Ok, I've got a feeling this is covered somewhere...But I figured it was just as easy to ask LOL.

We will in the future need to remove the entire truck bed/box from our 75' F-250. It's got some major rust issues, and the prior owner just installed a plastic bed liner to cover up a lot of the damage. We peeked under it..and the phrase "What truck bed?" came to mind. Basically it's roached.

Our plans included already to remove the bed assy, and wire-wheel off all the frame rust, treat it with rust converter--and paint...paint...paint...(and not hot pink on the frame LOL) And we have a few ideas on how to rebuild the bed itself, and re-use the sides.

However, we still need to figure out how to remove the flippen thing LOL. Any ideas or advice? As expected this is a winter project--so we know this won't see the road for a while.

S-

 

you could just rip it off (unbolt and discard) and go to a junk yard and buy one in better shape. do you have a long bed or short bed? i've found that long beds are easy to find in decent shape, and short beds are a lot harder to find

 

I've considered it. We have a local salvage yard that does nothing but truck's. However after talking with our maintenance/complex manager? (he works with race cars during the summer and knows these places backwards/forwards) He stated clearly the guy is a total scam/rip off artist that loves to over charge.

It might be a way to go at this point. The truck bed has to come off regardless. And who knows? Maybe this guy has the parts and will lowball it to ensure I continue to give him $$ for future work?

Closest bed I did find cost much more then I'm willing to pay for the 'a' grade one, and it's from the deep south region. (go figure?)

S-

 

I just sold the bed off my parts truck and Mike came with a a special aluminium A-frame on wheels , block and tackel with a special adjustable cradle that lifted the bed from inside.
It worked quite slick.

I meant take pics but didn't.

Apparently you can rent these things.

 

Most of the time when the bed is that rusted the hardware is too, so I used a die grinder on the stubborn bolts and just cut them off. Need to remove/loosen gas fuel/vent hoses, rear light harness before lifting the bed off. Here in Western NY they will laugh at you if you go into a junkyard and ask if they have a 73-79 truck bed (long or short), since most of them were ruined by the road salt they use around here during the winter. If you can find a good used truck bed for your project, but you're unsure if the price is too high, I would suggest you add up the time and cost of installing after market patch panels to repair your old bed. The center bed floor patch panel for example costs over $300, which does not include the floor metal in front and behind the wheel wells. Another odd thing about the price of these bed patch panels is a lot of the shortbox panels cost a lot more than the longbox panels.

 

I believe Cujo is on the money; either find a donor or buy from a salvage yard. Addtionally the bed should have 6 to 8 bolts (carriage type) thru the bed. I've always remove the tailgate and the rear bumper prior to removing a bed. Makes easier access & lightens the load for lifting.
Unless your going for that OEM look; I would find a donor bed; over re-paneling the either floor...

Mitch

 

Its really not bad Tedybear. Mine had 34 years of road salt from Tennessee on it and I soaked the bolts with WD-40 for a week (sprayed them on Sunday and again on Wednesday) and removed the nuts from the carriage bolts the following Saturday. I left the tailgate and bumper in place. Remove your sidemarker lights and tail lamps or disconnect the plug going to the bed light circuit (located rear-ward of the last frame crossmember.

You will also need to unhook the fuel fille pipe from the bedside as well. It was me and two friends (one lifting from the back (hence using the tailgate to leverage against) and one on each side of the bed in front of the wheels. We just picked it up and carried it into the yard onto some concrete blocks.

 

I highly recommend the blue wrench...but if you are going to the junkyard you might have to pay them to do it...stupid insurance regulations...I took my torch and they thought I was on crack

New bolts are good, you might even want to upgrade to the new style bolts (hex top).

 

While thatthought did come to mind....in an effort to save as much as possible of my truck to reuse and in an effort to keep flames away from a 34 year old rusty steel gas tank and dry-rotting fuel filler connectors, I chose to go with manual effort.

 

I'm getting to the point I need to do something with mine too. I've been toying with the idea of using the bed floor from a newer model truck or maybe converting it to a wood floor or maybe even using the composite decking material in place of the wood. Haven't really decided yet.