Bed Panels: Welded or Bolted?

[Doppleganger]

Stupid question of the day: what parts of the beds are welded and what parts are bolted together? I ask because my bed, although rust free, at one time had a serious 5th wheel in it. Must have a dozen almost laser like 3/4" holes drilled in it. I used a tarp when I got a load of dirt and even that didn't stop it from sifting out. The cost and time to weld them all shut would probably be absurd. Looks like a lot of seam sealer around the wheel wells, and actual bolts on the front of the bed, so cant tell whats welded and whats bolted. If the floor can be neatly replaced, I'd almost consider it.

TIA

 

[DanMcG]

The bed bolts together. The bed sides inner and outer panels are welded together then bolt to the floor and the front panel. There are two small welds where the rear stake pocket meets the floor easy to cut with a grinder.

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Looks like another weld on the leg down, behind the tailgate trunion

 

[Doppleganger]

Exactly what I needed to know. THANKS!

So does the front and sides have to come off to remove/replace the floor? I'm guessing yes as I cant picture underneath the floor where they would bolt to.

I'm going to have the bed off for paint, tanks, etc....seems like a good time to do it if it comes to that.

 

[bucket]

I think it would be much easier to just disassemble the whole thing. The seam sealer can be tough to break free when removing the individual pieces from the floor, it may be near impossible to get the floor loose from everything all at once.

 

[Doppleganger]

Only thing I worried about was any alignment issues, but I suppose it couldn't move that much. Dunno. My old floor is better than 75% of any I see around here (newer or old). Cant see scrapping it. lol

Would be a great time to clean and seal all the sheet metal edges too.

Thanks fellas.

 

[Jrgunn5150]

In the past when I've done this, I built a little cart, and used square tube tacked across the bed rails to square everything, then locked the bolts and tacked the corners.

 

[Swims350]

I have personally dismantled 2 short fleetsides and it's simple.

You have bolts all along the lower sides, and along the wheel house inside, from under the truck those unbolt and then those spot welds are in back to set the gaps for the tailgate and keep them from moving in. You'll find back there in bottom of the stake pockets under the bed where the rear cross sill attaches 2 bolts on the inside and 2 on the outside of that sill. You can unbolt those wheel houses from the bedside to make it lighter and then they unbolt off the bed floor. The front bed panel unbolts but the bolts go in along the bottom and you need the bed pulled back or off to get at them. I used a grinder and a chisel by hand to remove the rear spot welds.

I of course remove the tailgate and lights, and unplug the harness from the bottom and let the light portion go with the bed, it runs along inside of the rear cross sill and can easily come off that if need be. I leave the frame portion of the harness just of course on the frame.

 

[Doppleganger]

This truck is a total basket case wiring wise - what isn't whipped is butchered or worse. Stripping it down to pieces isn't out of the question - more like a necessity.

Thanks a bunch for the details.....I'll probably make some sort of saw horse setup to put the bed on and do it all seperately. Truck's getting painted as well - always heard guys who did this say you could seal the panel edges better than they did at the factory when its apart also.

I'll take step by step pics when that day comes......Spring.

Thanks fellas.

 

[Jeff Hudak]

they bolt in the front and sides, you have to grind the welds in the back by the legs