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I am in the process of building a Mar-K bed and thought I would share some pics along the way. The owner of the truck wanted the Mar-K bear claw latches installed on the tailgate...this was the first time I had installed these latches so I thought I would post some pics for those who may be considering these. There are a lot of pros and cons but no matter where your taste falls in the looks, mechanically they work great.
I am guessing they have to be surface mounted so that you could get to the latch if it needs adjusting or replacing? Otherwise, you could butt weld it in and make it look cleaner.
How do these beds compare to Prospick Charlie? Those latches look nice, something to consider in the future.
I have no experience with the ProsPick beds...the best features of the Mar-K is the flush spot welds, the accuracy of the dimensions, and the quality of the steel...all the steel is coated with a rust inhibitive zinc coating that really seems to work well. SoCal is probably not the best environment to test how quickly bare metal will rust but I can say that I have had these beds unpainted for months with no sign of surface rusting.
Looks like your about done with sheet metal would have liked to see start to finish I'm going to start on my 49 soon I hope?
I document most of my builds from start to finish...I just thought that I would share this particular part of this bed build. Here are a couple of other pics that show more "in work" stages...
Yes that is the hidden tailgate hinge that I use. In that pic it is just getting its first fitting...here is what it looks like once it has been welded in place. Tucking it up under the tailgate flange keeps the install much cleaner plus the weld is better supported by the flange on the bedside.