Advice for installing new bed wood?

[Longhorn321]

I worked on some hard maple for my bed today. Man I can't wait to get it installed. It's gonna make the rest of my truck look really crappy but I don't care. Couple of questions.... 1. Do I have to take the bed off the truck or can I just take the old boards off and put the new ones in? 2. Someone suggeseted powder coating the wear strips...Whaddya think? I saw somewhere on here that someone had said that all of the frames that they had seen powder coated had had some chips on them? Dwayne

[dan42]

Sounds nice! I'm gonna have to do mine one of these days - it's rotted all the way through in lots of spots.

[Longhorn321]

Somebodys gotta know about wood bed refurbishing......

[nuke1]

every time that i have done it , i take the bed off, it is way easier to tighten all of the bolts, and besides that you have to remove the bed mount bolts any way, trust when i say to do it off the truck you will curse yourself if you do it while still on the truck, no fun.

[slammed1]

I would also do the job with bed off the truck,and while doing so make sure the bed stays square,as with all the braces off,and all the stock wood off the bed is going to move around.

I had a tough time on my wood bed and I installed a steel floor in it not the original wood,and I had to keep making sure the outer bedsides and frt bed panel stayed square. Maybe mine was just a pain.................I wished I could afford starting with a new wood bed with new strips.

[kxnomore]

I'm watching this thread too, as I just ordered my new bed wood and strips. I did one on my last truck about a year ago by taking the bed off and hanging it from the stake holes off the rafters in the garage. It stayed straight for me and I had no problems with it going out of square.

But man were the old bolts tough. I tried grinding, drilling, sawzall, chiseling, everything. What a nightmare. I actually can't believe I'm doing this again, but they look soooo good once done.

Doing the whole bed took (me at least) 4 days last time, including all the wood prep, metal rail sanding and painting, everything.

But since this one is my daily driver I was thinking of taking just one or two boards off at a time and working slowly from one side to the other. Seems to me that this would let the rest of the boards hold everything together, and I would only be down for a few hours at a time. I really can't be without a truck for the time to do it all at once, so I don't know how else to do it. Any ideas if this might work?

[zacut]

I installed my new board while the bed was on the truck. I worked from the outsides toward the center (when installing the new). I removed the center first. The outsides were the only tough part because they support the sides of the bed. It took a couple of helpers lifting on the sides as side boards went out and then new ones right back in. The two short boards on either side were toughest to get straight. The one with the wheel well cut out were reasonable to install. After that the center boards were a piece of cake. I did line them all up and lay in the strips, checking gaps and alignment before then tightening all of the bolts.

[Longhorn321]

I was thinking of taking just one or two boards off at a time and working slowly from one side to the other. Seems to me that this would let the rest of the boards hold everything together, and I would only be down for a few hours at a time.

Originally Posted by zacut

I installed my new board while the bed was on the truck. I worked from the outsides toward the center (when installing the new). I removed the center first. The outsides were the only tough part because they support the sides of the bed. It took a couple of helpers lifting on the sides as side boards went out and then new ones right back in. The two short boards on either side were toughest to get straight. The one with the wheel well cut out were reasonable to install. After that the center boards were a piece of cake. I did line them all up and lay in the strips, checking gaps and alignment before then tightening all of the bolts.

I was hoping I could do a couple boards at a time too.
Zacut, why were the boards hard to keep straight?

[wibilly]

i've only done one i did it with the bed on the truck. it was brought to me with all the boards already removed. i milled and finished the boards. the owner and i installed them and new strips in a few hours after work one night we set all the boards in place with the strips before we put in any bolts to be sure all was squre

[Longhorn321]

I don't suppose anyone thought to take some pics?

[EAST SIDE LOW LIFE]

Originally Posted by Longhorn321

I don't suppose anyone thought to take some pics?

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I took allot of pictures and there should be a post on it some where. It showed step by step how to do it.

Check out "Bed Time Story" todays posts.

esll.

[Longhorn321]

Originally Posted by EAST SIDE LOW LIFE

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I took allot of pictures and there should be a post on it some where. It showed step by step how to do it.

Check out "Bed Time Story" todays posts.

esll.

Found it! http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=251305 Thanks esll!

Has anyone tried using the old wood for templates?