Aluminum flatbed Built with Class

AlaskanTrucker379 · Jan 28, 2016

Some of you might remember me. I most every now and then. Havn't in quite a while though. I've been working on a flatbed for my 99 now that it isn't my daily driver any more. I haven't driven it on a legal road since august. Anyway, I'll let the photos speak for themselves. Copy and pasted from another fabrication forum I am a member of.

Anyway, who doesnt like pics, so here is a crap ton.

Untitled by Jory (Cory) Hubbard, on Flickr

Bed lift by myself

Untitled by Jory (Cory) Hubbard, on Flickr

Off for good

Untitled by Jory (Cory) Hubbard, on Flickr

Off to sand blasting

Untitled by Jory (Cory) Hubbard, on Flickr

Back from blasting

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Painted with expoxy primer, fuel tank and wiring back in, upgraded 3/8 fuel lines to 5/8 for large injectors, and goose neck installed.

Untitled by Jory (Cory) Hubbard, on Flickr

Test fitting to double check the autocad layout work

Untitled by Jory (Cory) Hubbard, on Flickr

Tacked

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My mounting system I came up with

Untitled by Jory (Cory) Hubbard, on Flickr

Plasma cutout 5086 3/16 for tailboard

Untitled by Jory (Cory) Hubbard, on Flickr

recessed light buckets and licence plate

AlaskanTrucker379 · Jan 28, 2016

Flatbar heated, bent and tacked around.

Untitled by Jory (Cory) Hubbard, on Flickr

Weld shots. 6061 1/4 flatbar to 5086 3/16. thumb amperage control. (give me a break, Im only 19

)

Untitled by Jory (Cory) Hubbard, on Flickr

Some good ol' feeder stack

Untitled by Jory (Cory) Hubbard, on Flickr

Gooseneck well

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Welded on

Untitled by Jory (Cory) Hubbard, on Flickr

Untitled by Jory (Cory) Hubbard, on Flickr

Custom box in deck for third battery, and other electronics

AlaskanTrucker379 · Jan 28, 2016

Super complex scribe tool for headache rack curve

Untitled by Jory (Cory) Hubbard, on Flickr

Untitled by Jory (Cory) Hubbard, on Flickr

Untitled by Jory (Cory) Hubbard, on Flickr

The start of the headache rack. 5" strip of 5086 3/16 bent around 1/8 inch 5052.

Thats it for now. Lots more to come.

AlaskanTrucker379 · Jan 28, 2016

Got some more work done today. Headache rack curves perfected now. Just need to weld and do a bunch of grinding/sanding to smooth get it to smooth out.

Untitled by Jory (Cory) Hubbard, on Flickr

My electronic box and storage trays. These also allow me to access fuel tank and fuel filler assemblies.

Untitled by Jory (Cory) Hubbard, on Flickr

Start of the filler door

Untitled by Jory (Cory) Hubbard, on Flickr

Untitled by Jory (Cory) Hubbard, on Flickr

AlaskanTrucker379 · Jan 28, 2016

Any way....

Untitled by Jory (Cory) Hubbard, on Flickr

Trying out the fuel filler. Works good, flows and vents well

Untitled by Jory (Cory) Hubbard, on Flickr

Headache rack cutout test fit, as well as lights installed.

Untitled by Jory (Cory) Hubbard, on Flickr

Untitled by Jory (Cory) Hubbard, on Flickr

Untitled by Jory (Cory) Hubbard, on Flickr

Started welding out the headache rack

Untitled by Jory (Cory) Hubbard, on Flickr

Untitled by Jory (Cory) Hubbard, on Flickr

Welds? 1/8 to 1/8 5052, 3/32 tungsten, 1/16 filler, 20 cfh of argon. I'm self taught LOL. Have a lot to learn obviously but it gets the job done.

AlaskanTrucker379 · Jan 28, 2016

Update. Got the plywood cut and roughed in and also finished my doors. The plywood cuts will get sanded and latches router'd in when they arrive. This took a full days worth of work. I used 1"1/8 plywood. Im not a wood worker for sure but think it will turn out looking nice when I get all the sanding done.

