bed removal
 

i am in the process of removing my bed from my 76 crew cab, and was wondering what kind of things that i need to watch out for? How is the wiring routed thru the bed? How heavy is it?

thanks
dave

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1976 Crew Cab Dually (under construction)
1972 Suburban
1955 Pro Street Chevy
1985 S-10 Blazer (daily driver)
V W Sandrail
Located in Horn Lake, MS that's just 4 miles south of Memphis TN

www.classictruckshop.com/clubs/earlyburbs/members/gallery2/223/display.htm

it's a pretty simple job to remove the bed
the wiring should be ran down the inside of the driver's side frame rail and should have little rubber connectors at various intervals that allow the wiring to pass thru the frame cross members, you should look for the last connctor near the rear of the truck (should be just a bit behind the rear bumper inside the frame rail) just before the harness runs into the tailights and such ,unplugging it here should dissconnect all the wiring from the bed

as far as weight i could not say but i do know they are heavy but 2 people should be able to lift it (3 or 4 is nicer though)

there are 6 or 8 bolts holding the bed on (nut is inside the frame rails) but beware as they are the kind with the little sqaure just below the head to keep the bolt from turning but on my 70 the square holes in the bed were rounded out and i had to drill out over half the bolts (not to hard just a little time consuming)


hope this helps
if you are unclear on the wiring and had a couple of days to spare i could snap some pictures of my 70 and 74 and email them to you (sorry no digital cam or i would have put them up now)

Don't forget to disconnect the fuel tank lines too. While you have the bed off, go down to the local carwash and give the truck a good cleaning. This would also be a good time spray paint the fram with some black paint. Why not lower the truck too. A shackel and hanger installation are easier with the bed off the truck.

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Gerardo
1983 Custom Truck
TX Plates: "BAD BOW"
http://www.geocities.com/abetterchemist/