Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Flatbed conversion of pickups

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