Removing/Replacing Bed Angle Strips Questions

[Dan in Pasadena]

Posting some questions separate from my build thread to hopefully get more responses:

I just had my bed sides sandblasted and my body man wants to drill out the spot welds, have the sides re-blasted where the strips were then remount the new (stainless) strips after paint. This is make certain rust behind the strips is totally removed.

I've read that some guys remount the angle strips by re-spot welding them and that the heat damage can be polished off - can anyone confirm and if so, how to do it and have it come out nice? hat about replacing them with polishes bolts? Anyone done this?

Also, re: Ogre's truck - it has the EXACT same suspension mine will have - Fatman MII IFS and a flipped rearend in back - pictures show the truck will be really low. 5" from cab bottom to pavement. Maybe lower than I'd planned. That's fine (to a point) but Ogre advises I need bigger than a 3" C notch like he has or I will be on the bumps tops all the time.

I DON'T want to raise my bed floor, but IF I have to can this be done just a little like 1-2" and if so can I bolt the angle strips to the bed sides or will the bolt locations be too obvious/look like crap? Please post pictures if you've done this.

[oldman3]

Dan, I bolted my angle strip to the side of bed. The length of the rear fenders leaves you with 4 or 5 places to drill and mount the strip and not see them on the outside. I used buttom head cap screws to hold mine. I also drilled holes where the stake pockets are, you can get a nut on up inside the pocket so no one sees it. I painted mine, but the same can be done with stainless.
Pic 1 in primer, you can see the cap screws along where fender mounts.
Pic 2 after paint. The left side you can see the cap screws, and the right side you can see the nuts on the outside.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Oldman, Thanks a lot for the response and the pictures. Are you saying only bolt the angle strips within the outline of the fenders? Because that would be fine. Will the angle strip be held strongly WITHOUT bolts outside the fender outline? I tend to think so sincec I don't intend to ever put any kind of serious load in it.

[Russell Ashley]

I did mine almost exactly like OldMan did his but I didn't paint mine. I used stainless button head screws, 1/4th by 1/half inch long, with thin nuts with lock washers. My bed sides were in good condition but some PO had already removed the angle strips and pop riveted angle iron in their place. I didn't want to weld the new angle trips in place as even with weld through primer there would still be a section under the strip with no paint. I cleaned my bed sides and sprayed them with bed liner before bolting the angle strips on so that there wouldn't be any bare metal. I'm not taking my truck to the level that you are taking yours so I'm happy with the way it looks. Some people might think it's too "busy" with all of the bolt heads showing but I get compliments on it too.

[Russell Ashley]

Forgot to mention this, but the fenders on these trucks cover almost the entire side of the bed so you can space your bolts so that none show on the outside. I think OldMan and I had the exact same idea of putting the end bolts inside the stake pockets and the center bolts under the fenders. I have a 1980 TransAm disk brake rear in my truck now which I think is the same width as the original rear, with eight inch Corvette rally wheels and 235/75/15 tires. They are centered in the fenders and have good clearance between the tires and the nuts.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Russ,
You gave me the one piece of info I missed in Old Man's post. You put the end bolts through into the stake pockets - genius! I should have thought of that. I knew the other bolts would be hidden on the outside by being under the fender but somehow didn't think of the stake pockets. Thanks so much. This board rocks!

[_Ogre]

you stated you're going to run 255/15 tires, you'll need mini tubs

[Dan in Pasadena]

Originally Posted by _Ogre

you stated you're going to run 255/15 tires, you'll need mini tubs....

Me? No, I'm running 235/75 take offs from when I first bought my truck and already had the 15x7 Torq Thrust knockoffs to put them on. I'm thinking I'll likely stay with the 235's but more likely 60 series, possibly 65 series.

I assume 235's are about the max width? I guess that has to depend on my rearend width. I don't know what car it came out of but I suspect a Chevelle or Camaro.