If i was to remove my bed, how do i do it? I know it's those 6 bolts, but anything else i should look out for? things to disconnect? things to unbolt?

How heavy is the bed itself?

What type of paint should i use to paint the frame? how do i, what should i use to prep it?

any suggestions would be appreciated

 

Grrr..must be nice to be able to do this in December. I might do it this summer.

 

gotta remove the gas filler bolts and one connector on the backside of the bed

idk about fleetsides but my flareside is pretty heavy

 

larson...check into renting a hoist from autozone or something...they have this attachemnt made to hook up to it that lifts beds off...ill find a link..

EDIT: Well I can't find it..i saw them use one on Trucks! the show...you take an engine hoist and there is an attachemnt that extends under the rails...and you just lift off...

 

well, sounds like a helluva lot of work. If justin, you wanna come down, or i can drive up... and do this together, that'd be cool. But i don't think you want to do it, haha

thanks for the hoist suggestion though.

 

I think Bob set up some crazy contraption to lift his bed. Look for the thread where he installed his reservoir bilsteins in the rear of his truck.

 

that was a "bed" lift?!? i thought it was like.. a lift that brought stuff into the bed, haha. Damn..

 

its freaking heavy, both bed styles are... i would recommend atleast 2-3 people.

ive removed my bed 3-4 times and then removed marks and evans once, its freaking heavy.

take the tail gate off as well....

other than that chis hit all the points you need to remove.

 

maybe get Mike involved and meet up at his place....haha...volunteering his place...wonderful..

 

I hung it from the garage ceiling using 4 motorcycle tie down straps to the bed tie down loops. Then I just raised a corner at a time until I could drive the truck out from under it. I have taken the box off twice without assistance using this method.

The bed is large, heavy and awkward, so it pays to take precautions. I duct taped some old carpet floor mats to the cab to keep from scratching/denting it with the bed. I also taped some cardboard to the ends of the bumper to protect the paint on the lower rear of the bed.

As mentioned above, take off the tailgate first to cut down on the weight. Then it's just 6 bed bolts, 3 filler neck screws and a connector at the end of the DS frame rail.

 

^^How do you release it back down? My ATV wratchet straps will wratchet down but when you release them they drop...


If you have more than 2 people it wouldnt be anything to take it off.....I did mine with the bed on.....just prepped the frame (scuff pad) and painted bedliner spray on, and it still looks good.....

Rocky

 

I used Ancra's which are not ratchet style tiedowns. It doesn't really matter though because i was only releasing 1 out of 4 at a time. So, the bed would just drop as far as the stretch in the other 3 tiedowns would allow. This amounted to about 3~4" at a time. Then I would relock the tie and move to the next one. A slow process but it allowed me to get the job done far quicker than if I had to go recruit 2 or 3 helpers to take the bed off and then go find them again later to reinstall it.

 

10-4


Thats a good idea.....then again all of your ideas are good

Rocky

 

Yea its not hard to do its just heavy lol

 

hit me up larson if you end up doing this i dont live to far..i wanna do it too!

 

SWEET

 

I would make sure I had something nearby to get all the grime and stuff off, maybe a power sander or a sand-blaster or even a high-pressure power washer...then once everything was clean and dry, I personally would use some type of undercoating.

 

I haven't tryed this stuff yet, but I think I'm going to in the spring.

http://www.por-outlet.com/

 

so u guys do this or what?

As far as sandblasting the frame, i gotta advise against it. blasting frames is a btch without a special jig to spin the frame, cause ull never get it ALL and if ur gonna do it, u may as well try to get it all. We have actually turned down jobs for blasting the frames. once big thing we dont have a jig, but also, blastng on a track put together, ur looking at about 5hrs of prep work before u even start. EVERYTHING has to be taped off with duct tape and covered with plastic. the entire truck has to be covered and your wheels, everything, BIG job. we blasted the back of the bumper on one of our cargo vans and prepe work too ALL day, and when we were done, there was sand EVERYWHERE even tho we masked it all off.

 

I would not remove the bed to paint the frame. It is much less work to just remove the wheels. You should be able to paint it just fine with the bed on.

I painted my truck's frame a few months ago with the bed on and wheels off. The frame is coated in hot wax from the factory and has no paint on it stock. The wax can be removed with a strong pressure washer and a lot of patience, BUT it is actually a very good form of rustproofing. Unless you are going to use something really durable like POR 15, I would leave the wax on there and simply paint over it. I chose to paint over it. To prep the frame, all you need to do is clean off any mud or loose dirt. You can also lightly scrub the wax with a sponge to clean it without removing it. When the frame is completely dry, and everything you do not want painted is taped off, paint away. I used Rustoleum flat black and it came out nicely. So far it has held up just fine.

 

Ya i did my axle and diff and shocks, just to give it a more 'new' look than anything. I need to do my rails tho