M37 Wooden Bed

[Doc Dave]

Norm,
Do they have any old time lumber yards in southern California? ;)
I would suggest to you, J.S., to consider buying rough lumber from a country sawmill, unless time is of the essence.
My lumber was from the Mennonite run sawmill here in my county.
I bought it rough cut 1 inch a few years ago, and it has been drying slowly in my garage, properly stacked. However, a lot of these country sawmills have wood already dried and laid up for sale. I could have bought dried wood from him, but in my case I had time, and I wanted to be sure it was all clear...free of any knots, and I was not sure of the dry wood he had at the time.
Knots in wood like oak lead to twisting and warping, which you want to really avoid in a bed.
What I got was nice, clear white oak, much cheaper compared to what you would pay at a commercial lumber supplier.

[Bruce]

Cherry

I put 600 BF up a while back, someday I am going to make a secretary of it? Re-stacked/stuck twice already. Wood is good!

[Doc Dave]

Bruce.
That should be nice.
I laid up some black walnut several years ago from a tree an employee cut down, and I made my computer desk out of it and my brother in law used it for some furniture at his house.
He also made our fireplace mantle out of some cherry that he got from a country sawmil and let dry for 3 or 4 years.

[MoparNorm]

Norm,
Do they have any old time lumber yards in southern California? ;)....

Of course, but our mills here are not "old time" mills in your sense, we have grading requirements, seismic codes, etc. there is no such thing as a raw cut lumber mill unless you travel up into the Sierra's and most of those are long closed down due to Environmental regs.
The reference to Home Depot was a joke because no Lowe's or Home Depot has wood that is even legal to use in buildings out here. Their wood is not properly graded for use in permitted and inspected buildings.

[JStinson]

Easy choice

Norm,
Do they have any old time lumber yards in southern California? ;)
I would suggest to you, J.S., to consider buying rough lumber from a country sawmill, unless time is of the essence.
My lumber was from the Mennonite run sawmill here in my county.
I bought it rough cut 1 inch a few years ago, and it has been drying slowly in my garage, properly stacked. However, a lot of these country sawmills have wood already dried and laid up for sale. I could have bought dried wood from him, but in my case I had time, and I wanted to be sure it was all clear...free of any knots, and I was not sure of the dry wood he had at the time.
Knots in wood like oak lead to twisting and warping, which you want to really avoid in a bed.
What I got was nice, clear white oak, much cheaper compared to what you would pay at a commercial lumber supplier.

Hehe, thats an easy decision, there's a sawmill about 20 miles down the road, I'll get it from there.

[Kaiser2boy]

Use caution pressure treated wood wood can cause steel to rot due to the copper used in the procsess.
There have been a few decks that failed because the hangers rotted out from the galvantic reation between the copper and the steel.

[JStinson]

Geeze

Use caution pressure treated wood wood can cause steel to rot due to the copper used in the procsess.
There have been a few decks that failed because the hangers rotted out from the galvantic reation between the copper and the steel.

...this thread is ancient. Well, the bed is in, good old fashioned White Oak. It was an easy choice because a friend actually gave me the material (free). I cut and bolted it in just right and oiled it with motor oil (take that EPA). Then I took some epic pictures of it. Anyway, the M37 is pickled right now, I got done with the project in 2008 some time I think, and I had my fun with the machine. I'm moving on in life now so I won't have time to tinker with it, so it sits, waiting patiently for when I can play with it some more.





Since that last one was taken, I have oiled the ends of the boards.

[Bruce]

Free Is Good

Looks fairly good too, OD is good as well.

[JStinson]

Looks fairly good too, OD is good as well.

OD is a Krylon special :D

[Kaiser2boy]

Not to beat a dead horse but I see the bed you installed.
it looks just fine. I know it is a blasphme to some but so what. It works , it looks good and it did not cost $500 and a lot of work.
My question to you is , what did you do about all the bolts around the edge of the wheel wells and sides?

I have mine apart and I am thinking of going with the wood bed.
In my truck the cross members are just sitting there and look like they are only held in place by a few bolts into the wheel wells and sides.
I have considered welding the cross braces to the wells etc. Bolting it where the tool box door latches are , undercoating it and then the wood bolted as you did.
If you did not bolt the wood to the wells ect what holds them from flopping around?

[Bruce]

It Worx

I think he bolted it right over the existing floor?

[JStinson]

Worx it does!

The bed is bolted to the metal cross members (four of them) that run perpendicular to the frame. The cross members are welded to the bed I think (it's been a long time, I'm forgetting stuff about it). I assure you that nothing is flopping around, it's rock solid.

The existing bed was way too far gone to consider using for anything, it was total trash.

[Kaiser2boy]

Hmm. I thought about that but figured it would be a crumby thing. The bed could just keep on rusting unseen and cause some real problems down the road.

[Kaiser2boy]

The bed is bolted to the metal cross members (four of them) that run perpendicular to the frame. The cross members are welded to the bed I think (it's been a long time, I'm forgetting stuff about it). I assure you that nothing is flopping around, it's rock solid.

The existing bed was way too far gone to consider using for anything, it was total trash.

That sounds like an ok set up.
I removed the rusted bed from mine and found that after the bolts were removed the sides were loose.
All of the cross members could be lifted out.
That part worked out because I could clean and rust prof them.
I reinstalled them and welded them to the spots where they went on the side and wheel wells.
I stuck a bolt through each hole prior to welding them so that when I bolt down the wood the bolts will line up with the old holes.
I know I will need to drill a few more but the more the merrier.
I am useing elevator bolts to spread out the stress and have a flat deck.
I was surprised at the lack of rust under the old bed. Not so happy with the number of Mud Dauber homes I found. It will be a chore just removing all the Mud Dauber tubes.

[Doc Dave]

Here is my bed on the '52 B-3 with white oak finished with marine spar varnish, and stainless strips from Mar-K