Long bed to short or repair a shortbed

[Woodnears]

I have found two beds. Ones a really nice long bed. One is a pretty bad short bed. The question is do I cut the long bed or fix the shortbed? Here's the oics

[Woodnears]

Drivers side.

[Woodnears]

Long bed has a real nice tailgate and floor that comes with.
My concerns are matching up the contour on the rear bed panel after the cut and the bottom of the rear of the bed isn't it angled? How do you keep that angle?

[Woodnears]

Here's the misalignment I'm talking about.

[Woodnears]

How do ya keep the angle at the back of the bed near the bottom?

[tinydb84]

What about buying repo side panels? With the cost of the bed and time invested it might be cheaper to buy new bedsides.

[Woodnears]

I would but either bed will only cost me 50 bux! Kind of a good deal and possibly worth the time cuz new bed sides are a little spendy.

[Cash3481]

IMHO the D/S needs replaced either way. Those are pretty good (and sharp) gouge in the upper area. Remember, the goal is to upgrade these trucks from where you are with your truck. You always want to upgrade.
I bet you could cut the long bed down pretty easy (or have it done). If you pay to get it cut down, its gonna cost the same in bodywork as a new side. Also you could get some decent Money for the long bed floor for someone wanting to cut it down to a short bed.
If it were me I'd...
Get the short bed... sell one or both sides for 1/2 the money to get one of the new bedsides.
Many people need good rails and upper bed sides. You can sell these as donors. Spend about $800 on new sides but $400 at a time. Sell these and your current bed and You'll have new bed sides for only about $450-500. That's some decent change but you'll be soo much happier than paying a body shop $500 to straightening these. Even doing it yourself it's gonna cost a lot of Money in welding wire, Fiberglas, bondo, finish putty, sealer, primer etc.

Sorry for my rambling but I typed as I thought through it.

[bs46488]

I am in the process of cutting the bed sides of a long bed. 12" in the front, 8" in the back.

I'd considered myself an advanced beginner and haven't done anything yet that scared me away from doing the project.

Plus repo panels are $450+ a side. I'll try to screw mine up first for that price.

I cut the sides with a sawzall, then used those butt clamps. I of course used a hammer and a little tiny screwdriver to adjust the panel gaps in an out.

Here is a shot after some quick spot tacks....

[Woodnears]

I've got those same clamps. I'm not afraid to cut into either bed. I'd rather fix the short bed and hate to cut down a nice long bed. But like you said I'd rather mess up my panels than shell out for new sides! Do you mind posting a few pics further out on the bed panels. How did you overcome the change in body line on the upper half of the rear after the cuts were rejoined? It's pretty rare to come across a shortbed around here. Plus I'm trading some rally wheels for the bed so I'm not out much on the shortbed. I've been thinking about it and I'll most likely be grabbing both beds. For 200 plus the wheels in trade. He wants 450 for both so I feel it's a good deal. The short has an emaculate front panel and two floors and the long has a decent front panel and a perfect tailgate. I feel I'm money ahead by grabbing both, possibly finishing the long bed box and selling it to recoup the cost of all.

[bs46488]

Here are a few more pics.

I followed LFD's (username Rokcrin) instructions:

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...Lowbuck&page=8

My father is coming to visit in September and we are going to tackle the frame cut together while he's here.

[englands 71]

looks like a fine job youre doing there. ^

[Woodnears]

Bs, are you using a copper spoon behind your welds?

[Cash3481]

Bs,
That beds looking very good! Congrats!

Woodenears,
I wanna see some progress pics of your cutdown on those bedsides. Sure hope I didn't put you off with my earlier posting. Go for it! I didn't want to squash your enthusiasm. I don't have the skills you guys do. I'll learn from you like I do everyone else on this board.

[Woodnears]

No problem cash, if I can make this work I might have to doa few more. Maybe we can work a deal on clean long beds! I'm gonna grab both beds and go from there.

[MARTINSR]

Originally Posted by bs46488

Here are a few more pics.

I followed LFD's (username Rokcrin) instructions:

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...Lowbuck&page=8

My father is coming to visit in September and we are going to tackle the frame cut together while he's here.

I would make that cut way up by the front of it, literally just a half inch back. At the bottom and top a "Z" cut could be made to bring the cut to where it needs to be here. But down through the side like that keeping the cut all the way at the end the warpage would be WAY down and much, MUCH easier to finish off.

Just thinking, you are doing an awesome job, but I think that would make it easier.



