47-59 To raise bed floor or to notch?

[nikwho]

I need to figure out what to do with my bed floor. It's been unfinished for WAY too long! I've got a 4" C-notch that penetrates my bed floor by just an inch or two. My battery is mounted on the R frame rail, just in front of axle. '70 Mustang fuel tank between frame rails rear of axles, so my fuel filler neck is rear center of bed floor. Oh, I will have small wheel tubs, too.

I need to finish my bed floor. I've been putting it off, figuring that the answer would just come to me. It's been years. It gives my truck a janky (distasteful?) vibe. I've also put off starting my oaint and body work, as I want to have the bed situation figured out before moving forward. Ultimately, I'd like to find a fleetside bed, but that same issue will need to be addressed, regardless.

ACTUALLY, I REALLY want to finish both a fleet and step side bed, and paint both at the same time. I'd LOVE to be able to swap back and forth between a fleetside and step side bed. Would be a pain to alway store the extra, but sounded fun, just to change up the look of the truck!

Anyhow, regardless of the bed used, I need to address it. So, at one point I bought a 4'x8' sheet of 16 gauge sheet metal, to weld up a small removable cover, to access the four link/coilovers/battery box. I also was considering a small wrap around upholstered seat in the front of the bed, like a boat has for a back seat, to have a place to sit. Would just drop into place and be secured with a couple of bolts.

[Getter-Done]

If it's just an inch.
And you have the proper equipment, welder, cutoff wheels or saw or something to make the plate.
Is it possible to extend your c-notch and drop (Lower)
your shock mounts.

[dsraven]

my opinion.....get a steel bed from a newer truck, with the wheel tubs already installed, go to a metal fab shop and have them bend up some new cross sills to your spec/needs, install the new cross sills at the height needed, drop the new to you floor sheet on top of that (after trimming and bending/welding/bolting in some edges as needed) and voila, a no maintenance steel floor. you could install some access doors for stuff hidden under the bed, install a fender mounted fuel filler for that clean look and also so you are able to haul stuff without unloading to fill, or install a door to seal off the filler from the bed area to keep fuemes etc from the lounge area in the front of the box (seat you talk of)
I have used a steel box from a newer truck on projects so I could have a steel gate with a single handle instead of those chains. I found that it is a nunch of messing around wth stake pockets and box sides etc so NEXT time I will simply fab a new box with a steel floor and tailgate from a donor.
for fleetside box you could do the same thing with new box ides and a steel floor from a donor and have no bodywork outside the normal dings found in new panels. there was a fella on this site that installed a box floor and inner box side panels from a newer chevytruck in his 58 fleetside and it turned out really nice.
you need to have a bit of clearance between the underside of the box and the truck frame, dunno if you factored that in

try this link to dugg224's build where he uses a newer box guts under his fleetside. post 377 is where that starts

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=515876

[dsraven]

my opinion again, but I would leave the notch alone, for strength.

[dsraven]

a boat seat sitting on the floor will leave your legs hanging at a near horizontal angle. from a guy with bad knees thats not optimal for any length of time. better to have some legs or a fiser under the seat but then it may look goofy.
subaru had some modles that were like a scaled down el camino and they had seats in the box that folded up I think.the brat if I remember. they put seats in the box so they could import as a passenger car instead of a truck. short lived due to safety belts and illegal to have passengers outside the cab.
anyway, just some thoughts.
what dimension do you have between the rubber on the rear tires and also overall outside from rear tire to reartire? using a flat edge vertically on the tire sidewall and marking the floor at the bottom of the straight edge will give you a pretty good idea, measure beteen the lines. then you will have to add some room for axle movement side to side if you are looking for a donor box floor/ you can go to the gm upfitter site for body dimensions of trucks from years back. body builder manuals. link below.

https://www.gmupfitter.com/light-dut...prior-to-2013/

[dsraven]

if you want 2 boxes and have minimal storage simly build a frame from 3" channel and bend it so you can make a hitch at the front. stick a cheap trailer axle under it and, presto, instant trailer so you can store the box easily and move it around when you need to. even license it and tow it behind the old tuck as a period correct style trailer. more seating capacity for the tailgate parties, lol.

[mr48chev]

When you raise the whole floor it takes up a lot of your useful space in the bed even if it is only used for fun driving and going to shows and never "actually" hauls anything. Unless you have a chase rig along every time or trailer it you still need to carry things like lawn chairs, a cooler and your duffle bags on extend overnight road trips.

The seat idea means that you may have passengers back there at times but that may depend on what is legal for carrying passengers in a truck bed in your state. Around the fairground while cruising the grounds isn't an issue though.

I've seen a couple with pretty deep notches that had two bed floors, one that was in the "regular " spots around the hump for the notches and sealed things up with a raised bed that hinged up to get to the storage under it. They could fit a lot of stuff under it when they packed it right. The other one had what amounted to hinged hatches front and rear to give access.

