Steve's 64 Short-bed Project

[04sd]

If it were me I'd take the tank out.

[SteveCanup]

I'm almost done....haven't blown myself up yet...I might take some pics tomorrow...


Stay Tuned....

[SteveCanup]

Done and done....



Ain't purdy....I survived...and it gives me the clearance needed between the frame and axle. Now on to the bed. I have already started cutting out some rust...

Stay tuned....

[SteveCanup]

It's happening....truck bed repair day. I removed the header which was rotted at the bottom and the front cross piece...drilled out the spot welds...


I had a rusted out area at the inside front where the header attached, about a 3"x3" area...the pic shows it repaired (I didn't get a pic)

The rotted out front crossmember (support)...I am going to try to repair it


Also the stake pockets are going away...while I am at it...


I came in to eat lunch...will continue this afternoon and report back...
This will take several days....maybe even weeks to accomplish...


Stay tuned!

[04sd]

I'd toss that crossmember and just replace it with anything you can find that will fit. Tubing, channel, etc.

[SteveCanup]

I'd toss that crossmember and just replace it with anything you can find that will fit. Tubing, channel, etc.

Probably will...I need to "toss the entire bed" and find one...but there aren't any in this area that I can find....
Stake pocket welded up...

A little more grinding on this one...

Header fitment...



Done for today....more to come....
Stay tuned...

[My wife's nightmare]

Your work is looking good! I am dreading the day that I am out of other projects and have to start on my bed. But I continue to enjoy your project and really like the way yours is turning out.

[SteveCanup]

Your work is looking good! I am dreading the day that I am out of other projects and have to start on my bed. But I continue to enjoy your project and really like the way yours is turning out.

Thanks! I am the "amateur's amateur"....lol. Youtube is my friend...I learn from watching videos of others doing what I need to do. Then I imitate...and usually fail. I'm not trying to make my truck a show truck, I just want it to look nice...er. I ordered a bedside repair panel for the driver's side from JEGS today. It is the '66-77 Bronco quarter panel which is identical to the wheel well area on the stylesides. My driver's side is toast, so while I have it off of the truck I am going to repair that area also.

[SteveCanup]

...endless hours of drilling out spot welds....and more spot welds.....and .....oh look....there's a spot weld that needs removing....


Endless hours of grinding rust and cleaning up metal....

It will pay off in the end.....

I'm sure....

Will post pics......



Stay tuned....

[SteveCanup]

I will try to be serious...this time. Althought there are 1 billion spot welds within the bed of a mid-60's truck. Yesterday afternoon I cut out a bad area on the bottom of the driver's side wheel well and attempted to weld some clean metal in for a repair so that I could reinstall one of the crossmembers. It kept blowing out at one end of the patch panel. I ended up having to cut another inch or so off of the bottom of the wheel well. Frustrating...to say the least! There are only 2 braces (or crossmembers) holding the bedsides together and I am considering removing them both and then removing the wheel wells from the bed sides. I will then have effectively taken the entire bed completely apart. This would enable me to clearly see where all of the rust and rot are living. I have a large repair panel coming from Tom's Bronco to fix some damage on the driver's side around the outer wheel well area that was damaged about 100 years ago.

I have more time than money....so I will work on this as long as it takes to make it a decent bed. When it was on the truck it didn't look too bad...but under the surface, rust was eating away at the bed and eventually it would be unsalvageable. It may be anyway...but I will continue on with the repairs. I have nothing more pressing at the time with this quarantine going on...

Stay tuned...

Pics to come....(scary pics.....really, really scary pics....lol)

[Zax63]

What did you use to drill out the spot welds? I hear different opinions on what works and what doesn't.

[SteveCanup]

What did you use to drill out the spot welds? I hear different opinions on what works and what doesn't.

I used 3 sizes of regular drill bits. I think the smallest is either 1/8" or 3/16" followed with 1/4" and then 3/8" (I believe).

As to opinion...I look at what I need to accomplish and size up what tools I have on hand to accomplish it....and do it. There are specialized "spot weld" drill bits out there and if you have the $$$ to spend, I say go for it.

