My friend is buying a 77 F150 4x4 short bed this weekend he is getting 2 extra beds with the truck both short beds i am buying one off from him what can i do to prevent this thing from ever rusting? could i use Hurculiner on the whole under side of the bed? its harder then hell to find a 73-79 short bed here in michigan and if you find one its probibly rusted out.
one more question i am putting new floor pans and the floor behind the seat in how should i cut them out? and weld them in MIG welder?

Thanks
Curtis
77_F150_4x4 aka
"The BeAsT"

 

>My friend is buying a 77
>F150 4x4 short bed this
>weekend he is getting 2
>extra beds with the truck
>both short beds i am
>buying one off from him
>what can i do to
>prevent this thing from ever
>rusting?

It depends on how much money you want to spend. The best thing to do would be to have it sand blasted and re-painted. Have the inside of the bed sides rust proofed. Put some kind of bed-liner in it so the paint doesn't get scratched and start to rust. The absolute best thing you could do to keep it from rusting is to not drive it in the winter. No matter how much you wash it that road salt will eat it from the inside out, starting at the wheel arches.

>could i use Hurculiner
>on the whole under side
>of the bed?

Like I wrote before, have it sand blasted and re-painted. After its painted have them shoot a coat of undercoating under there. If you do not get the rust off before you put a coating on it, it just makes it worse. The paint or whatever will bubble and flake off leaving open spots were moisture and salt get trapped.

>its harder
>then hell to find a
>73-79 short bed here in
>michigan and if you find
>one its probibly rusted out.

I have the same problem here in Wisconsin. If you really don't want your truck to rust then consider storing it winters.

>one more question i am putting
>new floor pans and the
>floor behind the seat in
>how should i cut them
>out? and weld them in
>MIG welder?

I usaully use a cut off wheel. When using this you have to be careful not to cut the structural supports under the floor. And for welding I use a MIG welder. I just spend alot of time fitting the panels to the hole and but-weld them in. Some people overlap the panels to make it easier to weld, but salt and moisture can get trapped in the overlap area causing it to rust out very fast.