Heavy truck wooden bed floors

[stitchdup]

I'm building the emhar bedford and i've hit a snag with the bed floor. Its a wooden top but is there steel under it? This era is 40 years before i was born and finding reference isn't easy. I'm close to painting it so any help is appreciated

[Ace-Garageguy]

This later model Bedford shows a bed where the heavy longitudinal planks are apparently laid over transverse steel cross-supports (welded to a perimeter steel floor frame), in turn supported by wooden longitudinal spacers laid over the top of the frame rails.

This was a common way to do it back then, but I don't know if your prototype was built that way.

 

Edited October 24 by Ace-Garageguy
punctiliousness

[Ace-Garageguy]

Here you go. Bed underside details start at about 3 minutes in.

Heavy longitudinal wooden planks laid over wooden transverse supports, assembly through-bolted to longitudinal wooden spacers clamped on top of the steel frame rails.

I'd guess the side members of the perimeter bed frame itself are steel (to better support the two bolts on every hinge), but the rest of the bed members appear to be wood.

 

Edited October 24 by Ace-Garageguy
punctiliousness

[Straightliner59]

On 10/24/2025 at 6:41 AM, Ace-Garageguy said:

This later model Bedford shows a bed where the heavy longitudinal planks are apparently laid over transverse steel cross-supports (welded to a perimeter steel floor frame), in turn supported by wooden longitudinal spacers laid over the top of the frame rails.

This was a common way to do it back then, but I don't know if your prototype was built that way.

 

 

That's how virtually every lumber truck I ever drove was constructed, if it had a wooden bed.