Fleetside bed sidepanel removal: How hard?
 

I just have to take off the bolts in the front and back, and the side panels will come right off, right? What I'm tryint to do, is get these bed sides off and then take them down and have them painted, then I'm gonna get a bedliner sprayed in, so that way, my bed will look brand new. :D Would that look dumb though? A BRAND NEW bed with the rest of my junky truck? (It'll eventually be the same color as the bed) :confused:

I pulled the panel on my dads LWB and rigt at the back post where it meets the bed floor, under the sealant it has a weld. I used a grinder with a cut off wheel to cut through it. other than that it is pretty staight forward. BTW his was an 83

I am pretty sure that there are spot welds to be drilled out somewhere.

Hmm..maybe I'll leave the sides on then, and just drive the truck down to the shop and have them paint it. (I can sand and prime)

There is only one spot weld (where bob76 mentioned), everything else is bolted on.

-Jeff

It's a simple removal, Tim. There were 2 spot welds around the back posts on mine. Otherwise, the bedside is bolted on. :)

Ditto on what everyone else said. And no I don't think it would look dumb. If anyone remembers the Circus Wagon (wonder what happended to it after he sold it...) it was different colors all over with bags, 20's and a new drivetrain. It looked COOL!

:eek: Lol, that must have been before my time.

Hmm..it would seem to me that the bed sides have an inner and an outer portion. The outer of the two is the one I'm wanting to take off (curved portion) I could be wrong though...

They are one piece. The bedside is double walled, you can't seperate them. Check with Matt Dingman page: http://73-87chevytrucks.com/bed.htm Have a little info on it.

Pick of the Circus Wagon. It was a 70's picked in Chevy Truck (before its demise) and Sport Truck mag. Jim Aust owned it and used to post here. Kevin Lee was the editor.
http://www.sporttruck.com/sporttruck...mage_small.jpg
Here is a story with it mentioned...
http://www.sporttruck.com/eventcoverage/5338/

Chris, that's EXACTLY what I was wanting to see! Well, if that's the way the bed is constructed, I think I'm going to leave it all together and then just get it coated with Line-X, then take it off and coat the underside with some undercoating.