Hi there. I am looking at buying a 1969 f100 shortbox. the truck has very little rust except for the bed floor. does one of the companies make a replacement? If not what do I do to fix it back to stock?

Thanks

Chet

 

I just got the Mac's Ford Parts catalog and I think they have the bed parts listed there.

 

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 21-Jul-01 AT 02:26 PM (EST)[/font][p]If you don't have any large holes, you can repair the current bed. Sandblasting to bare metal and removing the rust will help determine the true condition of the metal. After that, if it looks usable, Por15 or some other rust converter will work well. If you get all the rust off, you can use a rust neturalizer and a quality two part epoxy primer then paint.

However, the amount of time and effort to strip the bed is very high. JCWhitney and LCM Truck sell the replacement parts for a fair price, then you can have them welded in. The proper welding takes a bit of time because they are tacked at each of the cross bars underneath.

I'd take a long screwdriver and dig into the rust spots and use a wire brush underneath to find out if the cross bar supports are rusted out.

I just completed a full strip of my bed and it was a HUGE amount of work! IF you decide to do it, I would advise buying a pressure type sandblaster and 1/20# sand. I started using a $20 siphon type sandblaster and it took a LONG time. I just bought a $130 40# pressure tank sandblaster and it is FAST! 1 sq foot of area takes about 1min to strip. You could strip the whole bed in 1 day!

If you do have some holes, the Por15 can be used with fiberglass to repair the hole, but the Por15 is UV sensitive and needs special attention to be properly painted over. While it's still tacky wet, you need to apply the primer as a goast coat, then come back with a full coat of primer after fully drying, then apply paint.

I'd call arount to find out how much it would cost to have a new floor welded in, I think its going to be quite a bit. Por15 is about $30/qt and good PPG epoxy primer is about $80/2 gal.

Also, If you have rust in one place, it's worthwhile to do a full inspection of the common rust places. Cab floors, cab supports, wheel wells...