I've seen a couple with the hump over the axle and an all metal floor and didn't like that much. one was a pro street truck with an aluminum bed floor .

[_Ogre]

Originally Posted by Getter-Done

If it's just an inch.
And you have the proper equipment, welder, cutoff wheels or saw or something to make the plate.
Is it possible to extend your c-notch and drop (Lower)
your shock mounts.

This would be my choice if you're not on leaf springs.
With coil springs or a 4 link, there's no weight on the back frame other than the bed
Cut out an inch and gusset the 90° angles

[dsraven]

Kinda hard to see in the pic, looks like you're running the upside down style shocks, where are the spring, taken out for mock up?
If the shocks in the pic are where the coil overs will mount then cutting the c notch is gonna affect the strength there so I personally wouldn't advise that. Either way you should figure out what your use will be for the truck. If you plan to haul or rear load the box then keep the notch for strength.

[Getter-Done]

If the strength is a concern if you choose to use my idea.

You can make braces to the front and rear of the frame that will be level with the stock bed height.

And you can also add cross tubes.
Because you are in the Customizing phase now

[dsraven]

in your pic I am seeing a little piece of leaf spring on the right rear corner there. if you are running leaf springs then the notch needs to stay as is for strength. not sure what you meant when you were saying you need access to the 4 link and coil overs but assume you plan to upgrade the rear suspension?
anyway, it sounds like you are still figuring it out due to no replies yet. hopefully you gleaned a few ideas from the comments. by the looks of the c notch height I would say the floor wouldneed to be moved up a couple inches anyway. I have seen where guys will build a frame out of small square tubing and weld/bolt that to the box sides then sheet it ot install bed wood over it. that would be an idea that would be economical enough. it sounds like you plan to use the bed for a gathering/seating area for tailgate parties etc so a flat floor may be more practical than a corrugated floor would be if you plan on setting chairs on it or sitting directly on the floor for any length of time. you lose a bunch of practicality if you raise the middle area over the notch so, personally, I would raise the whole thing or at least the front part ahead of the raised area over the notch if you go that way. it makes room under there for battery boxes or other stuff like air ride compressors etc

[nikwho]

First of all, thank you guys for all of the replies! Sorry for my lack of responses. Since I posted this, I have been quite busy with the Pipeline and Haywire Fires burning in my back yard, and the fire district where I work. Not to mention just coming out of the Tunnel Fire. Have burned over 51,178 acres of our forest so far, including some neughborhoods. So, have not really had time to address my bed floor. The dust is settling some, and I need to get this bed floor addressed, as it is holding me up from paint. I think that I will pull the bed off of the truck this week, set up a place to work on it, then prep and paint the bed and back of cab upon completion.

In the picture provided, the truck is sitting on leaf springs, though they are no longer going to be there. Truck is getting four linked now. Four link is not 100% complete, though coil-overs will mount to the same crossbar. It's not an issue to cut and cap the c-notch, and lower the shock mount tubing, per-se. Though. The battery was mounted to the passenger side frame rail, at a height that would now become an issue with the stock bed floor height. Also, the fuel filler neck is another conflict at the rear of the bed floor.

Each individual conflict is an easily enough fix, though with four separate issues with the stock bed floor height (c-notch, coil over mount height, battery location and fuel filler neck location), it think that its best to raise the bed floor. Now I need to work through the process of how.

I want to add minimal extra weight to the truck. I think that I will raise the bed floor 2". I think that I'll keep the original cross sills and make 2" tall pads on top of the frame rail for them to sit on. I will cut and extend the step side step braces 2", most likey, as that seems easier than changing how they mount.

Trying to decide if I should retain the way that the factory bed floor is captured and holds the bed up. It almost seems like the affformentioned 1" steel tube frame built in place and bolted to the bed sides would be easiest, but then I worry about longevity of hanging the weight of the bed on that frame on the bolts. As I think about it, it's really no different than the factory angle strips! Need to just think through it more.

As for the wheel tubs, I am considering cutting down a set of 67-72 fleetside wheel tubs. I bought a new set for this purpose. Thought to use them on the '59 from when I tubbed my '68 GMC, by slicing them lengthwise and adding 4" of width. I would do the same thing by cutting them lengthwise, but remove material, rather than add it.

If anyone has pictures of their raised bed floors, I'd love to see them. Progress pictures would be great, too.

