Josh_Br

I've got a 1990 4x4 pickup. It has a wooden bed, but it's seeing it's age and I don't really like the design of it. The person who made it did a good job, it even has the original tail lights in their original locations, and a tail gate. I'd like to replace it with a bed like I've drawn up below. I remember in high school, one teacher had a Toyota or Nissan truck with a similar bed. I always liked it. I just wondered if anyone has any photos or anything of a bed like this. I haven't been able to find anything online.



Thanks,
Josh

timothy47129

http://www.mar-k.com/custs/cvPhoto.aspx?PID=786&FRA=0 .I found something similer that looks nice.What ever you do I would use hardwood dont use pine.And top it with a good marine grade polyurethane or at least exterior grade polyurethane unless your going to paint it.

Josh_Br

Thanks, man that's shiny! That guy did a great job.

My loose plan was to use treated 2x6's for the four cross pieces underneath, and use treated decking for the bed floor, front, and partial sides. Then I was going to stain it with some exterior stain. The guy's bed in the photos is really sweet, but I was not planning on going for anything that showroom-ish. Sound ok?

timothy47129

Yeah that sounds like it should work well for you and deck boards last quite a while.The only problem i can see might be deck boards dont have much weight to them and it might make the rear end stiff and cause a rough ride.were using 2x6s for the flooring would add weight and the ride wouldnt be as rough.but I dont have any idea how much the stock bed weighs.But I did drive my 99 ford ranger 25 miles without any bed on it to go pickup a new bed and that was one damn rough ride with no weight on the rear.

Josh_Br

Haha, thanks man. That is good stuff to consider - the weight.

evan711

heres a pic of my 1985 before i put a 2wd bed on it form junkyard

Josh_Br

Sweet! How did the truck ride with that wood bed? Was it heavy enough the rear end didn't jump around? Thanks

evan711

its decently heavy it rode good the base of it was 4x4's the bottom was 2x6's and the sides and front were 2x10's, probably weighs as much as a stock bed.

Josh_Br

Ok, thanks man

Josh_Br

I did end up building a new bed. I finished it up this weekend, except for putting some stain or poly on it at some point. I used 4x4's underneath (thanks Evan711 for the idea), 2x4's for the vertical pieces, and decking for the rest. It's all treated wood, and all the hardware that is exposed is stainless. Pretty happy with how it turned out. Here's a photo:

aviator

Looks pretty nice. You might want to think about adding some recessed "pop up" rings in the floor at various locations to make it easier to attach a load net or straps, with no tail gate anything you put in there might slide right out the back. Also some drain holes at the front will give the snow/water etc that will end up against the front some place to go and help prevent rot.

Josh_Br

Thank man. Good idea about the drain holes. I'll have to keep an eye on it and see if water gathers. It actually does have tie-downs; they're a little hard to see in the pictures. They're U-bolts in the four corners on the vertical pieces.

aviator

Saw those tie downs I was thinking of something more across the middle/end to stop stuff from sliding out from under. You could put a pair of dock rings on the end beside the plate maybe that way there would be a handy spot to run a rope through.

Toyota~Boy

iTrader: (2)

My 84... I built this bed for under 200.00 then added CJ5 flares and stained then water sealed it.

Josh_Br

TB - nice bed! I like the fender flares.

Avaitor - I see. One idea my step father had was a vertical piece of steel channel on each side, then a piece of decking could be slid in to function as a tail gate if needed.

Sturmcrow

Or even just some vertical 2x2's to keep with the theme.

Do you have a photo of the other side? I am curious to see what you did with the fuel filler.

Josh_Br

I don't have a photo of that side, but it is in the bottom-most board, and I cut a hole with a hole saw then routed around it so it tapers out. It is just slightly bigger than the gas cap, so all you see is the gas cap coming out of that bottom board.

Toyota~Boy

iTrader: (2)

I used a hole saw and cut out a whole just big enough for my fuel cap to fit in. Then I screwed the factory filler neck to the wooden side. Mine was recessed back so it didn't stick out

Sturmcrow

Your wooden beds almost make me wish I lived somewhere where the factory beds rust out enough for there to be a market for them. Very classy.

Toyota~Boy

iTrader: (2)

Ehh there's not much of a wooden bed market around anymore. That left here around the early 90's. the beds you see now are either steel flat beds or a pretty one like mine on my 87