Forum Discussion

iwanttoretireea's avatar
May 16, 2020

Curb weight of flat bed vs. a regular bed?

I'm getting more interested in buying a regular truck camper made for a regular pick up truck BUT putting it on a flat bed pickup truck.

This is what this couple did: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BwGijULZt0

The pros of this strategy is you get to build a bunch of storage boxes on the sides where the left and right walls of a normal pickup truck bed would be.

The couple in this video had a stainless steel bed which dramatically increased their curb weight. Normally, do flat beds have more or less curb weight than a regular bed?
  • jdc1's avatar
    jdc1
    Explorer II
    Let's put it this way....how many F150 have you seen with a flatbed? The steel substructure structure on a flatbed outweighs the bed of a regular truck.
  • I carried my 11' TC on a Chevy dually with an aluminum flatbed. I really don't know how the weight compares but I would guess with an aluminum bed it's probably close to the same. With a steel or stainless bed it probably adds a good bit of weight.
    My truck weighs just under 9,000 pounds with out a camper on it. However, I have the upper and lower boxes on the flatbed pretty much full with tools and materials for my electrical contracting work.
  • jdc1 wrote:
    Let's put it this way....how many F150 have you seen with a flatbed? The steel substructure structure on a flatbed outweighs the bed of a regular truck.


    Yeah I'm thinking aluminum flat bed and no bells and whistles. Hopefully the bed is also strong enough to have a truck camper put on.
  • Lot of variables.
    When flatbeds are generally much heavier than standard beds, if you buy small aluminium bed, the difference will be marginal.
    Than Ford in last years is using aluminium beds, who with couple of other changes shaved 500 lb between a year of the same truck model.
    So if you already have aluminum bed and replace it with aluminium flatbed, the difference is going to be big.
    If you have steel bed and replace it with aluminium flatbed, that will make for small difference.
    Than when you add buch of storage boxes, you go up again.
  • iwanttoretireearly wrote:
    Normally, do flat beds have more or less curb weight than a regular bed?


    Very likely yes, because they are made of to varuis type of tube steel and heavy gauge decking, whereas a OEM truck but is all sheet metal that's bend formed.
  • I have an Eby 8'6" aluminum flatbed , it weighs about 400# , which is approximately what an 8' steel pickup bed weighs . A steel flatbed would be well over 1000# . You didn't mention the vehicle it's going on .