Wednesday, May 09, 2007

WOKE UP ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE BED!

Well, not exactly waking up on the wrong side of the bed, but I did get the bed off the frame today.

Removal went fairly easily. I was anticipating it being much heavier so I had a couple friends (Carlos and Rudy) come over to help and a little BBQ. Rudy and I started on the bolts that hold the bed to the frame. Luckily they were rusted too bad and we were actually able to unbolt them the normal way. No hacksaw needed!






Turned out we were able to get it lifted off with just one of us on each side. We didnt have to use me engine hoist. Carlos showed up and helped us get it on four standard jackstands where it will rest until I can get to it. I have my work cut out for me.

There are only three major body work areas I'm concerned about. Besides filling in 66 body trim holes and still needing a tailgate! Here are some pics of the areas I'm talking about.


Upper bed rail is bent pretty badly. Gotta get this straightend out... Any suggestions? I was thinking about a 2x4 underneath and hammering up??





Rear driver side looks like it was chewed up pretty bad. I'm thinking replacement panel but I don't have a welder nor welding experience.




Rear bed panel is badly rusted at the bottom. I think I'm going to replace this panel with a new one and paint the inside of the bed with some bed liner like Hercules. I should probably just buy a parts bed and get the panels I need (rear bed panel, tailgate, and lower driver side bed panel).

1 comment:

Mr. Natural said...

I suggest you turn the bed OVER so the bent part is lying on a real flat piece of iron or something, then crawl in there with a BIG hammer and a 2x4 made of oak, maple or other hardwood, and give er a whack or two. What the hell, it's already BENT, right?