custom truck deck.

[AMCguy]

I have a lawn maintenance business. My old pickup truck was getting a little long in the tooth and I was sick of pulling a trailer. So I got myself a GMC W3500. The basic cab and chassis are built by Isuzu in Japan. Then it gets shipped to Janesville WI. There the Chevrolet 6.0 liter engine, 4L80E trans and all related plumbing and wiring are installed.

I wanted a custom all steel deck. Not some angle iron and lumber thing you would find on a generic delivery truck. I went to all the truck body up-fitters in the greater Vancouver area and they all told me the same thing. If I didn't want something they already had in stock they would build from my blueprint, but I would have to wait a long time and it would cost me.

So, I got down to work. I needed the truck finished for the start of my season. That meant build deck now finish garage later.

The truck, cutting the steel to length, pre-drilling the holes for lighting.

The basic layout.

Corner detail. I like to use a length of receiver tubing. That way you can drop in a post that serves any purpose, as long as its made from 2x2 tubing. You can either secure the post with a 5/8'' pin or weld a 1/2'' nut over the hole and secure the post with a bolt, like a set screw.

Here is were I lost a bunch of pictures. They are gone forever. I should have let one of my kids handle this.

The finished piece. The wood sides are 5/4'' x 6'' western red cedar decking. Three coats of Olympic deck stain. The hardware is all stainless. It should look good for years.

I inlayed the checker plate rather than scab it over the frame.

Thanks for looking.

 

[2chipped]

vERY NICE LOVE THE CEDAR

 

[Cryptic1911]

pardon my french, but that looks ****** awesome.. great job dude!

 

[Beater]

That's awesome.

 

[Adam McLaughlin]

The contrast of cedar to the dark steel paint looks great!

Adam

 

[blackice]

looks sweet. Are you planning on adding a ramp to get the mowers in?

 

[AMCguy]

Yes. I have since added hinge points to the rear and built left and right side two piece fold-down ramps.

 

[akdiesel]

You do great work. I can only imagine what the lawns look like.

 

[A_Pmech]

It looks to me like you're in the wrong business!

Great work!

 

[kbs2244]

"That meant build deck now finish garage later."

No need to apoligize for that.
Shops are meant to be worked in, not on.

It looks real nice.
I would like to see how you did your ramps.

 

[AMCguy]

Sure. Here you go. This is what I welded to the back end of the truck.

There are two ramps, a left and a right. That way if we only need a walk behind mower down, we only have to drop one ramp. They are made from only two things, 2'' x 2'' x 1/8'' wall tubing and 11 3/4'' x 1 1/2'' Diamond Grip planks. This was the cleanest, simplest, lightest, easiest to paint, cheapest and least time consuming thing I could think of. I have to admit I spent way more time thinking about this than it would have taken to build something far more complicated. I like simple though. I believe simplicity is the ultimate in design. It is what I always try to achieve when I build something. It's what keeps my mind occupied most of the time.

The back of the truck is only 28'' high. The front of the ramps hinge there and again in the middle. With the help of a single torsion spring on each side, they are a one hand operation.

 

[rshadd]

Pretty sweet setup. Nice work!

 

[wreckercologist]

Nice work, AMC!

Much nicer than some of the ones around here......I swear they look like they would fall apart if you breathed on them too hard!

What brand/type of paint did you use for the deck?

 

[AMCguy]

I used Tremclad gloss black. The entire frame, top, bottom, inside and out has two coats. The decking got two coats on the bottom side and was then welded down to the crossmembers through 1/2'' holes using rosette welds. This nets zero weld induced distortion. Then the deck got three coats from above. The sides got another coat while I was at it. I used a single four inch foam roller for the whole job. It took two gallons.

 

[kbs2244]

You keep teasing me!
Now I want to see the torsion spring set up for the ramps..

BTW. You might want to copyright these plans!

 

[wreckercologist]

I used a single four inch foam roller for the whole job. It took two gallons.

Excellent results! Easy to touch up too!

I use a foam roller at work from time to time. Sooooo much faster than a brush and more coverage than a spray can, plus the painter at work is usually up to his eyes in trucks and I don't want to wait.

 

[KenS]

Here is were I lost a bunch of pictures. They are gone forever. I should have let one of my kids handle this.

If you still have the camera memory card that contained the photos, you may be able to recover the missing pictures even if the card has been reformatted and/or other photos taken with it. There are several utilities for both PCs and Macintoshes that work very well. I use the free Exif Untrasher on the Mac with excellent results.

The instructional value of the steps you took fabricating the frame through the welding process would be an excellent addition to this thread.

Thanks for taking the time to post.

 

[Kevin54]

When not landscaping in the winter months, I think you should take up the slack time building truck decks. I can only imagine you making darn good money at it. Your attention to detail is fabulous. That is probably a more "high end" deck than you could ever imagine going out and buying. If you don't mind me asking, what kind of money do you have in materials?

 

[t. jones]

Real nice! Are the ramps strong enuff for your Nash? Did you build the shop too?
Thanx Trevor

 

[ihredo4]

That is sweet man. I like the detail you put into the bed. Wouldn't have thought about inleying the deck until it was to late. lol As for the shop I wish I had one that size. I could redo near any tractor I would want then.

 

[AMCguy]

Once again I must say thank you to all of you who have made me feel welcome with your comments.

kbs2244 I'll get you some pictures as soon as I get my camera woes in order.

KenS Thanks, I'll look into it.

Kevin54 Thanks, The truck body manufacturers all wanted around $7,000.00 for a crapy old angle iron and wood deck. Sharp edges, crappy welds, knots galore in the wood, painted top side only and most of all ugly. And they expected me to snap it up and happily drive down the road with thier name on my mudflaps. Not a chance. I never got an exact quote for my plan because it was all in my head. However from the description I gave them of what I wanted, one manufacturer "estimated" $15,000.00, another said that it wasn't possible. It pissed me off and into action. I paid under $1,400.00 for everything and I still have quite a bit of steel left over for other projects.

t. jones I can drive my car up the ramps. However to use the truck as a car hauler the side boards need to come off. It's only a five minute job, but the truck looks ugly with just the rear posts and ramps in place. For taking my car to the track on weekends I'll be getting some lightweight aluminum one piece ramps that I can store under the deck.

Yep! Built the shop too. You can check it out more here.
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=51187

Thanks, I've got my eyes on a John Deere model D I'd like to restore. It's my favorite Johnny popper.

 

[Jared]

That deck looks awesome, By the way nice job on your shop looks good.

 

[nolatoolguy]

WOW thats pretty nice

have A feeling its better quality then if you were to buy one lol