On the rear of the bed you could make a template our of poster board and run the same cut along the rear (not quite as close because of it's round shape) by the tail light then use the template to make the line and the one where it needs to be shortened to using the template too. It would cut out the remove marker light, you could decide if you even want to run one and that would be a cool way to eliminate it. OR, simply cut it out and weld it into the quarter after you have shortened it. That would still be much easier than a cut down through the middle of the panel like you are planning.

Brian

[bs46488]

My father was trying to convenience me to pull the bedsides off to make the cuts, but I think the structure of the bed actually helped line everything back up. (It also helps since I'm just one person doing this job)

I cut the rear last night. Here is a pictures right after I took off the 8". No fitting, no grinding...just pushed the lift right back on the saw horses. It lines up pretty close.

[Woodnears]

Martin, by template do you mean laying it flat to the side, making a cut then slide it over the 8 inches then make your second cut? I like the idea of removing the marker light all in one clean swoop while cutting the bed down! Two birds with one stone.

[MARTINSR]

Here is a "Basics of Basics" on the subject. I only gave the one example drawing of the template that isn't quite what you are doing but hopefully it is well explained in the text for you.

http://www.autobodystore.com/ms22.shtml

The template would be out of a poster board or some thick paper, lay it on the panel and mark it to cut where you want. Cut the poster board on that line and trial fit it up to where you want to cut to be sure it's right. You can then use that to mark both cuts so they match when they are brought together.

Brian

[MARTINSR]

I went out in the back yard after my walk tonight and did a quick template like this so show you. This is pretty crude but you will get the idea. This is one way, there are other ways of course.

I did it with an old box for the poster board. It was too small so I cut it in half and made it a long narrow piece for this template.



First thing I did was to make a line off the edge 3/4 inch with a piece of tape. I will often use tape like this because it maintains that perfect width no matter how far you go. But to dupicate something like the front of that bed, this is about the max I would go back from the leading edge, a half inch would even be fine.



After cutting the box and taping it together I taped it down on the top of the fender a little back from the tape. Now of course, on the curved sections at the top and bottom it was a long way from the tape, that's ok because I simply used this simple gauge to make marks 4.5 inches from the tape. This measurement means nothing at this point, it's just a place to mark the template to cut that line to match the fender edge.



After marking the whole way down I had this.



I then ran a strip of tape along that line.



Then cut the excess off at the tape edge and bada bing there you have it, a template of the edge of the fender.



You can see how I put horizontal pieces of tape going off from the end. This was so you know you are bringing the template back away from the line at the same height so when you make that cut the two will fit.



I marked those horizontal pieces of tape the exact distance away from the line so that the template could be even.



I taped the template into place and marked along the edge. I removed the template and tape and then put a piece of tape over the gaps made by the tape that was holding the template and completed the line with the sharpie. So now there are two lines where the cuts could be made and bring the two back together and this fender would be that much shorter.



Now this would be to butt weld it. If you wanted to flange it, you would have to leave it a half half inch or so longer than the overall length you want. Flange it, then put the two together with the flange going under and weld along the edge to mate them.

I can't say it enough, if you plan on doing this make templates and practice with the poster board INSTEAD of your bed side! Make sure you are shortening it the right amount, make double and triple sure you are doing it right before you cut the metal.

Brian

[MARTINSR]

Here is the flange tool if you wanted to flange it.



And with the two pieces clamped to weld them, pretty cool.



Brian

[Woodnears]

I get it, especially with the pictures thanks for the help! I'm no stranger to templates, I use to build countertops for kitchens. I just wasn't sure exactly how to go about it, the pictures helped a bunch. I may try to remove the stake pockets and marker if possible in one swoop. I will be making a trip to get some beds this weekend. Il update this as I go. With pics! Thanks martin!

[MARTINSR]

Originally Posted by Woodnears

I get it, especially with the pictures thanks for the help! I'm no stranger to templates, I use to build countertops for kitchens. I just wasn't sure exactly how to go about it, the pictures helped a bunch. I may try to remove the stake pockets and marker if possible in one swoop. I will be making a trip to get some beds this weekend. Il update this as I go. With pics! Thanks martin!

Cool, along with your knowledge and some of my tips you can do it even better than I did! If you have the time show how you came up with yours.

Brian

[Woodnears]

What is the plan for hese areas? On the top there is a difference in curvature as the curve slopes. Taking the eight inches out is gonna change this curvature a little. Is a few taps with a hammer and dolly gonna fix this issue. At the bottom of the bed the box side angles up and taking 8 inches out is gonna change this. Any suggestions? I know it's a lot of questions but I'd hate to waste such a good long bed. It took me a long time to fix my cab and I just want to make this bed shortening process smooth as possible. Thanks everybody for the responses thus far.

[Woodnears]

Forgot to add the photo I've circled the areas I'm concerned with.