# What to look for in a flatbed



## DerTiefster (Oct 27, 2016)

Oh, come on. Teach the boy to drive. Wife drove up in her sporty sedan to a hospital where they had parking valets. None of the guys there could drive a stick, so one of the girls had to drive her Alfa 164 sedan to the lot and leave the guys standing there, watching her drive away. You wouldn't want to have that happen to him, would you?

[Addendum to satisfy O.P. request for suggestions: If loading pallets is in the plan, a lift-bed may be useful. I wish I had more productive things to add than previous performance might indicate. Perhaps a post mount for a simple (cheap) swinging arm from which to mount a manual hoist if you're not in the market for a powered hoist? Adequate stowage for all the straps you'll need to secure the hives on the flatbed?] (One might imagine situations analogous to the one I described which don't involve a downgrade from working inside a hospital to outside as a parking valet. But properly grown men are often not so subject to peer pressure as the ones in my illustration. No intent to give offense.)


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## jcase (Jul 30, 2016)

DerTiefster said:


> Oh, come on. Teach the boy to drive. Wife drove up in her sporty sedan to a hospital where they had parking valets. None of the guys there could drive a stick, so one of the girls had to drive her Alfa 164 sedan to the lot and leave the guys standing there, watching her drive away. You wouldn't want to have that happen to him, would you?


My son isn't a boy, he is a grown man. I'd gladly teach him to drive a stick if he had interest, but I'm not going to force an adult sit and take lessons from anyone. We haven't had sticks around at all his entire life, not his fault he wasnt exposed to one. Yeah that would be a major down grade, from working inside the hospital to working outside.

Wait valet at hospital? Geez that would have been nice when the last one was born!

Any how, enough about the offspring, and suggestions on requirements?


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## grozzie2 (Jun 3, 2011)

jcase said:


> I'll crack 60 hives this weekend, probably over 100 by year end. I live in a pretty rural place, and I an placing my hives in even more rural places. I need a better way to transport them. My tiny 2 wheel drive Tacoma isn't cutting it anymore.
> 
> I'm thinking it is time for a flat bed, but I have no idea what I'm looking for as far as best bang for my buck. I do know I would prefer an automatic, so I could have my son drive it if needed.


A lot depends on how many you want to haul at once. Here's what I bought earlier this year:










4x4 2000 Tundra, new to me, very old, so not to spendy  The deck has space for 16 bottom boards. I was watching craigslist and a few other places for quite some time before I spotted this one. This will do the job for us. If you want to haul a lot more at once, you'll need to go bigger, but something like this will haul a lot more than your Tacoma assuming it has a standard box and not a deck.


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## homegrown (Jul 24, 2016)

How many colonies do you typically keep in each yard?


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## Kamon A. Reynolds (Apr 15, 2012)

I have an old 83 Chevy c65 truck. You can haul crazy amount with these older trucks. Many times you can get them for a few grand and they are easy to work on.


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## Roland (Dec 14, 2008)

For the sake of the general public, we moved from open stake trucks to enclosed bodies in the '70s. If you plan to move bees, they will need to be tarped for safety reasons.

Crazy Roland


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## jcase (Jul 30, 2016)

homegrown said:


> How many colonies do you typically keep in each yard?


We are in a fairly bee unfriendly place, I'm sticking to a max of 20 at this point depending on what the fly over of the region looks like. Not to say being able to haul more than 20 would be bad, I've lined most of my yards up so I can drive down one highway and hit them all.


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## jcase (Jul 30, 2016)

grozzie2 said:


> A lot depends on how many you want to haul at once. Here's what I bought earlier this year:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Mind me asking what you paid?


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## HarryVanderpool (Apr 11, 2005)

If you are thinking about a diesel and EVER plan on taking it into California for any reason, read this carefully 1st:

https://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/onrdiesel/documents/faqModelyr.pdf

In a nutshell, no diesels with an engine model year older than 20 years is allowed in California.
The Engine year and the truck model year are not always the same so you need to check the sticker on the valve cover.


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## Greeny (Jun 27, 2016)

What about swapping out your current bed, maybe selling it on Craigslist, and banging together a flatbed for your Tacoma? You mentioned it is a 2WD, but if that aspect is working for you and 4WD isn't a must-have, then this may be your cheapest option.


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## jcase (Jul 30, 2016)

Greeny said:


> What about swapping out your current bed, maybe selling it on Craigslist, and banging together a flatbed for your Tacoma? You mentioned it is a 2WD, but if that aspect is working for you and 4WD isn't a must-have, then this may be your cheapest option.


