Installed new bed

[Ole Greenie]

Recently installed a new bed in Ole Greenie. It is a 70 CST S/S which had the original bed in it...allbeit fragments of the original wood. Bed had been covered over the past 18 years or so with a 3/4 plywood...sliding around back there for a while.

I was interested in dressing it up while maintaining functionality and know that wood was NOT the way to go. This was a Calif truck so it had weathered quite nicely for it's age.

All hardware had to be cut off because the original hardware was too rusted to soak in penetrant. This was the hardest part!

After removal of the original wook planks the only real areas of any reasonable concern were the mounting holes at the front of the bed where the boards had mounted.

Here is another:

As you can see, although there was a bit of perforation it was not really enough to worry about welding in new pieces. So I treated the metal and repainted all the surfaces.

Here is with all the hardware removed:


As you can see there is also quite a bit of unsupported span there. I bought a new cross member to be installed just about over the axle.

Now not wanting to use wood...which would have to be replaced at some point again, I opted for a decking material made by trax. Fortunately, Trex makes the widths I needed that are OEM to these trucks. I acquired the dimensions needed to plane and router the sides, and off to wood-work I went. I cut the synthetic boards to length and finished the sides on the table router. These boards are about 5X heavier than wood but will last 100 years or more. There is no need to coat 20 times with a poly and no worry about scratches. The core is the same color as the exterior. No stain and no poly! I used all stainless hardware- strips and nuts/bolts/washers.

I countersunk the C/M hardware into the bottom of the boards so I didn't have any bolts coming through the boards. Made for a nicer cleaner finish.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a0...D550/ry%3D400/

As you can see, I installed the new C/M and started from the RT side making my way to the left.


Final picture before the last two strips were installed for reference.
http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a0...D550/ry%3D400/


Again, it is significantly heavier than wood but took weeks off of a kit install. Cost was about the same without the staining and poly. Bed is more durable and should last a whole lot longer than any wood bed out there.

Trex is a 50/50 composite material and is also quite a bit more than wood. Will not fade, warp, crack, etc. I wanted to use my truck as well as go to a few shows with it.

Take care...John