The rear louvers help keep your cab cool in the summer. I was amazed how much cooler my cab was after installing my Tumbleweed Mfg headache rack. I didn't like the visibility at first but after a while I didn't even notice it.
I’m surprised they skimped on the welds. I’d have done the same to strengthen it up. Definitely food for thought if I ever buy or build a flat bed. I’m excited to see how you build the boxes. As always I appreciate the videos I always learn something.
That truck is gonna look awesome. Especially on the day it brings a 95-97 Powerstroke Dually home. I always liked the top mounted spare btw. Just my 2 cents.
Sam, get yourself a mirror dashcam. You WON'T be disappointed!!! The one I use is the Vantop H612T Mirror DashCam. The last one I bought from Walmart, and I got the hardwire kit from Vantop. I mounted the rearview camera on the top middle of my headache rack and it gives me a view over the top of the gooseneck. Between my headache rack and tinted rear windows I have virtually no visibility out the back. I have it recording front and rear at 2K resolution whenever the truck is running. There's several videos on my channel showing the view out of both. I have not done a video review on it yet, but I absolutely love it! When you are driving down the road and look at the "mirror", you see everything behind you and even cars that are along side the flatbed. You can also use it for lining up your gooseneck to the ball. And a dashcam is 110% required for anyone with any kind of numbers on their vehicle as you are a scam magnet. NEVER drive without a dashcam!
Why when welding vertical to weld upward: If you weld vertical downward, gravity pulls the puddle and you naturally weld faster just to keep up with the puddle. This reduces penetration. When welding vertical upward, you control the puddle and you get greater penetration and a stronger weld. Your welds look just fine!
That flatbed is looking good Sam, a little bit more bracing can be a good insurance policy down the road, can't wait to see all that you got planned for it.
Curious if there are any access panels on that flatbed to get to things like fuel pumps. Might be a worthy investment if not. Some of our utility trucks come with them right from Altec.
Glad you’re going through it and finding the weak spots. Even on nice stuff, sometimes they just don’t fully get it. Also your downhill weld looks nice because most self shield flux core is a downhill process. Check your filler metal spec sheet to be sure, but a lot of the self shield stuff is single pass only because of how much deoxidizing material is in them
awesome video no matter what you buy there is always room for improvement . by the time you get all the bracing in it will be waaay better than an installed bed .
If your interested in a steel grill guard/ bumper replacement, look into fab fours. American company built with american steel and great build quality. ( no skipped welds) still light enough you can pick it up yourself, but makes most of those steel bumpers look cheap.
I ran into the same issue. Even your big name flatbed companies like CM, their truck bed tow numbers were lower than what the Ram 5500 is rated for towing. CM gooseneck -30k, Ram gooseneck factory tow spec- 34k, CM bumper pull-18.5k, Ram factory bumper pull tow spec- 23k. Why can't bed companies make a bed strong enough to fully utilize the truck's capabilities?
Really enjoyed the video. Just got myself the same rig and also putting a flat bed on it. I had a few questions. Did you set the bed directly onto the frame or did you use something in between the chassis and the bed? Also how many bolts did you use in each of your brackets going into the chassis? Lastly were you able to use the factory holes or did you have to drill new ones when you installed the brackets onto the chassis?
Looks great! Truck sounds great! Wish they reinforced that bed better than they did. It's pretty, but I can't stand just getting by with something. I'd want it bomb-proof like yer making it!
They don't weld every joint because of cost I suspect. The extra time (labor) and materials (grinding wheels, welding rod/wire just increases production costs which decreases profit margins.
Rather pay more like I did and get something that won’t fall apart. That’s a terrible excuse to give the manufacturer. Paid for quality and didn’t get it
Ordered a 4500 Laramie this week and was disappointed I couldn’t get the dual tanks. Guess with supply chain issues dual tanks aren’t available right now
Hate to tell you but some/all of the welds were short on purpose, welding all the way to the end is often what causes cracks to start. I welded semi trailers years ago.
