[rkn463]

I had spent a lot of time deciding whether to shorten the frame or lengthen the bed and since I wanted to use it for a truck I didn't want to do anything to reduce the structural capacity of the frame. I did not like the idea of moving the diff forward as it would change the pinion angle and reduce the suspension travel unless I completely re-engineered the rear suspension and the more I thought about it the more I liked the idea of a 10 foot bed. Back to craigslist I found another rough bed. I didn't want to sacrifice a good bed to my newbie (non-existent actually) body welding skills. All of the builds that I had read on this site said the same thing "You'll never learn if you never try!" So I went for it. I had seen a lot of long beds shortened and it was obvious how to get parallel cut lines: put on tape and measure the amount you want to remove, make marks and add second piece of tape. But how to mark a line on two different beds that will line up, and I mean really line up? I spent a long time pondering this and finally came up with a plan: Bolt a jig on through the bolt holes in the front of bed 1, measure back to where to cut and mark it, then move the same jig to bed 2 and do the same. Pictures here, not sure if they make sense or not.