Working on the Truck Bed

[ACK]

I'm working on the truck bed and making good progress. The PO screwed Trex on top of the bed wood, surprisingly, the wood underneath isn't in bad shape, other than some splitting. A rear bed sill and front bed panel are on order from FixMyRust.com, haven't used them before, but the prices are good and shipping is free. And while the bed is off, going to clean up the frame and paint it.

Not having taken a bed apart before, I'm looking for wisdom from those that have. It's a short bed fleetside and a daily driver:

• Are the wheel tubs bolted to the inside bed panels? There's so much crud in there, I can't tell.
• The bed mounting pads are non-existent. The replacement set contains 8, but there's only 6 mounting points to the frame, where do the other 2 belong?
• Does the rear bed sill have 2 points where it's welded to the bed? If yes, should I grind the old sill off and does the new sill need to be welded at the same spots or is it not necessary?
• If the bed wood is worth keeping, should the splits be glued closed?
• The bed wood is staying old school, linseed oil and lamp black. What's the ration of oil to black?
• The new bed strips are zinc, how about spraying them with bed liner rather than paint?

I've checked the FAQ, any additional advice is welcomed. I want to keep the dummy tax low on this project.

[ACK]

Decided to go with POR-15 and black paint on the bed wood after reading this article ... http://www.mar-k.com/june_2010_update.aspx

[nhr3]

1] yes the tubs are bolted to the bed sides 6ea bolts if I remember correctly. I had to use the heat wrench because of the crud when I disassembled.
2] My bed did not have pads and I am not putting anything between the cross sills and frame points as it would raise the bed and miss match the body lines on mine.
3] My rear sill was spotted to the bed sides in one place each side. i do not think I am going to re-weld this. When assembled the bed seems to be rigid and it can always be done after the fact if it needs it.
4] I have used epoxy to repair wood splits in the past and had great results. On boats I have used the West System product and had great results.
5] I elected to polyurethane but I am doing a teak bead. I saw your note on POR 15. My experience is that anything Mar-K recommends is golden.
6] I am using the Raptor bed liner a lot on my project but my strips are polished. Seems to me it would hold up better than paint but I would use an epoxy primer underneath. Just me but I wear suspenders and belt when ever possible.

[ACK]

Thanks nhr3 for the info, great help. New day and made some progress this morning. Found the 2 additional anchor points to the frame, they were at the top of the bed, hidden by a 1/4 inch of crud. Also located the body bolts for the wheel tubs, looking at their condition, I'm thinking of grinding them off or getting a nut splitter. Break time is over, back to the garage.

[BR3W CITY]

IF your planning on using a coating on top of the wood, you might actually consider using that Trex (or new trex) instead. I made my custom bed floor out of that type of stuff, and it offered me the benefit of being able to use less bracing (my bed is cut for tubs) and allows me to run a fuel cell door and battery door in the bed floor. The synthetic stuff takes Lining/painting without trapped moisture being a concern.

[Palf70Step]

Always a pain (to me) to replace the bed wood, but so worth it when they are done.

I cut most of my bolts off when I did my 70, or cut groves in the bolt heads to get a grip on them. Very nice job on yours BR3W

[ACK]

Day 3 and I'm almost done. The driver side wheel tub wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, hope the passenger side is as cooperative. The biggest take away has been moving the bench grinder into the garage to sharpen drill bits on the fly. Dull bits don't do much when drilling out bolts.

Originally Posted by Palf70Step

Always a pain (to me) to replace the bed wood, but so worth it when they are done.

I cut most of my bolts off when I did my 70, or cut groves in the bolt heads to get a grip on them. Very nice job on yours BR3W

I have a lot of respect for everyone that's tackled this job of removing 10,000 rusty bolts. Putting it back together, although not a picnic, has to be a lot quicker. Yeah, I can't wait to see the end result, new wood in the bed always looks great.

Originally Posted by BR3W CITY

IF your planning on using a coating on top of the wood, you might actually consider using that Trex (or new trex) instead. I made my custom bed floor out of that type of stuff, and it offered me the benefit of being able to use less bracing (my bed is cut for tubs) and allows me to run a fuel cell door and battery door in the bed floor. The synthetic stuff takes Lining/painting without trapped moisture being a concern.

I've been considering Trex for a while, maintenance free and tough as nails. Also like the idea of saving the original wood, not many original beds have survived 50 years.

[nail pounder]

Carriage bolt, washer, lockwasher, nut. Repeat, about 150 times. But, you can't beat the way an oak bed looks.

[ACK]

The wood and tubs are out and the real work can begin. Used the bolts from the tubs to attach the cross sills back to the body panels seeing how unstable the bed was with nothing solid holding it together except the 4 corners. Will take off the rear bumper so not to scratch the paint, probably the tail gate, too, to lighten it up since man power will be lifting the bed off.

Once the tubs are cleaned up, any harm in spraying the insides with rubberized under coating? Give the insides a shot of primer and paint first? On second thought, maybe I should leave all the crud in there, it's probably what's kept the tubs from rusting out

[ACK]

Cleaning up the wheel tubs today, looks like a sealer was used where the tubs meet the bed wall and also where they sit on the bed wood. Should both these areas be hit with seam sealer when it goes back together or just where the bed wall and tubs meet? If both need sealer, when the wood goes back in, use seam sealer on the lip that runs down both sides and the front of the bed where the wood sits? Would seem to make sense since you wouldn't want water trapped between the bed wood and the lip.

[ACK]

TTT – Anyone know if the wheel tubs should have seam sealer applied where they sit on the bed wood and also where they meet the bed wall?

[DPowers]

The ones that I have taken apart, did not have seam sealer anyplace.

[jayoldschool]

No sealer between tub an wood, YES, sealer between tub and box.

[earl84]

Originally Posted by jayoldschool

No sealer between tub an wood, YES, sealer between tub and box.

What kind of sealer goes here? I thought about putting sealer there, but it seems so wide open that it might be better to leave it sealer-free and it would have LESS chance of water getting trapped somewhere. Maybe I'm crazy.

[ACK]

Originally Posted by earl84

What kind of sealer goes here? I thought about putting sealer there, but it seems so wide open that it might be better to leave it sealer-free and it would have LESS chance of water getting trapped somewhere. Maybe I'm crazy.

I finished scraping the tubs yesterday and there was a bead of gray putty (seam sealer?) along the lip that meets the wood, hence the call out. From the amount of crud and the condition of the bolts and bed wood, I don't think they've been removed before, so I was speculating that the putty was put on at the factory.

[Crazy Rusty]

Originally Posted by ACK

I finished scraping the tubs yesterday and there was a bead of gray putty (seam sealer?) along the lip that meets the wood, hence the call out. From the amount of crud and the condition of the bolts and bed wood, I don't think they've been removed before, so I was speculating that the putty was put on at the factory.

Just took my bed off my 62 (never replaced before) and found this same substance between the wood and lip of the wheel wells on both sides. No where else, just there. Must be factory applied.