Started My Flatbed Build

[Bucksaw]

What about using like two of the square led pods in each?


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Those are a piece of cake if you get the surface mount kind, but even the factory light shouldn't be too hard. Let me get through this build and finish my old man's grill, and see where we are in the school year and whether we will have time to finish it or not before school gets out. I don't mind finishing it up for you after school gets out, but I just won't have anyone to help with the heavy lifting.

[Txbowslaughter]

Nice build, very nice work!

[Bucksaw]

Not a bad start for a day.







Its not as pretty underneath as the last one, but it was a heck of a lot cheaper being able to recycle the angle iron and salvage the channel. The only problem so far was that we underestimated the depth of the gooseneck trough, so we made it too tall to integrate the B&W. Nothing a little trimming and some reworking wont fix. Tomorrows project is the trough and the headache rack. Then its the skirt and plating the floor. Gonna save the toolboxes until the end if I can. Of course, the best laid plans...

[Russ81]

Practice makes perfect but dang it sure was nice just driving to Kempner and rolling home with a new bed


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[Bucksaw]

Practice makes perfect but dang it sure was nice just driving to Kempner and rolling home with a new bed


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That just depends on how much money you have in your pocket. My last one cost around $1300, and this one will be less than that since I am cutting some of the details and was able to use mostly recycled steel for the frame. How much that production bed run you (rhetorical unless you want to share)?

If I had the money, Ide be driving to Oklahoma for one of those Western Welding beds. But, since I have more free labor than I do money, I have to go this route. Plus, its kinda fun to me, and I get bored if I don't have a project occasionally.

[Russ81]

Not much more then you spent on the first one and a sight less then what most get.

As a rule though the closer you get to Houston or San Antonio the price went up with all the company trucks being sold. I dang near missed the place when I drove into Kempner. Main thing your giving your students something they'll learn a ton from and you can't put a price tag on that


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[Bucksaw]

Big decision

I am thinking several steps ahead to keep the build time as short as possible to prevent having to swap beds. So, I need some help deciding what color to paint the bed. Gloss black, or gloss white and color-match the front bumper?

[Bucksaw]

Accomplished my goals for the day. Got everything welded solid, got the headache rack on, and the trough down to the right size. Gonna start laying plate tomorrow, then things will probably slow down as the small details start popping up.







Still need input on color.

[MySRT8U]

I say color match it


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[Russ81]

Color match too bumper, all white screams eighties to me.


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[MySRT8U]

I love all white


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[Bucksaw]

Color match too bumper, all white screams eighties to me.


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I'm not gonna totally color match everything. It will still have black door handles and mirrors, and the bed may end up with a black floor if I decide to color match it to the cab. I think the black might look OK but I don't want it looking like some company truck. It is a tradesman package, but I would like to make it look like a Laramie clone, at least to the untrained eye. I already added the vinyl to the B pillar, now I need to save up for some factory 20" wheels, just to give it a little higher end touch.

[Russ81]

Know what you mean. Ever since I bought my Twinkie in '14 it's been nice to blend in at work with all the company trucks that are out there. Only thing that made mine finally different I made the stakes for the side split instead of solid.


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[Bucksaw]

Had some bad weather today so we had to take cover, which meant I didn't have good lighting for pictures. But, skirts are on and started playing the trough.

[Bucksaw]

The more I look at it, the more I'm digging the dark look, so I may go ahead and go black. Still don't know though.