Here's a picture of my widened '68 GMC bed tubs:

[dsraven]

by placing 2" tall pads on the frame where the cross sills would normally bolt down you are essentially doing what 4x4 guys do with a body lift except you are only raising the bed floor and not the whole body. you could likely find a few already made body lift spacers at a local 4x4 shop or onlione for cheap. I have made some for friends from metal tubing cut to length with a pipe cutter (it's straight then and ready to weld) and welded a heavy duty flat washer on each end to cap the tube. some also used hockey pucks stacked up with a hole drilled through for the mounting bolt. some used plastic solid round bar and drilled a hole though for the nolt. a retail lift kit would use plastic normally. as mentioned in an earlier post, on my raised bed floor I had a sheet metal shop bend me up some new cross sills, since mine were toast and doing that was cheaper and dome more timely than ordering new ones, then made the mounts for the frame fit the new floor height. mine is a frame swap though so there were no box mounts. yours would be considerably easier if you just had new sills made that are taller. the other thing you could do is like a flatbed or van body truck would have between the frame and the body/floor. simply wood cut to fit the frame contour and used as a spacer. drill through that for the mounting bolts. the body lift spacers would be less weight and easier likely, if your stock cross sills are in good shape. you could install a plastic washer between the contact points to eliminate squeaks as well, if desired.

[dsraven]

so, you are a wildland firefighter then? hard work for sure. I am a retired structural firefighter in Calgary myself. retired as district chief about 1 1/2 yrs ago. also a lic'd heavy duty mechanic before that. I have an auto repair business on the side (backyard shop) that was almost exclusivley firefighter clientelle. good to see you find some time to get back on the truck for mental therapy, lol.

[nikwho]

That's pretty cool! I'm a Captain/Paramedic structure guy, but in an all urban-interface district, we naturally do a lot of wildland fire fighting. Been with my department for about 17 years now. I love the hockey puck idea, as I have them all over my home, as everyone in my home (aside from my wife) plays ice hockey. But, that'd bug me. Wouldn't feel "right". I'll figure out the exact height that I want to raise the floor, the build some appropriate spacers.

Today I am going to build a little structure in my garage to lift the bed up off of the truck. I have a couple of large beams right over where the truck is sitting, to help. Then I'll go buy 40' or so of 1" square tubing to build a bed floor, and take some 16 ga. sheet metal to our shop shear/brake and cut/bend up something to fill the gap nicely at the rear of the bed.

I think that as I get started, the little details will just fall into place. I've just been holding off inngetting started, as I wasn't entirely sure of how I wanted to build the floor. I do still need to figure out a plan for a removable panel, so that I can access four link bars, coilovers, the battery tray and maybe keep the fuel filler neck under it as well.

[_Ogre]

my hat's off to you for the fires you're working. i was a volunteer for a while in colorado, bush fires would work your butt off.

for attaching the bed higher, raise the bed sills 2" with the blocks and use 1.25x1.25x.125 angle iron welded 2" higher than the oem bed angles. similar to what i did with 58truk. for the rear sill just build up with a combo of 2x2 tubing and 1x1 angle to raise the back. this way the bed is sitting on the angle and sills like stock, just 2" higher. you'll see the 2x2 tube when the tailgate is down, but that's a given.

look at my tubs. i cut out the bed side shape needed with a jigsaw and use .125x3" filler strip and the cutout to make my tubs

[dsraven]

nice job ogre and great explanation too.
how is your truk holding up? haven't seen a full pic for awhile. I remember the cool bed you built for it, great ideas.

[dsraven]

Once the 4 link is in place and set up, if applicable, it is usually pretty maint free. If maint is needed it can usually be done easily from the underside. If you think about it a maint free battery also doesnt need a lot of looking at either but not that tough to make an access cover. The fuel fill is a personal preference thing but personally I would try to get that to a outside corner or out of the bed completely. I have seen a couple of builds with a stake pocket filler. Mine is in/on the step side fender with a door to access. That's just me though, it's your build so that's up to you.

[nikwho]

Originally Posted by _Ogre

my hat's off to you for the fires you're working. i was a volunteer for a while in colorado, bush fires would work your butt off.

for attaching the bed higher, raise the bed sills 2" with the blocks and use 1.25x1.25x.125 angle iron welded 2" higher than the oem bed angles. similar to what i did with 58truk. for the rear sill just build up with a combo of 2x2 tubing and 1x1 angle to raise the back. this way the bed is sitting on the angle and sills like stock, just 2" higher. you'll see the 2x2 tube when the tailgate is down, but that's a given.

look at my tubs. i cut out the bed side shape needed with a jigsaw and use .125x3" filler strip and the cutout to make my tubs

Funny! I carefully cut out my bedsides the same way, and actually cut two 3" strips of 16 ga. steel on the shear, to do the same exact thing. I was worried about whether I'd like the look of the 90° square corner, so I bought the two new 67-68 fleet tubs, thinking that they'd look more factory. But, that looks pretty good, and most of the work is already done to do the bed that way! Makes me wonder if I shouldn't just go that route, which was my original plan! Thank you for the picture!

[_Ogre]

with the cutout welded in i thought it looked pretty good
better view from back a ways
this is the day we mated the bed and truk together for life

[nikwho]

Originally Posted by _Ogre

with the cutout welded in i thought it looked pretty good
better view from back a ways
this is the day we mated the bed and truk together for life

Looks great! I haven't seen that truck(bed) before! Crazy! Looks awesome!

Nik