’ll readily admit, I have a passion for woodworking. While I’m probably the furthest from expert status when it comes to being a sawyer, I truly enjoy every aspect of my hobby—from sawmilling to finishing. That said, if presented the option to forego most above-mentioned aspects in relation to, say, bed floors in classic trucks, I’d be tempted to take the easy route out, no pun intended.

Well, I just happened to have that precise option presented to me recently by BedWood and Parts in the form of their pre-drilled/pre-finished, ready-to-go BedWood-X kit for 1967-1972 Chevy/GMC short- and longbed models. No cutting/trimming or pre-fitting; no sanding, staining, and/or sealing—just unbox, install, and go? I’m in.

The time-and-effort-saving aspects of the BedWood-X kit include pre-cut/pre-drilled and pre-routered hard wood planks (in our case, ash), all precisely milled and cut to exact factory specs. BedWood and Parts prepares the wood using their in-house H2X Exterior Wood Finish (and includes additional clear sealer in the event any additional holes need to be drilled or boards trimmed for various fitment reasons). The flush-fit, fully polished stainless strips feature hidden T-bolts for the ultimate “clean” look. And, as you may have already noticed, BedWood and Parts also offers in-house engraving—so if you happen to have a particular logo or even the truck’s nickname, that can be added as well. We went with the obvious logo option!

Now, the 1969 Chevy C10 we’ve been devoting a lot of time (and pages) to since we launched CTP was purchased already painted and came with a wood bed floor, albeit not physically installed nor in any kind of shape to be reused. However, it led us to assume the 1/2-ton’s box was ready to be equipped with an all-new wood kit as-is. Well, such was not the case, as the forward bed panel was OE; in other words, a “steel” bed floor front panel, and thus, would not accept the wood planks without having to perform some major routering. No sooner did I discover this discrepancy did my pal John Lawrence from Brothers Mail Order Industries inform me that, in fact, there was a separate panel available to accommodate wood bed floors in the non–OE-equipped versions such as mine—I just had to have it colormatched by my other pal Josh Franklin at California AutoWorx and swap the two out. Easy! (Not really, but I’ll save the grief-stricken portion for another time … or never.)

With the box all sorted out—and removed from the chassis—and all the correct crossbraces obtained (again, thanks to John and Steve at Brothers for always righting my wrongs!), I was all set to spend some good, quality time with Jobe at Jimenez Bros. Air Ride & Rod Shop assembling and installing BedWood and Parts’ BedWood-X. Let’s gitterdone! (By the way, the professional video we did documenting various steps of the install is at the end of this article—check it out!)

2. You may have noticed the BedWood logo laser-engraved on the left-side outermost plank. As a special service they offer, provide the appropriate file-format logo and they can engrave almost any logo—even our magazine title!

3. We removed the bed from the pickup earlier on when redoing the rear suspension—so it made perfect sense to do the wood install as-is. Oddly enough, though the C10 was purchased with a wood floor (conveniently not actually installed), it turned out that the front bed panel was for a steel bed floor, so along with providing all the correct cross sills for a Fleetside wood floor, Brothers also supplied the appropriate front panel so that we didn’t end up ruining the front edge of the new planks routering them to fit! There are three main cross sills, one support brace, and the rear tailgate sill, which is the same for both floor options.

4-5. We first started out by loosely arranging the wood planks in their proper orientation with the cross sills beneath in their factory locations. The countersunk-drilled boards go to the inside of the outermost wheeltub planks (the engraved ones), while the skinnier two go in the center with the wider ones in-between. Also note that the offset holes go toward the cab, the parallel ones toward the tailgate.

6-7. Using a punch, we aligned our main carriage bolt mounting holes fore and aft. At the same time, we spaced the boards out as evenly as possible by eye, ensuring cross sill mounting holes were visible for the stainless strips.

10. With the stainless strips in place and the floor properly aligned, the stainless carriage bolts were installed to secure the floor in place on the sills.

11-12. Securing the T-bolts is a one-man job since there’s no worry of dislodging any 1/4-20 carriage bolts. Lightly snug down the fasteners at first, as there may still be some additional adjusting required.

13. It literally took no more than half an hour to install the main bed floor—now we can button up the wheelwell sides.

13. It literally took no more than half an hour to install the main bed floor—now we can button up the wheelwell sides.

14-15. Leaving the main bed floor a bit loose will help if you’re a little tight on one side when setting the smaller boards underneath the bed side flange and on top of the front panel and rearmost cross sill. Ensure all holes line up properly.

16-17. Install your corresponding stainless strips, reinstall your wheeltubs on top of the wood (we’ll bolt ours down after the bed is put back on the chassis so we can check wheel spacing), snug down all the mounting hardware, and …

18. You’re good to go! No varnish cleanup, no sawdust, no problem! The ultimate timber treatment for your C10!

18. You’re good to go! No varnish cleanup, no sawdust, no problem! The ultimate timber treatment for your C10!