I'm looking over the rotting wooden bed on my 85 F150. It needs to be replaced pretty badly and I never taken on a project like this before so I figured I'd ask a dumb question before I get started...

If I'm removing the bed to get it off of the frame to assess all of the replacement parts that I am going to need...

I see 8 large bolts that go through the bed and into the frame...If I were to grind those off, or remove them if I can (most are badly rusted) and then I disconnect the fuel filler neck, then disconnect the rear lights...is there anything else that needs to be unhooked so the bed can be easily lifted off?

Thanks in advance,
JT

 

Nope that is pretty much it, If you care about your rear bumper getting scratched you may want to take that off too.

 

Ok, cool...good to know. I'll post pics once the great rehabilitation starts!

JT

 

Sounds good I'll be watching for it! Good luck!

 

Be careful of the fenders as you cant get them.


Before pulling the bed as a full unit might want to unbolt the sides from the floor & front wall and the front wall from the floor.


Then you can deal with the floor by it's self.
Dave ----

 

I'll echo what fuzz face said as far as the fenders - they aren't reproduced anyplace. Neither are the bedsides. I haven't been able to find the steps or brackets anyplace new either, but you can modify the 78 /79 brackets to fit.


The front panel, rear panel and all crossmembers (along with tailgate) are happily available new.


I did not unbolt the sides until after it was disassembled. If all you're looking to do is the floor, then you wouldn't really have to. I did unbolt the fenders though.


Don't forget to undo the license plate light


Once you have the bed off, it helps to have some sawhorses or a rack to put it on so you can work on it elevated a bit.


To get the remnants of the floor off you'll of course have to unbolt and take off the bed strips, this is much easier if you can easily get underneath. If you have the plywood, pull the center section first, then you can get to the sides more easily


Once you start disassembly you'll see how it works - not bad at all. Post here if you have more questions!

 

This pic will show you "underneath" the center panel of the plywood. You can replace it with 3/4" treated plywood. It will take two 4x8 sheets, one cut for the center section and the other cut into the two side sections

 

Thanks for the advice, it's really helpful...totally appreciated.

I'll keep y'all updated on the progress once it starts. It's going to be a dirty job but looks fairly straight-forward. AND, very good to know about the fenders and bed-sides...I'll definitely keep that in mind.

Right now, I am leaning towards the treated plywood based on cost. Just wondering, have you ever seen a plywood bed done well where it's varnished and looks sharp?

 

SCFlareside, NOT TO SAY that your bed doesn't look sharp! Just hard to tell from that pic!

 

Had some free time this last weekend and got after it...it's going to be a long process.

The large bolts that hold the bed to the frame were completely corroded and wouldn't spin...so we decided to grind them off. Easily got to 3 of them under the truck but had to go up above for the others. It sounds easier that it really was. But, we ground them off and unhooked the gas filler neck (2 of 4 small bolts snapped off).

I also learned that the bumper is bolted directly to the frame and I didn't need to remove that. I also noticed a weird metal mesh strap in the far back drivers side of the bed that attached the frame to the bed. Simple unbolt and we were free.

As you can see from these pictures the bed is in terrible shape. I need cross bars, wood, strips, hardware, etc...already have the front bed panel. Any advice on where to get this cheaper is greatly appreciated because through MarK, it's about 1200 bucks...

Any and ALL restoration and replacement advice is greatly appreciated. I'm thinking it needs all new cross bars, wood blocks, wood, strips, etc. Would love to know if I'm leaving anything out.

I also found a neat little surprise in a totally rusted away line of some kind. Pictures are below.

First time the bed has come off in about 31 years...
<a href="http://s32.photobucket.com/user/jtmacready/media/FC27F62E-B4C5-4B5D-AB77-5210DD6573F1_zpsilrd2dxb.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d18/jtmacready/FC27F62E-B4C5-4B5D-AB77-5210DD6573F1_zpsilrd2dxb.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo FC27F62E-B4C5-4B5D-AB77-5210DD6573F1_zpsilrd2dxb.jpg"/></a>

View from the underside:
<a href="http://s32.photobucket.com/user/jtmacready/media/B1DC5655-E77D-4452-95AD-85C86B8C1761_zps3cpkygt5.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d18/jtmacready/B1DC5655-E77D-4452-95AD-85C86B8C1761_zps3cpkygt5.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo B1DC5655-E77D-4452-95AD-85C86B8C1761_zps3cpkygt5.jpg"/></a>

the wood was so badly rotted that the heat-shield was hanging off, bolts had nothing to hold onto
<a href="http://s32.photobucket.com/user/jtmacready/media/A6DE2182-50B4-4804-995E-BF9CA3FBF9E4_zps4orlmwt3.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d18/jtmacready/A6DE2182-50B4-4804-995E-BF9CA3FBF9E4_zps4orlmwt3.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo A6DE2182-50B4-4804-995E-BF9CA3FBF9E4_zps4orlmwt3.jpg"/></a>