@@VBELTandSON Yeah, I can't speak to their engineering. Also it doesn't really matter because you can weld and therefore you can always fix it. I just thought I would throw it out there as I hadn't seen another mention of it. Appreciate your videos, about to buy a 3500 C&C to go with my old 95 12v that just broke 200k
Another interesting video Sam, thanks for sharing. If l may make a suggestion, please leave your “subtitles” on the screen long enough to read. They disappear too quickly when l’ve barely read half way through them, it’s annoying having to keep going back on the video then getting ready to hit the pause button so l can read what l missed before. 😊👍👍🦘🇦🇺🦘
Ram 5500 flatbed truck build series. Unfortunately, I don't live in California. I'm Born in Puerto Rico. I came from New York in January 2008-November 2014. I was leaving New York. I recently moved to Texas in November 2014.
Trust but verify. Gussets and a little time. I've been accused of 'overbuilding' all my life, but its my peace of mind! I lost a trailer once when I was 17 years old, I swore 'never again'!! LOL 8) --gary
For a premium bed it seems very chintzy. I know you can beef it up, but you shouldn't have to. I miss the days when companies gave a damn about their product and built everything overkill. This bed looks like a death trap from the factory.
Most companies level it up to the welder "we pay you do to a good job". Thats fine if the welder cares. Sadly many do not. All companies need a quality control system
I work closely with a lot of trailer companies in Idaho. Most pay a piece rate not hourly so all the welders care about is getting them out of the door so they can get paid for that one and on to the next.
Exactly, seems to be all across the board with every company, that’s why I have opted to just build my own, then I can also build it exactly to my liking
@@VBELTandSON My buddy Layne with Denver off road in grand junction makes an aluminum winch bumper. Let me know if you want the contact or some pictures. Stout bumpers and look bad ass, I own 4 of them.
Buckstop in Prineville, OR makes a bad to the bone bumper. Just had them install all aluminum with steel hoops on my ‘21. Dirt cheap too! 💪🏼 go with the “classic 2”
You know that if you would have had the dealership put your flatbed on your truck you would have gotten to use it right away instead of you installing it yourself which takes time away from wanting to use it right away
You just voided your warranty on that flatbed if some goes wrong with it you can’t fix and the company sees you did some of your own welds they may make you pay for it even though you have a warranty on it
The rear louvers help keep your cab cool in the summer. I was amazed how much cooler my cab was after installing my Tumbleweed Mfg headache rack. I didn't like the visibility at first but after a while I didn't even notice it.
Louvers are trash you can’t see a damn thing out of them. Some good ceramic tint will do 100x better at keeping heat out compared to a headache rack.
@@smcox1991 Tint doesn't really help when something is crashing threw your back window, LOL
I’m surprised they skimped on the welds. I’d have done the same to strengthen it up. Definitely food for thought if I ever buy or build a flat bed. I’m excited to see how you build the boxes. As always I appreciate the videos I always learn something.
That truck is gonna look awesome. Especially on the day it brings a 95-97 Powerstroke Dually home. I always liked the top mounted spare btw. Just my 2 cents.
Sam, get yourself a mirror dashcam. You WON'T be disappointed!!! The one I use is the Vantop H612T Mirror DashCam. The last one I bought from Walmart, and I got the hardwire kit from Vantop. I mounted the rearview camera on the top middle of my headache rack and it gives me a view over the top of the gooseneck. Between my headache rack and tinted rear windows I have virtually no visibility out the back. I have it recording front and rear at 2K resolution whenever the truck is running. There's several videos on my channel showing the view out of both. I have not done a video review on it yet, but I absolutely love it! When you are driving down the road and look at the "mirror", you see everything behind you and even cars that are along side the flatbed. You can also use it for lining up your gooseneck to the ball. And a dashcam is 110% required for anyone with any kind of numbers on their vehicle as you are a scam magnet. NEVER drive without a dashcam!
Why when welding vertical to weld upward: If you weld vertical downward, gravity pulls the puddle and you naturally weld faster just to keep up with the puddle. This reduces penetration. When welding vertical upward, you control the puddle and you get greater penetration and a stronger weld. Your welds look just fine!
That flatbed is looking good Sam, a little bit more bracing can be a good insurance policy down the road, can't wait to see all that you got planned for it.
