2011 Flatbed Build

Agreed. Thin steel metal and composite bed vs. extensive box tubing in 2.0"x.120.

 

Plans are changing. This thing is starting to weigh too much, so I'm going to ditch the additional tube work I had planned. I'm adding a headache rack and gonna call it good. This will be a true flatbed.

Still haven't decided on the deck or skirt material though.

The feet are on and I've cut the gussets for them this morning. The bed is actually bolted to the truck in these pics.

 

The tubing weighs about 3 pounds per foot. How many feet are in the build so far? 70' or so? That's 210 pounds. I would guess the bed weighs more than 300. (EDIT: The shortbed weighs 250lbs, couldn't find the info on the longbed) The sheetmetal on it doesn't weigh much, but if you look underneath the composite part there is webbing all over.

 

That webbing is a bitch to cut through when you are using a 4.5" angle grinder... I ended up having to make 2 cuts on everything. One from the top and one from the bottom.

 

You're pretty close at 70'. So the new bed and the stock bed are close to a wash at this point. Remember the jobox though. That damn thing weighs 200lbs by itself. So I'm up 200lbs from stock at this point.

 

that's really not that bad. Almost similar to someone having a bed cap on a stock Tacoma. When your jobox is full its just like the bed being full of shit with a cap on.

Im actually pretty surprised its that lite considering how heavy duty everything is.

 

I guess having the bed so concentrated makes it seem heavier. I'm planning on picking up a hoist scale to weigh the bed when I'm done with it.

Thanks for the dose of reality, needed that.

 

Well, I don't have the tube bender that I was supposed to have at this point so it may be a mute point.

Probably going to add the headache rack and a short tube rail around the perimeter and call it good. Time to finish this thing and move on.

 

OP, This might give you a few ideas on the capacity of a Taco and what to do to make it drivable with extra weight: http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/262713-my-taco-sled-atv-deck.html

I have since added the

$82 D29XL Leaf Spring

D29XL OME extra leaf but haven't loaded it since. The unloaded ride is great with the 5 PSI minimum pressure in the airbags (I had 15-20 PSI before for the same feeling).

 

Moot point.

There is a lot of stuff you can do without a bender. Like take a hole saw through the square tubing and slide the round tubing in for the vertical parts of your headache rack, notch the round tubing for 45' gussets, etc.

 

No worries keep up the great work

 

If I were to do it again I would use smaller/lighter steel for some of the cross members.

I'm leaning towards 3/8" UHMW. It'll be strong, won't rust, and is lighter than 14gauge diamond plate. The only issue is the cost.

 

Cutting boards. Make it modular, each section it's own cutting board. You can find them super cheap at kitchen supply stores, or Amazon.

 

Yes, the 3/8" will be thick enough for countersinking. I've used Rivnuts for attaching sheet to blind nuts before, but I'm worried about the possibility of getting moisture inside the tubing if I put a rivnut in the top of the tube. I don't know if that's really an issue, but it's something that's making me want to investigate another method of attachment.

 

I love it very jealous

 

I have 1/2" hdpe skids im testing on the truck. Super slick stuff

 

HDPE is definitely slick. UHMW is less slick, but stuff will still move easily on it. My mid skid is pipe and 1" uhmw.


Working on the feet and headache rack tonight.

 

I'd like to see a pic of that! I've been wanting to build one.

 

Link to the build here



Now I will say that I need to rebuild it with some quality DOM tubing. The regular black pipe that I used did it's job, but it deflected more than I would like.







And now for the show stopper! At least my welds didn't break.

 

Poop pipe is pretty soft. Even DOM will deflect quite a bit in that application. How thick is the UHMW?