bed floor swap?

[68shortwide]

How hard is it to put a bed floor in a shortbed fleetside? PO cut mine beyond repair. I searched but didn't find anything relevant. It seems like the bed stood up on end in mud or water as the bottom side where the tailgate and lights are all rusted out (covered in bondo and primer) would I be better off attempting to find a new bed altogether?

[special-K]

Bed floors get like that because everything they run through gets thrown to the rear. Road sprsy, especially off the rear tires, gets shot into every crevice.

Other than a few spots welded, it is a bolt-in job...pretty simple/easy. The welds are at the base of the bedside at the rear in the tailgate area. No big deal, but that needs to be re-welded fr sure

[68shortwide]

Originally Posted by special-K

Bed floors get like that because everything they run through gets thrown to the rear. Road sprsy, especially off the rear tires, gets shot into every crevice.

Other than a few spots welded, it is a bolt-in job...pretty simple/easy. The welds are at the base of the bedside at the rear in the tailgate area. No big deal, but that needs to be re-welded fr sure

Thanks for the good news. I hope it's that easy. Havn't gotten all the way down past the false bed floor, no tellin if he decided to add some "reinforcing" welds to the bed. Again, thanks Special-K.

[cooperhw]

If you are stuck on a wood floor they are not too hard. Time consuming for sure. On my 68 I am building I cut a nice steel bed floor out of a 73-87 square body fleetside bed and welded it in. I personally don't like the wood floor in these trucks as it makes it harder (for me) to use it. I will have a Rhino liner type product installed after I paint the bed sides.

[68shortwide]

Originally Posted by cooperhw

If you are stuck on a wood floor they are not too hard. Time consuming for sure. On my 68 I am building I cut a nice steel bed floor out of a 73-87 square body fleetside bed and welded it in. I personally don't like the wood floor in these trucks as it makes it harder (for me) to use it. I will have a Rhino liner type product installed after I paint the bed sides.

It's not that I'm stuck on the wood floor, it's just a false floor since he cut the steel one to sink over the frame to drop the bed. What i think I'm gonna do is get another floor and just raise the whole floor and wheel tubs up towards the bed rails. It'd look a lot cleaner imo and i won't have to worry about the wood rotting away. I do like some wood floors and I think i'll just do it on my stepside. Do you have any pics Coop?

[cooperhw]

Originally Posted by 68shortwide

It's not that I'm stuck on the wood floor, it's just a false floor since he cut the steel one to sink over the frame to drop the bed. What i think I'm gonna do is get another floor and just raise the whole floor and wheel tubs up towards the bed rails. It'd look a lot cleaner imo and i won't have to worry about the wood rotting away. I do like some wood floors and I think i'll just do it on my stepside. Do you have any pics Coop?

Sorry for the delay in answering your question. Yes. I have a build thread in the projects and builds called "Meet Homer (the motor home)". Putting in the metal floor is towards the end pages of the build. Painting it right now.