flat beds on pickup trucks

Ray IN

Member
About time for a newer farm truck. The 01 Chevy 2500 has 215K miles and is making some questionable engine noises. There is a
low mileage GMC 3500 with a nice steel flatbed for sale that I am looking at. It has 4 inch fold-down side rails, as well as
stake pockets. It would be great for hauling pallets and pulling a goose-neck, but I just don't know if I would like it for
normal, every day use. What do you like or dislike about a flatbed?
 
I know some fishermen here soon as they get a newer truck they swap the box for a flatbed. It might not be the first choice to take to dinner on a date night but I can't see why you wouldn't like it if you see extra versatility by having a flat bed.
 
I had one for a lot of years. It took me a while to get use to a regular pickup again when I went back to one. So much easier to load stuff on a flatbed and to use it for a workbench when I needed a portable one.
 
I had a 1 ton with a stake bed. It was nice for hauling hay. Just roll the bales off the side it was also easier to load. Was nice to load a atv when it was hooked to a trailer just put the ramps on the side. Only down side is lighter things need to be tied down unlike a pickup box.
 
I like the flatbed much more than the regular fleet side beds. They are making pickup bed ten feet off the ground anymore. So you can lift anything over the side or reach anything in the bed from the side. I only have the half ton that only has a regular bed left on it.
 
I have had several. I now have a Dodge 3500. They are really handy on a farm. I thought they were silly, until I had a neighbor who owed me money traded a Ford one ton flat bed for the debt. That was 40 years ago and I have had one most of the time since.
 
Ray tractor,

I converted a single rea wheel pickup truck to a flat bed, the bed was way too rusty, and a replacement bed was too pricey. I would not even consider replacing a bed again. That flatbed was so nice for loading, hauling.

It's nice to have a regular truck, but when I did the conversion, well I wouldn't look to anything else.

D.
 
I made several and have owned a few. Most of them were hard to mount a fuel filler in such a way that it would fill easily. They can be made to look nice
 
You won't miss a normal truck bed at all. Build some wood stake sides for when you want to haul anything that needs sides like mulch and enjoy the never having to climb to the front to get what you need and the fact you can throw palleted goods on from side. I put a aluma bed on my 03 about 3 years ago and drive it everyday everywhere. Oh and keep a few cargo straps in the truck to strap things down.
 
Pic because everyone likes pics
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we have a flat bed 7or8 x 12ft on a 97 F350 now. as the others said can load and unload better. Bigger loads of bales, feed bags..... (can stack wider then standard). My brother uses it as a daily driver(unless its motorcycle season) don't faze him any.

Thing I don't like is almost everything you haul(that don't fit in cab with you) has to be strapped to keep it from sliding off the truck. Take a pail or box of oil, in a standard box you can toss it in and not worry as much the sides/tailgate keep it in and keep the moving air(that pushes things) away. Any standard farm truck "equipment"(tools, straps...) has to be either tucked in the cab(for same reason), or have to spend more money on under bed boxes( that's if it don't have em).... witch is another thing to be sure you can open and close efficiency.
 
Most of the companys use a deeper pick up bed for some reason now days, makes it near impossible to reach for anything on the bed,,and the first part of the pick up to take a hit will be the bed side or tail gate,,when that happens with a flat bed it means nothing to it..
 
Herd on the street, "No, no, no. Waaa! Waaa! Those just don't look cool with my black chrome dually 22's!...don't you know man!"
 
Only down side for me is here in Michigan is lic. plates. For a flat bed lic. fees are double of a pickup. Because its a commercial vehicle, and insurance also. Unless the registration says pickup.
 
In some states it can't be licensed as a pick-up anymore, must be a flat bed straight truck. Just something to check out.
 
I've had a couple and helped build several more. One problem I've ran into was that the load height on a flatbed was higher--I had one on a '68 Ford 1-ton and it was an absolute bear to load a 4-wheeler on--even extra-long ramps had such an angle that it made it very difficult. Other than that, and the already-mentioned problems with small items needing to be secured, I enjoyed both of mine and used them extensively.
 
