bed removal

[70stroker]

Alrights guys im gonna start to lower my 97 chevy tomorrow evening. I think im just gonna pull the bed off of the truck to make the shackles and hangers easier to get to. Few questions for you who have removed the bed on this era of truck before.

Can you leave the rear bumper on and get around it?
Is there a wiring connector to just unplug so you dont have to cut the wires for the taillamps?
Whats need to remove the fuel filler? take it loose from the bed or tank?

anything else i might be missing?

Thanks

[54 jimmy]

pulling the rear bumper will make it a lot eaiser to get the bed off. plus less chance of scraching the bed corners up. wiring is just un-plug except for the ground it is held to the frame on the drivers side with a 13 mm bolt. the fuel filler is easy take your gas cap off and take out the three bolts that hold it there. i think they are 7 mm. don't try to take the torex bolts out of the plastic you will probable break the plastic like i did. hint hint. there is a ground strap that you will need to remove from the bed that attaches to the filler neck it will be a 10 mm bolt. oh the bed bolts will be 18 mm or 19 mm some times depending on how rusted they are you will nee a 3/4 the rear bumper bolts brackets to the frame will be the same as the bed and the bumper brackets to the bumper will be 21 mm or vise vesra. just changed the bed on my new truck a week ago. any other questions just ask. hope this helps. ps if it is a long bed there is 8 bolts. i think a short bed there will be 6 bolts but don't hold me to that.

[54 jimmy]

oh forgot to mention if you plan on taking the bed off by lifting it yourself with a friend jack the truck up and take the rear wheels off makes i a lot eaiser the get the bed on and off found that out when we put the new bed on. it was a b*&%h getting the old one off with the rear wheels on. hope the pic help with the bolt location.

[benoit454]

as the above, yes mine is short bed and has 8 bolts, they were 18mm exactly, the bumper was 18mm also, I never used anything else. The ground on the filler is 10mm and the ground in back probably was 13mm, mine was 1/2 with a nut on top and grounded to the bumper bracket.



yea you can leave the rear bumper on, I just removed the 3 torx screws to get my filler funnel loose from the bedside, there's a ground strap with a 10 mm bolt there on the bed cross sill that's attached to the metal filler neck. The taillights unpluged and a ground unbolts from the rear bumper inner ds bracket, it was a 1/2 socket on mine. Then of course 8 18mm head bolts to hold the bed on, 2 outside the frame in front of the bed, 2 about a foot back inside the frame rails, holes on the bottom of the frame to reach in with an extension, gas tank one is hard to see. 2 at the very back up thru the bumper bracket end of frame, and 2 about a foot foward of them, inside the frame, holes up thru the bottom again. I pulled mine back in sept. cleaned it all up and painted everything.

You can use a cherry picker, chain hoist whatever you got, or some boards and blocks. Or get at least 2 or 3 more guys, 4 would be great, one on each corner. if you have to do it like that, remove the tailgate it saves some weight.


Soak them suckers for a few days before hand with some penetrating ouil. I heard a 50/50 mix of atf and acetone works better then any other pentrating oil.

[1badgmc]

The shackles are easy to get to no matter what. I swap shackles with the rear tires still on the ground. When I did hangers, I just unbolted the bed and slid it back far enough to access the hangers instead of pulling the whole thing off and setting it aside.

[JWall]

When I pull a bed off i usually pull the rear wheels off and put the truck on the lowest setting of small jack stands i have, then you dont have to lift the bed over the wheels just the brake drum.

[70stroker]

got it off tonight. I appreciate all the responses made it alot easier. I will post some pics tomorrow if i get the rear lowered.

o and i must say this bed is alot lighter then my old 70 gmc longbed. usually it takes 4 of us on that thing and its still heavy, on this one i recruited 3 other guys and it lifted very easily. I honestly think 2 people could pick this up.

Thanks again

[ChevLoRay]

I think the Fleetside bed is lighter than the Stepside bed...

[loudnlifted88]

Originally Posted by ChevLoRay

I think the Fleetside bed is lighter than the Stepside bed...

I habe a stepside on my 88 and it only takes two people to move it it is not heave at all but most of the time when Im by myself and it needs to come off i either use the engine hoist or i use the john deere

[benoit454]

yea they were discussing this the other day on gmt400.com the stepside bed is actually heavier due to the composite sides I guess. A long is definately heavier then a short bed, and old school thick metal heavier then new school thin stuff.

2 guys could definately do it as long as they aint too weak.

[70stroker]

Again thanks for all your guys help. Heres a pic of it lowered down. I just posted a bunch in my build thread.