Nice beach you have in your yard. LOL Kinda looks like Fort Meyers beach sand before all the crap from Ochechobee washed up there in February when I was down there.

 

Yeah, I heard about that. It was (is) quite a mess.
The sad part, my yard looks like that whether I sandblast or not. Like I said, the sand mine is just a few miles from my house. In this area we really don't have "soil", it's more silica sand than anything else. Getting something (like a lawn) to grow decently is a constant battle. Weeds, however, seem to thrive on the stuff!

 

Well, a little more progress.
I've finished sandblasting the bottom side of the bed and sealed it with epoxy sealer.
Now that it's all over and done with, the bed wasn't in as good a shape as I originally thought it was. I'll be replacing both outer quarter panels, the one bracket that I fabricated, I'm debating on whether I'll replace the other bracket, it's showing signs of deterioration too. The bed floor was solid except for an area right at the forward section of the floor. I'll replace that, I've already got the repair panel. There's also a small section in the middle of the floor that'll get replaced.

 

Are you recycling that blasting media (sand)? If so, please write a bit on how you recover and re-use blasting sand.

 

I'm not recycling it. It's relatively cheap here ($4.05/50 Lb. bag) so I use it to fill in low spots in the yard.

 

Are you using beach sand it looks like? I've been using Black beauty, but it kind of sucks.

 

That's basically what it is. It's silica sand and it's mined only about four miles from my house. In this area we really don't have "soil", it's all mostly silica sand, makes growing anything like grass a bit of a pain.

 

Makes sense then why you would put such stuff in your lawn on purpose!

A lot of dairy farmers around year use sand as bedding. Because of this, the manure pits get full of sand sediment and all that gets hauled out to the fields making them sandier. I don't know why they think that's a good idea.

 

Mike, why would you repair that bed floor? Why not just use that bed to put your wooden floor upgrade into? Just a thought. I know I personally would use that rust through as the perfect excuse to go that route.

 

I thought about doing that but decided to go ahead and fix the floor. I really want to get along with the Pumpkin and get it to where I can actually drive the ol' girl, the last time I drove it was 1996.
This was originally "planned" as a five year project, well...I'm now in year seven . At this rate I won't be driving it before it's time for me to retire!
I figure, at the rate I'm progressing, building the new bed with the wood floor would add about a year to my build. The way I'm planning on doing it will mean also re-engineering the crossmembers and changing the way the bed bolts to the frame so it isn't just a matter of cutting out the floor sheetmetal and bolting on the wood, I wish it was that simple.
You can actually buy a wood "floor" for these trucks but all it is is a wood overlay that lays on top of the metal floor and in my opinion, looks like crap. It goes from side to side, up to the curved part of the side wall. It looks like something someone just threw in the back. I want mine to look like the factory built it. My wood floor will fit the area between the wheel wells, where the factory floor sits and will be flush with the rest of the floor. The mounting bolts for the bed will be concealed below the wood and the fasteners for the polished stainless steel strips will also be concealed.
Besides, I had a bunch of NOS bed panels that I didn't have any other use for .

 

Mike I totally understand where you're coming from. I'm sort of in the same boat with my Bronco. The last I drove that truck was 1999. And I haven't even begun my restoration on the Bronco. I'm still in the "gathering parts" stage. But at least for the last several years it's been inside out of the weather. And FWIW I can't wait to see the wooden floor for the pumpkin.

 

Do it yourself Dentside Kit....some assembly required.

 

Spent the last two days getting the garage cleaned up and sorta organized.
I've gotten the cab and bed back on the frame. Now I can work on getting the bed sides on.
I'm also going to mount the sheetmetal and get everything lined up, match marked and then take it all back apart to paint. That way I won't be as concerned about scratching something trying to line it up after painting.
One thing I noticed, with the bedsides off, the bed looks like one of those old military beds....Hmmm, I could always leave it "as is", say it's a rat rod and call it done .
Putting the windshield back in would probably be a good idea though.

 

What is the use of the sealer in this case? Are you using that instead of an undercoating?

 

Mike... I know this project is taking longer than originally planned. And that can get rather discouraging, but the Pumpkin is gonna be awesome when it's done. After all it's looking pretty sweet already. So don't get too discouraged. I for one can't wait to see it all complete. Keep up the awesome work my friend.