Decent floor patch?

[i82much]

I have some pretty bad spots on my bed floor where it was underneath of a plastic liner. I am a novice welder, but I was thinking this might be worth a shot as a good first project.

I have seen where some of the aftermarket bed patch panels have corrugation that does not line up with the factory floors. Is anyone aware of a decent patch panel that lines up properly?

[Lattimer]

I bought 1 from LMC and 1 from Classic Parts, both suck. Pretty sure same manufacturer. I made it work but it took a lot of hammer work.

[i82much]

Thanks Lattimer. I live out west, so I will just try to find some decent local stuff from a junkyard or parts truck.

[olebluegmc]

I bought mine from Brothers and it seems to be decent, I haven't welded it up yet, but I checked the metal gauge compared to stock and its the same, which I've heard some replacement panels are thinner metal.

[In The Ten Ring]

You may want to stay original but my dad made his own bed floor and sides out of 1/8 inch steel. He plug welded it to the frame via 4 bolts. I should instead say the bed floor is welded to the bolts and the bolts are attached to the frame via 4 nuts. That same truck is now mine, 1972 stepside.

[Custom/Ten]

1/8 in steel, wow! Bet that guy brushes his teeth with a wire wheel and cuts the crust of his sandwich a with a chainsaw!

[In The Ten Ring]

Originally Posted by Custom/Ten

1/8 in steel, wow! Bet that guy brushes his teeth with a wire wheel and cuts the crust of his sandwich a with a chainsaw!

I'll forward that to my dad....I assume it's a compliment.

Dad was a welder at a coal mine and they were pretty giving with their spare metal. The welds are quite seamless. I'll try and get a pic sometime (piled full of fenders and a core support now).

[Custom/Ten]

Indeed it was! I'd love to see some pics

[In The Ten Ring]

I just told dad about the compliment. :-)

I'll get some pics but it'll be way off in the future.....well maybe next month if I get the new front end put on there (new parts are sitting in the bed).

[Custom/Ten]

As the the original thread question, original is prolly a good idea if you can get one. Mine was from top banna (key parts) and it is right thikness but did have some issues on the edge bends, particularly the bend where there is a raised area for the seat mount. If you can use as little as possible of the patch panel you will be better off. I do think key parts are one of the better ones. I have to use aftermarket though junkyards don't keep old study around here, just turns to rust.

[cooperhw]

I cut a new bed floor out of a 73 to 87 square body fleet side bed. Trimmed it to fit and welded it in. Looks like it grew there. These are very plentiful and cheap.

I don't have any pics on my work computer but in my thread Meet Homer last page or two there are some you could look at if you so desired.

My truck went from a rotten wood bed to an installed metal bed in one weekend and since I had the bed sitting on my property is was free to me.

Not saying you should, just throwing out another option.

[Rick212]

The issue here is that the reproduction patch panels have a sharper bend in the contour of the "ribs" which does not correspond to the OEM bed floor ribs. The repop ones are not bent with a curve, rather like they were bent on a metal brake.

I have no problem using a reproduction bed floor patch panel on my '72 Blazer, but I can't find any that are a perfect match. I may simply look to buy a patch panel that has been salvaged from a OEM bed from a 67-72 Chev/GM truck or Blazer.

I did some searching here to see if any other generations of our trucks had the same bed floor contour. So far all I can fine is that the 67-72 floors are unique unto themselves and no other years will match up dead-on. Someone please correct me if I am not correct. If anyone has a 67-72 bed that they are parting out, shoot me a pm please.

Thanks....Rick

[hugger6933]

I used a then new like 96 bed floor to replace a old wood floor in my cousins step side truck a long time ago. A couple hours with the plasma cutter and a little trimming and it looked like the General put it in himself. I liked how it looks so much I may put a late floor in my step bed. Jim