Goose Neck bed

[Warren Allison]

I saw the perfect bed for hauling gooseneck trailers at the sale yesterday. Man had an F350 with a wrecker bed, but no boom, of course. Bed was solid where they are normally cut out for the boom. The GN ball was right over the axle where it should be, but the bed ended just right behind the rear wheels. I guess for a wrecker you cut the frame off right behind the shackles. You could stand to the side or the back either one, and reach to uncouple the GN, plug up lights etc, standing flat footed. I doubt it was much over 5' from the cab to the end of the bed. Plenty of room between the back of the bed and the front of the trailer. It was aluminum, too. Much shorter than a cowboy bed. I started looking online for one today. Sure would make life easier if my truck had one of these.

 

[ClinchValley86]

I'm lookin for a flatbed for my 99. Crunched the side of the bed last year with the cattle trailer. Hard to find a deal on one that's halfway decent.

Need to get welding downpat and build my own. Might catch me with a wooden bed here soon.

 

[Travlr]

I'm lookin for a flatbed for my 99. Crunched the side of the bed last year with the cattle trailer. Hard to find a deal on one that's halfway decent.

Need to get welding downpat and build my own. Might catch me with a wooden bed here soon.

I've build several flatbeds, both for pickups and trailers... made out of warehouse racks. They hold weight and they have a notch in them that you can lay a 2X in and it fits perfectly. And they take a weld nicely too. I prefer wood beds so I can put screwed in chock blocks behind wheels or boxes that might slide.

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

I have a wood and a steel flatbed. The steel is so slippery (expecially if frosty) that you can't keep anything on it without a couple straps. I toss things on the wood all the time and drive around without straps.

 

[Warren Allison]

Yeah, If I put a wrecker bed on my truck, I won't be able to haul much of anything on it,. but I have other pickups for that. I have a boneyard of V-shaped tailgates for both Ford and Dodge. 3 Ford and 2 Dodge, where I was unhooking at night or the wee hours of the morning. I would let down the tailgate, climb in and unhook the goose neck and lights, get out and jack it up, then close the tailgate and get in to drive off. Then I'd hear a crash. and there would be the tail gate laying on the ground in front of the trailer. I started just waiting til I sold the truck to buy a replacement tailgate for it! My truck is a SRW, so the wrecker bed will fit. They are built for Cab & Chassis. Won't fit on a dually PU.

 

[CowboyRam]

Yeah, If I put a wrecker bed on my truck, I won't be able to haul much of anything on it,. but I have other pickups for that. I have a boneyard of V-shaped tailgates for both Ford and Dodge. 3 Ford and 2 Dodge, where I was unhooking at night or the wee hours of the morning. I would let down the tailgate, climb in and unhook the goose neck and lights, get out and jack it up, then close the tailgate and get in to drive off. Then I'd hear a crash. and there would be the tail gate laying on the ground in front of the trailer. I started just waiting til I sold the truck to buy a replacement tailgate for it! M<y truck is a SRW, so the wrecker bed will fit. They are built for Cab & Chassis. Won't fit on a dually PU.

`Been there done that, but I stopped before I jerked the tailgate the way off. That made it a bit difficult to get it unlatch. The current tailgate had a V shaped dent in it where I forgot to lock the flatbed on to the ball. Drove the tractor on the trailer and almost pushed it into the cab. Had I not backed all the off the trailer I could have pulled the pickup forward a bit and still have a perfect tailgate. It still works so that dent is going to go with the truck when I trade it someday.

 

[Travlr]

I see the ads for trucks with tailgates that open sideways, have fold out steps, and fry up an omelet... and wonder what the replacement cost is when they get dented... And how it's raising all of our insurance rates.

 

[Atimm693]

I see the ads for trucks with tailgates that open sideways, have fold out steps, and fry up an omelet... and wonder what the replacement cost is when they get dented... And how it's raising all of our insurance rates.

To add to all that, the Ford back up cameras can't be removed without breaking them. Smart engineering there.

These new LED taillights with proximity/radar sensors are expensive as all get out too. A whole assembly with everything in it gets into the thousands.

 

[Hogfarmer10]

Yeah, I've seen the "barn door" tailgates. I just don't think I want to take a load of watermelons to the farmers market with one of those tailgates. Heck, I hesitate to take a load with a conventional tailgate!

 

[littletom]

Not sure about the wrecker bed. But i think a regular bed on a working truck is not very practical.

 

[Little Joe]

I see the ads for trucks with tailgates that open sideways, have fold out steps, and fry up an omelet... and wonder what the replacement cost is when they get dented... And how it's raising all of our insurance rates.

