Flatbed, service body or long bed with a shell. best for max storage

[Vombrown]

This is an issue I keep going back and forth on. There are advantages to all of them and I've exhausted my brain trying to reason one against the other. My new Dually tow rig is going to need a LOT of storage. Tools, cutting tools, chains, parts, all sorts of nonsense. My go to is the service body for obvious reasons but I have seen some pretty nice flat beds setup with under and over bed boxes for tools and storage while leaving room in the bed for moving materials around. The last resort is the standard bed with some sort of work topper on it. It would add storage but take away the ability to pull a gooseneck trailer which I need to do from time to time.

Give me some input here and examples of ones you guys have seen online or wherever.

I thought about just adding a regular flatbed. Installing a few boxes and seeing what I need to add as time goes on. This usually results in clutter more than good usable space.

 

[KirsL]

Service body gets my vote. They come in a wide array of sizes and can usually have sides low enough to still pull a gooseneck.

 

[Vombrown]

I've had more than a few. Finding the lower side ones is a challenge in the used market and you don't really want to buy a new one...DAAAYUM!

Right now I'm leaning towards purchasing a new flatbed with lower built in boxes. Then adding my own bedside boxes. That way I can get the configuration that I need.

 

[diesel4me]

I've had only one flat bed,and I made it myself..

I used 4" channel iron that was already welded into pallet racking,that was 39" wide x 8 foot 3" long,so two of them welded together added up to 79" wide,the same width as the cab on my 77 GMC..the channel iron is 11" on center..overkill,but I got them cheap at a scrap yard in new condition,didn't even have to paint them..had "load rating 6200 lbs" stenciled on them..it weighed about 900 lbs when I was done building it,I used doubled up 3/4" plywood for the floor..

I had sold the '85 fleetside bed I had on the truck that was in nice shape for more than I gave for the truck,otherwise I wouldn't have built the flatbed..once I had it though,I liked it a lot,much more useable room than a regular bed--I made it so there were no wheel wells ,the tires were under it and were far enough away to never touch the bed before the springs hit the rubber bump stops..

I hauled 3 garden tractors at once in that bed and many loads of scrap,pallets and firewood,and my truck even plowed much better with that much weight even with the bed empty too..

I kept the flat bed after I scrapped the GMC,but it doesn't look as nice now after sitting outside for a long long time..still could be put back in use though..
This is about the only picture I had of it after I finished it.

 

[Truckman4life]

I vote flatbed customized for your needs. They are like a mobile work bench for starters and can be configured any way you want. This is one at my work. Sorry for the crappy pic. It's got a welder, gas driven small air compressor, tool boxes, and a sweet manually rotated 2,000lb crane. The guy before me built it and it was like a quarter of the cost as doing a service body and way more useful set up for the guy that runs it. Crap! Ill add pic in a second post from my phone. Dang computer!

 

[Truckman4life]

 

[red EOD]

Since you pull a gooseneck go with either a flatbed or one of the newer low profile service beds. Expensive but nice.






A flatbed with a couple boxes works but like you mentioned it's not really organized unless you take the time to plan it out FIRST.

 

[dhcomp]

What about the low side service bodies that look just like stock beds?