bed protection

H

hammerhead

Member
I am looking for the best way to protect the bed. The hardest things [on the bed] that I can think I will be doing is hauling firewood and hauling gravel and such. I want the impact protection...but also need it to be suitable for dumping earth and gravel. At other times it would be nice to have it not slippery, for hauling tools.</P>


I have not seen the kubota bed liner so I do not know how rugged they are. I know someone here has built a wooden bed, I am not sure I need all that. </P>


With the bedliner, my sales man suggested I take it out, maybe once a year, to clean it out, to let it dry out and touch up the paint [from abrasion]. To maybe prevent from having to do that I havewondered about putting on the herculiner or some other paint on bed protection and then putting the kubota bed liner over that.and thenwhen hauling toolsjust throw in a something.. a piece of carpet..or something for a mat. </P>


any thoughts ?</P>


</P>


glenn</P>
 
Glenn, I have the plastic bed liner and really like it. I have no dents in the bed. I have jabbed the corner so much with t posts that I knocked a hole in the plastic but it is small. I have seen those small rubber mats that go in the bottom and I would consider having one of those on top of the plastic to reduce slipping and it wouldn't hold water neither. I have my side tool box bolted down.See Ya , Bordercollie[&]
 
For hauling gravel and rock I made a simple 3/4" plywoodliner that fits in the bed.5/8" ply would do fine, too. I extended the wood above the 3 sides to increase the capacity and give a little protection from the loader bucket.I put a couple of pieces of 1" square tubing in the bed's stake pockets and bolted the liner top to the tubing. Thislocates the liner in place while dumping.The plywood isjust slippery enough to control the load when spreading. </P>


There is a "search" function at the top right corner of this page if you want to search the past postings on this subject. </P>
 
I went with the OEM Kubota bedliner, great investment ... Also, went to Sam's Warehouse and purchased two shop fatigue mats. One will do, but needed two to cover the whole bed. Slip proof, water resistant, can be remove in a blink of a eye, to haul anything you want to " slid " out of the bed. The mats also protects the bedliner & bed from things slidding around, anditems " rattleing " in the bad ... You can just throw wood and metal objects into the bed, and don't have to worry about anything ~~~</P>


Would have got a Rhino spray-in liner, but the only on was 145 miles from here.. And if I would get a spray-in liner. I would have gone ahead and spray the floor-board and sides of the metal inside the unit itself.....</P>


</P>


</P>



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[quote user="doggman"]


For hauling gravel and rock I made a simple 3/4" plywoodliner that fits in the bed.5/8" ply would do fine, too. I extended the wood above the 3 sides to increase the capacity and give a little protection from the loader bucket.I put a couple of pieces of 1" square tubing in the bed's stake pockets and bolted the liner top to the tubing. Thislocates the liner in place while dumping.The plywood isjust slippery enough to control the load when spreading. </P>


There is a "search" function at the top right corner of this page if you want to search the past postings on this subject. </P>


[/quote]</P>


</P>


I have read most of the forum. I have seen most of what others have done. I did want others opinion of the paint on liner under the kubota bed liner. Why did you yourselfmakeyour plywoodbox vs using the kubota bed liner? Do you have a bare bed under that?</P>


</P>


I have read a bit but did not take good enough notes to remember who... to the what they did. How much taller is your plywood sides... than the factory box?</P>


</P>


hmm is yours the one with the boat cleat tie downs?</P>


</P>


thanks </P>


glenn</P>


</P>


</P>


</P>
 
[quote user="TWO GUNS"]


I went with the OEM Kubota bedliner, great investment ... Also, went to Sam's Warehouse and purchased two shop fatigue mats. One will do, but needed two to cover the whole bed. Slip proof, water resistant, can be remove in a blink of a eye, to haul anything you want to " slid " out of the bed. The mats also protects the bedliner & bed from things slidding around, anditems " rattleing " in the bad ... You can just throw wood and metal objects into the bed, and don't have to worry about anything ~~~</P>


Would have got a Rhino spray-in liner, but the only on was 145 miles from here.. And if I would get a spray-in liner. I would have gone ahead and spray the floor-board and sides of the metal inside the unit itself.....</P>