I believe I heard someone say they cost in the ballpark of $3k-$4k to replace, no thanks. I bought my wife a 2016 z71 LTZ crew cab silverado back in 2019 through an online auction, it had been totaled out, drove to Baton Rouge to get it and hauled on trailer. Anyway, the damage didn't look too bad, I couldn't believe they totaled it until I got to buying parts. It had the sealed LED headlights, in that model only the LTZ had those so even salvage yard ones were high. $2400 for the set of headlights and that was at cost because a buddy of mine worked at local dealership and got them for me, the salvage ones I was finding was $900 each or $1800/set. I had to replace all the airbags and send the seatbelts off to be reset as they lock in whatever position they are in during an accident, that was a small fortune. If I would've counted my labor, I could've almost bought a truck with a clean title for same money. Sent off the paper work to go from salvage to rebuilt title. After Covid hit and prices went up we sold the truck and she went back to our 2006 Tahoe. Drove the truck year and a half for free basically. These new vehicles are ridiculous to work on and parts are too high. Tahoe has almost 300k miles currently and has several oil leaks so it is about to get a new motor and keep driving it, interior on it looks brand new. Also needs a new paint job as the hood and top has faded, it will get painted some time after motor. I figure I can dump $10k-$12k in it and be almost like new and be better vehicle than anew one.

 

[Little Joe]

Not sure about the wrecker bed. But i think a regular bed on a working truck is not very practical.

Especially as high as some of the beds set, cant reach in there and grab anything.

 

[cfpinz]

To add to all that, the Ford back up cameras can't be removed without breaking them. Smart engineering there.

What year/models does that apply to?

I took the camera out of the tailgate of my 2019 F350 and mounted it on the back of the Hydrabed we put on it. I had to get creative with things, but it wasn't impossible.

 

[Lucky]

I think they make gooseneck couplers that have a cable that runs up the neck of the trailer to latch and unlatch the coupler pin. Seen them on a few catch trailers.

 

[Travlr]

I believe I heard someone say they cost in the ballpark of $3k-$4k to replace, no thanks. I bought my wife a 2016 z71 LTZ crew cab silverado back in 2019 through an online auction, it had been totaled out, drove to Baton Rouge to get it and hauled on trailer. Anyway, the damage didn't look too bad, I couldn't believe they totaled it until I got to buying parts. It had the sealed LED headlights, in that model only the LTZ had those so even salvage yard ones were high. $2400 for the set of headlights and that was at cost because a buddy of mine worked at local dealership and got them for me, the salvage ones I was finding was $900 each or $1800/set. I had to replace all the airbags and send the seatbelts off to be reset as they lock in whatever position they are in during an accident, that was a small fortune. If I would've counted my labor, I could've almost bought a truck with a clean title for same money. Sent off the paper work to go from salvage to rebuilt title. After Covid hit and prices went up we sold the truck and she went back to our 2006 Tahoe. Drove the truck year and a half for free basically. These new vehicles are ridiculous to work on and parts are too high. Tahoe has almost 300k miles currently and has several oil leaks so it is about to get a new motor and keep driving it, interior on it looks brand new. Also needs a new paint job as the hood and top has faded, it will get painted some time after motor. I figure I can dump $10k-$12k in it and be almost like new and be better vehicle than anew one.

I've rebuilt a couple of totaled vehicles. Both had rear end damage and neither cost over $500 to fix, all in. I had a mentor when I was first looking at doing it and he steered me away from anything needing air bags. It's crazy what insurance companies will total.

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

I've rebuilt a couple of totaled vehicles. Both had rear end damage and neither cost over $500 to fix, all in.

Guessing not real recently? Haha $500 dollars doesn't buy much for parts these days. Even rigging something up with wood, baling wire, and duct tape will cost you more than 500 bucks.

 

[Travlr]

Guessing not real recently? Haha $500 dollars doesn't buy much for parts these days. Even rigging something up with wood, baling wire, and duct tape will cost you more than 500 bucks.

Damage on both beds and frame rails bent. Pulled out the beds and used them, and replaced bent frame by welding in straight replacement pieces. One needed a tailgate. One needed a wheel. Those were the most expensive parts. All done in the last five years.

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

These days a rusty crusty tailgate will cost over 500 bucks. A good clean one can run upwards of 1k.

 

[Travlr]

These days a rusty crusty tailgate will cost over 500 bucks. A good clean one can run upwards of 1k.

I've always gotten better deals on things because I make friends with the people I do business with. Still, there are always people that can find fault in ideas, especially when they've never done it.

 

[Brute 23]

Those flip down tailgates have stereos built in also. If you have a receiver hitch in the will hit.

Flat bed prices have gotten crazy high now that all the cool kids have them.