Bed floor solutions?

[Rhinoliner]

Well, I made a little progress this weekend breaking the bed down to its individual components. I'm thinking about going back with 1/8" diamond plate for the floor and wheel wells because the rust there is fairly extensive and I cannot think of a reasonable way to duplicate the original contours for making patch panels. Has anybody else used diamond plate when you fixed your bed? I can't seem to find any diamond plate wider than 5 feet and the original bed is 63 3/4" wide. How did you make up the extra 1 7/8" on each side, angle iron?

 

[foxfab]

Turn a sheet of diamond plate sideways and its 8 feet wide.

 

[warrior_1515]

To tell you the truth, making those bends are easier then one would think if you have the right tool. Look into buying or renting a brake.

The link below is a reference to the one Matt is using in his shop. Worth looking into.

https://forum.ih8mud.com/showpost.php?p=661080&postcount=728

Dave

 

[lomusass]

lpb beds

If your intersted i make completely new beds for the pick up..I can make repair pieces too..-identical to oem.
Email me if i can help..
Paul.

Well, I made a little progress this weekend breaking the bed down to its individual components. I'm thinking about going back with 1/8" diamond plate for the floor and wheel wells because the rust there is fairly extensive and I cannot think of a reasonable way to duplicate the original contours for making patch panels. Has anybody else used diamond plate when you fixed your bed? I can't seem to find any diamond plate wider than 5 feet and the original bed is 63 3/4" wide. How did you make up the extra 1 7/8" on each side, angle iron?

 

[AZkick-n40]

Rhinoliner,

You are making some progress on that rig of yours. How about starting a restoration thread?????? Love to see a lot of Pics!

 

[Rhinoliner]

Restoration Thread

I am happy to post some pics from time to time, but I don't have what it takes to create one of these restoration threads. Man, these guys are dedicated, I love following along with their progress.

I only get to work on my truck on some weekends and sometimes in the evening. And boy, I sure wish I had more money, time and space. You might have noticed in one of my pics that I was right in the middle of a 66 Nova SS project when I got this truck.

Thank you for the interest in my money-pit.

Marvin

 

[AZkick-n40]

Marvin,

Please do post some pics (or at least take some pics) from time-to-time. Keep in mind that my request is very selfish because I will be starting my '78 FJ45 renewal/restore soon.

Only weekends and nights - you probably have kids too. I get between 8-10PM 3 or 4 nights a week to work on my rigs, so I can understand. People will lose interest in my restoration page, if I do one, because of the snails pace that I am able to move given my free time.

Brian

 

[82-40]

I will be using 1/8” diamond plate to replace the bed on my truck to but I will be making it as a flat bed, but I will install the side panels to try and keep it looking stock from the road. I will cut the 5’ x 8’ plate to the length that I need and use the rest to make up the tail end of it and then use some 3” x 3” angle iron to fill in the sides and give me some thing to attach the side panels to.