I wish to keep the taco as it is, plus 4WD is a must have for at least one of my yards if i want to get in early spring


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## My-smokepole (Apr 14, 2008)

I like Grozzie2 I would add a couple boxes to go under the bed. A rail with rope hooks. That way you could use ropes or straps. Would this be more for pulling honey and General use. And not so much moving truck loads of bees. moving nuc and building nucs are a different story


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## homegrown (Jul 24, 2016)

My daily driver is a newer tundra 4wd. For a pickup, it’s a real workhorse. I can fit 12 bottom boards in the bed comfortably, or 24 if I stack a second layer of hives. The downside of a flat-bed truck is it is much higher off the ground than a pick-up bed. You’ll probably want to add a lift-gate, ramp, or boom loader. I assuming you’re hand loading hives with a helper?


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## grozzie2 (Jun 3, 2011)

jcase said:


> Mind me asking what you paid?


I paid 4000 cdn for it, knowing it needed tires and ball joints when I bought it. into it for well under 6 with those done. Runs good, no significant rust.


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## ApricotApiaries (Sep 21, 2014)

Get a bigger truck than you think you need. Beehives are heavy. honey is very heavy. Syrup is heavy. You want a truck that has the brakes and transmission to safely handle a full load. 
How much are you intending on growing? Will you be towing a forklift ever? Make sure you take that into consideration. 

At about 60 hives I went from a 4cylinder Datsun pickup to an F-450 with a 12ft bed. Now I am over 400. The truck seemed huge at the time but its amazing how fast the bed fills up. To me, an 8 ft bed would be way too short. 16 would be nice sometimes but a 12 footer works pretty well for me. The 450 has a GVWR of 16,000lbs and a GCVWR (truck and trailer together) of 26,000. Maxing out the bed with bees pretty well maxes out the weight rating of the truck. 

Think long and hard about what you need. Like Harry mentioned, make sure you understand the CARB laws if you wand to step near California. You don't want to buy a truck and outgrow it next year.


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## jcase (Jul 30, 2016)

ApricotApiaries said:


> Get a bigger truck than you think you need. Beehives are heavy. honey is very heavy. Syrup is heavy. You want a truck that has the brakes and transmission to safely handle a full load.
> How much are you intending on growing? Will you be towing a forklift ever? Make sure you take that into consideration.
> 
> At about 60 hives I went from a 4cylinder Datsun pickup to an F-450 with a 12ft bed. Now I am over 400. The truck seemed huge at the time but its amazing how fast the bed fills up. To me, an 8 ft bed would be way too short. 16 would be nice sometimes but a 12 footer works pretty well for me. The 450 has a GVWR of 16,000lbs and a GCVWR (truck and trailer together) of 26,000. Maxing out the bed with bees pretty well maxes out the weight rating of the truck.
> ...


I'm wanting to keep 60 hives away from the home yard. No plans on fork lift. Probably won't have a yard over 20 hives, and up here its awful wet and cool, our honey crops are not the biggest.

Darn, sounds like you need to sell that truck to me at a steal, and get yourself a bigger one


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## Woodside (Aug 10, 2010)

I would recommend just getting a flatbed trailer. I used to run 700 hives with a f150 and a ballhitch flatbed trailer. I rented fk lift once in spring and once in fall to move hives.


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## DerTiefster (Oct 27, 2016)

Remember jcase said he _needs_ 4wd for one of his yards. A flatbed trailer would seem a bit "iffy" in such situations. Truck/trailer in... uh-oh... truck only out. JCase: Your muddiest yard may be workable with a standard pickup bed, needing a trailer principally for the other yards. Don't know your hive count distribution or how things will grow.


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## jcase (Jul 30, 2016)

Woodside said:


> I would recommend just getting a flatbed trailer. I used to run 700 hives with a f150 and a ballhitch flatbed trailer. I rented fk lift once in spring and once in fall to move hives.


My truck is a 2wd basic tacoma, and like DerTiefster said I have one yard i absolutely need a 4WD for, and well all of them are a risk in rainy season. .... I got stuck in my home yard last year. I'm in rain country, not too far outside the rainforest.


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## HarryVanderpool (Apr 11, 2005)

2wd in Port Angeles is as useful as skis in Texas in my opinion.
:lookout:


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## jcase (Jul 30, 2016)

HarryVanderpool said:


> 2wd in Port Angeles is as useful as skis in Texas in my opinion.


Eh most of our roads are paved 🙂

It wasn't until the bee thing that I needed one. Snow is minimal, just rain... Too much rain


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## Woodside (Aug 10, 2010)

jcase said:


> My truck is a 2wd basic tacoma, and like DerTiefster said I have one yard i absolutely need a 4WD for, and well all of them are a risk in rainy season. .... I got stuck in my home yard last year. I'm in rain country, not too far outside the rainforest.


