Steel bed floor assembly question

[718jwh]

I have a 72 fleetside bed with steel floor I would like to take the bed apart and paint bed floor, inside bed sides, front panel and tubs before I put it back together, problem is the welds at the bed sides and floor in the rear. Anyone paint this way and fasten sides to bed without welding ?
Thanks
John

[LockDoc]

Originally Posted by 718jwh

I have a 72 fleetside bed with steel floor I would like to take the bed apart and paint bed floor, inside bed sides, front panel and tubs before I put it back together, problem is the welds at the bed sides and floor in the rear. Anyone paint this way and fasten sides to bed without welding ?
Thanks
John

I am in the process of putting my short bed together and I painted around the edges of all the individual pieces and bolted it together. I will weld the rear corners, clean the welds up and prime them and finish painting the bed. I think there is quite a bit of stress in those two areas so I would recommend welding them.

LockDoc

[un4gvn!]

I painted my bed inside and out in several pieces and bolted every thing back together using stainless steel fasteners. I didn't weld any thing except the gas filler door on the drivers side. I did this ten years ago and didn't have any problems.