I need to know everything about the Longhorn bed

[rkn463]

I am lengthening a long bed by almost 3 feet to make it fit the wheel base of my 68 c50. Rather than try to make a perfect seamless panel I was thinking of letting the seam show like the longhorn beds. My problem is that I have never seen one in person. I had responded to another thread and was told that the extension part of the longhorn is welded on and the floors are wood but other than that I am in the dark. Can someone describe in detail how the longhorn beds are made? Is the long part a standard long bed side? Did they flange one of the pieces to make the other sit on top while remaining flush? Seam sealer? Inner panels? If someone has detailed pictures I would be eternally grateful!

-Richard

[biggestjohn]

The inner bed panel has a stepped flange, such as you would make with flanging pliers. The outer panel has a 90 degree flange on both the front extension and the rear bed side. Putting that flange in is very difficult without warping the crap out of everything, but can be done. After going thru all of the trouble of flanging the new bed side, I ended up welding the seam solid, because I hated that seam anyway.(plus the relief cuts weaken the joint, GM had a dedicated press, we don't) The top rail is also 90 degree. These flanges are of coarse then spot welded.(don't forget to allow extra length for the flange, or panel will end up too short)



I made a form out of wood to fit inside between the inner and outer panels, to aide in forming flange. You have to make several relief cuts on the flange to help bend, or as said, it will warp.

I cut a piece of 1x6 wood to roughly fit the outer panel, then I taped a sheet of wax paper to the outer panel, from top to bottom, spread a strip of body filler over the wax paper, then pressed the 1x6 rough cut form into the filler. After it set, I trimmed the excess filler from the form, that gave me a true copy of the curvature of the bed side.(bed side was laying flat) I then transferred these lines to a piece of 2x4" and cut to fit inside the gap between the inner and outer panels, to aid in bending the flange.

The rear bed sides have to have about 1 1/2'' removed from the front , the extension is basically the front 8 inches(or so) of another bed side. for those who wish to try this.

Fun stuff!!

[Liz]

dont know how much this will help, if at all.. but Andy (longhornman) has a site dedicated to these trucks. http://www.longhorntrucks.freeservers.com/

[biggestjohn]

Originally Posted by Liz

dont know how much this will help, if at all.. but Andy (longhornman) has a site dedicated to these trucks. http://www.longhorntrucks.freeservers.com/

Don't know, but my anti-virus went crazy when I tried to access this site.(Kaspersky)

[Liz]

really? I never had an issue there. Not sure why it did

[biggestjohn]

Originally Posted by Liz

really? I never had an issue there. Not sure why it did

I don't either, but I'm sure not going to push it. Might be that freeserver addy could be on the Kaspersky watch list.

It might be over caution on Kasperskys part. I would definitely do a scan, just to be sure.

Too bad, I'd like to see what is on site.

[jocko]

Originally Posted by biggestjohn

Don't know, but my anti-virus went crazy when I tried to access this site.(Kaspersky)

the site does have a pop-up associated with it - so I am guessing that is why your av s/w peed in your wheaties. You may have settings set to very secure or something like that - look at the top of your screen and you should see a bar (below all your menus, etc) - if you click on it and select "allow popups" it should be good to go.

Not sure if that was the problem you had, but that's what I see when I go there.

[special-K]

Maybe it's because Longhorn Man is also a porn star ...at least I thought I heard that*. But,this one's married and a dad now

* NO,not Andy!!

[biggestjohn]

Originally Posted by jocko

the site does have a pop-up associated with it - so I am guessing that is why your av s/w peed in your wheaties. You may have settings set to very secure or something like that - look at the top of your screen and you should see a bar (below all your menus, etc) - if you click on it and select "allow popups" it should be good to go.

Not sure if that was the problem you had, but that's what I see when I go there.

Not a popup problem.

[jocko]

oooh I'd run away from the screen before it self-destructs!

[biggestjohn]

Originally Posted by jocko

oooh I'd run away from the screen before it self-destructs!

There's one in every crowd. That's why I don't post on here much.

Just trying to help. MY MISTAKE!!!

[Palf70Step]

Some of the advertisements in the banner have less than stellar code. My antivirus goes off on some sites (like free servers) occasionally depending on what advertisement banner is running when I pull up the site.

Like Liz mentioned, Andy's site may help you, if not PM him and he can probably get yo the info you'll need.

[jocko]

Originally Posted by biggestjohn

There's one in every crowd. That's why I don't post on here much.

Just trying to help. MY MISTAKE!!!

Actually, there's several in every crowd with a sense of humor - in fact I thought Special K's comment was funnier yet. Anyhoo... I was trying to help you in post #7. Once you showed a screen shot, I was out of ideas, so humor was the response! Although I'm not sure why that would appear to annoy you, my apologies. Good luck, hope you get yoru computer squared away.

[hugger6933]

Richard, I don't know if you saw my idea in the other thread about a separate section butted up against the other long bed, or if you dissmissed it or you thought it plain stupid. I was thinking about later on when you strecthed out the cab if you did just use the front portion of another bed, then you would'nt have to do bed work again when you got that far. so if you can picture it would have two front panels the extended front would be a long bed cut right in front of the wheel humps mounted in front of the orginal bed you are using . Does that make sense or does it confuse or like I said before it may be just plain dumb, but in the other thread it died after I posted that idea.

[rkn463]

Originally Posted by biggestjohn

The inner bed panel has a stepped flange, such as you would make with flanging pliers. The outer panel has a 90 degree flange on both the front extension and the rear bed side. Putting that flange in is very difficult without warping the crap out of everything, but can be done. After going thru all of the trouble of flanging the new bed side, I ended up welding the seam solid, because I hated that seam anyway.(plus the relief cuts weaken the joint, GM had a dedicated press, we don't) The top rail is also 90 degree. These flanges are of coarse then spot welded.(don't forget to allow extra length for the flange, or panel will end up too short)



I made a form out of wood to fit inside between the inner and outer panels, to aide in forming flange. You have to make several relief cuts on the flange to help bend, or as said, it will warp.

