Aluminum flatbed how much weight savings?

[Fastang]

I'm thinking of scrapping my dodge's bed in favor of an aluminum flatbed to save weight, and simple ease of use. (It hauls a 3 car wedge 99. 9% of the time). Can I get some pros, cons and good dealers to buy from in the northeast. And if anyone weighed before and after. Thanks alot for any help. .

 

[KBalzuweit]

Hope someone has the anwser, I have thinking the same thing. With a full load of fuel, all my junk, I only have 1200 pounds left and I am at GVWR. The way the LAW has been getting I would like to save some weight myself!

 

[supersonic]

I don't know what a stock bed weighs but my 9' Hillsboro aluminum flatbed weighs about 400lbs. It definately feels light back there.

 

[mbaston]

How much did that flatbed cost you installed?

 

[DCaswell]

Wish I had gone the aluminum route as I am at 4700kg with full fuel & equipment. May make the switch yet.

 

[bmoeller]

Don't know what my flatbed weighs (94"wide X 9' long), but my dad and I can carry it by hand without much trouble. Steel ones are around 600-900# for a pickup truck.



Bought mine used at a consignment sale. When I get her on (hopefully this weekend), after making some repairs and adding a gooseneck hitch, I'll have less in it than a new steel flatbed that would fit a SRW truck. Won't be as purty , but it'll get the job done. Then STACKS! Oo.

 

[MMiller]

Thats kind of odd. I was looking at flatbeds a few years ago. All the manufacturers I talked to said there was almost no weight differnce between steel and aluminium. The reason was they had to add so much more supports to the aluminium ones to get the same amount of strength. These were the farmer use flatbeds though, with headache racks, hitches etc.



Michael

 

[MUDDY]

not countin a gooseneck htch,,,,,,,,,,,,they figger an alum fb weighs half of what a steal one weighs. still gonna weigh close or more thn the factroy pu bed which is thin sheet metal and lite weak plastic fenders.



i be lustin after one of them alum beds for my drw

 

[JThiessen]

Aluminum is roughly 1/3 the weight of steel for an equal volume (ie. , 1' x 1' x 1'). If you were able to get a "box" made of aluminum that closely resembled what you have now, it would be lighter. But aftermarket flatbeds are usually made with 1/4" diamond plate (as oppsed to 1/16" sheet metal), with lots of gussets and such. SO my guess is that a flat bed is actually going to be quit a bit heavier than your stock bed.

 

[Forrest Nearing]

just lose the bed all together... mount an aluminum tool box on the frame rails up close to the cab and mount your GN or 5th wheel hitch above the axle and go

 

[DPelletier]

JThiessen,

I suspect that you're right, an aftermarket aluminum flatdeck likely weighs as much or more than the stock bed and a steel one substantially more. Oh, and FWIW the stock bed is nowhere near 1/16", I wish! More like 24ga metal.



Dave

 

[DPelletier]

JThiessen,

I suspect that you're right, an aftermarket aluminum flatdeck likely weighs as much or more than the stock bed and a steel one substantially more. Oh, and FWIW the stock bed is nowhere near 1/16", I wish! More like 22 - 24ga metal.



Dave

 

[QRTRHRS]

My 97 dually with an Eby flatbed weighs about 7600 lbs. I don't know what stock handles like on wet or icy roads but I like to keep my 100 gallon ag fuel tank filled for ballast.

 

[supersonic]

That's what i'm saying. I weighed my alum bed before we installed it and it weighed 411 lbs. Now let me tell ya, this thing is flat out dangerous on wet roads and in the winter I run with the plate slid all the way back to be safe. I however, don't know what my truck handles like with a regular bed on it as it has always been a cab & chassis truck. But I have driven other trucks setup the same as mine with a regular dually bed and didn't have much trouble out of it at all.

Oh by the way, the bed w/ mounting rails, headache rack, lights, wiring (plugs right in), and 30k lb. GN hitch was about $3,700. 00

 

[QRTRHRS]

You need to take a look at the bed design because Eby for one has some variation depending on your needs. The two main frame rails on mine are very shallow as opposed to one meant to dump. In that case the rails would be like 4 to 6 inches deep.



If I was using my truck 99. 9% of the time to pull a trailer, I would go with a custom fab out of steel. I would make a headache rack and deck only extending to the gooseneck/fifth wheel hitch. I would add some side boxes for storage and some simple fenders.

 

[BrandonF]

We are just finishing touches on a hillsboro flatbed today. 2700. 00 out the door. Hubby and friend installed it. Another sweet aluminum flatbed is Sierra Nevada out of Fresno. Sierra Nevada has a website if you do a search. The Hillsboro is very light. Looks cocky too on my old new 12 valver... .....

 

[bmoeller]

http://www.aluminumflatbeds.net/



Sure look nice.



Here's another one to look at-



http://www.800toolbox.com/products/products.htm

 

[C Schomer]

www.alum-line.com in N-E Iowa makes several styles. The stock box is light. When I sold mine, there was a man at each corner of the box, to lift it off. I counted to three and I thought we were going to throw that thing over the house! I built an rv bed out of mostly steel - the sides are 1/8" alum diamond plate. Just the 1/8" diamond plate steel deck (7'6" long) is almost 300 lbs. Total is 825 and it does OK in snow, for a 2wd. Craig