i've read and found a few bits and peices on here and in google searches, so i understand now it can be done.. but i need help from somebody on here thats done it before i get cutting.. i want to put brand new repop sides on a late 80's bed. my buddy ownes a body shop in town and can get new replacment bed sides from his supplier for 180.00 each "his price" they retail for 400.00. i plan on buying two and welding then on this 80's bed.. rite now i'm just looking for pointers, pics and any info from guys who have done this or seen it done.. thanks

 

I did this quite a few years ago on another Dent that I had. I took some time but it looks good when you are done and the best thing is that you have a GOOD sound understructure. I believe I am going to be doing this again very soon as well since I can't find a good bed close to me. The main thing you need to do is have a complete dentside bed with you to reference from. You will have to build wheel arches to properly mount the dent panels. If I recall correctly you will also have to do some work around the tailgate area to get proper fitment of the gate. It is a time consuming task but well worth it in my opinion.

 

can i just put 79-back wheel arches in the 80-up bed.. i have a bed on the truck for referance, but it's got no floor or understructer. it's realy rusty, and the best one i've found so far was 2-hours away and needed wheel arches..

 

The body lines wouldn't match up if you just put the dentside wheel arches onto an 80's bed.

 

i mean the inner wheel wells.. not sure why i posted arches.

 

I will have to do some digging and see if I can find some pictures of when we did this once before. I don't know if I still have the pictures or not. There is nothing that will match up without a lot of fab work. Like I said before, I think that I am going to have to go this route again myself so I'm certain that I will be well reminded.

 

The inner wheel well and inner side walls are virtually identicle. So are the front wall, and floor. 1973-1996.

The only major difference is the outer bedsides, and the taillamp pockets where the tailgate attaches.

There are support arms bolted from the outer bedside to the inner bedside for support to the lower wheel opening sections. The newer beds also have mud guards, that the older ones do not have. These parts would have to be modified slightly.

 

I just did this 2 months ago with a 95 bed to put my dentsides on. The only mod I remember for the sides is trimming the support structure sheet metal that mounts between the inner and outer bed sides. I drilled the spot welds to get the 95 bedsides off and left these parts welded to the bed. Just a little trim with an angle grinder on the top and botom edges did the trick I believe. A little more on the rear pieces than the front ones. I did keep the 95's bed rear pillars and modified my tailgate to use the 95 style tailgate latches and cables. That took a little modifying though. The 95 bed looked factory new, but it sacraficed itself for an older brother 76 tuck.

PS, I did not by re-pops. I used the original bedsides from my old bed and retained the original tail light pockets. The bed side wrapped around the 95 bed post with a little cutting with the angle grinder on the post support metal. I had to put a replacement rear wheel arch in one side, but I felt it was still better than the the thin easily rusted Tiawan metel that most re-pops are made of these day's. It took me about an hour a side to remove the old sides. I broke my spot weld cutter due to misuse and used two half inch drill bit's to finish removing them. I had the 95's bedside's both off in less than an hour, a sawzal helped a lot on that one, I destoyed the sides in the process.

PSS Now is the time to rustproof the inner wheel wells where they weld to the bedside wheel well arch. I used weld through primer as well hoping it would help with the rust at the weld spots.

 

i think im definitely going to have to do this. beds are impossible to come by here

 

I left the inner wheel arches completely out of my bed, thats why they rust out in the first place. My dad removed his in the mid 80's and I know Bucks77Ford removed his as well. Just food for thought if you are worried about the inner wheel wells, just leave em out!

 

Any of you guys got pics of the 'box' without the outer skins?
I have a custom fab idea, and have been wanting to see how it looks without the skin before I cu into mine.

G.

 

PLEASE Next person to do these please please take a ton of pics and make a Step by step list as i think this may be in my future thanks

 

Here is a pic with the outer skin off the donor bed for my 73 short bed.

 

Here's a pic of mine as well. Its slightly different so depending on what you are looking for it still might help.

 

I will be doing this at some point soon, but not sure when. As always I'll take quite a few pics. My setup will be slightly different though as I will be putting on flared, fiberglass bedsides but the progress will be much the same.