Considering a flatbed
I have a 2015 Ram 3500 DRW. I love the truck and it tows great. I'm considering replacing the box with a gooseneck flatbed. I'm looking at the Knapheide PGNB $2300 or PGNC $4500. Does any h...
Forum Discussion
About $6k for the deck, two 3' under deck boxes, 30K lb Curt gooseneck, 30K lb SuperHitch receiver, installation and tax back in late 2014. I bought the upper 4' boxes mid 2017 for about $300/ea with shipping and installed them myself.
My truck is a Ram 5500 with a 19k lb GVWR, so weight was less of a concern than it will be for you. My budget did not allow for custom builds, aluminum or a utility bed. I also needed a deck that could handle my 6000 lb camper without tearing itself up, so I have heavy steel deck with structural stake pockets working as my camper tie down points.
I would suggest a configuration like this for you with some changes:
1. Shop OR or ID to save on sales tax over WA.
2. Go aluminum instead of steel for your setup to keep sufficient payload.
3. My chassis cab uses a 9' deck while your pickup will use an 8' version.
4. Cab to axle is shorter in your pickup. You can fit 24x18x18 boxes fore and aft of the rear axle for under deck storage.
5. My above deck boxes are 18" tall. I will need to remove my rear boxes to tow some gooseneck trailers. You will need to assume the deck height with be at the current height of your wheel wells and decide if you can can use lower profile boxes along the sides or just big cross-deck boxes forward of the gooseneck.
When I had a SRW, I could not make the numbers work for me to convert to a deck with boxes. Even if I could configure a deck and boxes that weighed the same as the pickup bed, I didn't have enough payload left to carry anything in the newly created space. Utility beds and storage boxes are heavy - Be careful to not use all your payload for the container and have nothing left over for what you want to carry.
My truck is a Ram 5500 with a 19k lb GVWR, so weight was less of a concern than it will be for you. My budget did not allow for custom builds, aluminum or a utility bed. I also needed a deck that could handle my 6000 lb camper without tearing itself up, so I have heavy steel deck with structural stake pockets working as my camper tie down points.
I would suggest a configuration like this for you with some changes:
1. Shop OR or ID to save on sales tax over WA.
2. Go aluminum instead of steel for your setup to keep sufficient payload.
3. My chassis cab uses a 9' deck while your pickup will use an 8' version.
4. Cab to axle is shorter in your pickup. You can fit 24x18x18 boxes fore and aft of the rear axle for under deck storage.
5. My above deck boxes are 18" tall. I will need to remove my rear boxes to tow some gooseneck trailers. You will need to assume the deck height with be at the current height of your wheel wells and decide if you can can use lower profile boxes along the sides or just big cross-deck boxes forward of the gooseneck.
When I had a SRW, I could not make the numbers work for me to convert to a deck with boxes. Even if I could configure a deck and boxes that weighed the same as the pickup bed, I didn't have enough payload left to carry anything in the newly created space. Utility beds and storage boxes are heavy - Be careful to not use all your payload for the container and have nothing left over for what you want to carry.
