I'm working on my 79' and I'm stuck when it comes to the bed, should I replace it or rebuild it. I currently have is the original bed with dual gas doors and the tool box in the passanger side with the race track trim. Sounds good but here's the bad side. The piece of the floor closest to the tailgate is gone, 50 to 70% of the floor would have to be replaced, and the pass. side front piece between the outer skin and the main front of the bed is shot too. Plus that front piece I can't find any patch panels for. So from my calculations the bed would cost me about $600 + my labor to fix if I could figure something out with that front piece. So I'm leaning toward just replacing it with another bed. My question is am I looking for a needle in a hay stack to find a 73-79 bed with dual doors and the tool box? I'm not worried about the trim I can transfer that on my own later.

 

I would want to keep those bedsides if they're still in good shape.

Do some searching around here to confirm this--but I've read posts right here on this site about using beds up to 1996 on our trucks. Cut of the outter wall off the newer bed and the 70's sides weld right on.

 

i sold a bed like yours a year ago on ebay for 350$. in pittsburgh i was hard pressed to get a bed under a grand. might try what jolly green said. ive heard of this too

 

The inner and outer sides are in pretty good shape. So are you guys saying swap the inner and outer sides or just the outer skins?

 

Granted I live in the rust belt, but it's nearly impossible to find a nice rust free bed up here for under a grand. I still need one and have looked at several for around a grand but none were nice enough for me to spend that kind of money yet.

Good Luck

 

I think that would depend on condition of what you're working with. If the sides you have are all usable, then you could probably just use the floor and front panel of a 80's or 90's bed to replace the rotted stuff. What I read before was about people who used just the skins and they fit right onto the newer bed--but I would THINK you can do it either way. I say "think", because I've never done this myself--I know other members here have. Maybe they'll see this and chime in.

 

When the floor in my bed rusted out I replaced it with a 4' x 8' sheet of 1/8" diamond plate steel.

I really need to repaint it. Done this about ten years ago.

 

Take a look at the '48-'79 NPD Ford truck catalog.They sell replacement flooring for all types of beds.Replaced the bed in my '78 F250 for 350.00 and a few hours of labor.Mine were two full sheets with wheelhouse cut outs.Good Luck.

 

There are a couple 73 thru 79 ford 8' beds on pittsburgh craigs list, been on there for a while, make offer if you're close to go look at them.they look decent, but pictures we all know can be deceving

 

theres a bunch of stuff on pittsburgh cl that the guy is nuts fir his asking prices. 250 for a door shell. thats crazy.

 

I know a guy who did the diamond plate thing and really likes it. I am the original kind of guy and would go the extra mile to either replace the bed floor, or look at a newer bed and buy the outer skins and replace those.

LMC has everything you would need for your bed. What I understand the quality is not as good as the original, which is no shocker no matter who it was coming from.

 

http://richmond.craigslist.org/pts/1066753752.html

 

That link takes you to an account log in!

 

oooops! Not sure how that happened.

 

You will probably have a hard time trying to find a donor box that has the camper special toolbox on the passenger side. I would suggest looking for bed repair panels, I believe LMC and NPD have them, Jeff's Bronco Graveyard may also be a place to check. I too was looking for a new bed for my '79 F-250, bought a box for $600, and then ended up getting a '73 f-250 camper special with a blown engine for $600 all together in Idaho, but sounds like an exact bed like the one you have would be a difficult task.