I want to shave the emblems, trim, and door handles and locks off my truck and fill in the gap between the bed and cab. What's the best way to do all of this? I also want to weld the tailgate shut for a super smooth look. Could I please have some tips from the pros?

 

Well if you want to fill the areas, dont use bondo for filliing ANY type of hole.. weld them shut instead by using sheet metal , or if its small enough, work your weld bead to close it. The sheet metal you can get a body shop in the recycle bin. Use low, but penatrating heat, and cool your weld beads cosntantly with a wet rag. Do one small bead at a time, and cool it down. It will take some time, but you DONT want to warp the metal with heat. I highly advice NOT TO weld the cab to the bed. Its will be a disaster. There needs to be flex between the two. Ford did this, and found out with any type of load, or if you park on a non flat path, the doors didnt open. You may get lots of cracks too. Just my opinion,, good luck on your rig

 

I'll be able to make my 99 F-150 into a showtruck/trailer queen. I really think the body would look a lot smoother with the gap between bed and cab filled in. Plus it would be one of those touches that would dazzle judges at car shows. Do yo think it would help if I used really thick plate steel? I'm thinking that if I used thick steel it would prevent cracking by it's strength. I have the supercab and want to maintain the functionality of the rear doors so I may have to engineer a creative solution. One idea that is running through my head is to weld in a small filler piece and reduce the gap to 1/16 of an inch. This would still allow some flex when the truck is backed off the trailer. I would like to weld the tailgate shut and smooth it out completely with a roll pan fitted flush to it. That would give the back end of the truck a very cool look coupled with a hard tonneau. If I can get everything organized I'd like to have the truck's body done and in primer for the summer 2005 show season. That way I can enter it for one year in the under construction class then finish the interior and stereo, put paint on it and come back in the summer 2006 show season with a finished truck and turn heads. For the under construction season I also want it on a 6-8 drop and on 22's. I'm still debating about air bag suspension. Does anyone out there have pics of a supercab with a 3 inch chop top?

 

That idea is really good but,thats why no one has done it,even if you put thicker steel in between the bed & cab,the body will "have" to give somewhere else & you will have a total mess on your hands. The frame flexes different from front to back,just my advice,dont do it or you will be doing the body all over again.
If you feel you have to do it,my advice is to fabricate some kind a "huge rubber bushings" on the body mounts,to absorb some of the flex.