[AT] Big Truck Pickups

[James Peck]

I was once in the Warren Michigan civic center for an activity and saw a display of all the items that had been manufactured at the former Chrysler Tank plant. It was a great bunch of photos and a number of the machines  I had never seen.

Carl Szabelski AT list member and tank knowledge resource (szabelski at wildblue.net);  In Warren, MI (just north of Detroit), there is a fellow who owns a tree service and has a small wood mill. When taking down large elm trees he cuts them in long lengths and saws them into 2 inch thick boards. He then kiln dries them to make floor boards for dump trucks that are used for hauling broken concrete. It keeps the bottom of the beds from being punctured when the broken cement is dumped into the trucks.

James AT List Member and advocate of upgradeable tractor vocational training (jamesgpeck at hotmail.com); I have seen 1/2 ton pickups where the stamped floor rails are scalloped between the laterals due to loads carried. My question is whether the F450 Ford or aftermarket F650 have bed floors that will carry the rated load as well as a wood floor would. The hot rudders have embraced wood pickup bed floors for esthetic reasons. They likely are the higher capacity option.

https://www.rodauthority.com/features/ask-the-experts/why-choose-bed-wood-when-replacing-your-truck-bed/