Rebuilt Flatbed Should Last Forever

Rebuilt Flatbed Should Last Forever PICKUPS Miscellaneous 24-4-17 When the bed on his 1978 Chevy 3/4-ton pickup rusted out, Leonard Seltzer, Manhattan, Ill., replaced it with a flatbed off an old Chevy 1/2-ton pickup that had been used as a portable welding rig. Seltzer bought the 1/2-ton pickup and bed for about $150. The flatbed on it had a wooden floor that was rotten. He removed it and put in a new wooden floor made from 2 by 8 and 2 by 10 planks. He sandblasted the metal frame and welded on new 8-in. high, 1/4-in. thick steel side plates. He installed a gooseneck hitch in the center of the bed's floor and a Luverne cushion-type shock hitch on back, with a pintle hook just above it. He also installed new "cluster pack" lights on back as well as side lights to make the pickup road legal. "I'll keep this pickup forever. Why should I spend $15,000 to $20,000 on a new one when this one runs just fine?," says Seltzer. "I replaced the pickup's rear 1-ton spring pack in order to improve the rig's hauling capacity. My total cost to recondition the flatbed was about $500." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Leonard Seltzer, 16040 W. Elwood Manhattan Rd., Manhattan, Ill. 60442 (ph 815 478-3578).

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