Bed liner yes or no

[Ken B]

I have a rubber mat that is heavy and at least 25 years old. can not damage it

 

[RecklessWOT]

The roll on bedliner, as well as the stuff that comes in spray cans is garbage. It's a thin layer pf paint with some grit in it, wears away the same as paint if not easier, it rubs/scrapes/peels right off. Looks real nice at first, but if you use your truck like a truck (which I can see you do) it will look just as crappy and even worse because now you'll have splotches of black paint over your factory paint and bare metal.

I know a lot of people hate them, but I personally think the plastic bedliners are great for what they do. They protect the bed, but unlike the rubber mats (which also do a great job) they are kind of "slippery" so loads slide right out. They are easy to remove for cleaning, and because they're not attached to anything really and have that corrugated shape they kinda act like a shock absorber and protect against dents too. Also, unlike they rubber mats they seem to drain out better underneath and are less prone to rusty spots IMO (though the rubber ones aren't known to specifically cause a problem in that regard, just my opinion. Yes they do rub the paint off underneath you're right, but that is no different than what you have going on now- if you ever do decide to stop working the truck and restore it (even to original-ish condition halfassed) you're right back at square one where you are now and can decide how you want to paint the bed to make it pretty, versus if the truck is rhino lined now you have to strip all that **** off somehow AND it will be even more dented up beecause instead of a big thick piece of rubber or plastic protecting your bed it was just adhered right to the surface so anything that impacted it also hit the metal right underneath with the same force. If you're worried about it making the bedrails look cheesy, they have two different styles, some wrap over the top of the bedrails (and I agree they never fit right and look pretty cheap) but there are also some that stop just under the rails and tuck in on the inside of the bed

 

[AyWoSch Motors]

Nice truck!
What do you plan on doing to the body? Not sure I'd refinish the "inside" of a truck bed when the outside is old paint.
What make you think after 35 years of no rust that it now needs to be protected in New Mexico? Are you moving to the rust belt with the truck?
Bedliner, DIY stuff is crap, waste of time and effort and a good way to piss of the next owner, after you get so pissed off at yourself for doing it that you sell the truck.
A professional bedliner application won't ruin the "value" at all IMO, although if you're planning on selling an "original" truck, it may not be the next buyers preference. And after you use the bedliner for years it ain't goin to look all pretty and show condition if your plans are to have a valuable orig truck.
Truck is a 1986, so anything you do, the original paint is suspect for peeling off the primer. Surprised it hasn't inside the bed anywhere, actually, so sanding to primer or stripping off is the only right way before paint or bedliner.
If you're actually worried about rust, it will come from the underside and the seams where the old busted up seam sealer is. Best protection from rust $ would be sealing/painting the underside and replace the seam sealer in the bed.

After that, it's up to you, but if I was intent on re-doing the inside of the bed, a quart of quality matching single stage paint and plywood or a bed mat is what I'd do. I'd save the remainder of the $500 or more that it will cost to get it Line-x or Rhino coated unless it becomes a "show truck that does work."

Thank you.
I do plan on painting the whole truck eventually, just not in the schedule or the budget currently. Right now, the exterior paint isn't too bad, just faded.
Yes, I'm not worried about rust here in NM, I have a 94 yukon that's bare metal over like 60% of the body and it just stays shiney metal.
I dont plan on ever selling it, I just thought it wasn't looking so hot. And after doing 12 loads of gravel, it started looking more metal than paint, and I kinda felt bad.
I like the rubber mat idea alot. When I got the truck, it had the remnants of an old bed mat that I really liked, but it was too destroyed to keep. (Ended up using it under my work bench lol)
That one seems to be specific for a dual tank short box, fit perfectly, possibly factory. Looked alot like 45tt's.
But, I've looked for a similar ones online, and can't find anything. I can only find the generic "one size fits all" mat that doesnt fit anything.
If anyone knows where I can get one, please let me know.

 

[AyWoSch Motors]

The roll on bedliner, as well as the stuff that comes in spray cans is garbage. It's a thin layer pf paint with some grit in it, wears away the same as paint if not easier, it rubs/scrapes/peels right off. Looks real nice at first, but if you use your truck like a truck (which I can see you do) it will look just as crappy and even worse because now you'll have splotches of black paint over your factory paint and bare metal.

