How I scratch built my pickup bed

I am in the process of scratch building a bed for my 34' Ford truck. I thought I would document the bed build step by step. I want to build a similar bed to the stock one but have a few different touches to make it some what different. Nothing makor, just a few "details"
The bed is narrower and shorter than stock. Its a little more shallow. There is a step in the side panels instead of a bead. The tailgate will have a script welded into what would otherwise resemble a stock gate. (33, 34's had no FORD script). Just enough stuff to make it a bit different.

The basic dimensions are as follows.
60" long X 42" wide (at inside of bed). Side panels are 18" high between the bottom and the start of the 45 degree bend. The rails are about 4inches wide.
There is a 1inch, 90 degree bend at the bottom of both side panels to add regidity (spelling?)
The side panels are 18gauge thick steel.
I bought a sheet of cold rolled steel and cut it to 60"X21".

I brought the side panels to a hot rod shop by me that has a large throat bead roller because the panels are so long. Instead of rolling a bead into the panels, they rolled a "step" into the panels.
I did it to be a little different than stock and I think it looks better with the contours of my cab.
After the step was rolled in, I used a 5ft brake to bend the 45 degree rail.
After that I bent the 90 degree angle at the bottom of the panel.
Once the bends where done and the step was done the panel stiffened up real nice.

I bought stake pockets from MACS that resemble the stockers. I was going to make my own but they where cheap enough to buy I couldn't pass up the deal.

Boltbreaker said:

I bought stake pockets from MACS that resemble the stockers. I was going to make my own but they where cheap enough to buy I couldn't pass up the deal.

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Wow... those look really nice. Think I'll use some when I get to that point... thanks for the tip!!!

BoB

imagination is cool.this is what goes on in my head ..keep us posted...

Boltbreaker said:

I bought stake pockets from MACS that resemble the stockers. I was going to make my own but they where cheap enough to buy I couldn't pass up the deal.

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Damn, just what I need when I build my bed, I'm not familiar with MACS, can you provide a link.

slash said:

Damn, just what I need when I build my bed, I'm not familiar with MACS, can you provide a link.

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Here ya go Slash.

http://www.macsautoparts.com/

Nice work on the bed Boltbreaker.

looking good man... im going to have to do this eventually...

Looks great, do you think that step is going to stop the side from doing any oil canning?

I have not compared prices, but LMC Truck has stake pockets, as well.

http://www.lmctruck.com/

Your bed looks great!

shotupdave said:

Looks great, do you think that step is going to stop the side from doing any oil canning?

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Not 100% sure if there will not be any oil canning. I think once the floor cross braces are in and the bed is all tied together it should be fine.
There isn't a problem so far.

Thanks for all the compliments guys.
I looked at all my options for buying, modifying, or scratch building a bed and this route seemed to make most sense for the direction my project is headed. It will have paint on it after all. LOL

Did they run the step all at once or did they make multiple passes?

shotupdave said:

Did they run the step all at once or did they make multiple passes?

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one pass.
It took a second guy to hold the other end of the panel though because it is cumbersome at 5ft. long.

Gastrick said:

Here ya go Slash.

http://www.macsautoparts.com/

Nice work on the bed Boltbreaker.

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thanks bro... I'll check them out.

Next I bought 1" square tubing with 1/8" wall. I cut them to 60" length and tack welded them on.

Once the rail tubing was tacked, I had to go back and weld the entire sheetmetal seem to the tube. I am not sure what I will do with the bottom of the rail but the top needs a finished edge.

Now for the tedious part. Grinding the weld down and finishing it without warping the panel to hell. I took the advice I found in another thread that Rodguy and Rustbucket49 posted about grinding. I used a 24 grit disc and a 4 1/2" grinder, followed by a 80 grit disc on a die grinder. Then finished with 120 grit disc on the die grinder.
There are a dozen ways to skin a cat, but this one worked out well.
Here is the finished edge.
The first pic is me getting impassioned and seeing what the stakes are going to look like.

Its looking great man, keep it up

Nice work.