Should I buy this bed? (1 Viewer)

[Greek Cruiserhead]

Dear all, I need your precious advice:

Planning for a frame off resto of my beige J45 pickup a few years down the road, so started to order and collect parts. When ready will send it off for rust repairs/painting to a local shop I trust.

The bed/tray I have is lacking the central floor panel (the beige truck). This part coudn't be sourced neither in Europe, nor in the Americas. Before starting to look at parts "made in China", I try to source original parts closer to me. So I found, at a fair price, a complete bed/tray (with a tailgate, which I'm missing too!).You can see at the pics (the red part) that the bed seems to have two issues:

a. When I look at this bed (in the middle, between the two tail lights), I wonder if it needs to be straightened? If yes, could it be straighten out?

b. According to the seller there are some rust spots: there are holes on the floor panel, e.g. around the wheel wells (rusted through). Given that this is not the case with my own bed/tray, could mine be used as a donor part and make a good one out of the two?

In respect to the tailgate, this is an awesome piece, with no rust at all. According to the seller, the problem is that they did not make the paint work right and it has been hit in the middle from a trailer hitch, so there is a scratch...

In any case, I plan to sand blast all the body parts, before starting preparation work to paint them.

Should I still buy this bed?

 

[Greek Cruiserhead]

Here is the tailgate:

 

[whitey45]

Beds are few and far between, So I wouldnt hesitate unless the price is super high. Remember new reproduction beds are around 6k. How mich time and money will it take to restore yours?

 

[Unimogguy]

Beds are few and far between, So I wouldnt hesitate unless the price is super high. Remember new reproduction beds are around 6k. How mich time and money will it take to restore yours?

This is solid advice. I’d buy it if the price was right and it was local-ish to me.

 

[redfj45can]

As said before .... the price of it is the device factor.

 

[fjwagon]

They both need work. Ideally the would be donor bed would be a nice addition if the price is right...but once you have it, it will need repairs. If can source a vendor for the floor for the original bed that would awsome.The sides seemed repairable and could be done with little effort for a body man. For the bed, I have seen a home made press using hydraulic jacks and cnc templates that was used to make a rib and side it over until it done.

 

[redfj45can]

Or build your own wooden tray... they came with wooden trays in South & Middle America.... Australia and and and
and I constructed one 4 my paintings too ... years ago

 

[Greek Cruiserhead]

The price for this (red) bed is fair...
and, as far as I can judge from the photos, seems to be in a better shape than mine. My thouhgt is, if bought, that it could be my new bed with the old one (the beige) serving as the donor bed, offering the necessary body panels to repair the rusted spots of the new one e.g. around the wheel wells on the floor panel.

 

[Casey E]

Beds are few and far between, So I wouldnt hesitate unless the price is super high. Remember new reproduction beds are around 6k. How mich time and money will it take to restore yours?

Looks like they are now well under 3K . I was very surprised when the new vendor in la sent out their prices today.

Topnault Classic Car Parts

We manufacture and sell precisely stamped sheet metal parts for the classic car market, Specializing on Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40, FJ45 series auto body parts. We strive to provide the most comprehensive coverage to the models we selected, and the best services we could.

tpautoparts.com

 

[whitey45]

I just saw that too? Can they be that cheap?

 

[Casey E]

Actually cheaper if you buy today. 20% off I believe also. This will definitely change the parts game for the better.

 

[fjwagon]

Check out "Miker" build thread, entry#71.

 

[Greek Cruiserhead]

Check out "Miker" build thread, entry#71.

1964 FJ45 LB “RB1” Project

Finished welding and grind smooth:

forum.ih8mud.com

@miker did a quite impressive job, indeed!

​

 

[Greek Cruiserhead]

Looks like they are now well under 3K . I was very surprised when the new vendor in la sent out their prices today.

Topnault Classic Car Parts

We manufacture and sell precisely stamped sheet metal parts for the classic car market, Specializing on Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40, FJ45 series auto body parts. We strive to provide the most comprehensive coverage to the models we selected, and the best services we could.

tpautoparts.com

View attachment 3254784

It seems that this can be an alternative.
It is available in Europe too, for some more: 2,800 euros/USD. This is the double of the price of the used bed in question....
So folks, should I still buy the original? What would you do?

 

[Greek Cruiserhead]

Actually cheaper if you buy today. 20% off I believe also. This will definitely change the parts game for the better.

Good for you in the US!
Unfortunately this product has never been "on sale" on the old continent...

 

[fjwagon]

You asking if you should buy the original. I would say it's your money, your project.
For me I perfer to keep it as original as possible and repair or replace what needs attention but at the of the day keeping the original bed it came from the factory is what I would perfer. Sometimes it's too expensive or whatever reason one cannot go that route. And that is ok too. Some people argue that it holds value if kept original and that may be true, however, I have inspected some bad ones that go for really a high price. That's why people who restore these vehicles will perfer to buy them unrestored. That being said I have 76 45 that came with no bed. I bought a bed from South America after I exhausted all the leads and after several years of searching for all a factory one the price of used one was going up. So get it....it depends on circumstances. But if a factory bed came available with the right price I would definitely get rid of the SA one. The bed from SA is well made but it has it's quirks and one can tell its not a factory bed. Anyhow, just my opinion.

 

[47coeman]

Beds are few and far between, So I wouldnt hesitate unless the price is super high. Remember new reproduction beds are around 6k. How mich time and money will it take to restore yours?

Food for thought whitey, as you know I built 3 beds with mostly used and neew parts, It was a challenge and exhausting my patience glad it is over with. FJ if you are not an experienced metal man i would say consider going with a pre made. Taking apart repairing and reassembling is a tedious job. I did make mods to a portion of the build and i think it came out good but it will take some time on your part.

 

[Michael B]

The fit and finish of reproduction parts is always a question mark. OEM fit is apparently too difficult for most to reproduce. Economically I would balance the price of the used bed plus restoration against the price of the new bed painted and installed. It will be difficult to get an exact number but you should be able to determine a close estimate in both scenarios.

 

[Greek Cruiserhead]

The fit and finish of reproduction parts is always a question mark. OEM fit is apparently too difficult for most to reproduce. Economically I would balance the price of the used bed plus restoration against the price of the new bed painted and installed. It will be difficult to get an exact number but you should be able to determine a close estimate in both scenarios.

This is the way I can see this thing, thank you Michael!

PS. Your epic build thread inspires me for my future resto...

 

[Michael B]

Thank you sir. You’re very kind.