Thread: Measurements of Wood for bed

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Hey guy/gals, I have been asked to help replace the wood floor in a 52 Chevy pickup. The previous owner took out the original bed and installed a piece of Oak veneer plywood. The current owner wants to replace the crappy looking plywood with real Oak strips. He has the metal strips that cover the joints but I need to know what widths the oak strips should be. Are they supposed to be even widths? Seems that I have looked at some and they are different widths from middle to outside.

Any body here help me out with some suggestions?

Hey Tom, Pull up oldchevytrucks.com. They've got the wood already cut to fit. Tommy

Originally Posted by ttommy

Hey Tom, Pull up oldchevytrucks.com. They've got the wood already cut to fit. Tommy

Tommy, I know, I have found several places to buy the pre-cut floors. However I think they are way too high priced for what they are. You see I'm a high school woodworking teacher and can buy real good White Oak (better weather resistance) for way less than what they sell those precut kits for.

Thanks, I'm hoping someone can come up with the measurements for me, otherwise I'll just cut them even widths and drill new holes (no big deal really).

I don't remember the exact widths, but I do remember them being different on the old chebbies.... Seems like maybe they were alternating 3 and 6 inch strips, or somewhere in that range. Think I'd just lay out a nice pattern with a couple different sizes, will be a non-big deal for a woodworking instructor!!!! IMO a couple different sizes would look neater then all one width.....

These should help....as you can see the strips hold the wood down NOT bolts.... so there is a space between each board to allow for expansion and contraction
Sorry they are big but wanted you to be able to see the size

Iceburgh, that's exactly what I was looking for, thank you. Now I can do it more correctly (I hesitate to say right because in a custom who knows what's right). Thanks again.

Hey Tom,
there is also a routed edge on each edge of board, it allows the metal strips to be almost flush with the board.
mine is rat ride it got the thick scrap plywood treatment and will be covered with spray in bedliner when it is finished.
Hey I know where Lakin is.. I grew Up in Dodge City kans.
two blu

Hey cool, Lakin is a small spot in the road, but it's what we call home.

Yes I know about the routed edge. A couple of years back one of my students made a bed for a 70 Chevy stepside. That's where I learned about the different sizes for the width and, of course, the shape of the edges and the little groove for the metal strips to set in to. However I cannot find the poop-sheet that we took all those measurements from and cannot find the place where we got it.

Thanks for the help.

Originally Posted by toms94

Iceburgh, that's exactly what I was looking for, thank you. Now I can do it more correctly (I hesitate to say right because in a custom who knows what's right). Thanks again.

If it's custom, then the way you want it is the correct way!!!!!!!!!

I don't know if the bed in a '52 is different, but I replaced the wood in the bed of my '59 by cutting new wood myself like you're planning on doing. A couple of things to bear in mind, the location of the holes with the offset washers has to still match the holes in your cross strips, and be sure to countersink the holes for and use those off-set washers.
A lot of guys just use carriage bolts and washers without countersinking the holes and in my opinion it looks kind of tacky.
When I did mine I found a website that listed all the exact measurements of the wood pieces including where to place the holes...I checked and I don't have the link anymore, but try a google search for Chevrolet wood bed.
Good luck

Here's the website I found...

http://www.gmcpauls.com/47-72_BedWood_Info.htm

Originally Posted by resin addict

Here's the website I found...

http://www.gmcpauls.com/47-72_BedWood_Info.htm

That's the place I saw a couple of years ago! Thanks!!!!

Resin Addict,
The floor in that truck is "drop dead" beautiful.
I checked out that link and saw everything but what I was looking for. Mine is a 1981 Chevy stepside needin the same floor work done.

Toms94,
Any updates.

Originally Posted by FlatBrokeRacing

Resin Addict,
The floor in that truck is "drop dead" beautiful.
I checked out that link and saw everything but what I was looking for. Mine is a 1981 Chevy stepside needin the same floor work done.

Toms94,
Any updates.

Nah, I've been doing Grandpa duty for the last couple of weeks. I'll get in touch with the guy next week and schedule a time to do this little project.

I got her done! The owner had some ideas that I agreed to try....I think it turned out OK. Instead of buying the regular metal hold down strips he wanted to use strips of Aluminum diamond plate. We had decided to use the diamond plate on the sides and front of the box because the previous owner had put it on the tailgate.

The previous owner had put 3/4" oak veneer plywood on the sides and front....which looked like "sheet". When we pulled off the plywood, the sides and front of the bed hadn't been prepped or painted very well, so we were forced to do something else. I our brainstorming, I suggested using the diamond plate, as it turned out it was a nice/easy solution. So with that decision it was, "Why don't we use the diamond plate for the strips?" I figured it wasn't to tough to give it a go, if we didn't like it we weren't out much. I really like the effect of tying everything together. Here's a few pictures!







The only problem I see is, the flat metal strips have a tendency to bow between the bolts. If they had been shaped like the original strips they would have been stronger and less likely to do this. What do you guys think?