Hi all, first post besides my intro. Just brought home an 84 150 4wd styleside with the 300 6 and 4 speed granny. Has a bit of rust in all the right places, including the bed side panels. Am I correct in assuming any bed from 80-86 would would swap out? I tried to find a thread detailing this procedure, but could not. Any links would be appreciated. I am somewhat interested in keeeping the bed "Plausibly original", but...

On the off chance that the heavens part and i find myself looking at an affordable step side bed, would this be an option, and what years would work?

Thanks in advance, looking forward to learning a lot on here, have been pouring over many excellent posts already. Y'all have some nice rigs.

 

80-86 is the exact body style.
IIRC the 80-81 had one style tailgate latches and the 82-86 had another. But not really that big of deal.

As for a Flareside bed, i will assume you have a short bed. So an 80-86 bed would be a direct bolt on

 

1980/82 Styleside tailgates have steel tailgate supports that are made as part of the latches.

1983/86 Styleside tailgates have separate latches, the tailgate is supported by cables.

 

I think 1980-1996 will work, there may be some differences in taillights, trim, etc.

 

I often wondered how it would be to find a 87-up bed in somewhat good shape, and then use the over the wheel repair panels for a 80-86 to make it look like a 86-dwn bed.

 

Thanks to you all. Now I know what to look for. Minor differences in things like the latches and lights was exactly what I wanted to hear!

 

Or, if the bedsides are in good shape, use the repair panels for an 87+ front fender to make the 80 - 86 front wheel well openings match the bed. (I hate to say it, but I think the 87+ wheel well openings are better as they are circular. But I don't like the turn signals on the later trucks.)

 

Welcome to the forums! I was in the same spot as you about two years ago, and ended up doing a flareside bed swap. My build thread is "to build a flareside" - typing on a handheld or would link it for you, will bump the thread so it's near the top of the forum list for you. On that thread you'll see pics of the swap including what a '95 style side bed looks like on an '85 cab (that's how my truck came from the prior owner)

The flareside bed bolts right up even over dual fuel tanks as I found. If you look and are patient you can find one, either in junkyards or even buying a wrecked / tired flareside like I did for parts. If you go that route let me know, will help you brainstorm.

if you dont find a complete bed, you at least need the bedsides and fenders; and the steps and step brackets. The rest can be bought new commercially. Even the step brackets from a 78/79 could be modded slightly.

hope this helps!

 

Thanks for clarifying . I was not 100% sure


Yes, you can put the the earlier patches on the later bed, BUT the rear of the bed is boxier on the 80-86 bed than the 87-97 bed

 

 

Here she is, ripped the band aid off the rocker so you can see the extent of rust present.

 

You may get frustrated looking for a good bed. Plan b is the patch panel route. They make large patch panels that include the gas lid area, and would probably fix most of the rust. They make another for the lower rear. Before you do that though, look at the inner structure underneath the taillights and the underside of the bed. There is a "box" of sheetmetal under each taillight, and these are connected by a large "u" shaped piece that goes across the back of the bed. If any of this is rusted out bad, you will have problems with the tailgate shutting. The bed I had, you had to hold the bed inward and then shut the tailgate at the same time.

Your bottom door should be easy. Cut the old out, they make bottom door patches. Cut the new patch so it lines up underneath the trim piece. Then you do not have to finish it off very good with bondo, since the seam will be hidden under the trim.

I am assuming a truck with that much rust also needs floor and cab corner work?

 

T's a local place that get's nice beds in quite often. But they retail for about a $1000.00 or so.
I got lucky this summer, found an 8' bed for my 84 for $400.00. About 2" of rust out over 1 wheel well. 1 dent. Rest is nice.

 

Thanks Franklin, and Maytag,this bed seems to be pretty solid, those online patches seem to be the way to go for a lot of stuff. Little bit of rust in the one cab corner, but the rest of the cab is pretty solid.
I have a buddy doing a 57' Chevy that has a welder (Strange bedfellows, i know...) that is going to show me the ropes as far as welding and basic bodywork goes. Believe it or not, I found an '80 flarebed with fiberglass fenders 30 miles away that I am going to look into. He said the fenders,sides and ends are solid, So I would only have to replace the bottom. Should throw some pics up of it Sunday, hopefully the crossmembers are good. Those panel sites are GREAT to see what's going down structurally. If everything but the bottom is OK, Especially the tailgate, I'll probably snap it up.
Maybe some of CT's luck is rubbing off? If so it will be brick red to boot.

if not, I have seen a few regular beds from other generations for 5-600 bucks in various states of disrepair on my local CraigsFence.

As an aside, I have been on many forums over the years of various helpfulness. This one looks like a home run, thanks for having me.

 

I'd grab the Flareside bed regardless....those fenders are not easy to come by.