Flatbed Information Thread

Randy is awesome. Quick response and willing to help!

Keep in mind aluminum doesn’t rust like a stock bed

 

I went the full cap, but on the uteltd page you can get the hidden drawer and side tool boxes. Hell even some of these drawers that you can find on used can be sweet. Picked up that aluminum drawer for $50. Just scored two more recently as well. $200 total for 3 drawers (all ranger drawers)

 

how much was ur setup overall?

 

Think it was 4-5K cnd for the bed and cap. Then there was all the odds and ends. Was my cheapest option at the time (other than the chandlerdoom bed protype, but that was for a short bed).

However I was looking at around the same price to get me back up and running without continuing to ruin my stock bed.

It will definitely look awesome and will be unique! Haven’t seen one like mine yet in my neck of the woods.

 

i gotcha how long did it take for the bed to fail on you my truck is newer then urs but still know it will fail eventually

 

It all went downhill when I started to run a cap and rtt. Took two years. However I was off-roading (everything from a dirt road to rocks).

 

i run a bed rack and rtt i am down sizing from a 4 man to a 2 man tent and last summer almost every weekend i was wheeling or camping

 

on top of that the bed side on the passenger side is already weak because of that damn tree lol

 

Just keep an eye on your bedside.

My other option was to repair my bed, go to a decked system with a softop or custom rack to the floor of the bed somehow. Crunches the numbers and this was cheaper.
The bed before I switched it.

 

id say i could keep an eye on the tailgate to see if it ever gets a gap but i took my tailgate off lol i have a wilco tire carrier on the back

 

If you look on the inside where the tailgate latches. This picture shows how the bedside is pulling away from the main support structure for the bed. You will also see my total chaos bed stiffeners kept the latch portion in place but the bedside pulled away.

 

ah ya i see what you mean now

 

@tacoma16 Any chance you have a closeup pic of what you did for the gas cap? Installing a ute bed on my 07 DCSB right now, and looking for ideas. Also, did you run any spacers underneath the brackets, or go direct to frame for the front 2, and fab something up for the one closest to the cab (where the vertical wings of the bracket cover up the bed mounting hole, at least on my DCSB). * edit, never-mind just looked at the bed mounts for short bed and long beds seem totally different.

Also, is the the height of the headache rack and your prinsu cabrack pretty comparable? Thinking of adding one of those as well, curious what you think.

Cheers!

Dan

 

Hey Dan I will take some pictures tonight when I get home of the spacers and crossbars. Utebed says to only use two but I used three.

For the gas cap I am currently working on using a Jeep style gas cap cover to secure the filler neck and gas cap in. For the last two years mine has simply been zip tied to the rack.

I do have a knock off prinsu that sits higher than a traditional prisnu roof rack, so your headrack may not be as close.

I do not recommend the ARE cap from them if that is an option. I will send some more pictures your way later today after work.

 

@HolyHandGrenade get in here!

 

Thanks a bunch, appreciate it, your thread has been super helpful for me in deciding on/installing my flatbed, much respect. Would certainly be curious to see what you are coming up with for the fuel neck for sure, found a few threads from fiberglass bedside guys who were simply cutting and extending with hose. My best current idea is basically that and extending to mount on the front of the headache rack.

Yeah, didn't opt for the ARE cap, went with basically a version that is 6 foot exactly (for a colorado I think) that would fit the length of my FWC Swift pretty spot on.

Currently in the middle of mocking things up, ran into a small issue on the frame mount of the DCSB, may need to weld one of the three crossbars on for it to work (the one closest to the cab, but should be doable.


Currently on 2 inch spacers to get around the frame issue, but going to drop it today, as it seems a bit high.

 

I would highly recommend checking out this thread for the filler extension

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/1-bored-clerks-garage-built-camper.457359/

I have asked him so many questions regarding the extending of the filler neck. He also came up with a way to mount it to the backrsck of the bed. I am not extending mine. Like I said I’ll have pictures tonight. I have simply just zip ties it for now. I do think I did have to extend a breather if anything. I’ll take some pictures tonight.

Also happy to have helped. Went through the “being in the dark” so figured a little cheat thread would help.

 

@danrogers

Here are the pictures of the filler neck. It's not pretty but I have been running it like this temporally for a year or two now

This is the plan for the new one. I ordered a cheap jeep gas cap cover and I am using a piece of aluminum to mount it to the bed here. This is just a mock up, the plan is to have it higher and not looking as bad.

Plan is to use holes on the cap itself and then bolt it to the bed. Just like the stock filler neck it will just sit in here.



Also I have shared some more info on the first page here about filler neck and hose sizes

 

Awesome, thanks for the pics! Yeah I saw the hose sizes on the other thread you mentioned, and put some on order, super helpfull! Should get a temp setup working this week, and will post back in case anyone with a shortbed is interested...