Just curious how hard it is while waiting for warmer weather. Thinking it might be easier to pull the bed to service the fuel tanks and replace fuel and brake lines than to do it all from underneath. Could scrape surface rust and epoxy paint the frame while it's off.

So how hard is it to pull the bed? How many people does it take to lift off when everything is freed?

 

Took the bolts off and filler necks/lights in about an hour.
I had 3 other people help me take mine out.

 

If the bolts spin weld a nut on them so someone can hold it with a wrench.

 

Easy Peasy. Get 3 friends to help lift it off and the stuff you are going to do will be very much easier.

 

I've done it with one other person but it's a strain and you need sawhorses or drums to sit it on.
I've also done it most recently by myself because nobody was available to help. Took a bit to rig it but now I could do it alone in no time.







Excuse the mess!
The crossbar and the big chain fall came out of my Grandfathers garage and was used on A-Models etc. Before opening his own garage he worked in the Ford Assembly Plant in Charlotte. My Ford blood runs deep!

 

I need to come hang out at your shop Steve

 

Yeah, so do I
Never have I got so little done in so long as the last three years.

 

a cherry picker and 3 4X4's making an "H"pattern brace to fit under the bed rails work real nice if you are by yourself, or a gantry crane makes it even easier.
i can have the bed lifted off and working on the tanks in under an hour.

 

Just took one off at the junkyard to replace mine, sprayed the bolts ,waited a couple minutes and they all came right out. I was pleasantly surprised after all the stories I read on line about rusty bolts that spin. Probably cause we don't see rusty vehicles up here.

 

Sounds great, guys. Appreciate the responses.
Why do you need the supports? Will it twist up? Will it dig into the ground?

 

sometimes when you set them on the ground the lower sections will get bent.

 

Round you up some bolts and frame U-Nuts from the 97-up body style and use them when reinstalling. They work great and make the next job a cinch....from above! Mine may have come off of a non-Ford, IDK. Don't look exactly like the Ford items. I found them in a pile in the cab of a truck at the salvage yard and had the 'light bulb moment" and snatched them up.

 

Have you got any pics of these? Trying to imagine how you would tighten the bolt from the top. I'd use them when I install my new bed this weekend.

 

same as the superduty bolts. they have a clip nut that goes on the frame, and Torx bolts that cut threads into the nuts from above. uses either a T-55 or T-60 socket.

 

I looked at some pics on eBay, looks easy enough. Those clips/nuts will line up right on our older frames? That would make it quicker.