I am planning on making a bed out of 2x2 square tubing. Is 1/8" fine or should I get 3/16"?

what's your opinions?

For the frame of the box? Personally, I think 1/8 will be more than sufficient. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

2 x 2 x 1/8 is more then enough. It weighs a little over 3 pounds per foot. The first one I built was made out of it and weighed over six hundred pounds.



The second one I built is made from 1.5 x .125 round tube and weights about two hundred and fifty pounds.



Be careful with the square tubing it adds up fast

You could actually go with as light of a guage as .065, for reinforcement braces, or support sections across the middle. This one that I built I used a combination from .085 to .125 for the bed itself.


I also used 1/8" diamond plate to reinforce the areas that would be impacted mots on the trail, i.e., the sides and the rear. I used expanded metal for the main section of the bed. The material for the bed itself(not including the round tube), weighed 200lbs. I am not sure what the it weighs finished, but no where near what it would if I had used .250 walled tubing. The difference in weght between 2x2 .095 and .250 is 2.4lbs, or 3lbs/ft compared to 5.4lbs/ft. What you should do is draw up a set of plans, and determine where the impact areas of the bed is, so you know how much of the heavy gauge steel you need to buy, and where you can use a lighter gauge, this will cut down on build costs and total weight. Heavy gauge feels/sounds strong, but is a waste of money(build/gas) when you can use lighter materials and have the same results.

I have pics of the build process, and I also have a chart for the weight of square tubing, I will post them later.

Thanks for the info. I was kind of picturing something like OOP's posted there. But 600 lbs. sounds like a hell of a lot. I don't have a tubing bender and my front bumper/rockers are made of square tube so I don't think round would look right.

Where did you get .095 square tube, snowtoy? Pretty sure the steel yard that I go to only has 1/8, 3/16, 1/4 but I'll double check.

When I built the square tube FB I built everything heavy duty not thinking about the weight. Not only was the tubing all 2 x 2 x .125 the deck and fender material was 12 ga. steel. While the round tube one is, the same design modified a bit, not putting as much bracing of double tubing the fender. I used .100 aluminum plate for the deck that is pop riveted to the framework and the framework for the fenders is 1 x 1 x .125 aluminum angle. After I had it all assembled I used auto seam sealer on all the joints of the deck and fenders. It has taken a lot of abuse in the last few year. Moreover, it is all still tight.

To tell you how much I overbuilt stuff early on, my front winch bumper was made from 5/16 x 4 channel and 1/4 and 5/16 plate and weighted over three hundred pounds without the winch.. My rigged weighed in at about 5,700 pounds. it was a fat <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/oink.gif" alt="" />

I have a local steel/fabricator shop I have been dealing w/for a few yrs now. If they don't have what I need they can order it for me, and I have it in a day or two. The shop does a lot of fab work for race cars, farms, and trailers, general repairs, so they have a variety of material available. A large steel distributor should have all the gauges available, if not check w/a local fabricator. It will also be cheaper to buy drop steel(scrap) then to buy complete lengths of steel. It takes a little longer to gather the pieces you need from the crap pile, but it can save you a lot of money.

OOP's first design could still be built rather lightly. I would use either .095 or .125 for the outer bottom edge, and .065 for the inner rail(the one that sits above the frame rails) with a ladder design, and diamond plate steel covering the ladder design. Something similar to this.

This way any impact to the outer rail is distributed equally along the entire outer and inner pieces, reducing the force of the impact. Then 1x1 for cross bracing between the inner two rails(main bed section) and either cover it w/expanded metal or a piece of diamond plate aluminum. The aluminum will be expensive, I had considered using it but at $6/sq.ft. it become rather expensive really quick. A 6'x4' piece would be $198, and most shops will charge you for the entire 8' piece, so figure another $48.

For the top rail you could use either .095 or .125 1.5"x1.5" sq. tube, it should be strong enough to withstand trail damage with the same type of ladder design.

Once you figure out how much steel you need say if you went with all 2x2, you can figure out the weight with this chart.
, then see how much weight you can save by using different size/gauge material where you don't need 2x2 or a heavy gauge.
And rectangle.

thanks for all the good info. although now you are starting to make me consider finding a good bed to bob. I guess I'll start looking for one and see how much that will cost.

24' piece of 2x2 1/8 is $52 bucks. I figure it will cost me around $100 to build.

$.80 cents a pound, damn that is cheap for new stock. You shouldn't have any problem doing the whole thing for under $200, including consumables, undercoating and paint.

Have you done much body work, bondo and welding? Sectioning the bed is the quick and easy part, getting it to look clean will take probably as long/longer as fabricating the flatbed.

I've never done any body work, bondo
Welding, yes, all the time

I found a guy thats got a rust free(so he says) bed off of a 94 today, gonna go check it out tomorrow and see what he wants for it. My factory bed is rusted beyond repair, but the rest of the truck is really clean, other than some minor rocker damage.

Can't make up my mind which way to go.