removing bedside

[drewdude92]

Well recently had a lil mishap in my truck and ended up with a jacked up bedside ive already found me one in good shape to put on. But how hard is it to replace? how many bolts or is it welded or what?

[FRENCHBLUE72]

There are two little spot welds back by the tailgate the rest are all bolts... Lots and lots of bolts..

[68gmsee]

Removing the bedside is not hard but as FRENCHBLUE72 says there's a lot of bolts once you cut through the welds. I just removed both of mine last summer to do some resealing and painting the inside of them.

I guess the biggest problem you may encounter is rusted bolts and making sure that you clean the seams of old debris and reseal. If you got the inner wheel well with the fender just remove and replace as a unit unless you are going to do the clean/reseal stuff...

[nds1968]

I found on the carriage bolts that it is easier to tighten them until they broke. If you try to loosen them they will start to spin and its hard to hold them, or you can weld something to them to make it easier to hold. Penetrate your other bolts for a couple of days ahead of time and its not a hard job.

[drewdude92]

alright thanks any idea how many bolts there actually are?

[sameyrasmea72]

44 carriage bolts, 6 bolts and 4 screws on the head gate,12-14 bolts on the sides of the inner fender, 4 hidden bolts underneath around the taillight area, 4 bolts on the support rods, @10 bolts on the dirt shield thingys.

44 carriage bolts on a swb that is!

[drewdude92]

ouch i better break out some air tools for this job!

[powerbench]

I don't know about everybody else but, i found it easier to go buy a few really good drill bits (various sizes from like an 1/8 inch and up) and drill the heads off the bolts ,rather than trying to undo them. I just undid the header panel, and the inner fender, and the gravel sheild ,and support rod...and the two hiding under the tail light area holding the side to cross sill.( lots of wd/40)...Then i took a center punch to all the top bed bolts and pilot drilled each one with a little cutting oil , then step up in size, and repeated four or five time till i got to a 1/4 or 5/16 bit and the heads broke right off. No broken bolts or rounded out holes no welding....just go slow and don't force the drill or you'll be trying to pick out a broken bit.