My 58 is a long bed styleside. I plan on shortening the bed 6". Has anyone on here done anything similar. Unfortunatly my truck is a long bed so bolting on a shortbed isnt an option unless I move the rear axle

Cheers
Matt

 

You could always extend the Cab & make the Olde Girl into a Crew Cab by going w/ the 6" box.

 

Haven't done one but I've seen several attempts at shortening a bed and none I've seen looked "right". If you want a short bed consider shortening the frame instead and bolting one on. It's not as hard or as much work as you might think...

 

I'll second GreatNorthWoods. Just bobbing the bed and leaving the axle in place would not look good imho. On the tv show trucks, they did this on a chevy, first they shortened the frame then they cut the bed vertically at the front and back cut out a foot or so pushed it all back together and welded it all up. Looked like quite a bit of work to me. I would definatly cut the frame to shorten it and get a stock shorted.

 

Doesnt seem like it'll be lot of work to take 6inchs of the bed and frame. I was gonna mess around on photo shop to see how it'll look before I break out the sawzall. Has anyone here moved their rear axle to accomodate a short bed? I would rather do that. however I dont know where I might find a styleside shortbed located in the northeast.

 

I would suggest that if you are planning on shortening the frame (depending on your personal welding skills) get a professional welder to Z cut the frame section and have him fish plate the cut to restore the rigidity back to that part of the frame. This is not something an armature welder should be doing and in the long run you will be much happier with the end results.

As for cutting the bed. Measure twice.....cut once.......

 

Or in the case of making my truck into an extended cab, measure twice, measure a 3rd time, think about cutting, measure 2 more times, then start to cut... measure half way through, finish cutting...

And I'll also second that if you need to shorten your frame to use the Z-cut and fish plates, its what I did to lengthen my F-3 wheelbase from 122 inches to 144 for my extended cab. There are pictures in my gallery, link is below

https://www.ford-trucks.com/user_gal...&albumid=19345

 

I've done this and I gotta tell you, even the simple bobing of the bed is a major undertaking. When you cut and weld you have opened the door to rusting from the inside out unless you take the extra steps of cleaning and properly preping and painting the hidden inside areas. It was suggested that you might extend the cab and use a short bed. Extending the cab is one really big job and you better have great welding skills, the right equipment and an extra cab for the parts you need. Look at Irondragon's truck and Keith56. They have tons of hours in their trucks. You have to deal with warping and a host of other issues that aren't readily apparent when you start unless you have done it once. Once you start you are committed. You can't go back. It's easy to suggest this if you have never done it. Whatever you end up doing I suggest you really think it out before you start. Go talk to a custom fabricator, Not a body man. There is a big difference. Talk to and listen to people who have done this sort of thing. Pay no attention to those who haven't but are quite willing to cheer you on. I hate to be negative but better that than have you start and get in trouble and be really dissapointed. If after all that you decide to go with it. I applaud your plans and ambition.

Later Man...

 

Matt,

I bought a 1951 F3 back in the spring that had been 'bob'ed. It looked good enough that I didn't figure out what had been done to it until I had already bought it. You can check out the photos of my truck in my gallery. You can tell that something isn't quite right about it.

I thought about selling the truck and buying an F1 (which is really what I want), but so far all of the trucks that I've looked at need a lot more work than the truck that I have.

Right now, my plan is to shorten the frame and put a short bed on it (and new fenders all the way around because of the wheel opening issue). There are people here on this forum who have done this before and can give you good advice if you choose to go that route.

Good luck!
-Doraville

 

I took a look at you gallery... Nice looking truck. Yep, the tail bobbing is noticeable, but it still looks good. I can see why you would want to change the front fenders to get a smaller cut out, but the bed issue doesn't look all that bad. BTW, bobbing that style bed is way easier than the newer ones because there is only one sidewall in the bed. As a matter of fact, it's pretty easy to make most of all the panel sections in it as well as the rear corners. It's about all flat with well defined sharp right angle bends. About any sheet metal shop can make what you need. If you are determined to go with a short bed you would probably be ahead to change the one you have. You might even be able to just move the fenders up on it.

In any case, good luck with your plans.

Later man...

 

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