<TABLE>
<TBODY>
<TR>
<TD style="HEIGHT: 10px"></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></P>
<DIV class=productdetailsItem align=left><SPAN class=mainstay-txt151>Commercial 3 x 3 Grease Proof Anti-Fatigue Mat</SPAN></DIV>
<DIV class=dividerDashed style="BACKGROUND-IMAGE: url(http://graphics.samsclub.com/images/linebreak-dashIP.gif)"></DIV>


</P>


[/quote]</P>


Hi Jamie:</P>


Yes I was thinking of "your" fatigue mats..on top of the bed liner. Do you ever take your kubota bed liner out? do you worry about rust and such under it?</P>


glenn</P>


</P>
 
I purchased my fatigue mats right after I purchased the RTV in Feb. 2007,Reason, my dealer didn't have bedliners in stock at the time... I used the mats only threw the summer months, then in August, I had him to order me one, had to wait awhile, for the bedliner comes shipped in sets of three. For me to get or should I say, my dealer to get free shipping, he had to order three. So I waited awhile till he found two other customers that wanted bedliners, and we all got 'em at a deal, without anyone having to pay for shipping.Then, after the bedliner come in, I put the mats on top of the bedliner to give the protection a big plus for everything I've only had mine installed about 2-1/2 months. I have not removed the bedliner, which is no sweat at all, just a few screws and it just pops out. I do plan on about every month or two, to remove it and see how things are going underneath it. For I wash my unit ALL the time, and when finished, I leave the bed raised for awhile, letting all or any water that might have gotton under it flow out, now let me state this, I haven't seen no water come out from under the bed yet, not saying it won't, but , for awhile, I'm going to pop off the liner a few times and see what's going on under it. Will not hurt to look, for it probobly will only take a minute or two to look >>>></P>
 
Hammerhead,</P>


We use the wood liner for a couple of reasons. </P>


1st is durability - we've had too many poly liners get sliced or cracked and water and sand leaked underneath to the detriment of the underlying bed. Sometimes we dump in material with rocks that weigh more than 100#. There's a chance that we might be hauling shot rock and some of those pieces go up to 500#. Multiply several 500# massestimes a 3 foot drop velocity and the result is poly crushing momentum. (<FONT color=#000000>Newton's third law</FONT>) We'll beef up the floor when we haul that stuff. </P>


2nd - we wanted more capacity than the original box so we raised the sides 4 inches and the front 8 inches to keep crap out of the cab and undercarriage. Plus you get the batterboard protection from the bucket. You could raise the sides even more if you want - the RTV will pull it unless you drive crazy...</P>


3rd - we remove 2 screws and it lifts out. </P>


If you make one use the dimensions between the sides, not the floor. The floor has a larger footprint and the box won't fit. (Yes Ihad aHomer Simpson moment...) </P>


Like a lot of the other forum members we put rubber mats in the back for general hauling, of tools, pooches, friends, coolers, game, etc. We use the playground tiles that snap together like a jigsaw puzzle because they're nonskid, light, bright, the right size, and inexpensive at a Sam's Club. </P>


It was somebody else who had the cleats on the side of their bed - but it's a good idea. </P>
 
I bought two horse stall floor mats, about $40 each, cut them to size and put them on the floor and walls on the bed. I used floor glue for the sides, so they don't fall down. The bed is not glued so I can clean it out when needed. So far, I've hauled rocks and wood for the stove with no problems. As an added plus the mats seem to quiet some of the bed noise rattle.
 
doggman... droping in 500 pound rocks...holy cow..I can now see why you use the plywood box... </P>


I was going to say I would not be that hard on it... but I have moved rock..and this might be a good way to go for me.</P>


I was thinking taller sides for Hauling dirt ect.. and then other sides for wood [taller yet ]</P>


</P>


kas1263 I am aware of those mats. I have one in the back of my Honda truck.They provide a lot ofprotection and are not slippery. How do you keep the one on the floor in place when you dump? </P>


hmm more thinking to do..</P>


glenn</P>


</P>
 
[quote user="hammerhead"]I was thinking taller sides for Hauling dirt ect.. and then other sides for wood [taller yet ][/quote]
Glenn,

I don't recall exactly how tall the OEM sides are but in my replacement box (made out of wood), my sides are about 1' tall. I don't know if I would want to go much higher.

A 4'w x 4'd x 1'h box loaded level to the top has 0.6 cu/yds of volume. A piled up/crowned load can get you closer to 3/4 or 1 cu/yd. If your h & w were 4' and you had 20" sides, a level load would hold 1 cu/yd.

