the bed is hard to remove

[52chevyga]

Is it just me or is the bed kinda hard to remove? I haven't been able to remove it yet. I even tried removing the rear fenders.. I tried taking off the bolts that hold part of the fender on on the inside of the bed and they would not budge at ALL! Weird. What all is the bed bolted to? I can't really tell what all its connected to so I really don't know what to unbolt...

 

[Texas53]

I think all that holds the bed on are 4 (maybe 6) long carriage bolts that go through the bed wood and all the way down through the frame rails. You shouldn't have to remove the fenders, but doing so will make the bed easier to maneuver. Also, the running boards are attached to the rear fenders so you will need to unbolt those. Hope that helps and good luck.

Have you decided to take it all apart afterall? The mistake that I made was to tear mine all down right at the start. They come apart a lot faster than they go back together You need a lot space to store all the pieces. And you don't get to enjoy the truck for the entire 2,3,... years they are apart. The attached picture is my truck after two years. I have at least another year to go.

From what I remember of the pics of your truck, it seemed pretty complete. The plan of fixing the brakes and tuning it up so you could drive it around while you did the other work was a good one. Your choice but just wanted to throw in my .02.

Mike
Attachments:
https://talk.classicparts.com/images/attachments/44231ace0990a627.jpg

 

[52chevyga]

Welllllll, first of all, it won't take 2-3 years haha... I don't have a job, so I sit around here all day doing stuff around here. I have plenty of money to fund the truck and all day to work on it. Of course, I won't be working on it 24/7 either... I find myself working on it 4-5 times per week for about 2-8 hours each day

My plans are to get the front of the truck/cab completed by the end of summer (all the body work, sandblasting, prep work and paint, since that will take the longest) - I don't have any plans of driving it right now so that really isn't that big of an issue. It isn't going to be a daily driver for me.. maybe a once a week driver and mainly taking it to shows once its done. I'm still undecided as to if I want to take the bed off right now or just leave it on until I get front of the truck and the cab completed. I guess there's no sense in taking it off until I get everything else is done. Makes sense. I have plenty of room though, to store all of the parts...

By the way, the interior is completely gutted now (gas tank, gauges, seat frame) so this weekend, I will be prepping/priming it. Not going to paint it right now, but just want to get it primed so that much will be out of the way. Then I'll start working on the pieces I've already taken off of the truck..

It's hard not to jump around doing everything at once. Oh well, its extremely fun!

 

[coilover]

Like the man says, there are four bed mounting bolts that run through washers that are close to the steel strips, two in front and two in back that take a 9/16 socket and don't spin on you if your the luckiest person in the world. Those plus the fender to running board bolts and the filler panel to bed bolts that take a 7/16 socket/wrench. The fender brace rod should run up to the bolt that runs through the floor angle strip but if it's been bolted to the frame it will have to come loose. On the bed mount bolts and steel strip bolts we don't even try to take the nuts off, just whack them with the torch. If it would take on of the guys more than half an hour to pull a bed I'd fire him. A good lifting point for these beds is about three inches down inside the stake pockets is a bolt hole used to lock the stakes in place. A strap with a loop on each end can be dropped in the front pocket and a bolt run through the loop then run diagonally to the rear pocket and a bolt run through that, then do the same to the other two diagonal pockets. Where they make an "X" is the lifting point and also the balance point. Good luck

 

[52chevyga]

Very helpful, both of you! Thanks!