Probably not a new idea, but worth a couple pics I think.

[justsomeguy]

I was reshortening the bed for my truck today. When I shortened it originally, it was the first bodywork I had ever done. While it was probably acceptable for ratrod standards, I was not satisfied with it. I had decided it needed to be shortened again, and since I now have a bit more bodywork experience I decided I would try to make this time a little better.

Originally, my biggest problem was getting the rolled bed rail tops to line up. That problem trickled down to the rest of the fitment and gave me my quality issues. I decided to start with the straight sections first this time. I still had the bed rail issue at the top though.

No amount of clamping could get this to line up how I wanted. I had to start thinking outside the box for how to make this work. After measuring, it turns out that the ID of the rail is 1 1/2". As luck would have it, I had a piece of 1 1/2" round tubing laying around. After prepping the end of the tube, it was ready to be driven into place.

Once the prepped part made it past the joint and into the next rail section a couple of inches, it's ready to weld! Nice and lined up with no clamping needed!

This gives you a nicely fitted up piece. Another added advantage is that there is now a backing piece to help with burn through.

Figured I would share. Hopefully it can help someone else out! [

 

[darkk]

If you're not lucky enough to have a piece of correct size pipe, you could also use a piece of heavy angle iron and clamp the pieces together.

 

[Old Iron]

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Jim

 

[hotrod preacher]

i took a piece of the cut out top rail, cut a slit in it longways, and drove it in for my "sleeving"....i also left a slight gap to allow for good penetration on all three pieces...[

it is amazing how much easier it is to weld something when there is that 2nd layer there...



thanks for the pics and for sharing the info