OK, the cargo box is rated to 1,100 pounds (but I have heard that a couple people have gone over that [wink]. Using the weights per yard of the materials below, I wouldn't want to try to put much more than a yard of wood in there. Stacked, I can easily get enough chunks of firewood in there to make it squat. It also greatly raises your center-of-gravity which has safety implications.

Material and weight per cu/yd.
Soft wood is about 1,000
Hardwood is about 1,500
Sand, stone is about 2,700
Steel is about 13,000
 
[quote user="bczoom"][quote user="hammerhead"]I was thinking taller sides for Hauling dirt ect.. and then other sides for wood [taller yet ][/quote]
Glenn,

I don't recall exactly how tall the OEM sides are but in my replacement box (made out of wood), my sides are about 1' tall. I don't know if I would want to go much higher.

A 4'w x 4'd x 1'h box loaded level to the top has 0.6 cu/yds of volume. A piled up/crowned load can get you closer to 3/4 or 1 cu/yd. If your h & w were 4' and you had 20" sides, a level load would hold 1 cu/yd.

OK, the cargo box is rated to 1,100 pounds (but I have heard that a couple people have gone over that [wink]. Using the weights per yard of the materials below, I wouldn't want to try to put much more than a yard of wood in there. Stacked, I can easily get enough chunks of firewood in there to make it squat. It also greatly raises your center-of-gravity which has safety implications.

Material and weight per cu/yd.
Soft wood is about 1,000
Hardwood is about 1,500
Sand, stone is about 2,700
Steel is about 13,000

[/quote]</P>


Thanks for the warning...</P>


This Kubota box is very similar in size to my Toro... my Toro has a capacity of about 1000 pounds.</P>


When I load it with gravel ... just loading it with the bucket of my tractor. it is piled in the center but not up to the walls all the way around. Driving this way I do at times have rocks falling out .. where my mowers hit them. I could prevent this by trying to level everything off ... but it is faster the way I do it. If the sides were a little taller my problem would be eliminated.</P>


My figures for dry pine work out to about 450 pounds a yard. so at capacity the kubota should be able to haul 2.5 yards of this. which if my math is correct would mean it would need to be stacked 4 feet high... and I do haul a lot of pine. I have a bit of standing dead pine at about 6 to 8 inches in diameter..and living in a passive solar underground dome... I can get by with mostly pine for heat.</P>


On my Toro I currently go a total of 3 feet high. this machine feels very stable with this. I don't know but would suspect the Kubota would at the least equal what my Toro does.</P>


I would also haul light but bulky items... leaves... and brush. the taller sides would work well for this. </P>


I am currently thinking of sides a little taller than the stock bed, for bucket loaded items. and taller sides for the other. If I am hauling green oak... and I reach the machines capability before filling to the top of the sides... then. I just don't fill it.</P>


[was it not you that has hauled 2600 pound load of sand ? [wink]</P>


</P>


glenn</P>


</P>


</P>


</P>


</P>
 
OK, if you're not overloading with gravel and otherwise hauling pine or brush, you'll be fine.

[quote user="hammerhead"]and living in a passive solar underground dome... I can get by with mostly pine for heat.[/quote]
Can you tell us more about your "passive solar underground dome"? Sounds very interesting.


[quote user="hammerhead"][was it not you that has hauled 2600 pound load of sand ? [wink][/quote]</p>

I don't recall hauling sand. As I recall (going through my mental project list), the heavyist thing I've hauled was a load of crushed stone. I had it loaded enough where it was pouring out the sides and recall this particular load since the RTV wouldn't dump it.
</p>
 
[quote user="bczoom"]OK, if you're not overloading with gravel and otherwise hauling pine or brush, you'll be fine.

[quote user="hammerhead"]and living in a passive solar underground dome... I can get by with mostly pine for heat.[/quote]
Can you tell us more about your "passive solar underground dome"? Sounds very interesting.



