Help - Redoing an old Dodge truck bed - wooden

I'm helping a buddy of mine with making a wooden truck bed for a truck that he inherited from his dad when his dad passed away. It's an old Dodge 1972 Crew Cab and the old wooden bed had rotted out of it. My buddy is doing all the body and mechanical work on the old truck and he wants me to machine some Oak boards for the remake of the old bed. I have a length dimension but I have no clue how to get the board "width". Do any of you have any idea how to figure board width of this old truck bed? He said that he thought the old bed had 8 boards in it but that's all we know right now. Any help from any of you would be greatly appreciated.

there should be some straps with holes for the bolts that hold down the steel stripes between each board. if those are gone, they will have to be replaced. the boards end up an upside down short T shape.

White oak is more durable than red oak when exposed to water.

https://www.novausawood.com/trailer-decking

There are aftermarket kits for restoring old truck beds. You might be able to get some info, like number of boards & fasteners, from pictures on the websites. Chip Foose did an old Chevy pickup with a wooden bed that was from a kit. It's on his Foose Design YouTube channel. Search for Chevy C/28.

LMS trucks is another web based company specializing in old Pick-ups

I think doing a wooden bed would be a lot of fun.

This is mostly a math problem that starts by determining how many boards were originally used in the available width and if there was any spacing between then at all...IF that's important to the truck owner to duplicate. If not, I'd suggest you grade your white oak material carefully for this job and choose the number of boards that would best be served by your available material. I'd personally use rift sawn white oak for this project both both strength and looks. Available width from your supplier(s) is going to be a factor here.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Frank Pratt

I think doing a wooden bed would be a lot of fun.

---

My dad didn't think so. His old '64 Chevy truck had a wood deck. My recollection is he replaced it once and the second time it went bad he had a steel plate installed instead. It was used for a business and carried a lot of furniture and appliances.

jtk

In my '51 chevy there were steel cross members with bolt holes that determined the spacing and width of the boards. It had steel channels that covered the joints between the boards and held the boards in place-- the bolts went through the steel, not the wood. The boards needed a rabbet on each top edge for the steel piece. Not quite original, but when I re-did them I substituted stainless bolts and channel material for the original.