Hey all, I’m gonna have to pull my bed off to fix the rust that is on my truck. It’s a 2013 and the previous owner must’ve never washed it in the winter time. More rust than one would expect on a 2013 lariat trim. I knew when I bought it last year it had some rust but it appeared to be surface rust only and truth of the matter it was the only truck in my area with the 6.2 ( needed an upgrade after my old 5.4 rotted away and was definitely driven longer than it should’ve been) and less than 110k miles for less than 25k. I need a truck for my job and ofc I just want one as we all do so I bought it. About a year later I definitely need to do something to stop it permanently as it’s gotten a little worse. I don’t have the money to replace everything but I definitely have some work to do with front end components and other things. I’m just surprised that it was previously owned by a town and it wasn’t maintained well to slow rust down. This leads me to my question. I have to pull the bed for sure to get everything cleaned up well and nicely. I definitely would be on my own doing it so does anyone have any suggestions as to how I could pull the bed and start working on it? Also as sucky as it is I time is of the essence becuase I don’t have anything else I can drive for work being a plumber/hvac/ construction contractor I need my truck. Anyone have any ideas what to do lol? I’m sure I can figure out getting something else to drive for a bit but there’s also a chance I may not. Lastly if been debating whether I should buy upgrade parts like the hd steering kit and as I was planning a 4” radius arm lift with springs to replace the saggy ones I have and leaves cuz mine seem to suck and make noises as opposed to buying a stock oem front end rebuild kit and and everything else to replace what’s needed. Im mad I didn’t wait longer cuz now ofc there’s more for sale for less sure with higher miles but with less rust. I didn’t have a choice so I bought it as I said. Anyways long rant sorry about that, I can borrow a chain fall and I have plenty hooks and such would just need a post for the hoist. Any other tips or ideas would be much appreciated.
P.s. I don’t wanna sound like I’m complaining becuase I was lucky enough and more than grateful to have been able to afford a newer to me superduty. Also definitely more than willing to put in the work needed just want to make sure it I get as much outta the truck as I can. Last note is I have yet to pull a bed/ so eager to learn some tricks thanks

 

Just pulled the bed off our '11 gas burner a few weeks back, it was honestly really easy. Concern I've got for you if you're trying to do this by yourself, is lining up the bed 100% perfect so that it only goes straight up and comes straight back down. I was lucky enough to borrow a little carry deck here at work, so I had all of the movement options needed to fine tune the lift and re-install. Pull the tailgate, it's heavy and will cockeye the bed real bad. Other than that, just a simple X pattern with some cheap harbor freight ratchet straps to the tie-down points in the corner worked just fine. Again, the ratcheting ability came in handy to fine tune it up and down. There's a good video on YT I checked out for tips, where he removed his rear bumper too, but I didn't, didn't need to. I removed the taillights, but come to find out I didn't need to do that either. Go ahead and buy you a replacement bed hardware bolt/nut kit and be ready with a death wheel, if the rust is as bad as you describe, it doesn't sound like any of the bolts are gonna play nice. Tape some cardboard over the rear cab and glass, last thing you want is to accidentally involve the rest of the truck for just working with the bed. Remove the 3 screws for the filler neck and unplug the lights, that's really it aside from the 8 bolts themselves.

 

When I was in the same style of business I just removed the truck box and installed a utility bed in it's place. When the trucks useful life over with I would just put it on a different truck. Utility body's can still rust but they are very easily rust proofed so they will last for years. And are very convenient to work out of. When I sold the old truck I put the original bed back on.

Denny

 

thanks for the tips and advice I appreciate it a lot, is there anything else I’d Need to worry about interms of wire harnesses or anything else? I have a back up cam on mine but it’s so bad it’s basically not there lol, and yes I have 2 death wheels ready one for the old grinder and a smaller one for a drill for tight spots. I was taking a look today and I noticed that one of the bolts for the bed is missing a nut :0, I can also recall that the truck had the bed pulled before and to be honest I think the shop or po prior had did a bit of a hack job putting it back. Down the road I may go the flatbed route but I’ll probably just put a piece of tread or plywood down in the bed for now until then. I’m still trying to decide if I should get all new upgrade parts or just stock ones for what needs replacing Hmmm. Thanks again I’m gonna plan on a weekend with good weather as I got no garage and I’m up in New England where it rains almost every weekend lol. Good idea with the ratchets. I may be able to have a friend with a skid loader to lift it up for me but we’ll see. Thanks a lot

 

Funny you should say, I used to have a extended cab with a reading utility body on it, I loved that truck and the bed lots, great for work and was pretty nice for loading up with tools and materials which is about all I do during the day, part of me wished I kept it but I got it used and it was beaten for sure, the duramag ones look pretty nice too for a shortbed version. I think when I get the truck sorted out and and some things replaced I may do a flatbed with tool boxes or the kind with the fold up/ down sides.

 

This was my last one before I retired, 2000 F350 V10 with 8.5 ft body. It's the only work truck I bought new.

 

wow that’s a nice lookin rig, sure it was great for work productivity, what kind of work did you do?

 

Electric, Refrigeration and HVAC, we live in a small area so I had to be diversified. My biggest money maker was commercial refrigeration and HVAC.

Denny