nico
Advanced Member
HI,
I am a newbie to start. I am zeroing in on a purchase for a four wheel camper this year. I have a dodge ram 2500 diesel tquad cab longbed that will double as a work truck and my families recreational vehicle. I currently have the stock bed on it but I am looking into options for a flatbed. I will likely go with either a hawk or grandby flatbed model and leaning towards the grandby flatbed model(wife, 2 kids, dog). The norweld beds are too far out of my price range... I have been puzzled by all the different options for the flatbed and the prices seem to be all over the place. I am really looking for a thread/resource where people talk about their same experience in buying/fabricating a flatbed(tried to find through search functions but was unable). The first thought/question I have is steel vs aluminum. I know this subject has been beat to heck and back but my welding buddy says we should build a custom bed out of thing gauge steel. He claims the weight of this proposed bed with not be significantly different than the aluminum beds and will offer the ability to easily customize the bed in the future. I am planning on going with a wood deck to cut down on weight and cost. I have read a few others have ordered flatbeds from companies online for under 3k and I am curios of the quality and the availability of those.
I apologize for my scattered thoughts here I wish I could of written up a more organized post. The options I am looking for in the flatbed are: ability to add under boxes by the wheel wells on both sides and potentially adding some sort of slide out box underneath the bed in the future, and I am truing to configure a way to have a removable lumber rack for work that would have the main body attached to the flatbed and run on the outside of where the flatbed sits. This would have removable crossbars for lumber and such. The front portion of this rack that goes forward of the campers bed area could also have a cage welded in for storage.
Anyhow Thats what I have and I appreciate everyones thougths and guidance. This is going to be a huge investment for me and hoping I can make this happen for my 2 boys who are 2 and a newborn.
Thanks!
I am a newbie to start. I am zeroing in on a purchase for a four wheel camper this year. I have a dodge ram 2500 diesel tquad cab longbed that will double as a work truck and my families recreational vehicle. I currently have the stock bed on it but I am looking into options for a flatbed. I will likely go with either a hawk or grandby flatbed model and leaning towards the grandby flatbed model(wife, 2 kids, dog). The norweld beds are too far out of my price range... I have been puzzled by all the different options for the flatbed and the prices seem to be all over the place. I am really looking for a thread/resource where people talk about their same experience in buying/fabricating a flatbed(tried to find through search functions but was unable). The first thought/question I have is steel vs aluminum. I know this subject has been beat to heck and back but my welding buddy says we should build a custom bed out of thing gauge steel. He claims the weight of this proposed bed with not be significantly different than the aluminum beds and will offer the ability to easily customize the bed in the future. I am planning on going with a wood deck to cut down on weight and cost. I have read a few others have ordered flatbeds from companies online for under 3k and I am curios of the quality and the availability of those.
I apologize for my scattered thoughts here I wish I could of written up a more organized post. The options I am looking for in the flatbed are: ability to add under boxes by the wheel wells on both sides and potentially adding some sort of slide out box underneath the bed in the future, and I am truing to configure a way to have a removable lumber rack for work that would have the main body attached to the flatbed and run on the outside of where the flatbed sits. This would have removable crossbars for lumber and such. The front portion of this rack that goes forward of the campers bed area could also have a cage welded in for storage.
Anyhow Thats what I have and I appreciate everyones thougths and guidance. This is going to be a huge investment for me and hoping I can make this happen for my 2 boys who are 2 and a newborn.
Thanks!