I have a flatbed on my truck. I love having so much room but always gotta tie things down or temporarily install rails. The majority of time its just a plain o flatbed.

 

Well, I have a regular bed on my truck and my dad has a flatbed on his farm truck. I really like the looks of the factory bed better, but flatbeds can look really good too. Especially aluminum ones. They look particularly good on regular cabs and regular cab dualies. A little odd looking on supercab and crew cab trucks. I replaced my bed with rust free bed from texas when I bought my truck. By the time I bought the bed, had the dents fixed and then painted it and the tailgate, I coulda bought a nice aluminum flatbed. Now I have to baby my truck and hate hauling anything in it or helping people move or anything because I don't want to dent or scratch my paint job. My dad's flatbed is awesome! there is way more room, it's longer and you can haul so much more and don't have to lean over the side to get stuff. Plus there are places that you can strap to. And if you buy aluminum you don't have to worry about scratches or rust. I guess what I am saying is if I was to do it over I would probably get a flatbed. People are always worried about losing stuff, but you can put an empty 5 gallon bucket on the flatbed and go down the interstate and it won't move or go anywhere. However, we do have 2x6" sideboards just incase. That's my 2 cents.

 

I have an aluminum flatbed. Installed for bout a year now. Reason was to have room for 2 atvs and tow trailer. There is a lot more room, really nice being able to load atv from either direction and a dirt bike and still have room left.
down side is you have to tie everything down and need side rails for gravel or rock. But, it gives you an excuse if friends ask you to haul gravel/rock.
I have a crewcab shortbed. I cannot find a good underbody tool box to carry straps, jacks, tools etc and that bothers me.
I currently have mine for sale or partial trade for a good shortbed. With another kid I don't carry two atvs anymore so flatbed benefit no longer outweighs the looks of a stock bed.

 

SG465 have any pics of your setup? and where are you located?

 

In Northern Utah.

 

Its really all up to what you like I built my own bed as I work at a fab shop and I love it also have two under bed boxes that hold all my loose stuff but like people say you have to strap everything down but its not bad because you can fit a lot more on it and only takes a min to toss a strap on

 

The best looking flatbed I think is Bradford Built. The look really good on any kinda cab, and are way handy. They all come with under bed boxes for your stuff and foldable 2x4 channel sides that fold out of the way to haul big things. New ones come with LED lights on the back and headache rack. All around a great bed

 

I have a flatbed.. It has made hauling and the work I do with my truck a LOT easier. It is a pain to get fire wood, ect.. But the optional under bed boxes that I have are awesome. They hold tons of straps and chains.. I have atleast 6 straps, a chain, 2" ball, gallon tub of twc 2cycle oil, dog bowls... You get the point. For what I use the bed for, it was completely worth it.

Not the cheapest bed by any means (About $4k).. but well worth the money. The gooseneck and underbed boxes are both options. I believe the gooseneck addition was $150 and the under bed boxes were $175. We also had to replace the rear tank because of rust.. So in all I believe the standard bed is $3200. Each bed is made to order and comes with rear lights. They mount a switch on the dash so that in the event you need rear facing likes, you have them (Have saved my butt on several occasions). They can be custom made.

The ONLY issues I have are that the boxes have holes in the corners under the bed to allow water to drain - which also allows water in.. The wood decking has started to warp by the rain/heat/rain we get around here.

This is a Proline flatbed.

 

Holy crap. 4k for a Steal flat bed?!?!?!

 

I know a guy that wants to trade his flat bed for a stock bed


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I could be off a bit.. But for some reason I think that was how much it was.

 

I hope you didnt pay that much. I built my all steel one w wood floor in a weekend and $800 in material

I can buy aluminum ones for $1900
And under side boxes(aluminum)are about $200 each

 

Here is the one I made

What i stared with after I cut all the old crap off



All new 3" channel cross members



5" channel rail around w 2x4 pockets and 2" rub rail




2x4 headache rack w diamond plate bottom and expanded metal window guard



All sandblasted


POR15 as primer and Gloss black tractor paint top coated



Pressure treated 2x8 tongue and grooved

 

Any good flatbed design will incorporate stake pockets to add sideboards to make things like firewood stacking a non-issue.

 

how high can/do sideboards generally go?

 

i love mine, ive built drop-down sides for all of mine (have them on most my trucks). heres a few pics

still havent painted my newer one, but weather just getting nice now so i will.

 

If you want something similar to aussie_f350 bed

Look at the Home Depots rental truck bed made by tafco

TAFCO Equipment

I have one, just trying to find the right truck to put it on

 

think I want something that the headache rack is cab width and maybe 45* off of that to a little more width. don't want a headache rack wall to catch the wind, want to keep the MPG as good as possible

 

Bradford's got it. Theres a guy on here's got a crew cab with one 70DS I think is his name. Looks good. They make aluminum too

 

Thats a great looking truck, and they are less money than I thought. I am still contemplating doing a dually conversion, so the bed will have to wait until that is determined..

 

EBY makes one heck of a good looking aluminum flatbed. We have one on our superduty at work and its really handy. It has 2 big toolboxes too which is a requirement in my book if you're putting one on.