I cut a piece of 1x6 wood to roughly fit the outer panel, then I taped a sheet of wax paper to the outer panel, from top to bottom, spread a strip of body filler over the wax paper, then pressed the 1x6 rough cut form into the filler. After it set, I trimmed the excess filler from the form, that gave me a true copy of the curvature of the bed side.(bed side was laying flat) I then transferred these lines to a piece of 2x4" and cut to fit inside the gap between the inner and outer panels, to aid in bending the flange.

The rear bed sides have to have about 1 1/2'' removed from the front , the extension is basically the front 8 inches(or so) of another bed side. for those who wish to try this.

Fun stuff!!

Awesome description, thanks! your warning about the warpage when bending a flange was one of my specific worries. I don't suppose you took pictures when doing all that did you?

-Richard

[rkn463]

Originally Posted by hugger6933

Richard, I don't know if you saw my idea in the other thread about a separate section butted up against the other long bed, or if you dissmissed it or you thought it plain stupid. I was thinking about later on when you strecthed out the cab if you did just use the front portion of another bed, then you would'nt have to do bed work again when you got that far. so if you can picture it would have two front panels the extended front would be a long bed cut right in front of the wheel humps mounted in front of the orginal bed you are using . Does that make sense or does it confuse or like I said before it may be just plain dumb, but in the other thread it died after I posted that idea.

Hugger6933,

Actually I had responded to you on the other thread... This site just has so much traffic that these threads get lost in the shuffle. http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...=504416&page=2 see post #35. I do like your idea, it is one of sooo many that have been bouncing around in my head for many weeks now. A relatively new variation on that is to mount my gas powered welder in the open spot (30 inches space currently) and then get pieces of bed sides and make them hinge at the bottom where they fold down to give access to the leads. BUT, I never really saw this as my welding rig. Bottom line, until metal gets cut nothing is out of the question, so please keep those ideas coming my way!

-Richard

[hugger6933]

I love the welder idea!! make a top bed cover out of diamond plate , or better yet build a free standing tool box 30 inches long to cover the welder to keep it out of the elements for when it is not in use maybe an aircompressor at the same time I know that it may deviate from the first plan but it would be awesome to have the rolling shop ability. By the way I am hoping to get to make some time soon to go get my C60 home but I did buy two wrecks the other day at the sale and they are coming in on monday ,sothen again I may not have any time to do so? Jim

[jocko]

here's at least a closeup of the seam - but I relaize that doesn't answer your other questions..

[longhorn70gmc]

Riding on that picture posted, the seems on both pieces bend inward and meet each other and are factory tack welded. As the seem starts to round out the round part as you go down the seem on the inside, GM had to cut a v-notch in there to accomidate it. This is what I learned from repairing mine, because my factory seem came apart and I had to replace the front piece of the bed that goes across the back of the cab holding both bed sides together. Remember the top of the bed around the seem as well; it will be bent inward and it will have v-notches in it too for welding. Good Luck, I will try some shots with the camara for you.
R/

[rkn463]

Originally Posted by jocko

here's at least a closeup of the seam - but I relaize that doesn't answer your other questions..

I appreciate the picture! Would you happen to have some shots of the inside of the bed without the tool box?

Thanks,
Richard

[rkn463]

Originally Posted by longhorn70gmc

Riding on that picture posted, the seems on both pieces bend inward and meet each other and are factory tack welded. As the seem starts to round out the round part as you go down the seem on the inside, GM had to cut a v-notch in there to accomidate it. This is what I learned from repairing mine, because my factory seem came apart and I had to replace the front piece of the bed that goes across the back of the cab holding both bed sides together. Remember the top of the bed around the seem as well; it will be bent inward and it will have v-notches in it too for welding. Good Luck, I will try some shots with the camara for you.
R/

Thanks for the info - much appreciated.
-Richard

[rkn463]

Originally Posted by hugger6933

I love the welder idea!! make a top bed cover out of diamond plate , or better yet build a free standing tool box 30 inches long to cover the welder to keep it out of the elements for when it is not in use maybe an aircompressor at the same time I know that it may deviate from the first plan but it would be awesome to have the rolling shop ability. By the way I am hoping to get to make some time soon to go get my C60 home but I did buy two wrecks the other day at the sale and they are coming in on monday ,sothen again I may not have any time to do so? Jim

So when do we get some teaser pictures of your C60 project?

[jocko]

Originally Posted by rkn463

Thanks for the info - much appreciated.
-Richard

I wish I did Rich, I looked but that was the best I could find. Here's the truck - might be a members, I don't know, but it sure is nice!
Man, that is one looooong truck.

EDIT - Oops, quoted the wrong post... anyway, you get the idea - you were looking for inside bed pics - sorry, I don't have any of those, just this extra full truck shot.

[rkn463]

Originally Posted by jocko

I wish I did Rich, I looked but that was the best I could find. Here's the truck - might be a members, I don't know, but it sure is nice!
Man, that is one looooong truck.

EDIT - Oops, quoted the wrong post... anyway, you get the idea - you were looking for inside bed pics - sorry, I don't have any of those, just this extra full truck shot.

Thanks, I'm sure someone will pop in with some!

-Richard

[jocko]

Dumb question - but can anyone list what specifically comes with the Longhorn package and what comes with the Custom Camper package? Could you order them separately? Or did you have to have Custom Camper selected to get the Longhorn - or vice versa, etc etc.?
Thanks for schooling a shortbed person...