Review: aftermarket bed sides

[pdxhall]

Aftermarket sheet metal. There has been endless debate here on the forum since I became a member and I’m sure long before. Fitment, thickness and quality of the steel, and on and on. You know what I mean. When I first started building my truck, patch panels were scarce and most were of poor quality and/or fit. I was wrestling with them like everybody else. After taking a 3 year break to do the retirement thing traveling around the country, I was back to building the truck. I’ve bought a couple of fender patches and fender hardware and they have all been excellent. But that is not what I want to review.
I recently decided that both bed sides on Sanity are beyond reasonable repair. The time and effort wouldn’t be worth it. I started to look for replacements. Even if I did find them locally, there is still the cost of the sides and probably still some body work and if I found some that needed to be shipped the cost would be expensive.
I started looking at the new repo fleetside longbed bedsides that recently came out but for the price of the sides plus shipping it was still too expensive. I checked all of the online stores trying to find a deal and also to find any reviews. I finally found the deal I couldn’t pass up. All of the vendors prices are the same but the shipping is what sold me. One vendor quoted over $700 for shipping. LMC Truck has free freight shipping for orders over $1000. I took a huge risk and bought both new bed sides.
REVIEW: The parts arrived and the packing was excellent and the bed sides are flawless. I took measurements of every bolt hole, length, width, and height of everything I could think of and compared these to the original bed sides. Every measurement is exactly the same. The steel is the correct gauge. In my opinion they could pass as NOS they are so good. I would recommend these.

[nsb29]

If thay were well packaged thay were dropped shipped LMC puts everything in one box no packing LMAO

[damnyankee36]

I pretty much agree with the quality. I got mine from Nsane HotRodz Parts, which came from Dynacorn. As with most repro parts they were more than likely all from the same overseas manufacturer. They were also packed individually.

One side wasn't properly clamped before spot welding but Nsane took care of me and shipped out another one before I even sent the old one back. I also asked for a $100 credit which they accepted.

They had the slightest wave when using a 4' foot straight edge. Probably overkill, but I applied a filler skim coat and blocked them with 30" block. Other than that the fit was excellent. (I think I had to elongate a few holes for the wheel wells).

Given the probable same quality across the board it all boils down to the vendor who ultimately is responsible for the customer service you receive. I was happy with Nsane.

I had the same experience with LMC years ago as nsb29 did. It was a large order and everything was shipped in one large box, approx 3'x3'x6', which was broken open by the time it reached me! Amazingly, nothing was lost and the only damaged part was a crushed glove box liner. Otherwise, LMC has packed smaller boxes well since then.

[LostMy65]

Thanks for the review.
Here is another :
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=682593

[Johns 66]

Originally Posted by pdxhall

Aftermarket sheet metal. There has been endless debate here on the forum since I became a member and I’m sure long before. Fitment, thickness and quality of the steel, and on and on. You know what I mean. When I first started building my truck, patch panels were scarce and most were of poor quality and/or fit. I was wrestling with them like everybody else. After taking a 3 year break to do the retirement thing traveling around the country, I was back to building the truck. I’ve bought a couple of fender patches and fender hardware and they have all been excellent. But that is not what I want to review.
I recently decided that both bed sides on Sanity are beyond reasonable repair. The time and effort wouldn’t be worth it. I started to look for replacements. Even if I did find them locally, there is still the cost of the sides and probably still some body work and if I found some that needed to be shipped the cost would be expensive.
I started looking at the new repo fleetside longbed bedsides that recently came out but for the price of the sides plus shipping it was still too expensive. I checked all of the online stores trying to find a deal and also to find any reviews. I finally found the deal I couldn’t pass up. All of the vendors prices are the same but the shipping is what sold me. One vendor quoted over $700 for shipping. LMC Truck has free freight shipping for orders over $1000. I took a huge risk and bought both new bed sides.
REVIEW: The parts arrived and the packing was excellent and the bed sides are flawless. I took measurements of every bolt hole, length, width, and height of everything I could think of and compared these to the original bed sides. Every measurement is exactly the same. The steel is the correct gauge. In my opinion they could pass as NOS they are so good. I would recommend these.

I too bought a bedside from LMC...The only issue I saw is at the front of the bed side....The front part near the header panel does not go all the way and follow the contour of the bed

[Clyde65]

Thanks for this review!

[damnyankee36]

Originally Posted by Johns 66

I too bought a bedside from LMC...The only issue I saw is at the front of the bed side....The front part near the header panel does not go all the way and follow the contour of the bed

I had that same issue too. Except it's the header panel that doesn't match the bedsides, repro or original.

(Unless that's what you were referring to...)

Here's a closeup of the repro front panel and original side.

[Johns 66]

Originally Posted by damnyankee36

I had that same issue too. Except it's the header panel that doesn't match the bedsides, repro or original.

(Unless that's what you were referring to...)

Here's a closeup of the repro front panel and original side.

The part I was referring to is actually on the bed side itself...If you look at the left side of the stake pocket you can see that it does not go all the way to the bed side....leaving a hole so to speak.....I noticed this when I was installing/test fitting my bed wood...If you look at the pass side in the corner on mine the stack pocket goes all the way to the curved part towards the outside.

Now Im presuming the Pass side is OEM

[Johns 66]

If you look at the passenger side the stake pocket follows the contour of the bed profile but on the drivers side it doesn't and leaves a little gap...maybe 1"...Maybe my passenger side is wrong too....IDK

[damnyankee36]

I see what you mean now. My repro ones are just like your driver's side but what is strange, so are my original ones. They don't conform to the sides like your passenger side does. (See my previous pic). Another set I have are also the same. Not sure what's up with your passenger side.

What's really weird is that my new ones, along with both of yours, don't have the center pockets! All my originals have them. Now, all four sides are long beds. Maybe that's why. Can't believe I never noticed that after having them all this time and with all the work I've been doing to them!

[damnyankee36]

Just looked at some short and long bed sides. The long bed sides have three pockets, the short beds, two. Never knew that...

[Johns 66]

This is crazy...I looked at the old bed side I pulled off and it has a gap.....Maybe my passenger side it out of whack...Now I have to find out why...LOL

[jayoldschool]

Built this bed completely out of aftermarket sheetmetal. Used cross sills. Zero pre-fit/prep. Dropped off boxes at the painter, put it together once painted. Turned out fine. Couple front panel holes needed hogging out, same as the front panel I used on my truck.

[pdxhall]

I knew this post would get some attention. Both the bed sides I bought have zero issues. They were boxed separately in their original boxes. They then had 4" of honeycombed cardboard padding with an additional box over each. It was a good thing because UPS almost destroyed one of the boxes. Luckily nothing was damaged. The stake pockets have the gap that was mentioned. This is correct. Both of my original are like that. The very best thing was free freight shipping on orders over $1000. That's a big deal. I do believe that the parts are all made at the same factory but quality control at different vendors makes a difference. I have rarely bought from LMC but I'm giving them kudos for my experience this time.

[jdl71]

This is good to hear. Thanks for sharing.

[joesscamaro]

This is good to read. I just bought the shortbed sides and pretty much everything else to build a complete bed but haven’t had the time yet to lay everything out and check it out. I’ll post my review when I get around to it.