriage. It turns into a mess.



If we had a heated shop I would consider.


The warm mud then cold freezing temps are the worst. Wash out the steering end of it before you park for the day!

The frozen mud is hell on brakes(mechanisms) as well. At least on the '11 F350. I much prefer the undercarriage on the '03. This '15 is pretty cheesy in places as well.



Take a 2003-2007 F350 and stick a 6.7 in it.

I would love that.

Or, someone has a 2005 Dodge with a bed that is actively rotting out... Like the looks of RBB's bed. Just sent a note to CM to check prices for older Dodges...

Still not to worry Sam, I've used them for the twenty years in all kinds of weather with no problems. Very little movement between the bags and framework. Have never had one fail.

W. Bill

Sam,

If you stop loading it down with those big round things it should level out.



You're welcome,
Dave

That’s a sweet setup. Mine’s the same color, but with two less wheels.

This guy’s a bit of a local legend.



That machine weighs 10,000lbs.

Hence my mention of leaking supply lines. A bit of barbed wire wrapped around an axle would play hell with 1/8" poly tubing.

Leaf springs are bullet proof. We are fortunate to gave a place in Boise which will custom build a leaf or a springpack to exact specifications. Racks and racks of flat bar spring steel and several gas forges. I stood in the shop and watched while they duplicated a broken leaf from my horse trailer.

Boise Spring Works Inc. They might have spring packs in stock for your application. A check of their website or a phone call might save you a few bucks.

Pretty common in Australia I believe. If you query 4xoverland on YouTube you can follow Andrew building his Aussie dream touring truck. They call it a tray.

The Tundra's very capable for a 1/2 ton but it's still a 1/2 ton. Their main market is suburbia. They don't market heavy hauling so they've never built a 3/4 or a diesel, let alone a 1 ton. They leave that to the big 3 and they still make piles of money.