Untitled by Jory (Cory) Hubbard, on Flickr

Untitled by Jory (Cory) Hubbard, on Flickr

AlaskanTrucker379 · Jan 28, 2016

Got all the wiring done and few other smaller details

Untitled by Jory (Cory) Hubbard, on Flickr

Junction box hidden in a compartment behind the license plate. The pipe and hole is also hidden behind the plate. This is for access to the spare tire winch.

Untitled by Jory (Cory) Hubbard, on Flickr

Wiring. Everything thing is done with Phillips arctic flex wire and loom. All connections are heat shrinked that have been taped up as well. I am very anal about my wiring.

Untitled by Jory (Cory) Hubbard, on Flickr

Untitled by Jory (Cory) Hubbard, on Flickr

In this photo shows where I get my factory power from. I bought a stock truck bed wiring harness off another ford superduty and cut it apart and used the plug from it. That way I have factory connection that is easy to unplug and remove the flatbed. The best part is, The truck is still completely stock as I avoided cutting the plug off of it. This how I do all my wiring. I always go to junk yards and buy stock pigtails. This particular one cost me $65 just so I could avoid cutting off a factory plug, but in my mind it is well worth it.

Untitled by Jory (Cory) Hubbard, on Flickr

This is a step that bolts onto the bottom of the tail board. I used it as a place to mount auxillary back up lights and my light plug. Its 6061 flatbar that I loaded into the plascam and cut out. Then I put a slight bed in it to much the flatbed angle and welded some other planes in it then welded diamond plate on the top.

Untitled by Jory (Cory) Hubbard, on Flickr

Weld shot. 3/32 tungsten, 1/8 inch filler, number 7 cup

Untitled by Jory (Cory) Hubbard, on Flickr

Untitled by Jory (Cory) Hubbard, on Flickr

I also sanded and polished it before I put the lights and trailer plug in. I tried to get all the extrusion marks lines out. I went 220,400,600,1000, then a cut with yellow wheel and red rouge, then a hand polish. Its not perfect but It turned out very well. I think this is what I will do to the entire bed.

AlaskanTrucker379 · Jan 28, 2016

Working on the wiring in the electronic box

Battery hold down I made in the bridgeport

Untitled by Jory (Cory) Hubbard, on Flickr

Untitled by Jory (Cory) Hubbard, on Flickr

Start of the wiring. Done on a piece of 1/2" abs plastic

Untitled by Jory (Cory) Hubbard, on Flickr

Untitled by Jory (Cory) Hubbard, on Flickr

Untitled by Jory (Cory) Hubbard, on Flickr

High amp fuses and bussbar for items like Amp, air compressor, inverter

Untitled by Jory (Cory) Hubbard, on Flickr

Appropriate ground bus bar for the same thing

Untitled by Jory (Cory) Hubbard, on Flickr

drunk on diesel · Jan 28, 2016

so sick

PLEASE polish the whole thing! I know it's an insane amount of work, but wow...

well done, sir

Dmstrucks02 · Jan 28, 2016

Damn, nice job. Welds look good for self taught!

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Strokin572 · Jan 28, 2016

Wow this looks great! I love your compartments underneath. Once I get around to building my bed I want to do that. What fabrication forum are you on? I've been meaning to find a good one to join. Wiring looks great! I need to start learning all of that so I can just build a harness so I can get my power windows done in my truck instead of spending months trying to find one out of a wrecked truck lol.

ncollins64 · Jan 28, 2016

Man you got some awesome fab skills. Welds and everything in general look awesome. Can't wait to see the finished product.

Snake · Jan 28, 2016

Awesome project! And incredibly well done!

.

ToMang07 · Jan 28, 2016

That thing is ridiculous. Fantastic job.

Jomax · Jan 28, 2016

very nice!!!!!!

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patricku47 · Jan 28, 2016

Man, this thing is awesome!

Barnbuilder · Jan 28, 2016

Two things wrong.
It's too short and it's not on my truck.

NICE!

diezelfreak · Jan 28, 2016

Bed looks awesome. Agree it would look great polished.

Zmann · Jan 28, 2016

that will satisfy my need for "AWESOME" this week

thank you

AlaskanTrucker379 · Jan 28, 2016

Thanks for the compliments. Feel free to throw in critisism too.

@Strokin572 I am member of the Welding Web forum.

The headache rack will have body filler work and be painted gloss black when finished. The rest of the bed will be polished when done. We will see how well it holds up on Alaska roads and how much I keep up with the polishing