When the horrible heat breaks, I need to put a new wood deck on my old truck. I found the steel frame on the dump bed to be really rusted and replaced most of the cross members with a heavier channel iron than original.
What fastener is best to put 2 x 12s on to a steel frame. I looked for self tapping screws and didn't find anything rated to do the four inch channel iron. Maybe I need to look more.
Suggestions?
Karl
Carriage Bolts, hot galvanized. If you are looking for self-tapping screws you obviously don't want to do as much work as carriage bolts will involve, but they do the job quite well.
For something you can install/remove from the topside only, I think I have seen large flatheads used on some trailer decks. Probably these:
Well that was useless - darned websites that don't use real pages.
Look at triangular shank wood-to-metal thread-forming screws.
On 7/5/2012 5:42 AM, Karl Townsend wrote: ...
I shot powder-actuated twisted-shank fasteners (obtained from the local truck grain bed manufacturer). They're the cat's meow...
I'm not sure if they were Hilti or some other variety. I don't think the BORGS w/ all their propensity for Remington stuff have anything like 'em; at least I've not seen them (altho it's probably been 20 years since I did this; who knows what they've got in stock or Remington makes now).
I've used a knurled fastener w/ a threaded back end to mount clips to the booms on the sprayer to avoid major dismantling where couldn't stand the heat of a weld otherwise owing to all the tubing, control wiring, etc. It's a mild steel structural channel so they'll go w/ the right charge.
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They make a screw specifically for mounting 2 by deck boards to truck and trailer beds. Its drill point with a couple ears that make a larger hole through the wood then break off when they hit the metal so the screw can thread in. I have a half box of them ont eh shelf.
On 7/5/2012 10:39 AM, Bob La Londe wrote: ...
Those don't have enough drill to them to make it into a regular structural channel flange, though, will they? IIUC, Karl's replaced at least most of the original rolled steel supports w/ channel...
I tried at least a variant of that before shooting the old truck bed here and didn't have much (as in any) joy. It is a 38-series grain bed with rails which were also rolled but somewhat heavier than a factory pickup support rail.
There's undoubtedly one that will work but the ones I got which were supposed to be able to do the job weren't up to the specific task at hand.
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I used them to do a boat trailer I converted to flat bed and added several pieces of C channel cross members, but I cheated. I predrilled all the holes. When I redid the boards on my dad's flatbed I just shot them straight in though.
Pre-drilling the holes and then following up with the self threading fasteners is likely the best option. Load up two drills with the appropriate pilot drill and driver bit and it should go reasonably quickly. Unlike the power-actuated option the fasteners will still be removable.
On 7/5/2012 1:34 PM, Pete C. wrote: ...
I don't _want_ them to be removable... :)
If I'm still around by the time this bed rots out again, I'm sure it'll be unlikely I'll be more than a relic in the nursing home at best... :(
Altho I'd expect if it's long enough any bed in question is gone the amount of rust on the fasteners by then will pretty much make removing them intact a moot question, anyway. One can undoubtedly cut them off w/ the angle grinder far quicker.
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My home converted flatbed is 5 or 6 years, carries 1.5 ton scissor lifts regularly, and has been overloaded a couple times with a 3 tons of equipment. None of the screws are loose.
(I actually walked outside and double checked before hitting send). They are trailer bed screws.
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