Just wondering if anyone has ordered a wood bed kit for their Stepside ?

[roguewave]

I’m doing a restoration on my original no rust truck and was going to mill some wood and and clean up the metal strips and repaint them black. Don’t have a lot of time to do all that so I was looking at these bed kits that include everything. Has anyone bought and used one of these kits? We’re you happy with it? I don’t want any chrome stuff, going back as close to factory as I can, except I’m not painting (sealing) the wood black as it came form the factory.
Thoughts?

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[AuroraGirl]

I’m doing a restoration on my original no rust truck and was going to mill some wood and and clean up the metal strips and repaint them black. Don’t have a lot of time to do all that so I was looking at these bed kits that include everything. Has anyone bought and used one of these kits? We’re you happy with it? I don’t want any chrome stuff, going back as close to factory as I can, except I’m not painting (sealing) the wood black as it came form the factory.
Thoughts?

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Are you saying you just want a hardware kit.. or wood too?

 

[SDJunkMan]

I have no experience with them, but this is a company I am looking at for pieces when I restore the bed on mine:
https://www.mar-k.com/

 

[roguewave]

Are you saying you just want a hardware kit.. or wood too?

the whole thing….fasteners, metal strips and wood

 

[roguewave]

This is a company that offers it all….


https://bedwood.com/products/1973-1...complete-bedwood®-kits?variant=32828144549942

 

[AuroraGirl]

the whole thing….fasteners, metal strips and wood

Some here have used lmc I know but I don’t recall

 

[Ken B]

I have purchased but not installed parts from classic parts.com
Got wood. Bolt kit and strips

 

[sirweesarunch]

I put the oak kit in my 66 gmc and that was the biggest mistake ever. Oak is a highly reactive wood to temperature and moisture changes. It cracks like a mother——er. Epitong is the correct wood for truck beds. I dont know if these kits come with that wood. I havent looked at those kits in 20 years.


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[Bennyt]

I haven't personally used either major brand, Bedwood or Mar-K, but I know a bunch of people that have locally and they have no complaints about either however most seem to seem to prefer the Mar-K brand. I have spoken to the guy from Bedwood multiple times about some stuff for my son's wood floor fleetside and he has been very helpful and polite if that means anything.

I think that since you are doing your own wood as you stated in your post, you probably can't go wrong with either for the strips and hardware. While, it isn't factory correct, you can hide the bed mounting hardware and use shorter bolts from the bottom up and use nuts on the crossrails as opposed to through bolts and offset washers.

I believe the reason, and I could be wrong, that the wood was originally black was they painted it body color after assembly. i know the fleetside was done that way at least.

 

[peats]

i did the bed wood on my '81 myself. it takes a bit of precision to get it right. used Bruce Horkey on my '69. he has been doing it for a long time and will get it right the first time but might not be the cheapest.

 

[Raider L]

I got a wild hair and looked into redoing my long bed floor in wood. I contacted Mar-K and got a good email from him. I didn't know how to do something like that myself and have NO wood working tools except a circular saw and a couple of jig saws, some people call them "saber saws", whatever, and a hand saw or two. I'm talking about routers, plainers, jointers, and all that sort of real wood working tools stuff.

He even had a hardware kit that was for doing some metal work in the fact I don't have a step side but rather a fleet side long bed. I would have to cut the floor out to accommodate all the stuff for a complete new wood bed floor. But it was high as HELL!! Thousands of dollars. I looked all over trying to find the email, it had prices and everything, dimensions and all for my truck. But I think I chunked it because it was just a fantasy anyway and very expensive, it's gone. I didn't think there was a such a thing as a long bed with a wood floor, but of course GM does, it's a step side long bed with a wood floor. You just don't see them much.

Mar-K only offers the bed floors in Oak, or Pine. Now, what kind of Pine I don't know. It could be Douglas Fir or some other kind of real good "Pine". It couldn't be regular 'ol Louisiana White Pine, that stuff is soft and rots in wet conditions, and ain't good for nothin' but pulp wood (furniture) and making paper. lol

 

[roguewave]

I have purchased but not installed parts from classic parts.com
Got wood. Bolt kit and strips

Did you get the pre drilled bed mounting holes done?

 

[roguewave]

I got a wild hair and looked into redoing my long bed floor in wood. I contacted Mar-K and got a good email from him. I didn't know how to do something like that myself and have NO wood working tools except a circular saw and a couple of jig saws, some people call them "saber saws", whatever, and a hand saw or two. I'm talking about routers, plainers, jointers, and all that sort of real wood working tools stuff.

He even had a hardware kit that was for doing some metal work in the fact I don't have a step side but rather a fleet side long bed. I would have to cut the floor out to accommodate all the stuff for a complete new wood bed floor. But it was high as HELL!! Thousands of dollars. I looked all over trying to find the email, it had prices and everything, dimensions and all for my truck. But I think I chunked it because it was just a fantasy anyway and very expensive, it's gone. I didn't think there was a such a thing as a long bed with a wood floor, but of course GM does, it's a step side long bed with a wood floor. You just don't see them much.

Mar-K only offers the bed floors in Oak, or Pine. Now, what kind of Pine I don't know. It could be Douglas Fir or some other kind of real good "Pine". It couldn't be regular 'ol Louisiana White Pine, that stuff is soft and rots in wet conditions, and ain't good for nothin' but pulp wood (furniture) and making paper. lol

the proper (factory) pine to use is yellow pine, quite durable.

 

[Ken B]

I got pre drilled

 

[Bennyt]

...I didn't think there was a such a thing as a long bed with a wood floor, but of course GM does, it's a step side long bed with a wood floor...

Wood floor was available in Long Bed Fleetside from 73-7?. I've heard only about 3000 were made before the $100 option was dropped. By the late 70's, pretty much every farmer/ rancher had a livestock trailer and didn't need the benefit of a flat wood floor for their animals so sales were probably minimal for that reason. GM built 18 million(?) of these squarebody trucks over 20 years so 3000 is a pretty small percentage. I think Mar-K or Bedwood said they have only sold 1-2 wood kits for them ever.

That being said, we have one that we cut down to a shortbed for my son's truck to make his truck unique. Almost nothing is interchangeable with other wood floor beds other than some hardware and the chrome bedstrips and no other parts are available. And there is zero resources so it has been a PITA to work with on a modified truck as it interferes with some suspension and frame mods. It will be worth all the hassle in the end but It definitely added a lot of time and expense to the build so far.