Howdy.
Information before I begin: I own a 79 F150 short box. The bed is very rusty. I may be able to save some of it, no big holes yet but do have some small ones up near the cab. I would like to spray or roll on a bed liner eventually and as I understand it I should get rid of that rust first. I'm comin at this with zero experience so feel free to respond to me like I'm a 4 yr old, in other words, don't assume I know anything.

My reclusive next door neighbor has an old 70's pickup truck rotting in his driveway, I think it's an F250, not sure of the year but I know it's pre 78 as it has round headlights. I've been thinking about approaching him to see if he'd be interested in selling it to me. The tailgate and rear bumper's in decent shape, two things I need. I'm fairly positive the bed is longer than mine, I haven't measured yet, but it has a canopy over it so the bed floor may be in decent condition. This is where my question is...theoreticallyy, if the bed floor is in better condition than my own, even a longer bed, would it be worth it to utilize that bed floor, cut out pieces I need or even maybe the entire bed floor and replace mine with it? Is that a thing that people do? Does that seem like WAY too much work?

 

Well..... either way you need to cut out the old rusty bed bottom.....
You can buy a new sheet metal replacement (for about $350 + $125 shipping).... (LMC)

How much is the donor bed gonna cost?
How much is your time worth?

 

Many have been forced to cut down a long bed in order to build a short bed since they couldn't find one anywhere. The bed floor, and I think the front wall, are the same on the 1980-1996 trucks in case that's where the majority of your holes are. If so, then maybe you can get away with patch panels for the outer bedsides/quarter panels?

 

Here's my bed.

 

I would fix that with patch panels.....
Flat sheet metal on the vertical part next to the cab.

 

Great questions Mike. And thanks for the reminder regarding the sheet metal replacement via LMC. I saw that a while ago, forgot about it.
I don't know how much the truck will cost. I'd probably take pics and try to get a feel from the good folks on this forum for what I should pay.
My time is worth plenty, as I don't have much of it. I can do the cutting but the welding I'd be paying someone else to do as I don't yet have that skill.

 

In regard to your comment "Flat sheet of metal" are you referring to this area Mike?

 

Yep, there is really only a small part the needs to be repaired.....




I have a wire welder so I can weld in a patch piece when I need to. I would just cut out the worst down next to the floor (maybe about 6" up) and weld in a 90 degree bent angled piece there.

Once again.... this is me.

 

So, forgive me but here's where I need to get into the weeds a bit, in terms of a step by step process do I...
1. Take a grinder or a wire wheel, or whatever the best tool is, to the bed floor and attempt to grind off as much rust as I can/get down to the bare metal, etc? Then, with the areas that I'm successful in doing that spray the bare metal with primer so it doesn't rust?

2. Then, the areas that are rusted through, closer to the cab no doubt, I cut those out and have the panels welded in?

Am I on the right track here?

 

I don't think I would go down to the bare metal on the solid metal areas (just with surface rust).... If it were me, I would knock off the rust scale and then coat the metal with POR or something like that to kill the rust. Then I would do any repair where the metal was rusted through and maybe prime those.
After you are happy with the bed then you could spray in a bed liner.

Now, IF you are going for a complete restoration look for a "show quality" finish..... That is another cat to skin all together....

Mike

 

I aint skinnin that cat brother

 

10-4 to that!!

 

Best tool to use to get that rust scale off? A wire wheel or something else?

 

I use an angle grinder with a cup brush.... USE EYE protection and a mask to keep the rust dust out of your lungs!!
You don't want a piece of wire in your eye!

 

2X on the mask and eye protection. You'll be blowing black soot out of your nose for days if you don't wear a mask.

Also, I've picked out several small pieces of wire from my jacket or shirt after using a wire cup. Eye protection is a must.