I know a lot of people hate them, but I personally think the plastic bedliners are great for what they do. They protect the bed, but unlike the rubber mats (which also do a great job) they are kind of "slippery" so loads slide right out. They are easy to remove for cleaning, and because they're not attached to anything really and have that corrugated shape they kinda act like a shock absorber and protect against dents too. Also, unlike they rubber mats they seem to drain out better underneath and are less prone to rusty spots IMO (though the rubber ones aren't known to specifically cause a problem in that regard, just my opinion. Yes they do rub the paint off underneath you're right, but that is no different than what you have going on now- if you ever do decide to stop working the truck and restore it (even to original-ish condition halfassed) you're right back at square one where you are now and can decide how you want to paint the bed to make it pretty, versus if the truck is rhino lined now you have to strip all that **** off somehow AND it will be even more dented up beecause instead of a big thick piece of rubber or plastic protecting your bed it was just adhered right to the surface so anything that impacted it also hit the metal right underneath with the same force. If you're worried about it making the bedrails look cheesy, they have two different styles, some wrap over the top of the bedrails (and I agree they never fit right and look pretty cheap) but there are also some that stop just under the rails and tuck in on the inside of the bed

I agree with alot of that, but here in New Mexico, one day in the hot summer sun, and it goes all warped. My grandpa had one on his truck along with a bed cover.
It actually fit pretty well on his. Worked great for years, until one day we took the bed cover off. A couple hours in the sun and it went full potato chip, had to toss it. Then when we took it off, we found out the whole bed was back to bare metal.
So no thanks. Good for trucks with caps or bed covers, but not mine.

 

[AuroraGirl]

I have a unique product on my bed(as a trailer my bed bed is more for appearances at cheese grater conventions)

I have a product that is a wear coating, so it does wear off as intent, but it can be painted on more coats to lengthen the tkme between applications. I went for a graphite based friction reducing coating. Make things easy to get out. If you ever do, don’t go jumping on it in the rain lol. It lays down a nice satin grey that is very forgiving in appearance. Here soon I’ll seee how much it helps at removing crap

 

[Grit dog]

^

 

[Memaloose]

I've used aluminum sheeting screwed down on my old '68 wooden bed and sheets of plywood on metal beds. My current truck has a rubber mat and I like it very much. Things don't slide around much, easy to kneel on, won't rot or degrade but I don't haul dirt and rock either. I would say that in all my experiences, a sheet of treated plywood is best unless you leave it without anything. You can always repaint it if the paint wears off. It's not a show truck so why not just use it?

 

[82sbshortbed]

I’d repaint it and as others have suggested a rubber mat or plywood. On second thought forget the plywood, I went to buy 15 sheets of 1/2” it was priced at $80 a sheet,I left empty handed.

80 bucks a sheet! That's ridiculous! I wouldn't buy a house built during this time either. Because that's gonna be included in the price. An extra 50k added to your house. No thanks

 

[SquareRoot]

If it comes in a can...shitcan it! Anything aerosol, including paint, is junk!

Buy once- cry once. I recently had a subwoofer box sprayed with LineX. Results were amazing. Ya get what you pay for.

 

[Rusty Nail]

I have only used rubber mats and there's nothing wrong with that.

Transferred from one truck to another on the fly...a single rubber mat can be very handy for ALL of your vehicles....just sayin.

 

[AyWoSch Motors]

Thank you all for the insight.
After reading all that, I'm not going to bed line it, sounds like a nightmare and a half.
I think I'll through a coat of paint on it, and custom cut one of those inch thick horse stall rubber mats.
One of the reasons why that crossed mind, was because I bought a can of roll on rustoleum stuff for sealing the pitted rusty floor of a cab I'm restoring. I think it'll work well for that application, seal the rust and add some grip.
For now that truck is my workhorse, but I'm in the process of building a k30 farm truck. Once I get the k30 built, I'll probaly take the time to properly restore my short bed and leave it nice and use the other one to haul rock and stuff.

 

[Rusty Nail]

All this thread needs now is some K30 pix..
Y U NO put out?

 

[SirRobyn0]

@AyWoSch Motors I know I'm late to the party, but maybe I'll give some info that hasn't already been given that you or someone else might find useful. My Dodge truck and truck before that both came to me with the plastic insert bedliner. My square came to me with a professionally installed spray on bedliner of unknown age. I would never ever put a spray on or roll on bedliner on a truck ever. The think I dislike the most is that nothing slides in the bed for anything. Especially if it's heavy. Doesn't not protect against dents and is now pealing up in places. My Dodge with the plastic bedliner, a few years ago I took it out, just because I wanted to make sure there wasn't any hidden rust under there. Guess what, after 400K the bed looked perfect, and that truck has had all sorts of stuff dropped into the bed. One of these days when I have the extra $300 to spend on it, I'm going to get a plastic bedliner for the square. I have considered just laying a rubber mat on it, or even just a piece of plywood.

 

[Joshua Keith]

Is Raptor liner garbage as well?

 

[Memaloose]

Sounds like you figured it out for yourself, you'll be happy just spraying paint in the bed. I guess it's good to get a lot of opinions, helps you sort out everything.