Short Bed Side measurements

[paulkaminskijr]

Hey everyone, I'm working on my '70 fleet side long to short bed conversion. I'm at the point where I need to cut the bedsides down and I can find the overall dimensions (78 1/4"), but I was curious if anyone had a detailed diagram of the measurements of the bed sides. More specifically, I'm looking for the length from the front edge to the start of the wheel well and the measurement from the rear portion of the wheel well to the back edge.

Thank you in advance

[randy500]

You don't necessarily need those dimensions, what you need is how much to remove which is 12" in the front section and 7 7/8 or 8" in the rear section. I don't know the exact on the rear because I have always used short bedsides when making a short bed from a long bed.

[paulkaminskijr]

That's what I was hoping the answer would be. I'm assuming cutting between the two cross braces is going to be the way to go.

Thank you

[randy500]

Originally Posted by paulkaminskijr

That's what I was hoping the answer would be. I'm assuming cutting between the two cross braces is going to be the way to go.

Thank you

I think the process is this...

1. disassemble complete bed to sides, floor and front panel.
2. Shorten floor
3. shorten sides, shorten on bench.
4. Reassemble the bed

There is a good thread here about a guy that shortened the floor by taking out the rear floor crossmember and cutting the floor and then re-installing the rear crossmember, saves a lot of cutting and welding, he reshaped the cut edge to "resemble" the factory one. Here is the thread....http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=667694

On the front he just cut it straight across and put the bolt in the low parts of the floor which also saved a lot of cutting and welding....I think if I was going to do one that I would do it that way, the end result looked good especially when you consider the cutting, welding and grinding time he saved.

[paulkaminskijr]

Originally Posted by randy500

I think the process is this...

1. disassemble complete bed to sides, floor and front panel.
2. Shorten floor
3. shorten sides, shorten on bench.
4. Reassemble the bed

There is a good thread here about a guy that shortened the floor by taking out the rear floor crossmember and cutting the floor and then re-installing the rear crossmember, saves a lot of cutting and welding, he reshaped the cut edge to "resemble" the factory one. Here is the thread....http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=667694

On the front he just cut it straight across and put the bolt in the low parts of the floor which also saved a lot of cutting and welding....I think if I was going to do one that I would do it that way, the end result looked good especially when you consider the cutting, welding and grinding time he saved.

Just read through how he did the bedsides and that is definitely the way to do it. He clearly has quite a bit more sheetmetal shaping experience than i do but I'm going to give it a try. It looks so much better being able to keep that much paint and not have the horrendous seams all over the bed. Thanks for directing me in that direction.

[hewittca]

I know your question has mostly been answered already, but there are many other threads that document shortbed conversions as well. I really like 65standard's technique too, but as you pointed out already, it does take a fair bit more metal working skills. I responded to a post very similar to this a while back and provided links to several of the best documented conversion threads. You can find that post here. Hope that gives you some ideas.

[randy500]

Originally Posted by hewittca

I know your question has mostly been answered already, but there are many other threads that document shortbed conversions as well. I really like 65standard's technique too, but as you pointed out already, it does take a fair bit more metal working skills. I responded to a post very similar to this a while back and provided links to several of the best documented conversion threads. You can find that post here. Hope that gives you some ideas.

Thanks for posting that link...

For the OP....65standards technique I think is too advanced for almost all of us, I would advise using his floor technique for sure and the rear of the bedsides, I think you would have best results with the standard techniques on the front of the bedsides.
I think you should try to metalwork the front edge of the wheel opening to match the square edge of a true shortbed. I think suburban and blazer have the proper shape in that area,

Most of all get rid of the center stake pocket the first thing you do, it looks dumb and is a quick giveaway that it has been cut down.