Getting new(er) Bed

[zosoppp]

Ok,

So I bought a 1970 C10 Fleetside LWB and the bed is more or less a sacrificial anode at this point. Someone has welded some plate down onto the bed floor which appears to be totally rotted out from underneath. The sides aren't in much better shape and the tailgate has rust at the bottom and is somewhat bowed.

The saga so far is here.

Someone is selling the bed off of their '72 because they want to convert it to a SWB truck, the bed looks much better than the one I have, so I'm interested. It doesn't have CHEVROLET stamped into the tailgate panel, so that's a bit of a loss, and maybe that indicates it's not an original tailgate.

They're asking $1000 for it, not sure if it's worth that or not (suspect that it might well be, considering they claim it's damage/rot free). Any specific points that I should be inspecting when I go to see/get it?

The real question here, is how to retrieve the bed. I'm thinking I can remove the existing bed from my truck and put some of those magnet trailer lights on as temporary lighting and drive out to get the bed and bolt it on and drive it home (using the temporary lights if the new bed's won't easily attach. I realize that the trailer lights won't have reverse lights, but I don't plan to do a lot of backing up on the retrieval run.

I know that I'd need to have new bed bolts (any one know the size/qty needed) and the appropriate tools, and hopefully the seller can scare up a little help if needed. I don't know if he's pulled it off of his truck yet, hopefully he'd have that done before I head over...

Any opinions on the plan, legally (driving with no bed), technical issues/gotchas, problems, etc? I'm kind of new to all of this.

Thanks in advance for any/all advise comments and encouragement.

[Grumpy old man]

$1,000.00 for a long bed ? sounds really high but your in Lincoln park and prices are high there ,Around here they sell for 2-300 ,Have you called all the local junk yards ? I grew up in Morris county and We used to use a lot of K20's to haul firewood and destroyed the beds along with the salt on the roads . Try searchtempest.com to search all the craigslist ads at one time Also it's easier to use a small 4x7 trailer from uhaul to move a bed load it with an engine lift if you have one .

[RPBurris]

You should be able to find a long bed for much less. Unless it is in perfect condition $1000 is pretty steep in my opinion especially if it has an aftermarket tailgate. I have been trying to sell one for $400 for a few years with no luck. Granted mine needs a little body work but it has no rust. Remember these are trucks that have been used as trucks for over 40 years.

As far as transporting the bed, a small trailer should do the trick and avoid the hassle of trying to bolt it down when picking it up. You would think it would be an easy thing but easy jobs rarely turn out that way.

[71sierragrande]

You should be able to find a longbed much cheaper than that if you aren't in too much of a hurry. You can haul those pretty easily by strapping or clamping it upside down on top of your existing bed with some 2x4s laid in between, but you need 3 other guys to help. I'd definitely wait til I found something in the $2-400 range. I paid $250 for a fairly nice one recently.

[truckdude239]

I paid ex 250 for mine and the hauled it from SC to nc for 30 buxs

[zosoppp]

Thanks for the advice, it's very helpful. I might just wait a while and see what else pops up then...

[Grumpy old man]

I hauled one upside down on my Dodge ram , built a framework to set it on and strapped it down ,4 guys to lift it and take it down .the fun part was driving over the Smoky mountains national park rd 441 from Franklin ,NC to Knoxville thru the twisting mountain roads there were a few pucker moments on that trip !

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[zosoppp]

FWIW here's the CL ad for the bed in question, only two pics, kinda hard to tell condition other than it looks like it was recently painted.

http://longisland.craigslist.org/pts/4533933126.html

[Ol Blue K20]

Too bad you're so far away, I just bought a 71 C20 for parts and it has a decent bed and gate that I would let go for 300 but shipping would kill it

[Grumpy old man]

Looks like the craigslist poster wants to sell his long bed to finance a short bed cut frame conversion ?

[88Ironduke]

Man that sucks, I just chopped up a long bed had some rot in it but wasn't even close to the point of being unsalvageable. I scored a bed in New York for 400 that's almost perfect. A grand is way too much for a used bed, a new bed is 1200'ish shipped from LMC. For that much money for a used bed it had better be perfect and painted to match!

88Ironduke