Hello. New member with 1985 F150 Flareside

[snakebite8]

 
hello everyone my name is Joe from NJ.  I just picked up a 1985 F150 Flareside.  For two years I stopped by every 6months asking about the truck and the owners finally called me and let me know I can buy it.  the truck was red when new.  they had a pic of it when it was just about new.  its now yellow.  I am restoring the bed right now.  Pics are from the day of me picking it up.  I will post some new pics soon.  Truck has a 4.9 and its a stick and 2wd.  

[1986F150Six]

Welcome!

I look forward to following your progress.

[Gary Lewis]

Welcome!!  Glad you joined us.

Where in NJ?  I ask because we have a member's map and I'd love to put you on if I knew the city.

Nice truck!  Persistence pays off!  

[snakebite8]

thank u.   I am in Toms River

[Gary Lewis]

You are now, quite literally, on the map.  And, I see that you aren't far from where I went to get steel when we live in PA.  Was due east of Philly, some used steel place.

If you don't mind, how 'bout creating a signature with info about your truck.  It really helps us help you w/o asking lots of questions each time.

And, we tend to use first names here as we are a pretty small group, so adding your name to the sig helps as well.  But, it certainly isn't a requirement.

[85lebaront2]

Welcome to our personal nut farm Joe! We are a nice, pretty close knit group and hopefully can help with any problems you may run into.

[snakebite8]

I am happy to have joined the group.  i have been looking for measurements for the wood in the bed. My brother in law is a carpenter.  he wants to make the boards for the bed.    anyone have the sizes?  my truck did not come with any boards and the bed is all apart right now.  

[85lebaront2]

Someone on here just completely rebuild a Flareside bed, hopefully either he will see these posts or Gary will connect you with him.

[Gary Lewis]

Good signature.  

On the bed dimensions, let's make sure we are talking about the same thing.  Our Year-To-Year differences page says "7 pieces of wood and 6 metal strips before 7/82, and 3 pieces of plywood and 5 strips after 7/82."  So yours should have the 5 strips, right?

[Rembrant]

85lebaront2 wrote

Someone on here just completely rebuild a Flareside bed, hopefully either he will see these posts or Gary will connect you with him.

That would have been me.

I can provide any measurements needed, but my bed is currently sitting in the warehouse at my work, and I'm at home right now. First thing Tuesday am I can post info.

[Gary Lewis]

Thought that might be you, Cory.  

But let's get a little bigger view of that illustration on here:




EDIT: I wasn't done!

And, once we get the dimensions we can update this table:

[Rembrant]

Gary Lewis wrote

And, once we get the dimensions we can update this table:

It will be important to know what his intentions are...as in what style of wood floor. Ron/Reamer and I would be two of the very few people that went with a plywood floor with surface mounted metal strips. Most people do go with actual boards with the metal strips sitting in grooves in the wood. I have the Mar-K instructions which shows how to do all this if making your own boards. If it's plywood and surface mounted strips, it's pretty straight forward...but the surface mounted strips are very hard to find (if not impossible).

[grumpin]

Welcome!

[ArdWrknTrk]

Welcome to the forum!  

Rotary cut Fir marine ply would have been stock in '85.

Is it going to be out in the sun a lot?
Is it going to be used as a truck, or just a grocery getter?

If you intend to go with solid wood I strongly suggest 1x8 White Oak for a stock appearance or one of the tropical hardwoods for durability.

I can offer some advise for color, janka hardness, split resistance, sustainability and cost if you know what you want it to end up looking like.

[snakebite8]

I only have four metal strips for the bed and they are very rusty so I am thinking I am missing one or two.  looks like I will have to replace all of them.  I did not know I could just use plywood.   I am not making a show truck.  I am just really trying to get it on the road and usable.  so I am really trying to save as much money as I can.  I am repairing the sides of the beds now and fixing the fiber glass flares.  the decklid is in great shape.  the rear piece of the bed is rusty on the bottom but I believe I can repair it.  all the other metal needs to be replaced.  I will take pics and show u what I have tonight.  

[Gary Lewis]

The Flareside beds changed as of 7/82 build dates.  Prior to that they had 5 individual boards, and after that they had two (three?) pieces of plywood and most of the metal strips were on top of the boards.

[Rembrant]

The outside dimensions of the wood floor would be 78.5" long, and 54" wide. The original floor was 3/4" thick. The thickness is determined by the spacing on the front and rear sills. If you go with a thicker wood, it won't fit in the end sills.

Here is what mine looked like before installation. I went with approximately 3/8" gap between sections.



And after installation with metal strips on top. (Two strips are covering gaps, and the other three are just sitting on top of the plywood.)



However...I have to note that they were special strips that were flush on the bottom side (for surface mounting). They came with a used bed I purchased and have no idea where they came from originally. They are not the original Ford strips.

The new strips you buy now are made to sit "into" grooves in the boards. See below:

[snakebite8]

THANK U EVERYONE!   U GUYS R THE BEST!!  

[Gary Lewis]

Welcome to the family.

[Ford F834]

Gary, is this info (dimensions, end profiles etc.,) in documentation? Or might this be a good post to add in the resources folder? Questions about bed wood get asked a lot, for obvious reasons...

Welcome to the group Joe!