I did buy a Drill Bit Doctor from Lowes hardware a few years ago to keep my bits sharp and that was money well spent. I can resharpen and reused all of my drill bits. It even fixes broken bits.

[SteveCanup]

If it were me I'd take the tank out.

I did....late this afternoon. Reground some of the welded area and rewelded. Temporarily mounted the gas tank under the frame instead of inside of the frame. This would lower the tank and possibly enable me to route the filler hose out of the rear of the truck instead of in the bed. I "dinked" around with that for awhile this evening. I have left off of working on the bed for today....trying to keep my frustration level low so that I don't end up saying/thinking "That's good enough" and not getting it exactly right....and then getting the "throw some gas and a match" on it attitude.

This daily "dialog" helps to keep me motivated....

Stay tuned....

[SteveCanup]

Reattached the header panel this afternoon....




I still need to address the driver's side inner wheel well, then reattached the middle front crossmember


Ran out of welding wire so I will procure some tomorrow and see if I can move this project along...

Stay tuned...

[SteveCanup]

My laptop is telling me that my bedside repair piece will be delivered sometime today. I am still pontificating over whether to repair the front crossmember or fabricate something else to support the front of the bed. It's a matter of time or $$$... I can repair the crossmember with some 1/8" x 2" flat stock from Tractor Supply. The original crossmember "kicks" up on each end which, I think, would need to be replicated. Anyway, I will take some time today and study the situation....(Btw, there are new front cross-members available...they sell for $160 plus shipping )

Here is (again) a pic of the bedside after I had tried to work on it. The metal is beat to death...


I will post some informational pics of the bedside and bedside repair for those who might be dealing with the same issue. My bed side was severely damaged at some point in its life. It was undoubtedly repaired by a "shop" or someone who was very good at working bondo because it was very straight when I bought the truck. But there was a small area of bondo that was cracked and starting to fall out. I dug almost an inch (in places) of bondo out of the side of the bed and spent a day or two trying to work the metal out. Because I did not know what I was doing I was unsuccessful and I ended up re-bondoing (is that even a word?) the side of the bed. I've been searching for a bed side since....they're just not out there is this area...

Well....stay tuned....more to come....

[ratrapp]

I bought the headboard and front crossmember from Carolina classics and it fits great.i'm not the best a fabricating so purchasing his worked out the best.i bought a decent longbed over a year ago to cut it up to fix my shortbed but the massive amount of spotwelds killed my enthusiasm pretty quickly.let me know how the bronco patch panel works out and i'll probably go that route.

[SteveCanup]

I bought the headboard and front crossmember from Carolina classics and it fits great.i'm not the best a fabricating so purchasing his worked out the best.i bought a decent longbed over a year ago to cut it up to fix my shortbed but the massive amount of spotwelds killed my enthusiasm pretty quickly.let me know how the bronco patch panel works out and i'll probably go that route.

I wanted to get the header panel and crossmember too...just to much $$$ for me. I'm not a fabricator, but...and, yeah, the spotwelds are morale killers. They put a billion in those old trucks. Keep an eye out here for the "Bronco panel install" ....lol....my main concern is distortion when I weld it in...

[ratrapp]

I know the headboard wasn't cheap.it was actually more than I paid for the truck and I debated on buying it for several weeks before I got it.i don't regret it and glad I did before this epidemic hit or I wouldn't be able to afford it.

[SteveCanup]

I cut all of the rot off of the front crossmember and bought 2 four foot long pieces of angle iron to repair the crossmember...

I don't know if the pic shows clearly enough what I did...but it suits me and will work just fine...especially at $12.99 per piece.

Also I am excited about the Bronco repair panel....If you have damage on your '64-'66 bedside around the wheel well area this is the repair piece for you. It goes all the way up to the seam on the side of the bed, which will make it that much easier to install...I hope. JEGS had it for $89 plus $10 shipping...and it arrived very quickly.


Stay tuned...

[SteveCanup]

Front and middle crossmembers finished and painted...Stopped for a breather and coffee (it's coffee o'clock...lol)



I will finish my coffee break and get the one other crossmember removed....then I might be on the home stretch....(not really)

Stay tuned...