Bed floor corner sheet metal

[CJ_Chevy]

Does any one have an tricks up their sleeves to fixing the rot in the corners of the bed floors? I havent seen any patch panels out there and i do not want to have to replace the entire bedside. I figure it can be fabricated, but i want to make sure it looks good and fits against the wood correctly.

[ray_mcavoy]

Hi CJ_Chevy,

Those pieces that fit up against the wood are separate pieces that bolt onto the bedsides (bolts are hidden underneath and the joint is filled with seam sealer). So even if you were to get new bedsides, they wouldn't include the pieces you need.

I was able to save/repair a few of those panels on dad's 77, but for the ones that were too far gone, we had a local sheetmetal shop make some replacements using the old ones as templates. I believe they used a bead roller to form the rounded edge where they meet up with the wood.

Before:


After:


The piece along the bedside is one of the originals and the ones that wrap around the wheelwells are fabricated replacements:


The piece along the bottom of the front bed panel is a fabricated replacement too:

[Restrorob]

Ray, That bed looks awesome !

[CJ_Chevy]

ray_mcavoy,

that is a really nice looking bed. hope mine turns out half as good. thanks for the info. I will have to look around and see if one of my local fab shops can make something up. the hump for the gas neck shouldnt be a problem for them i hope.

[ray_mcavoy]

Thanks for the compliments!

We lucked out and didn't have to replace those two panels with the humps to clear the gas filler necks on dad's truck. In fact, I think those are the only two that we did end up repairing/re-using.

I don't think it would be possible to stamp those humps out exactly like factory without some very specialized tooling. However, they look as though they could be re-created by cutting an angled slice out of a piece of tubing (like exhaust pipe) and welding it into place over a corresponding U-shaped notch in the new panel.

By the way, if you need some new cross sills, we found out that the ones available for 67-72 fleetside wood beds will make suitable replacements. The plank width (and corresponding hole spacing) is different, but Mar-K (www.mar-k.com) offers them without holes so you can drill your own to match the 73-80 pattern.

[CJ_Chevy]

ray_mcavoy,

would you by chance have the contact info for the shop that fabbed up your pieces? i have had my parts in and out of most all of my local shops. They would look and think about it for months and get nowhere. these pieces are literally the last things that need to get made up before i can get the truck back together and drive soon. I dont really know where else to go for these parts.

I am going to fall Carlisle soon, maybe i can dig up a set if i am lucky... who knows.

any info would be great.

[Skunksmash]

Wood beds... do you worry about tearing them up? I know I would.

[v30crewcab]

Man I've been around these trucks all my life and that is the first time I've even seen a picture of a fleetside with a wood floor! I guess not too many people got them that way.

[old blue 86]

Originally Posted by v30crewcab

Man I've been around these trucks all my life and that is the first time I've even seen a picture of a fleetside with a wood floor! I guess not too many people got them that way.

Exactly what I was thinking.

[old blue 86]

What color blue is that?

[07XCSBZ71]

Originally Posted by old blue 86

What color blue is that?

#25L Mariner blue and #20u lite blue

[ray_mcavoy]

Originally Posted by CJ_Chevy

ray_mcavoy,

would you by chance have the contact info for the shop that fabbed up your pieces? i have had my parts in and out of most all of my local shops. They would look and think about it for months and get nowhere. these pieces are literally the last things that need to get made up before i can get the truck back together and drive soon. I dont really know where else to go for these parts.

I am going to fall Carlisle soon, maybe i can dig up a set if i am lucky... who knows.

any info would be great.

Hi CJ_Chevy,

That work was done nearly 10 years ago and unfortunately, I no longer have the shop's contact info. I found out about them through a friend of a friend so I'll get in touch with him and see if I can track down the info again.

Originally Posted by Skunksmash

Wood beds... do you worry about tearing them up? I know I would.

The wood is 3/4" thick and has a similar cross sill understructure as a steel floor so they're actually quite strong and durable. The original wood in Dad's truck lasted about 25 years and being outside exposed to the weather all that time is what did the most damage (rotten wood).

Now, after the restoration, keeping it looking nice and not getting all scarred up is definitely a concern. So obviously it doesn't get used to haul firewood, gravel, or that type of stuff any more. It's not really much different than trying to keep a nice shiny scratch free paint job on a steel floor though.

Originally Posted by old blue 86

What color blue is that?

Yes, it's #25 Mariner blue for the primary color and #20 Lite blue for the secondary color.

[07XCSBZ71]

I'm wanting to do the wood bed in my 77.

[ray_mcavoy]

Originally Posted by ray_mcavoy

Hi CJ_Chevy,

That work was done nearly 10 years ago and unfortunately, I no longer have the shop's contact info. I found out about them through a friend of a friend so I'll get in touch with him and see if I can track down the info again.

Hi CJ_Chevy,

I just sent you a PM with the contact info.

[CJ_Chevy]

well i hate to bring up an old "dead thread" but i figured i would update some progress that i have finally made after a few years.... i have been calling around for fab shops on and off for a few years that could do this and they all said they couldn't (too thick of metal). i have been looking through scrap yards, online sites, every catalog under the sun , digging through parts at every swap meet i go to and all to no avail on finding these parts. i have since graduated from school and have worked on some more of these chevy bed floors /blazers and i just found a steal on a perfect take out steel bed floor. i convinced myself that i could just do that and get the truck up and running. i cleaned and prepped the floor and went to look at the condition of my bedsides and all the parts i had for the original wood bed floor and i second guessed why i just didnt fab them myself. ive gotton what i think a lot better at fab work (or at least i feel i have), picked up some new shop tools (better welder, grinding tools, etc.) and got motivated to give it a shot on rebuilding these pieces myself. after looking at the steel bed structure i realized how similar they were to what i needed. i had another bed floor lying around that had some random rot in it that i didnt feel bad cutting up to try it. and this is what i came up with.

I took the corner section i needed to replace out, cut the edges of the steel floor rib so i could flatten it out. in the first picture the middle piece is what was left of my original piece. the left piece is the other side that is in better shape and was replaced at some point in time (not sure where the other person found this part lol). i then just took one of my old wood strips that was in decent shape and cut one of the rolled lips off. then simply laid it out where it needed to go, welded it up and wouldnt you know it resembles exactly what it supposed to look like. the areas that are raised for the other pieces to fit into this piece still needs a little hammer work . i still need to weld the holes up from drilling spot welds and add the little stand offs that go to the cross braces, but that should be easy. i will clean all the welds up top and bottom then sandblast them to make sure they are perfectly clean prior to body prep.

i am glad i took a second look at the parts and took the time to give it a shot. i am pumped that i should be able to keep the as ordered wood floor. I just wish i did this years ago cuz i could have been done with this project a while ago and have been able to drive the truck this whole time lol. just throwing this up in case any one else has wondered this or would like to make a steel bed floor a wood bed or if other people are trying to rebuild these odd optioned trucks.

i will be sure to keep this thread updated if you guys are interested in seeing how it turns out over the next few weeks.

[jetmech85]

I would like to have a wood bed to use to convert a short bed to wood. I have only seen one wood bed on a fleetside and it was a single wheel 1 ton. Hopfully someone will make all the pieces to do a conversion in the near future.

[CJ_Chevy]

I wish someone would make them too. However I've talked to a ton of sheet metal suppliers and most of them don't even know they existed. Nonetheless start making them. Till then we just have to make do I guess
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