Body Work - The Bed

These old Ford trucks have a wooden bed. They have 1x6's and strips of metal that run down the length of the bed to hold the wood down. You will find that the strips of metal are totally rusted away (or, in my case, they were replaced with a 4x8 sheet of plywood) and that the wood is totally rotten. (the plywood in my case).
Call LMC truck, and order the metal strips and bolts "kit". ($75.00)Then go down to the lumber yard and buy qty: 8, 1x6 boards ($49) I got Southern Yellow Pine, I know, this will rot faster than Oak, and is not nearly as strong). Now stain the wood and put 3 or 4 coats of urethane on the boards:

Now take the bed off the truck. There is so much rust around the "steps" for the step side, and under the fenders, and underneath the bed, that you will definitely be working on the bed from the top, the bottom, the side etc... So just take it off. Take all the rusty bolts and rotten wood and throw them away. Take off the "steps" and the frame rails and the brackets and clean off all the rust and old peeling paint with a sanding wheel on your grinder. Put them aside and don't paint them yet. Every time you go to paint on the bed, there will be a little paint left in your cup gun. Use this left over paint on these small parts. Cut out the rust - fashion new metal pieces and weld them in. Then use Bondo and paint.
I use a cheap cup gun ($49) and it works just fine. I got my paint at A.J. Foyt auto paint supply on Cavelcade near Main. The guy there REALLY helped alot. He got me a high build primer. I paid $250 for a gallon of primer, a gallon of color, two kinds of hardener, reducer (thinner), clean grade reducer (not for thinning, for cleaning the cup gun) and I spent $10 on bondo.
When You are through with the bed, put it outside under a tarp, and pull the cab into the garage.
















So, what have we spent so far?
$500 for the truck
$130 cheap wire welder
$29 grinder
$300 Engine and Transmission
$250 Fuel pump, carb, ignition, power steering
$75 bed strip kit
$49 wood
$20 stain, urethane, bondo
$49 cup gun
$250 paint
------ * $1652.00

Next Posting, we get started on the cab!