[quote user="hammerhead"][was it not you that has hauled 2600 pound load of sand ? [wink][/quote]</P>


I don't recall hauling sand. As I recall (going through my mental project list), the heavyist thing I've hauled was a load of crushed stone. I had it loaded enough where it was pouring out the sides and recall this particular load since the RTV wouldn't dump it.
</P>



[/quote]</P>


</P>


I do haul hardwood also. I cut about two cords this year, but I will be mindful of how much I haul in the RTV. Not to be arguementative, but in case others use this thread as a refference. The numbers I had come across for hardwood weights vary from yours.</P>


These numbers are based on wood with a 20%moisture contend...and mathmatically figured from cord weights....a cubic yard of</P>


white oak 928</P>


sugar maple 865</P>


red oak 822</P>


white ash 780</P>


american elm 506 </P>


white birch 717.</P>


another reason for my tall side board. [I may go near roof height] is so I can put a rack on it. I have a need to haul long items like double 2x6 x16 footers.. I have built some bridges for my trails and have more to do. I realize I should not put much that high up.. generally bridge has only two of these.</P>


[and no the bridge is not strong enough for the RTV] : ) They are to narrow anyways. Every bridge has another longer way around to the other side. [ i have culverts for that]</P>


</P>


my house. It is built into the side of a slope, at the topof the hill. It is two stories. It is dome shaped with the southside "cut" off. That side is all glass. The roof has a minimum of 2 feet of earth [at the very top.] and it getsthicker as you come down. the lower floor is below ground level on all sides except the south.</P>


We enter from the north side through a "tunnel".. and enter onto the top floor. Our living spaces are upstairs and the bed ,bath, laundry and gym are downstairs. It is about 1988 sq ft. and we started building it in 1988.. : ) I should have waited a few years... it is a little small. : )</P>


Our bed room stays comfortably cool all summer and it does not take much at all to heat it. any questions feel free to ask</P>


glenn</P>


</P>
 
Glenn,

Your house sounds really interesting. Love to see a pic if you ever want to post one.

[quote user="hammerhead"]Not to be arguementative, but in case others use this thread as a refference. The numbers I had come across for hardwood weights vary from yours.


These numbers are based on wood with a 20%moisture contend...and mathmatically figured from cord weights....a cubic yard of</p>


white oak 928</p>


sugar maple 865</p>


red oak 822</p>


white ash 780</p>


american elm 506 </p>


white birch 717.[/quote]</p>

I don't consider this argueing whatsoever. I believe where we differ is based on the moisture content.</p>

In my calculations, the moisture content is much higher as I was referring to greener wood. The wood I cut (oak, maple, cherry) <u>when green</u> has a rough average of 70% moisture content.
</p>

So, if we adjust the moisture content, our numbers come much closer.</p>

Here's my situation and why I picked "green" weight numbers.</p>

Green wood is what I haul in the RTV. I live in the hills in PA and I need to haul the wood down a big hill to the woodshed. Using a trailer behind the tractor worked fine but was too slow. Using a trailer behind the ATV, the ATV would get pushed down the hill by the loaded trailer in tow and was unsafe. The RTV was the perfect solution for me. With the engine braking and such, coming down the hills was nicely controlled. My trails are pitched to the downhill side to allow drainage. Well, with a top-heavy load, it feels like it's going to tip over and send me down a few hundred foot hill. Moving the wood from the woodshed to the house is done via trailer as I load it then just leave the trailer behind the house.
</p>


</p>
 
[quote user="hammerhead"]another reason for my tall side board. [I may go near roof height] is so I can put a rack on it. I have a need to haul long items like double 2x6 x16 footers.[/quote]
Glenn,
I know someone that has a setup that may be exactly what you're looking for. He's a member here but hasn't posted or visited in awhile. I've asked him to stop into this thread and give a description and post some pics of his setup (which is veeerrrry sweet).
 
I think the green numbers are the more important numbers. I would not have guessed that they are that much higher. I can see how using a trailer is a much better idea.</P>


I already have a "wood cutting trailer" that I use.I cut a lot of smaller stuff.. I built this rack ona trailer.. to load in a bunch of smaller stuff for cutting, it is set up so I can cut it to stove length in it. Itholds it up off the ground and holds it all in place.. and it generally prevents the saw for binding. It works great. </P>


hmm how to haul two trailers out there?</P>


</P>


glenn</P>


</P>
 
[quote user="hammerhead"]hmm how to haul two trailers out there? [/quote]
One of my trailers is setup to have another in tow but I rarely use it. It's basically a drawbar with ball on it mounted to the rear, underside of the trailer.

I don't use it since it pretty much wipes out the capability to backup.
 
OK, here comes some pics of a nice RTV bed extension. This is from a Member here whose handle is Deerlope.

First, what the whole thing looks like.
 
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