Shortening bed panels
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Freshman User
Joined: Oct 2018
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Shortening bed panels
Wondering if anyone has shortened replacement bed panels before and has any advise on how much to cut out. Truck is factory short bed and I could not for the life of me find short bed panels. Ordered both side panels from lmc but they are long bed. Just got the giant box the were delivered in and haven't pulled them out yet to measure but was hoping someone would have some advise. Thanks
Laughing Gas
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 765
Likes: 13
From: Edmond, OK
All the shortening is done from the front, unlike a GM. The one caveat is the stake bed holes, you'll have to fill the center one, unless you're running bed caps, then you don't have to worry. Also, the best way is to move the front stake bed hole rearward the correct distance to the point it needs to be from the rear hole, then you trim the total length of the panel from the front, leaving it a bit long. Then you can either bodywork the front edge and bend it over so it is like the stock one, or leave it maybe an 1/8"-1/4" long and tack it from the back side along the front edge, then skip weld to not warp it and then cut and grind it to shape. This way you don't have any long seams like the GM guys do. If I ever build a short bed, I'm tempted just to fill the stake pocket holes, it'll be a recreational truck for me anyway.
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