68 Bed Restoration

[chill68]

Right now I'm driving my '68 GMC without a bed. The bed is sitting in my backyard right now. I want to get it cleaned up and looking nice before I put it back on. Plus winter is coming up and without any weight on my rear end, I'll be slippin' and slidin' all over the place. I need to replace some of the supports, patch some holes, and repaint the whole thing. Any comments or suggestions?

[chill68]

Here is the bed flipped over. You can really see the extent of the damage to the supports. Has anybody ever replaced these? I'm planning on just cutting out the spot welds, taking them off, and putting in new ones.

[NoNeck]

I would start by media blasting the entire bed. This would give you a better indication of exactly what you have and how extensive the rust has become. My son (CC69Rat) and I just completely disassembled a short fleet bed, and I can tell you that was a pain.

I would patch the floor as best you can and get it as straight as you can. While you could replace the floor with a repo, that would cost you about $1000, plus shipping. Not cheap.

You didn't say if it was to be a daily driver or not, but if so I would eliminate all the rust first. Then paint the bed inside and out with a quality Epoxy primer. If you have to wait to have it painted, this will at least help keep it sealed over the winter.

If it's a daily driver, then I would just have a bed liner sprayed (or brushed in). Not knowing your budget/expertise that's about all I can suggest. I'm sure there will be others to offer their advice to you.

Oh, and WELCOME TO THE FORUMS!

[NoNeck]

Oops... I didn't see your second post until I had hit the "Reply" button. You might be better off just finding a better bed. I didn't see the bottom supports.

POP

[68gmsee]

I'd look for a replacement as Noneck mentioned. At least one with a better floor. The sides and wheelwells seem to be okay and if the front is not rusted out, you should keep it also. It's easy to dismantle after you grind the welds in the back of the bed that attach the sides to it. I've had mine completely disassembled and left just the bed bottom on the truck.

In you case it's probably not worth the time and effort to fix it with the floor as rusted as it is.

[midniteblues]

replace the cross sills,clean up the rust,coat the bottom with your fav sealer, patch holes in the floor maybe some bedliner (perhaps only on the floor) then throw one of them wood kits over it.
it really isnt that hard to make the wood on your own if you have the basic tools sure beats the snot outa a 1g bed floor. if you dont want wood just patch it up and get a good rubber mat to cover it

[GMCJOE]

If my bed was in that condition, I would cut the floor out. Media blast the rest, and repair what needed to be. Paint it. Then put a sweet wood floor in.

[med.bronze]

Originally Posted by GMCJOE

If my bed was in that condition, I would cut the floor out. Media blast the rest, and repair what needed to be. Paint it. Then put a sweet wood floor in.

x2