The extra mile, bed repair?

[CURSED GEARS]

I'm curious. Has any one ever split the inner panels out of a bed side to gain access to the insides of either panel? I'd like to clean and stabilize the metal, and would make it a lot easier to pound out a dent I got way up high.
If so, how you go about it? I imagine there would be a bazillion spot welds to drill out?
And while we are on the subject. (well, I am anyway) Didn't I read on here somewhere where someone stripped the sheet metal off of a tailgate. Painted the inside, pounded out the dents, and then weld it all back again? My tailgate is dented, and I suspect there is some nastiness inside waiting to come back and screw up fresh paint once its applied.
Thanks for any response.
By the way, I know I can have this stuff dipped, but I'm trying to save a few bucks like most people.

[hugger6933]

I've done several bedsides that way. You see, the General in his wisdom didn't plan on us needing these truck or them becoming the icon they are for as long as they are lasting. None of the places I have come across is protected from rust by any type of primer or coating of any kind. I had some sides that I noticed the rust inside them and they had some dents that I thought would hammer a lot easier than pull so I split apart the two halves on several sides that I have, I don't remember if I did 3 or 4 of them[I have three short bed trucks I'm building]. I would not recommend this for anyone that is not real experienced in body repair and sheet metal and panel alignment. I also removed a door skin to remove some damage to repair some damage by hammer as well to find the same so it is all over. On my better doors I thought were in good shape they have goodly amounts of surface rust on the inside. as you know most of these panels rust from the inside out. I do late model wrecks for real and I have changed a bunch of those bedside skins so splitting one of these didn't scare me, and have done many door skins as well so no big there either. But I will say the first bed skin took me like three days the last one just over three hours and had trouble with the wheelhouse and ended up changing it too. Jim

[CURSED GEARS]

The bedsides are still pretty solid, but there is some heavy rust in places. Id like to knock off the rust and put some kind of rust killer on the metal, and some paint. If I can get a few years out of this bed Id like to. I guess the trick would be to find all of the spot welds?

[hugger6933]

There are two tons of them some in spots you wouldn't think to look. That is part of what makes the job so difficult. Jim

[mrein3]

Like hugger said, back when these trucks were produced, there was NO paint or anything between the panels. Now all vehicle producers dip the bodies in epoxy so you get coverage EVERYWHERE. That is also why now you get x mile, y year rust through warranties where in the past you could have rust after one Minnesota winter.

So I have split a bedside. It does make it easier to pound out dents. In my case I had to close a hole cut for a spare gas tank. (On the other side I welded in an S-10 gas door and am keeping the spare tank).

Below is a link to the post. At the bottom of this thread there is a link to another guy's bedside split post. Between the two you can see lots of spot welds need to be drilled out.

Don't be discouraged. The only training I have is a community ed class in how to weld. I have NO formal body shop training. The way the bedsides come apart, it is pretty hard to screw it up putting it back together. Just take your time, tack a few spots until you're sure everything is lined up, then close up all the holes you made drilling it apart. Oh and I'd use a spot weld cutter and NOT a drill bit while splitting the side. I did have to use a drill bit around the tail light because those spot welds were pretty small.

I should add that I welded in a U-bolt towards the front of my inner bedside while I had it apart. It seems I always need something between the two front stake pockets to hook a ratchet strap to. My buddy's 2007 GMC has a similar, steel U sticking out of the inner side of his truck that the General put there. I figured if it works on an '07, it should work on my truck.

Heres the post...
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=556743

[hugger6933]

OK, when putting these sides back together they may seem "sticky" so I used a couple of small lining bars and then a bunch of 1/4 inch bolts through the old spot weld holes to bolt the sides back together first to make sure every thing is like how you want it. I have two sides out behind my shop right now that are just bolted together waiting for me to love on them some more. Jim

[72 tigger]

I have a set of NOS bedsides I'll be using on my next build- any ideas on preserving them without splitting them? Hang them upside down & pour POR 15 down inside?? Thanks for any ideas

[franken]

Originally Posted by hugger6933

I've done several bedsides that way. You see, the General in his wisdom didn't plan on us needing these truck or them becoming the icon they are for as long as they are lasting. None of the places I have come across is protected from rust by any type of primer or coating of any kind. I had some sides that I noticed the rust inside them and they had some dents that I thought would hammer a lot easier than pull so I split apart the two halves on several sides that I have, I don't remember if I did 3 or 4 of them[I have three short bed trucks I'm building]. I would not recommend this for anyone that is not real experienced in body repair and sheet metal and panel alignment. I also removed a door skin to remove some damage to repair some damage by hammer as well to find the same so it is all over. On my better doors I thought were in good shape they have goodly amounts of surface rust on the inside. as you know most of these panels rust from the inside out. I do late model wrecks for real and I have changed a bunch of those bedside skins so splitting one of these didn't scare me, and have done many door skins as well so no big there either. But I will say the first bed skin took me like three days the last one just over three hours and had trouble with the wheelhouse and ended up changing it too. Jim

That's good info, but actual tips/suggestions on how to get the job done would also help...
And pics

[CURSED GEARS]

Thanks for the tips guys. I'm going to look at the links now!

[CURSED GEARS]

I can not get those panels to separate. Been working on it all morning. I'm sure I missed a spot weld or two, but chevy must of made them perfectly flush with the rest of the panel. I'll keep working on it. Irritating.

[CURSED GEARS]

Took me all day, but I got them separated. There was about 8 spot welds cleverly concealed. Ran out of day, and energy to do the fun stuff though. They will be waiting on me my next day off. Now all id have to do is the other side. (ugh)