passenger bed wall angles out
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Junior User
Joined: Jul 2003
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From: maryland
passenger bed wall angles out
I just bought a 79 F350 long bed truck. the passenger side and the drivers side bed wall (to a lesser degree) angle out so a tailgate will not fit in properly. I had to push in the walls and slam the tailgate in. now it is straight. the rear cross sill (right at the tailgate) is cracked closer to the passenger side and I figure this is causing the problem since I can flex the bed wall easily. Anyone ever have this problem and have a cheap solution, this is not going to be a show truck. I am thinking I could add a steel angle like they sell at lowes and bolt it from behind. thanks,
Stan
Stan
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Joined: Jul 2002
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From: BC, Canada
I borrowed a friends 110v wire feed welder he bought at a place like that but he was using flux core wire and he had no gas attachment for it. I just blew holes though anything thin I tried to weld. I suspect a stick welder would be the same. If you can afford it get a small wire feed with gas. There's lots of threads here on which ones to get and why.
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From: maryland
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I had the same problem with my truck, but it was because of rust in the area behind the taillights, and the rear corner posts of the bed. I drove around with a ratchet strap from the corner posts in the rear to hold the sides upright for awhile, but I then put a piece of angle iron on eack corner post, and another along the bed floor, and took then to a local welding shop, and they tacked them all in for $40.00. It is nice and sturdy again, but when I load my quad in the back I have to lay a 2x4 on each side of the angle iron just to make sure I don't cut a tire. Untill I can find and afford a southern bed with no rust, this was a cheap fix. Good Luck..
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Joined: Jan 2002
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From: Milton Canada
On the 78 that I just bought, the PO just took a pair of those light metal shelf brackets and bolted them in between the corner posts and floor. Looks like it did the job just fine and would cost less than 10 bucks. Very easy, and because of the way they are built you would still have no problem putting a full 4 foot sheet of whatever in there.
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From: maryland
all great ideas. I bought a lockable tiedown and adjusted it to hold the walls where they should be and now I can open and close the tailgate. I checked 1weld shop and they wanted to much money, I will check some more. I like the shelf bracket idea. I plan on putting in a bedliner and I think there still would be room for it. I will check with my 84 that has a bedliner and see if there is room inbetween. I just got a harbor freight catalog and am going to check ou the welders. I may also try a strut below on each side.