Hmm.. I would either find a new yard, or install an auto locker in your rear differential. You might not need 4x4 if your rear end can lock in.

But to answer your actual question... I would say standard cab, one ton, 14 ft bed, and 4x4. 12ft bed seems to be standard on a crew cab truck, and if you prefer 32 hives per drop then it would be ok. However 14 ft bed is a minimum must for me. 80 hives per load, which makes 40 per drop which is what I run.

If you run those hives like a business 350-550 is a bit much of a truck for 100 hives, and is hard to justify the cost of getting a decent truck.

If you just enjoy bees and want to enjoy life no matter the cost, then a one ton makes alot of sense.

One of the cheapest one ton options might be a 2004 ford with a 6.0 motor. The motor is notoriously bad and has a very bad rap on the street which drives the price way down. However, with a few cheapish modifications it can be a decent engine with alot of power. https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for...0&endYear=2004&makeCode1=FORD&modelCode1=F450


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## jcase (Jul 30, 2016)

Woodside said:


> jcase said:
> 
> 
> > My truck is a 2wd basic tacoma, and like DerTiefster said I have one yard i absolutely need a 4WD for, and well all of them are a risk in rainy season. .... I got stuck in my home yard last year. I'm in rain country, not too far outside the rainforest.
> ...


True but I would like a 4x4 for a number of reasons, might as well only get one more truck


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## Saskie (Mar 12, 2017)

I'm in a region where 4x4 is not a must, and I love my 350 series standard cab dually with a 14' bed. If you are any good with a welder, you may be better off to buy a truck with frame rails and build your own bed for it. Any of the commercially available ones I've seen up here aren't great for beekeeping, as they sit too high on the truck, and the headache rack is poorly designed for beekeeping. It also may pay to get a couple extra springs in the rear springs so that the deck can go a little lower. 

When putting a flat bed on, ideally it would be the full 8'6", as you can get 6 boxes across the narrow way (vs 5 with an 8' wide bed) without hanging over the sides. Rope hooks spaced at 8" seems to allow you to tie down any configuration of boxes near the center of the box. Tool boxes both sides, and preferably a dedicated one for the smoker. The headache rack should be flat on the load side (whether mesh, solid or a frame structure), and go high enough for your tallest load. It may pay to build it flush with the top of the cab, with an easy to install extension for taller loads. Checkerplate steel or wood for the deck surface both have their advantages and disadvantages, but either option seems better than flat steel. For the length of your deck it sure is nice to have the extra space behind the frame rails that a 14' deck offers, but it really limits the towing capabilities of the truck. Also having stake pockets with a rub rail will allow you to put sides on if needed, and provide easy strapping points along the length of the deck. 

There may be older options available from the 80's or 90's that are in good shape, meet your needs, offer cheaper insurance rates, and are simpler to fix than the new models. Consider how much driving this truck will actually have for how important fuel economy is, which may influence engine size choice. If it's always going to make short trips, a diesel would likely not be the best option. Also consider speeds you will be traveling for rear end ratio. If having the long deck is less critical for you, there may also be extended cab or crew cab options available for a fair price in you region as well.


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## homegrown (Jul 24, 2016)

You will not regret having the 4x4! Nothing worse than being stuck in the mud with a load of bees.


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## HarryVanderpool (Apr 11, 2005)

If you're stuck with a 2WD, you may want to look into a locking rear differential.
Our F-450 which is 4WD has a Detroit locker, automatic locking rear carrier. Since we added that I have been in some nasty situations and never even locked the hubs.
Our new F-550 which is also 4WD has a "limited slip" on the rear.
Personally I prefer the "zero slip" of the locker, but we'll see.

Skip ahead to .48:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekgBnktLw8k


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## johnny2 (Feb 6, 2017)

setting up fence for bear today and one of my yards is on a 2 track in a couple hay fields that are tiled so the farmer says go for it its dry enough and the f550 4x4 15 ft bed reg cab now has mud on the hubs and didnt want to come out. The truck sank while putting up the fence. I guess I should have watched it closer


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## Roland (Dec 14, 2008)

Johnny2 - as dirty Harry would say "A man has got to know his (truck's) limitations".

Crazy Roland


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## johnny2 (Feb 6, 2017)

only one way to learn the limits and thats pushing them. In all reality I may have been able to to drive it out of there but who wants to tear up an area you have to drive on for the year and make one of you land owners mad. 4x4 wont always save the day but it can keep things smoother and cleaner in places that 2x would not have gone. it is also difficult to know all the different soil types for this area ,10 miles from there at my dads place you leave tracks walking on his grass and dont even think about getting out the lawn mower.


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