<a href="http://s32.photobucket.com/user/jtmacready/media/C363A762-9618-4E3B-815E-56E2DB6A3371_zpsrarzq5g4.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d18/jtmacready/C363A762-9618-4E3B-815E-56E2DB6A3371_zpsrarzq5g4.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo C363A762-9618-4E3B-815E-56E2DB6A3371_zpsrarzq5g4.jpg"/></a>

<a href="http://s32.photobucket.com/user/jtmacready/media/E3955C04-BE9C-4F2E-AE2A-11DEA4620827_zpsjrf7lg5j.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d18/jtmacready/E3955C04-BE9C-4F2E-AE2A-11DEA4620827_zpsjrf7lg5j.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo E3955C04-BE9C-4F2E-AE2A-11DEA4620827_zpsjrf7lg5j.jpg"/></a>

I still don't quite understand the point of the wood blocks and I also don't understand how MarK can charge $85.00 for a full set. Am I missing something here?
<a href="http://s32.photobucket.com/user/jtmacready/media/CDEC98BD-3009-4607-92F5-09C655083FF0_zps0o5an4ij.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d18/jtmacready/CDEC98BD-3009-4607-92F5-09C655083FF0_zps0o5an4ij.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo CDEC98BD-3009-4607-92F5-09C655083FF0_zps0o5an4ij.jpg"/></a>

found this end of an old line, just hanging off of the gas-tank...any ideas what it is?
<a href="http://s32.photobucket.com/user/jtmacready/media/595352E6-A153-46B9-9324-ADE99398E13E_zpsx1xwpgjk.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d18/jtmacready/595352E6-A153-46B9-9324-ADE99398E13E_zpsx1xwpgjk.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 595352E6-A153-46B9-9324-ADE99398E13E_zpsx1xwpgjk.jpg"/></a>

power-washed it to get a lot of the dirt and debris off...
<a href="http://s32.photobucket.com/user/jtmacready/media/E2AF61A7-810A-4F51-8C1E-17CF1F24350F_zpsc49shfdr.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d18/jtmacready/E2AF61A7-810A-4F51-8C1E-17CF1F24350F_zpsc49shfdr.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo E2AF61A7-810A-4F51-8C1E-17CF1F24350F_zpsc49shfdr.jpg"/></a>

found a clamp that used to hold some sort of line...if you look closely you can see the rusted away line to the right. Any ideas what this is and if there is an off the shelf replacement? I followed it up the frame, looks like it heads to the engine. I'm assuming it attaches to the other piece I saw hanging by the gas tank?
<a href="http://s32.photobucket.com/user/jtmacready/media/0E67DDDE-DCCB-43D8-ACCC-BFCE58241707_zpsxphisqkr.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d18/jtmacready/0E67DDDE-DCCB-43D8-ACCC-BFCE58241707_zpsxphisqkr.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 0E67DDDE-DCCB-43D8-ACCC-BFCE58241707_zpsxphisqkr.jpg"/></a>

here you can see the line where it's totally corroded away:
<a href="http://s32.photobucket.com/user/jtmacready/media/311FDD12-4C38-44BF-80EB-68A92064A801_zpsfu1nphqa.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d18/jtmacready/311FDD12-4C38-44BF-80EB-68A92064A801_zpsfu1nphqa.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 311FDD12-4C38-44BF-80EB-68A92064A801_zpsfu1nphqa.jpg"/></a>

where the corroded line went to:
<a href="http://s32.photobucket.com/user/jtmacready/media/DFFA016B-1132-46F0-B70B-5B93DFBFA9D3_zpsqomelun1.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d18/jtmacready/DFFA016B-1132-46F0-B70B-5B93DFBFA9D3_zpsqomelun1.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo DFFA016B-1132-46F0-B70B-5B93DFBFA9D3_zpsqomelun1.jpg"/></a>

 

The rubber hose line from the tank connects to the metal line that you show in your pic and I believe this line goes all the way in to the charcoal canister in the engine compartment.

 

Any idea what it's for or what it does? A vacuum line of some kind?

 

Emissions line.

 

Yes you are right. My truck also had the same line rusted away. My parts truck was in good shape so I used it.

It goes up to the canister on the right side engine bay. I want to say under the batt. but think there is another one top said. Checked my pictures it is the top one.


It is part of the emission system to pull fumes from the tank(s) to the canister and a vac hose then goes to either carb or intake where the fumes get burned in the motor.


Side tank vent runs to the rear cab cross member then toright side frame rail.

Rear tank vent runs down the right side frame rail.



This is the “Y” connection the 2 tank vents meet up to make1 to the front.

You can just make out the coiled rubber hose by the springtower

Dave ----

 

Oh on the bed parts I feel your pain!
I have no cross beans, they were squire tubing.
No wood frame blocks.
Floor wood was planks and all warped!
No tail gate or rear lights that I also need.


I have a long bed parts truck I want to use that floor and mount my flare bed side to it.
Good luck on your bed
Dave ----