Right you are. In CA you must have a CA number and if you are towing be part of the pull program which requires record keeping and CHP inspections. In fact, this applies to anything other than a pickup bed, the only exception, I believe, being one of the custom slaughter beds. They have no markings on them here as they are the target of animal rights people.
 
ray once you have used that 3500 flat deck for a farm truck you'll never go back to a box truck again. I had a 85 chev 1 ton flat deck and let a friend talk me out of it :( should never have sold it. but I have a 92 dodge cummins 3/4 ton with a rotten box, I will be building a 7' by 9' deck with under side tool boxes, headache rack, with built in tool box, stake pockets, and fold down side rails and tailgate. a deck truck is far more convenient to use and ray if the honeys you go out with won't ride in your classy deck truck, you picking up the wrong ones :lol:
 
Flatbeds are nice to haul with and use as a farm truck I made stake sides for this truck just out of 2x4 which makes it nice to haul tools and other parts without sliding off then you can pull em off when you need to haul something big . a flat bed is also nice to mount a vice to the bed makes a nice work bench . the one flat bed on my one truck is 8 feet wide and it makes it nice I can fit small squares 3 bales wide on that bed
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I have a 3500 chevy with a Owensboro flatbed on the has the flip up sides, there are some things the pick up box bed would be nice. I am also on the hunt for a newer truck and looking at 3500 again but also looking at aluminum flat beds for my next truck.
 
Definitely like my flatbed dually. Lot more square footage versus a box, and stake sides allow for putting on "sides" when needed. Better clearance for the gooseneck as well. I see a fair amount of boogered sides and tailgates from gooseneck trailers. Not likely to happen whit a flatbed.
 
My date night truck has an 8 foot wide flat bed a
diesel air compressor bench vice and a 3/4 inch
socket set and tap and die set tucked under the
hind seat and a black and white fuzzy alarm system
in the back seat as well
 
When the fleet side box gets too rotten ,a flat bed is a good way to get more life out of a truck. Easy enough to repair a cab, and if the motor and drive train are still good , why not? I put a flat bed on my 72 chev 3/4 ton back in 1990 ,and squeezed another 10 years out of if. Eventually moved it on to a 85 Dodge for a few years of extended life on that truck. and it went on to a 87 GMC my son has still. Top was check plate, as was the back end, with tail lights recessed into the back end, with no bumper sticking out. This not only saves the tail lights , but you can back up flush to a loading dock. I had stake pockets and 4 foot livestock racks for hauling calves and hogs. I also had 1 1/2 inch flat bar welded to the out side of the pockets to strap or chain things down to.
In my mind a steel flat deck makes a pickup , a truck. You can now load and haul things without worry about scratches or dents in the flimsy box. I do not have a flat bed on a pickup now myself, but I do still have my old F800 ,flat bed.
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I love my flatbed, ever try and chain a machine tool or other heavy item into a pickup bed, not much to chain to with nothing but tin and small loops in the corners. Plus able to take off a sideboard and load with forklift is a huge advantage. Pickup beds are stylish they tell me....beyond that I haven't seen an upside
 
Flatbed is the ONLY kind you want. way more versatile. When my factory pickup bed rotted on my old Ford truck, I put a flatbed on...fantastic, no sideboards, low sideboards, high sideboards, can tie loads down and load and unload easy. Got a Dodge 3500 to replace the ford, made a flatbed for that too.
 
There are only 2 downsides to a flatbed on a pickup chassis that I can think of and we have had them since the 80's. First the floor is higher to clear the wheels and sometimes the taillights are in a vulnerable spot.Flatbed is the way to go for a working truck.
 
Dodge/Cummins combos, like your purple/red/magenta one is popular around here in either the two door or 4 door short wheelbase, 6wd mostly. I had the 91 Ford 460 gasser, 4 sp OD, 2 wheel dr., short WB dually. 4wd would have been nice. Problem I had was the gas tank filler was long to get out from under the bed, requiring you to pump slowly, and at 10 mph usually, refueling was a pain. However, that was the first vehicle I owned whereby I could dump the clutch at idle and it hold onto it's rpms. I sold it when I retired.
 

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