Curious if there are any access panels on that flatbed to get to things like fuel pumps. Might be a worthy investment if not. Some of our utility trucks come with them right from Altec.
So excited for the first pull with this thing! Keep up the good work my man!
That Laramie dually with a flatbed sure is a beautiful truck. I can’t wait to see it all completed
Thank you! I almost have the boxes done maybe this weekend
@@VBELTandSON All you’re missing now is Ryan Dungey #5 sticker on the back lol
@@georgeenriquez612 I know! Ha soon
Glad you’re going through it and finding the weak spots. Even on nice stuff, sometimes they just don’t fully get it. Also your downhill weld looks nice because most self shield flux core is a downhill process. Check your filler metal spec sheet to be sure, but a lot of the self shield stuff is single pass only because of how much deoxidizing material is in them
Great job, I just noticed one of your license plates in the shop for the first time! hahaha
awesome video no matter what you buy there is always room for improvement . by the time you get all the bracing in it will be waaay better than an installed bed .
If your interested in a steel grill guard/ bumper replacement, look into fab fours. American company built with american steel and great build quality. ( no skipped welds) still light enough you can pick it up yourself, but makes most of those steel bumpers look cheap.
Loving this new truck content.
I ran into the same issue. Even your big name flatbed companies like CM, their truck bed tow numbers were lower than what the Ram 5500 is rated for towing. CM gooseneck -30k, Ram gooseneck factory tow spec- 34k, CM bumper pull-18.5k, Ram factory bumper pull tow spec- 23k. Why can't bed companies make a bed strong enough to fully utilize the truck's capabilities?
Nice job Sam takeing care of business. Well done.
Love what you're doing with the bed 😎 Can't wait to get one for my 18 dually 👍
Personally I dont like flatbed but after knowing the uses of it I am very impressed
Really enjoyed the video. Just got myself the same rig and also putting a flat bed on it. I had a few questions. Did you set the bed directly onto the frame or did you use something in between the chassis and the bed? Also how many bolts did you use in each of your brackets going into the chassis? Lastly were you able to use the factory holes or did you have to drill new ones when you installed the brackets onto the chassis?
I apologize for my previous comment and assuming you weren’t going to skirt it hahahaha!!! More great content and can’t wait to see if!
Looking forward to more about the new truck keep it coming!
Try Diablo blades for your saws all. They work very well.
Love the shirt Sam, I just had the same one made for my son, my grand son was born 6 weeks ago. 🤟🏻🇨🇦🤙🏻
Could have called Waldo’s World and he might have flown out and built you a custom bed for cheap lol
Hell yeah Sam ! This is such a cool truck 🙌🏻 awesome work buddy 👍🏻
Looks great! Truck sounds great! Wish they reinforced that bed better than they did. It's pretty, but I can't stand just getting by with something. I'd want it bomb-proof like yer making it!
Lookin good ! Your boy is gonna love all your 🔧 🔨 🔧 s
It has been a long time since I could crawl around underneath a truck like that and now it is all I can do to stay upright, growing old sucks.
So excited can’t wait to see more
They don't weld every joint because of cost I suspect. The extra time (labor) and materials (grinding wheels, welding rod/wire just increases production costs which decreases profit margins.
Rather pay more like I did and get something that won’t fall apart. That’s a terrible excuse to give the manufacturer. Paid for quality and didn’t get it
Ordered a 4500 Laramie this week and was disappointed I couldn’t get the dual tanks. Guess with supply chain issues dual tanks aren’t available right now
Get your tool boxs and transfer tank on and it'll drop it some. Put a trailer on and it'll be just right
Hate to tell you but some/all of the welds were short on purpose, welding all the way to the end is often what causes cracks to start. I welded semi trailers years ago.
Fact but there is a difference in that and not enough material to keep it together.
