Bed support material suggestions
Lead Driver
Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 8,450
Likes: 70
From: South Jersey
front support - 3 1/8" tall x 2 1/4" wide x 6' long
2nd support - 2 1/2" tall x 2 1/4" wide x 5' long
3rd support - 2" tall x 2 1/4" wide x 5' long
4th support - 2 1/2" tall x 2 1/4" wide by 5' long
2nd support - 2 1/2" tall x 2 1/4" wide x 5' long
3rd support - 2" tall x 2 1/4" wide x 5' long
4th support - 2 1/2" tall x 2 1/4" wide by 5' long
Lead Driver
Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 8,450
Likes: 70
From: South Jersey
now the width is only the square part, remember the factory support has little flaps on the top so that gives it some width. But just use regular box tubing, if not i know about ten minutes from me there is a metal supply yard. the owner told me last year when i showed him mine that he could bend me new supports from thicker metal and make them look identical to stock. All he would charge me is for the flat sheet metal and an extra 20 dollars to have one of his workers make the bends......
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Logistics Pro
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 4,654
Likes: 20
From: Tewksbury, MA
Awesome, thanks Scaler!
Does anyone have any experience with top coating POR15 with bed liner? i have read that it is recommended to topcoat while its still tacky but thats all i could find . My plan was to do two coats of POR15, if thier tie-coat primer is necessary then a coat of that and then a coat or two of Al's Liner or something similar. That should keep the salt away if all goes well lol, I will be doing the same to my frame while its exposed. The underside of the cab and front of the frame might be next summers project because they are surprisingly not bad yet.
Does anyone have any experience with top coating POR15 with bed liner? i have read that it is recommended to topcoat while its still tacky but thats all i could find . My plan was to do two coats of POR15, if thier tie-coat primer is necessary then a coat of that and then a coat or two of Al's Liner or something similar. That should keep the salt away if all goes well lol, I will be doing the same to my frame while its exposed. The underside of the cab and front of the frame might be next summers project because they are surprisingly not bad yet.
More Turbo
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 705
Likes: 12
From: Taxachusetts
I replaced my supports with 1"x2 1/2" 1/8" rectangular mild steel tubing. I cut up 4 sections to fit between where the bed bolts go, cut differant length sections (for the taller and shorter supports) stood them up so the bolts would pass thru. welded them to the center sections and filled in the outer parts with whatever length was needed.
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Logistics Pro
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 4,654
Likes: 20
From: Tewksbury, MA
Thought you guys would enjoy this, i thought if I'm going to do the supports on my 04 why not do the 95 as well. I looked at them over the weekend and there's not a speck of rust on them! and its 18 years old! its got the wheel well rust but that's it...less work for me i guess. I looked at my 04's supports again and i might be lucky and not have to cut out all of them so I'm going to wait until the bed is off to see what supports need replacing.
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Cargo Master
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 3,053
Likes: 21
From: Pittsburgh, PA
Thought you guys would enjoy this, i thought if I'm going to do the supports on my 04 why not do the 95 as well. I looked at them over the weekend and there's not a speck of rust on them! and its 18 years old! its got the wheel well rust but that's it...less work for me i guess. I looked at my 04's supports again and i might be lucky and not have to cut out all of them so I'm going to wait until the bed is off to see what supports need replacing.
My 94 Ranger had some surface rust on the bed supports and thats it. My F250's supports are awful. This is one more thing going on the todo list.
Lead Driver
Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 8,450
Likes: 70
From: South Jersey
my supports are fine its the second layer Ford wrapped around them that look like swiss cheese. Very soon im gonna remove my bed AGAIN and just remove the second layer of support and bend myself new ones. Tack weld them in and coat everything in rust paint and a good coating on line x or something
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Logistics Pro
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 4,654
Likes: 20
From: Tewksbury, MA
My only concern is actually removing the bed because i have the Rhino liner which is going to make it a PITA. But other than that im pretty confident in the whole thing we'll see how it goes i guess lol, im hoping to do it by the end of May that way im out of school so i dont have anything eating up my time anymore other than work.
Lead Driver
Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 8,450
Likes: 70
From: South Jersey
my buddies 01 Ford dually has LineX and they sprayed over the bolts, he ended up needing a whole new bed because the rot got so bad. We ended up giving up trying to cut the LineX off the head of the bolts and we just torched the nuts off from the bottom
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Logistics Pro
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 4,654
Likes: 20
From: Tewksbury, MA
Yup, i would have done the same but it was my dads when he got it done i was thinking of taking a hole saw on the end of a drill and drilling a little bit at a time until i get down to the bolt. I'm grinding them off because the liner is in the head too so i would be able to get a torx in it. I don't own a torch or know anyone though so that unfortunately is out of the picture. Its my only concern right now really other than that i just have to buy the POR15 and Chassis Coat Black and i could start right now if i wanted.
Senior User
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 301
Likes: 1
Yup, i would have done the same but it was my dads when he got it done i was thinking of taking a hole saw on the end of a drill and drilling a little bit at a time until i get down to the bolt. I'm grinding them off because the liner is in the head too so i would be able to get a torx in it. I don't own a torch or know anyone though so that unfortunately is out of the picture. Its my only concern right now really other than that i just have to buy the POR15 and Chassis Coat Black and i could start right now if i wanted.