My 2012 Ford F450 Classy Chassis truck build

jbeletti

Well-known member
Some of the forum regulars know that I'm selling my 2007 Ford F550 truck with a Chariot Hauler Bed and replacing it with a 2012 Ford F450 with a Classy Chassis Hauler Bed.

I plan to use this thread to show build progress of the Classy Chassis conversion. The truck was ordered by phone/email by me with Tom Martin, President/Owner of Classy Chassis in January. New truck sales were very hot at that time and when Ford gave Tom a build date, he gave me a March 26 arrival date at his shop. The truck arrived last week, a couple days early.

What appears below are the first set of pictures of the truck. Note that Tom ordered the truck as a full pickup, with a bed. He removes the bed, strips it of certain components for reuse on the hauler bed and he sells the bed and other unused components. The recaptured value of the sold bed and components are factored into the cost of the hauler bed.

Tom started the bed ahead of the arrival of the truck in order to shorten the 6 to 8 week build cycle a bit.

If you have any questions about this build, please post them in this thread and I will do my best to answer them.

00a - Truck before bed removal.jpg 00b - Truck before bed removal.jpg 01 - Truck (side) with bed removed.jpg 02 - Truck (back) with bed removed.jpg 03 - AirLift Air Bags.jpg 04 - Bed - Headache Rack.jpg 06 - Bed - License Plate Area.jpg 07 - Bed - Driver Side.jpg 08 - Bed - Passenger Rear.jpg 09 - Bed - Passenger Side.jpg 10 - Bed - Rear.jpg
 
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Terry H

Past Texas North Chapter Leader/Moderator
Staff member
That is a sharp looking truck that will look great with any trailer.
 

mmomega

AnyTimer
Following this one.
What bag setup did you go with. Looks like air lift.
On board compressor, self leveling or manually controlled?
How much do they estimate the finished bed will weigh?

Do you have any idea where they resell any of the stock bed components? I checked the site but may have passed over them.

Looking good Jim.
 

jbeletti

Well-known member
Thanks Terry! Just like yours :)

Hi JD,

They sell some beds locally and some beds and other items via eBay. I'll get a link posted here for that stuff.

No idea on the completed bed weight, but a great question. Heavier than the stock bed as much of the aluminum is 3/16". I'll get the answer though as I'd like to know that too :)

The bags are AirLift. I believe they will be tied together and will be manually leveled via a wireless controller.

Jim
 

boatto5er

Founding VA Chap Ldr (Ret)
Gus, I'm beginning to think that the Bronze (brown) is the most popular as I sure see a lot of them.

We looked at three side by side, Bronze, all Black, and White with Gold trim. Identical in every other way. There wasn't even a discussion between us, the Bronze won hands down!
 

porthole

Retired
Your going to like the new truck, the factory sync/nav is pricey but really works well.
Overall I think you will find all the improvements in the 2011+ SD's to be to your liking. Very comfortable too. This is the first vehicle we have had in 20 years that Deb can ride in for more then 2-3 hours. She sat in the front seat all the way to Goshen.

Looks like you didn't get the factory prep for the hitch. So my question is, do they attach the hitch to the truck frame or the bed frame?
 

porthole

Retired
We looked at three side by side, Bronze, all Black, and White with Gold trim. Identical in every other way. There wasn't even a discussion between us, the Bronze won hands down!

Right before ordering mine I had stopped at a local dealer on a Sunday (no pesky salesman). Much to my amusement, the dealer just happened to have every color available sitting in a row out back. Made picking out my color a bit easier (Tri-Coat white).
 

ihsolutions

Well-known member
Great looking truck, Jim. I should have taken a peek at it while I was there Monday. I love the color!

Some advice for anyone looking to build a custom-order truck through Classy Chassis... it can sometimes be hard to know what you're getting. Ask a billion questions, and request that they send you pictures of each item you are agreeing to add to your truck, even if the picture uses another truck as an example. I picked mine up a couple weeks ago, and was disappointed with some of the things I added. For example, my 90 gallon tool-and-fuel tank is enormous, so much so that the bed is mostly useless for other purposes, and I'm unable to use any of the hard folding bed cover products on the market.

So anyways, that is not to disparage them. Just be real sure to communicate exactly what you want, and know what it's gonna look like so there are no surprises. The quality of their workmanship is quite high.

Jeff
 

porthole

Retired
Great looking truck, Jim. I should have taken a peek at it while I was there Monday. I love the color!

Some advice for anyone looking to build a custom-order truck through Classy Chassis... it can sometimes be hard to know what you're getting. Ask a billion questions, and request that they send you pictures of each item you are agreeing to add to your truck, even if the picture uses another truck as an example. I picked mine up a couple weeks ago, and was disappointed with some of the things I added. For example, my 90 gallon tool-and-fuel tank is enormous, so much so that the bed is mostly useless for other purposes, and I'm unable to use any of the hard folding bed cover products on the market.


That's good point. I saw the 90 gallon tank and thought that was huge, made the bed useless. Guess that is why they also offer a smaller tank.

I would just get an in frame Titan. 65 gallons is a lot of fuel, and works well for us.
 

loafer

Well-known member
Jim
That will be a "Classy" hauler when shes done. What colour will you have the box painted ? Will it be 2 tone to match the cab ?Its going to be sooo nice when its finished . Looking forward to seeing it in person in June at Gillette.

Thx for sharing the pics ( keep em comin )

Bill
 

jbeletti

Well-known member
...Looks like you didn't get the factory prep for the hitch. So my question is, do they attach the hitch to the truck frame or the bed frame?

Duane,

Here's the answer from Tom Martin:

The Classy Hauler bed has a sub frame that Bolts to the factory frame and then the 5th wheel hitch rails bolt to the sub frame.
 
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