|
Prairie of Southern MN | I just went through this process. Many suggest maintaining a gap between the frame rails and the flatbed rails to allow for a certain amount of frame twist like the factory box would. I welded 3 1-inch tall pieces of steel spaced along each frame rail to achieve the gap, and then did exactly as milofarmer suggests with the pieces of half inch plate to actually attach the bed. It turned out great. I've heard newer pickups have heat treated frames, making the welding I did a bad idea, but I figured on a '95 Dodge I should be okay.
I actually had the biggest headache with the fuel filler neck. My old one was rusty, and I damaged it getting the pickup box off, so I purchased a new one. It was no where even close to working with the flatbed. I ended up using fuel hose, and cutting off both ends of the new filler neck to splice in - one end to keep the part where the fuel cap screws in, and the other end to keep the little plastic ball valve that prevents fuel from washing back up out of the tank.
Another modification was mud flaps. Even dually flaps were not long enough to hang from the flatbed - would have still been a foot off the ground. I could have got some mud flap brackets, but I didn't like the gap that would leave on the top between the bottom of the bed and the bracket, not to mention drilling another set of holes in the frame. So, I purchased a set of semi mud flaps, and trimmed them down to the right width - my truck is just a single wheel. They also turned out great, and could be hung from the bed itself and ride at a nice 4-5 inches off the ground.
Good luck with whatever you decide. I really like having the flatbed in general - hooking up goose neck trailers is a piece of cake! | |
|
installing a flatbed on a pickup, do it ourselves?
