Bed and running boards

[vht]

Where's the best place to buy this stuff? heard some horror stories from some about quality and fit. Shipping is a pain to on anything of any size. Hoping for some holiday specials. My 51 is a short bed, anyone on here that have made their bedsides? I have a guy that does sheetmetal work, has a sheer and a large metal brake.

[57chevyman]

ive heard good things about mar-k beds and shipping is free for orders over $1000

[buildinga55]

I bought a lot of my parts including the bedsides from Classic Parts in Kansas City. I know they have in the past offered some really good deals and shipping around the holidays.

[vht]

Thanks guys, I'll ck them out. I'm shooting for that holiday special.

[av8tr33337]

My Cousin uses Mar-K and has nothing but good things to say about them.

[mr48chev]

I'm thinking that you may be getting Mar-K pieces when you order from some of the other vendors too. I've never seen anything on who else makes bed sides or what the obvious difference is if you get them from someone else.

Just by looking it appears that Goodmark only goes back to 54 and then just select pieces.

Doing your own depends on how well you and or your friends or the people you are paying can fabricate. I don't know how they rolled the rolls on the edges of the bed but I've had friends weld 1-1/2 inch exhaust pipe to the sides before with mixed results. One came out near perfect and the other was a warped mess but that was more due to the skill level differences of the two guys rather than the task at hand. Then you still have to spot weld the corner posts on.

I've muddled having the sides cut and bent for mine as like you I have someone who can do the work but that is the shop I have bought pieces of sheet metal from. I don't think the cost would be that much extra for them to do it and then I would be good to go. Then I need to talk my son into welding it for me.

[vht]

Welding the pipe down the sides is no big deal, do both sides at the same time. That way you can jump around and not get 1 spot to hot. I would like to just buy everything but money gets in the way, or lack of it.

[gale]

Originally Posted by mr48chev

I'm thinking that you may be getting Mar-K pieces when you order from some of the other vendors too.

I ordered wood for beds of both of my trucks from Brothers during a 15% off sale.

The bundles were drop-shipped from Mar-K.

[_Ogre]

how bad is your stock bed?
if cash is an issue find a used bed, nothing on these can't be fixed with a little time, a welder and a grinder
maybe it's just me, i like to fix stuff. make it work

[mr48chev]

Originally Posted by _Ogre

how bad is your stock bed?
if cash is an issue find a used bed, nothing on these can't be fixed with a little time, a welder and a grinder
maybe it's just me, i like to fix stuff. make it work

Really good beds for AD trucks aren't all that easy to find. I have looked at over 200 beds over the years that were for sale and seen only a handful that were better than what I was trying to replace. I missed an NOS take off bed that had been pulled off the day the truck was bought and set on saw horses in a garage one time by a half hour and had to buy the truck my bed came off to get the bed.
I've driven as much as 100 miles one way to look at beds that were advertised in the Thrifty Nickle only to see what they said was a good bed/box was scrap metal. Once a guy even got mad when I told him that the bed he was trying to sell me was one that I had hauled for scrap two months before and it was. He had bought the pieces out of Valley Junk by the pound after I hauled them in there thinking he could make a buck on them. Task Force guys have it a lot easier as the beds fit a lot more years and getting up into the later years a lot of the short bed trucks were "Gentlemen's trucks" that didn't get used very hard. The AD trucks were still mostly all hard working trucks and few had an easy life of it.

[kcsa75]

Originally Posted by _Ogre

how bad is your stock bed?
if cash is an issue find a used bed, nothing on these can't be fixed with a little time, a welder and a grinder
maybe it's just me, i like to fix stuff. make it work

[_Ogre]

maybe it's just me, i like to fix stuff. make it work

[buildinga55]

I got an email today from Classic Parts in KC and they have a 10% off promotion through the end of November if you put in the coupon code of THANKS13 when you check out.

[vht]

Orge, I like to fix stuff to, but I have nothing to fix. I can't find nothing to fix is the bad part. Found a guy in Frankfort Ky today that buys every ad truck he can find, or parts for them. He had 1 but said there was nothing there to fix, but he wanted $200 for it. He said he had a decent 54 up bed. I need 2 lower bars for my chrome grille and he didn't have those. I would like to find a really rough 1, that is fairly close and cheap, I could use the stake pockets off it and the rest as a pattern.

[vht]

Restoration World has bed sides for $279.

[brikar]

Vht If you get Mar-k bed products they will be galvinized bare steel, they won't have the black primer. My bed sides and tailgate were bare steel when i ordered from Mar-k,in my opinion i wouldn't go any where else for bed products.You also were asking about running boards,this is what i have found,the first to pictures is a Counterpart running board, the next three is a running board from Dynacorn,I went with the counterpart boards.

[mr48chev]

Originally Posted by _Ogre

maybe it's just me, i like to fix stuff. make it work

So do I but after a while you get tired of driving 100 miles to look at a "great bed" and have the seller get mad when you tell him it's in worse shape than what you are wanting to replace. In the past 20 years I've spent enough on gas on wild goose chases to look at AD truck beds that If I had it all in one pile it would easily pay for a Mar-K bed. I also want my truck as close to perfect as I can get it this time. I was always short on money or time or both every time I redid the truck and always cut a corner or two that I don't want to cut this time.

[vht]

If I can swing it, I'd like to go with the Mark K bed. I like the idea that they are built in the US and after a $1000, shipping is free. If I come up with someone that has a brake long enough, I may still build them.

[gale]

Originally Posted by vht

If I can swing it, I'd like to go with the Mark K bed. I like the idea that they are built in the US and after a $1000, shipping is free. If I come up with someone that has a brake long enough, I may still build them.

That takes a relatively short press brake, most are 10 feet. Do you plan to just weld electrical conduit for the rolled edge?

How will you form the jambs for the tailgate?

How will you form the stake pockets?

Have you looked at a bed up close?

I bought a pretty good bed off a truck sitting in a pasture for $200. The wood was rotted out and it had some slight dings and a few little holes previous owners had drilled, but it is a real Chevy bed. Of course it needed a tailgate but they all do. It's just the nature of the beast.

At 73 I still enjoy fixing stuff and building things but I also know when to buy.

[vht]

You can buy the stake pockets, $40 each. ! 1/4 exh tubing, the rest is fairly easy. I'd rather do a Mark K, just have to see how things work out. I don't have much time, but it seems here lately I have more time than money. Mr48chev, you are dead on. I made a 5 hr round trip a few wks ago, pulling a trailer, for a whole truck that was described to me 3 times to be a good solid piece. Running boards had a piece of metal laid over them and 1/2 welded. Bed had 2 gal of bondo and rust. Cab needed, back panel, 2 corners, floor board, firewall, and I stopped looking then. He wanted me to make a offer.