Hello all,im new to this site but i have read alot of your questions and comments in this section and you have answred alot of my questions,i really appreciate everyone being so helpful and supportive but there are still a couple of questions i have........i traded an old worn out '77 chevy blazer for this little 1983 F-100 shortbed at one of those little jake leg car dealerships back in june ,it has been the best truck i have ever owned,it has the inline 300 six banger with the 3 on the tree,it did have an 8.8 rear end with 2.47's but that had to go really quick!! I found a 9" rear axle with 2.75's out of a '77 ford extended cab and the only difference was the emergency brake cables didnt match but that was the only problem i ran into. But what im getting to is the truck body is in really good shape as far as the cab is concerned but the bed is in pretty bad shape so i considered putting a later style bed on it but after reading some of your comments on here i found out that it was a little bit different over the rear wheels but what about the '87 through '96 stepside? would there be as a big of a difference as the fleetside or would it be best for me to try to find or try to find the older style bed? The other question i have is the truck came factory with no A/C and id like to see about installing an aftermarket A/C,how do they look with the aftermarket A/C's and where would i be able to find one?

 

The 87 Flareside bed is the same bed the 86's came with, only with new fenders with the same fender lip that the Fleetsides got. 88-91, there was no Flareside bed, 92-96, it's a whole new animal, and still has the late model fender lip, and the fenders come down below the cab, the trucks that came with those beds came with steps on the cab...

 

So is it best for me to try to fix my bed or get another one? its gonna need 2 new bedsides

 

I would say that it all comes down to cost. Whether you can fix what you have cheaply or find a stepside bed all depends on what kind of money you want to spend to make the truck look the way you want it to.

 

well,ive always liked the stepside bed but finding one around here (west texas) that isnt all beat up is gonna be the fun part

 

Try a junkyard. They might be able to find you a bed from another state through their database.

 

i thought maybe a '92 through '96 bed but i was told i would have to add the step on the cab for it to match up,im gonna do some callin monday to some of these local bone yard boys