I bought this bed over the weekend. $400 delivered to my house. Seems like a good deal. It has a couple of rust spots that need fixed. Fenders were perfect and floor one spot up front. There is a a rust hole on both sides in the back bottom and in the front of the bed. Where can I get patch panels for these? What do you guys think?

 

Looks to be worth $400 to run it. If you plan on repairing it and using it on a nice repainted truck then I'm not sure its worth it, you're still going to have a ton of money in it. The floor in that bed is kinda scary. This is just my opinion but it's based on what I learned from dealing with my bed.
My bed floor is super solid, actually the whole bed seemed great other than above the rear wheels. We decided to put full bedsides on it. There are some brackets somewhat under the tail lights that were in horrible shape on my bed, never would have know without getting into it. Also based on the rust on the rest of the bed I bet the wheel arches aren't far behind. I would expect that bed to rust through above the rear wheels in less than a year especially if you use it in the mud or salt. My cousin bought a "rust free" bed for his 89 F-150 short bed. It looked great. He spent a ton of money on paint job, took the bed down to bare metal since it had a few coats on it. Well about 6 months later you would not believe the rust above the rear one rear wheel, its horrible. The other side still looks good as it had that bed side replaced by a previous owner. He's pissed about that.

 

Most vendors sale bed panels; but some are made overseas; and other by OEM tooling; your cost range depends on these two things plus shipping. View prevoius post and see if you find someone tlaking about the quality of work (panels) prior to buying to insure you get what you pay for. several Sponsors here sell panels.

 

This kind of bed is unheard of in ohio. My bed is totally shot and bed sides are like $400 a piece. That and I have no idea how to weld in bedsides. Never welded. I figure patching would be easier. This bed is way solid. That is surface rust on top. This bed came from SC

 

So there are no rust holes in the bed floor? Kinda looked like it, that changes things a bit. It's well worth $400 I'm just saying if you use it in the elements it will probably deteriorate rather quickly if it already needs repair, seen it many times and it's usually worse off than it looks.
Just like my drivers side floor board. It had a minor patch panel in it already. I was just going to leave it like that but the guy doing my body worked talked me into ordering that floor board. Upon removing the old floor it was unbelievable how bad it was.
All I'm saying is, I don't think you can slap some paint on it and you're good to go. For a daily driver or a truck that gets put to work its great and well worth the money.
Also, I ordered my floor pan from Tabco. Their stuff is made in the USA and is supposed to be same thickness as OE, I'd look there for patch panels.

 

The very front of the bed has a few small rust holes. I plan on cutting those out and welding in steal (with a buddy). Then rino line everything after it's sanded to bare metal. I just need a few patches in some areas. My bed now has bad floor and bed sides. What is Tabo's website?

 

Well if you go that far with it, it sounds like it should be ok. Here is Tabcos site. Welcome to Tabco
I would still be concerned with the wheel arches though. I am leaving my inner wheel houses out of my bed and making a bracket to stiffen the side back up. My dad pulled them out of his 79 in 1983 and it never rusted above the rear wheels. Check out this thread I started on the subject and check the pics of bucks77ford, I'm going to do the same thing with mine. If the bed still seem really sold it might be something to consider, if it looks like there might be any rust starting above the rear wheels then I wouldnt do it, it would probably destroy the bed.
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/8...ouses-out.html

 

Unless you find a NOS bed for free, you have a good deal.

Any bed is going to need work sooner or later so don't get discouraged, it's in fair shape for what you paid and it was delivered.

Besides it's a good opportunity to teach yourself some new skills.

 

Looks like a good deal imo....

 

The bed is perfect in the wheel wells. I'll have to do some work