Gentlemen,

Caution...long post...

I played hookey today and actually found some time to work on my truck. I've had new rear stake pockets for awhile and decided that Its time to quit putting it off and dive into it. I ground down the spot welds and removed what was left of the old pockets, I straightened up the bedsides a bit and went to test fit the new stake pockets. Here is where I need help.

It appears that at some point in my trucks career something heavy has come down on the drivers side rear of the bedside and tweaked it some. I noticed it because the new stakepocket does not match up to the upper bedside. I compared both sides with an angle guage and sure enough, the drivers side is bent down a bit for about half of the length of the bedside.

I tried wedging a 2x4 under the lip of the bedside and jacking it up with a hydraulic jack. It helped slightly but only at the very rear.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to straighten the top angled part of the bedside? The fenders are on the truck which limits things a bit.

Any ideas on how to straighten out dents in the rolled portion of the bedside?

I was also contemplating using bonding adhesive to attach the new stake pockets, any thoughts? If you don't use bonding adhesive, how do you do the welding? If you paint the inside of the stake pocket first the paint will interfere with the welding won't it?

Its no wonder that I'm not a bodyman...

Thanks for all the help
Bobby

 

First thing that comes to mind is a replacement bedside. New, used? Choice is yours. Theyre not terribly expensive, and I think if you have to take it to someone to fix, you'll have more money tied up in it than if you just buy a replacement side. Im assuming you need a new bed floor too? Its not too much further to get the bedside off.

As for the adhesives, I plan to use them as much as I can on my truck. Best of luck!
Oh yeah... there WAS a whole bed for sale in the classifieds here about 4-5 weeks back. Parts maybe?

 

Bob -

I took a look at your gallery and saw one pic that showed the bow you're talking about.

If I had to try to straigten one like that, I would remove the bed and fender from the bed. Then lay it on it side on a slab floor with that roll down. You would be able to see and measure the bed side angle to straigten it to a consistent angle. Clamping a long steel angle on the flat bedside with the heel of it in the angle apex would keep the bedside from bending while you worked the top edge. Make any sense? Here's the pic I was looking at: https://www.ford-trucks.com/user_gal...114711&width=0

 

Lord Fusor adhesives are used extensively in the automotive business; in fact most import trucks have their beds "glued" together rather than welded. It was easier to paint the components and ship them to the US in pieces than it was to weld up the bed and waste a lot of space on the transport ships. Any decent autobody supply house can fix you up with the adhesive you need along with the dispenser gun and a supply of mixing tips. There are quite a few guys I know that actually do top chops using adhesives rather than welding...

 

I completely disassembled my box. Head panel on the 48 was riveted and spotwelded together They're a lot easier to straighten when they're flat on the shop floor. That's how I'd tackle the bent bedside.

Stake pockets: I clamped them in place, drilled a 3/8" hole in the bedside opposite the flange and welded them to the bedside by filling in the hole (plugwelded?) Then touched up with bondo. I never found a good way to paint inside and then weld. I suspect the originals weren't painted either.

I never tried the adhesive. The rolled edges of my truck still have modest dents in them. I was able to hammer some of the worst out, but my truck is a work truck so I didn't spend a lot of time being fancy.

 

I have not done this myself, but an older guy once told me how he straightened the rolled part of his bed. He said it was dented pretty badly from being used as a truck all its life.

He said he took a round rod (steel) that barely fit and slowly drove it into the roll as he heated the dented places with a torch. That sounds feasible, but again, I have not tried it.

 

I've never heard of adhesives for metal bonding...but hey I'm newbie at this. Does that stuff hold that well and does it last? I would be affraid to drive in truck that had a chop glued together. Maybe it's just me but it's hard to consider that stuff a equal to welding. I'm going to have to look into this.

 

Most new cars, trucks, aircraft (Private to commercial, helicoptors to fighters) and boats are made with extensive use of bonding agents. They are used in structural areas as well as cosmetic areas.

I bonded some 16ga. steel pieces this summer using Eastwood's product. Tried to break the joint, ended up ripping the metal.

(Lord Corp., the leader in this technology, is Headquartered in Erie, I went to Highschool with one of the V.P's and I get a lot of info on what they are doing. And no, I don't work there or own stock.)

 

I'm not familiar with body adhesives either. If you were smoothing out seams on a body, could you use body adhesive to fill the seam instead of welding it like you normally would? Second question - can you do body work overtop of the adhesive (fillers, primers, paint, etc.) with no problems?

 

Bobby, if you want to spot weld the new stake pockets on, I have a spot welder and "fender tongs" that will reach about 16" from an edge. You'd have to have the bed off for sure to get the bottoms. Come by and I'll show you.

Lowtrkn2k, Cwissmar -- adhesives are only for lap or flange-to-flange joints, they won't do butt joints like a chopped top. They are not fillers. Think of it like the contact adhesive used to glue Formica to particle board for countertops, or to glue down vinyl tile. Coat each surface, let flash off, touch together (and they better be in the right place!).

 

The adhesives are used in overlap type joints, flange type joints, or as in Bobby's case where you are adding another piece of metal to an existing surface.
Unless the joint can be clamped along its entire surface it is best to use rivets as a clamping force.
Normal finish products are then used to smooth/fill as required.

 

Interesting. I never knew that they used that kind of thing on a vehicle. I will have to look into that.

 

Since the point was made about butt joints and chopped tops...I thought it obvious that adhesives only be used on flanges. That said, butt joints are easily backed with a flange by which both sides of the "butted" material can be suitably bonded. This is not a bad idea even when welding the butt joint, that is if safety is a concern.

 

the door hinges on my truck and my car are glued on so far they haven't fell off so must be perty strong stuff

 

Randy,
Yes I understand what you are saying, your description is very clear. Thanks for posting that pic of mine it shows the problem well. I was trying to do this without taking the bedsides off but I might have to rethink that process and step up to the plate and tear it all apart. My first thought was to fabricate a long bar with a hook that fit over the bedside roll and contacted on the angle part so I could "pry" the bedside back into shape.

mtflat, Cool, I had considered the same sort of process, either drilling holes in the flanges of the stake pockets or the bedisde and then plug welding it all together. I have heard about weld through primer, maybe that would work. Or maybe I'm over thinking the whole thing. As you said, maybe the factory didn't paint the surfaces either and the final paint coat on the truck sealed the seam "encapsulating" the seam to prevent moisture from getting between the two surfaces.

Brian, Good idea, I think I'll give it a shot, as they say in my part o the world..."heat it with a torch, then heat it with a hammer"

Ross, I forgot that you had the spot welder, that might be just the ticket. If I get a chance tomorrow I'll drive over and show you what I got going.

Thank you all for the replies, as usual there is tons of great info here. You guys are awesome!

Bobby