Some advice on bed liners would be greatly appreciated. I was thinking about installing a bed liner in my 66 F250. Is that something that would enhance or detract the value of the truck? Currently the bed and tailgate are in great shape.

 

Not advising but mine has the spray on bed liner around the inside walls of the bed and a plywood floor. I like it.

 

I wouldn't think a bed liner would effect the value at all. Being solid vr all rotted out will.

If you have a nice bed on your truck and have to leave it outside, a bed liner will keep water out. Having a liner sprayed on will protect the metal and be a good investment.

Most slide in bed liners are as slick as the roads are in North Carolina this morning with all the snow & freezing rain we just had, so beware it is hard to have things stay put.

I went to a local Lowes a couple months back and an old gent was gently loading lumber in the nice looking old truck, when we came out and got to the street, he was on the side of the street with a cop car there reloading his 2X4s, about 50 ft from the drive entrance. He had mashed the gas and most came out on the street.




John

 

I cant help but chuckle at Johns reply about the elderly gent losing all his wood...if you strap it down properly and be generous with said straps and have them tight...all will be fine...so long as you arent trying to win the Daytona 500...Ive got a nice slick as snot bedliner in my trusty ole 91 Ranger with 269K very very hard miles on it...not a thing has ever slid out of it I didnt want to or fallen off .....it is amazing though just how much weight you truly can put in those ....
As for the bedliner...I prefer the drop in type...the spray kind is non slip and all...but I hear its a pain to remove...plus once its seal is broken or worn through to the steel...you get the rust and so on...plus it doesnt protect at all against dents like the drop in liners...Ive never taken mine out...but if I didnt have the drop in in, my bed floor would be sagging lower then certain parts of some folks bodies as they age....all those huge ribs in the floor of the liner makes it alot more bow resistant then the bed floor itself.

Just my 2 cents...for for a show piece or sweet old ride you wont hardly use for hauling as it is I wouldnt wanna muck it up anyway...no need for a liner..maybe a rubber mat you can roll up and take out if you do have to haul...or choose to haul stuff once in a blue moon.


- cs65

 

I'm in agreement with the approach of 'Wills1966F100'.....

I wire-brushed the sides and bottom of the inside of my box, swept it out then blew it out with an air hose, then applied a TSC-supplied, rustoleum-type primer paint then two days later I applied a coat of TSC-supplied industrial Ford Blue. Then I laid a piece of plywood (1/2", exterior grade) on the floor and cut a section of the same to place against the front of the box when the cargo required such box protection. If I couldn't have located some paint that was a close match to the correct color, I would have just installed the plywood in the bottom of the bed. I'm more into function than looks with my old truck, but it still looks good to me, isn't slippery, was well within my budget, and has been serving me well for years....

I remove the floor plywood periodically to sweep or spray wash the box out (the front section of pl ywood stays in the garage until it is needed). A practice I've used for many years is I leave an old tire (without a rim) in the back of my truck. It isn't obvious to the world but it there if I need it......for what you ask? When I buy a 12-pack, a bag of groceries, a jug of milk, etc. I simply place it inside the tire - the tire keeps the item(s) from moving around in the truck box. You would also be surprised how often I've used the tire for wedging or securing some larger cargo, for placing on top of or leaning on a fly-away tarp..... AND, no one will steal it....it will always be there when I need it!

BarnieTrk

 

Thanks to all for the advice. I just wanted to make sure I didn't do something boneheaded to my truck.

 

I guess I can sound like a confuse owner; but I wouldn't spray,roll or put any type of paint in bed liner in a oem bed. I have one spray in my 65 model; looks great and gets alot of comments; but my bed floor was gone and some p/o replace with a piece of flat steel.
I agree value doesn't change but once its sprayed or rolled its a pita to remove if needed to remove for any repairs or damage to the bed need fixin..

Mitch

 

I have a plastic bedliner in mine. The bed is mint underneath. I like/dislike the liner equally. It's good for hauling/unloading mulch, but normal cargo will slide around unless tethered. The liner does not 'breathe' so any water that gets under it (and it will) cannot escape, though mine does have drain holes drilled in the bed floor up by the cab. It's very easy to take in/out as needed.

A spray-on is non-reversible...you're going to have to use really harsh abrasive to ever remove it, and it's also heavy if that matters. It's a great product for a beat up bed or one you want to hide repairs on, or simply for a truck that will be used as a truck more than a showpiece. But I would not put it on a bed that is in really nice shape.

 

Can anyone suggest what more modern trucks would have a bedliner that would fit a long bed '66 F250? I frequently see them for sale used (cheap!!), but of course not for my truck.
Thanks-
Dan

 

I got my truck around 80' It was a one owner orignal. It had been put in a barn and was in really good shape when the farmer parked it. I gave only 350 for it. The body was in great shape. I got it home and started cleaning it up. The garbage he left in the bed had rusted the top 1/3 out, the middle 1/3 was swiss cheese and the back 1/3 was the only part good. My uncle gave me a sheet of metal diamond thread that was in his old 64. He had bought a parts truck that had a good bed. It was a decent bed but I always hated it. When I redid it last time I ground and hammered it in better at places. I also use the bead coating stuff. I finally have a bed back there I like. I put in new bolts and such. It has held up decent but not perfect. One or two places have cracked in areas where some seams were. But I think I can either recoat or patch.

Like some of the others said be aware of water between a bedliner and the bed. My daughter bought a 2000 focus that had a hood bra on it. The front had rusted out completely. If it were mine and a original bed I wouldn't use a liner unless I took it out when not using. But have it fastened. If not it can get airborne. I seen one that flew out one time. Be aware that the paint on liners are hard to get off and if you ever sell someone may wonder what you are hiding. I wonder how those roll up mats do?

 

I really like the roll up mats. You do have to take them out every so often and hose the bed out underneath, especially if you're carrying gravel or firewood, but the mats aren't slick, are very shock absorbing.
Not an issue on the truck I have now(wooden bed floor), but on my old S-10 the mat I had seemed to cut down on the rattles coming from the bed on rough roads.

 

I agree with Old Crow. I had a heavy rubber mat in my '92 F150 that I bought from Cabela's. I thought it was great, however If you're someone who ties a dog in the back, they can get uncomfortably hot on the paws in the summer heat. They're easy to take out to clean and stuff doesn't slide around. I've bought two trucks with hard plastic bed liners and left them both at the dump on top of my load of trash. I know of a guy who died when static electricity from the bed liner caused a leaky propane tank to ignite when he was loading them. If you go that route, be careful with flammable stuff. It's probably not a very common thing but it does happen. My dad likes his hard plastic liner. Each to his own.

 

Dan, the longbed version will accept a bedliner from a newer Ford, I think around the mid 1980s. I have the measurements and can confirm the years if you want to send me a PM (not handy at the moment). None of the GM trucks will cross over. A few years of Dodge trucks are close but not exact, but may work. Really late model stuff (mid 1990s to present) won't work. A lot of the newer trucks of all brands now have bed rail caps and other modifications that make the bed completely different.

 

FWIW- my brother put a bed liner in his 72 4WD . i helped him put it in. the box was in very good condition when we did it. it trapped moisture in there and three years later the box had rust holes all the way through it. so now if i do anything it's rhino liner or paint and mats or anything that can be easily removed for cleaning. Dutch

 

When I bought my '97 F150 it came with a drop-in bedliner. I recently removed it and had a Line-X liner sprayed in. I much prefer the Line-X, in fact I will get it on all of my trucks eventually.