Spent this past weekend replacing the floor in my Niece's Ford Ranger pickup.. To recap, the truck was very solid other than an area of the bed that showed some repairs had occurred:





Looking at this area from the bottom side, in addition to the sign material added by the last hack (owner?) as a platform for Bondo, we see that one of the manufacturer's bright ideas of heat control above the muffler also was of a nice fibrous textile that also retained moisture well..



They had researched many used beds, most the wrong color, others rusted farther along, or salvage yards that liked to set beds on the ground to roll the quarters under nicely. Further research reveals that the bed floor was still available, so it was bought from the local dealer, along with one of the cross members. (the only cross member still available) I figured we had enough technical know-how to fabricate any of the others, if needed. Plus, since they were talking about getting Line-X installed, there was no need for a finish coat, SPI epoxy should serve fine by itself.
Bed floor and OEM cross member sprayed in Epoxy..



Taking a better look just prior to removing the bed, looks like this was just shy of Flintstone status.



Bed removal



Temporarily placed on sawhorses, then lifted with a winch, lowered onto furniture dollies, and left tension on the winch for safety precaution..



More of the fine repairs previously done. It's hack work like this that makes a job that much harder...









We had one cross member we needed to fabricate, and the drawbar for the JD is modified to add some stiffening/strengthening details..





Used some AVK style rivet-nut fasteners for anchoring the wheel opening braces..





All spot welds were drilled out, and will be used as plug weld holes for re-assembly..



Prior to assembly, some SPI epoxy was brushed onto the parts for better rust prevention in the future..





Remaining flanges on the bed were prepped and received a covering of epoxy as well..





New bed floor seemed a bit wide going in (prior to welding) so we marked center of both the opening and the floor, then aligned the marks and clamped in place. To clean out the paint inside the plug weld holes from the adjacent panel, a modified bit was used.





Being a flat cutter, it does more paint removal and less damage in metal removal, as shown here:





Welds ground down and all the bare spots touched up...





Re-installed onto the truck frame, no Bondo, no mesh screen, no plastic......



....and no Flintstone holes..



After the SPI epoxy cures for a few days they should be scheduling for the spray in bedliner..

 

Nice job! Looks like a real quality job.

 

Very nicely done. Thanks for sharing.

 

Nice work, wish I had the body/painting skills to do that nice a job.

I know if I ever need to replace the fuel pump I don't need to drop the tank or lift the box

 

We did change the shocks while the bed was off...

 

Nicely done & documented.

 

Forgot to add the "after Line-X" picture...

 

Hey, that's how my brand new 99 bed looked after its Line-X spray in was applied. I drove that puppy straight from the Dealer to my local Line-X shop & had it done before the bed got dirty. I too opted for a "over the rail" installation, with the tailgate sprayed too, as I planned on having to climb in & out of the bed at the rear tire, when launching the Bass Tracker.
SO, my Line-X installation is now coming on 19 years & so far its holding up fine & this puppy sits outside 24/7, so its seen everything mother nature has thrown at it + moving the kids umpteen times, hauling lawn & garden supplies, my lawn tractor, shredder, well you get the idea, its had plenty of use over the years. It's tough stuff, still sound & all in place, no bed dents or missing Line-X but its flat black now. So has held up well, was a good investment for me & is recommended for those considering a bed liner.
EDIT: I noticed they didn't forget to remove your bed bolts & overspray them like they did mine, so you can get them out easier if need be. Mine will be a pia to remove, but doable with a hot knife. They removed the tailgate fasteners to spray, but forgot to remove my dang bed bolts lol.

 

What gauge steel did you use to make the crossmembers?

 

IIRC it was 16 gauge..

 

do you happen to have part # for floor panal and cross member??

 

I didn’t buy the parts, her father did, so I have no clue as to the part numbers. Sorry.