This truck bed is a simple bolt on conversion for trucks. The sides of the bed fold out flush with the bed to give more room for large sheets of wood, sheetrock, or other bulky materials for construction. Not to be used for hauling, only to be used as a large worktable to cut materials or such. Back up to your work area, unlatch the sides, and instantly you have a worktable.
The bed itself becomes a flatbed, however, it still retains the same exterior look and shape of your original truck bed. Inside, the indentions on the sides are covered in flush metal, with the space created to be used for storage. Latches at all four corners and safety straps provide redundancy to keep the bed sides from dropping down while driving. The fuel filler neck will have to be relocated to the inside of the bed, although I'm sure with the right connections you can retain the original location and disconnect it when you decide to put the bed sides down.
Some benefits I've been thinking about:
-Easier to clean the bed of your truck.
-A dented bedside would be easy to replace.
-A good spot to set up a tent for camping, or take it a step further and incorporate it with a fold-out camper.
-Easy to remove for hardcore off-roading.-- destructionism, Aug 26 2004 (?) truck with fold down sides http://www.kaffenba...smonthsfeatures.aspnext to last picture [FarmerJohn, Oct 05 2004, last modified Oct 17 2004] This could probably work. It sounds practical.-- Machiavelli, Aug 26 2004 And the wheel wells?-- bristolz, Aug 26 2004 [bristolz] The inside of the bedside would actually be flush with the wheel wells. Instead of having a cavity, sheet metal would cover the holes and utilize this space for storage. Once folded down, the sheet metal becomes flush with the rest of the bed. Of course theres some fit and finish details unique to all trucks, the wheel wells shouldn't be a problem. Take a look at the wheel wells of a truck and you can see the bottom of the bed is taller than the top of the tires.
[farmerjohn] I saw that particular bed, which gave me the idea. My only problem is, I wouldn't stick a bed like that on my truck if I had something like this that retains the original stock look.-- destructionism, Aug 26 2004 I saw this on a show called Trucks on Spike TV, they called it the ultimate tail gating truck ( for tail gate parties , if you don't know what I'm refering to)-- SystemAdmin, Aug 26 2004 Link? If it's baked I need to get my hands on one.-- destructionism, Aug 26 2004 random, halfbakery