@@VBELTandSON Yeah, I can't speak to their engineering. Also it doesn't really matter because you can weld and therefore you can always fix it. I just thought I would throw it out there as I hadn't seen another mention of it. Appreciate your videos, about to buy a 3500 C&C to go with my old 95 12v that just broke 200k
down hand welds more likely to have cold lap ( looks welded but not fused) especially with solid wire (mig)
alot more goes into it than that but that sums it up shortly
That’s awesome, thanks for sharing Sam👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻🇺🇸
Sam: The 5500 is looking great 👍
Looks good Sam 💪🏻👍
Love the truck. Not a fan of the new bed doesn’t look right to me. I like your bed on the other truck it just looks nice and sits right
Another interesting video Sam, thanks for sharing.
If l may make a suggestion, please leave your “subtitles” on the screen long enough to read. They disappear too quickly when l’ve barely read half way through them, it’s annoying having to keep going back on the video then getting ready to hit the pause button so l can read what l missed before. 😊👍👍🦘🇦🇺🦘
Looks good Sam 👍
Truck looking good ol son.
Ram 5500 flatbed truck build series. Unfortunately, I don't live in California. I'm Born in Puerto Rico. I came from New York in January 2008-November 2014. I was leaving New York. I recently moved to Texas in November 2014.
I just had this done on my 2022 Ram 5500 yesterday
How do get a wrench on the back side of the bolt, what holds the bolts in place?
What brand bed is that Sam , We putting a Knapheide on the 4500 when it comes in
Trust but verify. Gussets and a little time. I've been accused of 'overbuilding' all my life, but its my peace of mind! I lost a trailer once when I was 17 years old, I swore 'never again'!! LOL 8) --gary
Does your headache rack block your cab mount camera?
For a premium bed it seems very chintzy. I know you can beef it up, but you shouldn't have to. I miss the days when companies gave a damn about their product and built everything overkill. This bed looks like a death trap from the factory.
I would agree different build quality from the first one of these beds I bought
Most companies level it up to the welder "we pay you do to a good job". Thats fine if the welder cares. Sadly many do not. All companies need a quality control system
I work closely with a lot of trailer companies in Idaho. Most pay a piece rate not hourly so all the welders care about is getting them out of the door so they can get paid for that one and on to the next.
Exactly, seems to be all across the board with every company, that’s why I have opted to just build my own, then I can also build it exactly to my liking
My harbor freight tools are my favlol
Are you gonna leave the stock bumper on
Doubtful but not sure what I’ll put on it
@@VBELTandSON My buddy Layne with Denver off road in grand junction makes an aluminum winch bumper. Let me know if you want the contact or some pictures. Stout bumpers and look bad ass, I own 4 of them.
Buckstop in Prineville, OR makes a bad to the bone bumper. Just had them install all aluminum with steel hoops on my ‘21. Dirt cheap too! 💪🏼 go with the “classic 2”
What brand is that bed?
They didn't offer air ride suspension?
Cost a lot of money on top of a lot of money lol
I know they have the aftermarket ones for about 5k I've looked into them to do my 08 3500 just didn't want to tear up my 08 and not like it
You welded it properly, you are suppose to weld from the bottom up.
Great 👍
Cool 😀
You know that if you would have had the dealership put your flatbed on your truck you would have gotten to use it right away instead of you installing it yourself which takes time away from wanting to use it right away
Not in any hurry. This is cheaper and I want to get it done my way
And the dealer would not have done anything about the welds. Then who is liable? Dealer or bed maker.
Guy driving will suffer the blame one way or another best to fix things up before an issue could even happen
@@VBELTandSON Good for you Sam, I would have done the same thing.
Who cares about the bed warranty?? Its a cheap flatbed
Cant seem to find his other channel. Anyone know the name?
Samson Andrew
@@VBELTandSON right on. thank ya sir
when are you going to put a lift in your shop?
There is a lift in the shop already
you will fry that who truck if you weld with the battery connected
👍🏻
Should have bought a CM
Cm is trash I don’t ever plan on buying one of those
@@VBELTandSON Hate you had a bad experience with them. Good luck with your new rig! Keep the content coming
No frame to frame hitch for 40k rating DOT wants to see frame to frame hitches above 30,000 K That bed most likely is only rated for 30,000
You just voided your warranty on that flatbed if some goes wrong with it you can’t fix and the company sees you did some of your own welds they may make you pay for it even though you have a warranty on it
I’m not at all worried about the beds warranty. They voided my trust by skipping so many welds