Wood Bed Advice

[chevlwb68]

Sorry, I am sure this has been covered a million times.

I need to do my wood bed in my 68 longbed. Does anyone know the exact measurements of each board? Or is there a guide book out there somewhere I can pick up? I know the boards are 3/4" think, but they are different widths and I am not sure on the exact length to fit in the longbed properly. Also, I only finding 1'' thick boards at my local Lowes and Home Depot. Will that thickness work?

Just seems like I could do this for a lot cheaper than buying a pre-cut wood kit. They are so expensive. I have a shop and all the proper tools.

Or does anyone know where to get a killer deal on a pre-cut wood kit that will not kill me on the shipping?

Thank for any help!

[OhioDan]

GMC Pauls has that info. Here's a link. Hope this helps?

http://www.gmcpaulstruckparts.com/47...dWood_Info.htm

[chevlwb68]

Awesome! Thank you.

[oldblue1968chevy]

do u gotta take the bed off to replace steel floor with wood?

[chevlwb68]

dunno know. i would guess that it is easier to cut out the metal floor with it removed, but I am sure you could do it without removing the bed.

[fishingjred73]

If you have the tools find someone local with a sawmill and have them saw you some lumber. They can cut whatever thickness you want and it's cheaper than lowes, etc. White Oak is about the best as far standing up to the elements.

[westofb]

Originally Posted by chevlwb68

I know the boards are 3/4" think, but they are different widths and I am not sure on the exact length to fit in the longbed properly. Also, I only finding 1'' thick boards at my local Lowes and Home Depot. Will that thickness work?

Thank for any help!

The boards you are finding at lowes and home depot are 3/4" wide. I know they are called for instance a 1 x6" but they are actually 3/4 x 5 1/2. The one by measurement is what the board measured from the saw mill prior to thickness planing.

[redbaron69]

if you have the shop and the tools, i would look around and see if i could find some old lumber like from a barn and resurface it. yes it would be a job,but i have seen this done a few times and that old lumber looks great!

[vegaschevy]

good seeing this, I am wanting to do a wood bed floor on my truck when i find one.

[Willys47]

I have a wood floor on my Box that was rotted bad.I took a better looking piece of the floor to the local wood store that I had cleand up and it was cut from Douglas fir. Now my truck was built in Oshawa Canada.So what was the types of wood was used back in the day or did they just use wood that was good & easy to get a hold of ?

[HuggerCST]

If you use GMC Paul's measurements to groove your own bed wood, just remember that those measurements are taken from factory cut boards with GM metal strips. I found out the hard way that my aftermarket stainless strips are not as wide and don't fit as deep into the groove as the originals, and I had to re groove my boards.

[vegaschevy]

is it possible to buy bed pieces reasonable without having to have an entire bed if you are going to lay a wood bed floor?

[HuggerCST]

Yes, but it's not cheap. You'll need the wood, metal strips, bolts, a set of cross sills, and a front bed panel. The bedsides and wheel wells are the same for a wood or steel floor.