Builds Do I have your attention.... I call it VERA. (1 Viewer)

[2fpower]

Since you are planning to replace the sides of the white bed with the blue sides it seems like fitting the bed will be a little easier. Still a lot of work but looks like it should turn out nicely.

I am thinking that it will be a little easier.... my plan is... (open to anyones thoughts on this... been trying to figure out how to do this for some time.

to pop the front cap off the new bed, then cut it down to whatever length that I want on the 80 frame. I want decent departure angle, knowing that I will put a 2" receiver under it somewhere. I won't have a tire under it, so thinking I will cut the frame back some. Once I rough out a thought, I will compare it to stock 45' shorty bed. I added 3" of length to the tub since it was in your shop, so there is that as well.

Once I nail down bed length, and chop it down, make bed mounting points and bolt it down, then cut off the current sides.

Then take the blue sides and modify the wheel well to be in the middle of the tires, likely have to cut and move the wheel arch and then cut to length. Note: it appears the wheel arches are patch panels recently replaced. Really heavy duty and really straight!!!!

Question for @47coeman Do I need to do anything to keep the bed floor all flat and square? I was thinking that once I mount the "new" bed down, that I should be able to cut it off and put the new one on without any temp reinforcement... thoughts?


Go to 16 seconds and see how they removed the bedsides....

 

[Vossie]

Then take the blue sides and modify the wheel well to be in the middle of the tires, likely have to cut and move the wheel arch and then cut to length. Note: it appears the wheel arches are patch panels recently replaced. Really heavy duty and really straight!!!!

I can chime in here, as this is what I did on mine. I cut the wheel archs on the sides, then cut and moved the wheel wells to center over the archs over the center of the rear axle. you wont need to cut the arches, but im sure you will need to move the wells. I just made nice straight cuts around the entire well and moved the whole entity as one

You can see my welds in this picture. Not sure if your wells are square boxes like mine are, but that helped alot

 

[2fpower]

I hope so. He blocked the entrance and put a few traps down.

I can chime in here, as this is what I did on mine. I cut the wheel archs on the sides, then cut and moved the wheel wells to center over the archs over the center of the rear axle. you wont need to cut the arches, but im sure you will need to move the wells. I just made nice straight cuts around the entire well and moved the whole entity as one
View attachment 3051334
You can see my welds in this picture. Not sure if your wells are square boxes like mine are, but that helped alot

That is very helpful... I forgot that I would need to move the wheelwell too.... time to order another plug weld drill bit.

 

[Vossie]

That is very helpful... I forgot that I would need to move the wheelwell too.... time to order another plug weld drill bit.

It caught me out too!

 

[2fpower]

Cut all the old angle iron metal off the sides, started working on a plan of how long I want the truck to be. Current thought is to make it about where that yellow tape line is to the right of the gas filler. That would give it equal amount of bed before and after the wheel.

 

[Tank5]

I think you should extend the frame and leave the bed alone!

Just kidding.

I like the short bed, equal proportion front and back is about perfect IMO. It will look better with the blue sides too.

 

[A10Driver]

Cut all the old angle iron metal off the sides, started working on a plan of how long I want the truck to be. Current thought is to make it about where that yellow tape line is to the right of the gas filler. That would give it equal amount of bed before and after the wheel.

View attachment 3054783

View attachment 3054784

View attachment 3054785

I think u should shorten the bed

 

[A10Driver]

I think u should shorten the bed

Yellow tape looks right

 

[Vossie]

I think you should extend the frame and leave the bed alone!

Just kidding.

I like the short bed, equal proportion front and back is about perfect IMO. It will look better with the blue sides too.

Don't listen to him! That's how he got me and I actually did it!!

Although, in all fairness, he was right in my case

My vote is for equal length as well. Will also improve your departure angle

 

[waiting for time]

I agree, the yellow tape line Looks like a good cutting point.

 

[Broski]

More good work, really enjoy following your threads.
Another great build

 

[2fpower]

Sounds like we have a consensus….

I spent a couple hours yesterday morning cutting out plug welds and pulling all the bolts out, and removing the front of the bed. Thanks go out to @kc_chevota for the set of JIB Phillips bits and to @tornadoalleycruiser for exposing me to the crazy bolt remover…. Easy as can be. The yellow line described above is at 5 1/2 foot, thinking I might cut it at six first just to see what it looks like…. I can always make it smaller.

 

[2fpower]

FYI, aqualu shows short box as being 68.25" long, which is just over 5.5 feet....

 

[2fpower]

Chopped off about 19 inches, and I think I like the look. I will have to move one of the bed support pieces, that should drop in about an inch and a half. Looks like I’ll cut off about 9 inches of the frame.

 

[Vossie]

That's looking great!

 

[2fpower]

Got a few hours in trying to get the front clip aligned and the bed leveled, so I can make mounting points. At first Nothing was lining up using half inch shims so talked to Dennis @Tank5 and changed to 80 Series mounts that are about an inch thick and things started looking better!!

 

[2fpower]

Got the four outside mounts done for the truck bed. Interior two mounts will just be pads to rest on.

 

[2fpower]

Spent a lot of time in the front clip on again. Also reached out and got a great idea to mount the fenders on the top of the spring towers.

 

[2fpower]

Been trying to nail down exactly where the bed is going to sit and decided it needs to go about a inch forward to reduce the gap between the bed and the cab. This was an issue because the mid rear rib of the bed was sitting on the frame where it arches up for the coil spring. So by moving the bed forward I was also raising the bed up 3/8 to a half inch. Decided to instead cut this mount so it matches the angle of the frame, which did two things…. Gave me that 3/8 inch back, and now that pad will sit flush to the frame.

With that done I was able to finalize the mounts to the frame, and I got rid of all the stock mounting points…

 

[2fpower]

So then I flipped the 79 series bed over and took off the sides, with help from @StucknKS put it back on the frame and mocked up the side. Need to pull up a 37 inch tire and figure out how big the wheel well needs to be…. Not sure if I’m gonna go 37 or 39 inch tires. pretty sure that. @Tank5 had 39 inch tires on the first picture on this thread.