Chopping the bed floor, making a rolled over rear edge

[clay68c10]

Like a lot of others, I am cutting down my truck to a short bed.
Since it was totaled back in 2004 and the non-original long step bed was destroyed, I'm not worried about any kind of originality.

I got a fairly beat up long fleet bed for cheap, and am using just the floor. I thought about sectioning it, but all the rust is on the ends, so I decided to just cut it front and rear.

[clay68c10]

Now, the front edge of the bed may stay ribbed. It will drain better and I'm not sure I have the metalwork skills to make it come out nice.

The rear, however, would look like doodoo if I leave it ribbed. I saw someone's post that hammer tipped the rear edge to look like factory and it came out nice.

I thought, why not try that on my scrap cut sections. Surprise to me, it is coming out ok.

**I am not a body guy and this is my first attempt**
I will need to practice more with some actual dimensions, but I think it's going to turn out ok. At this point, I'm just seeing how the metal wants to shape out.

[clay68c10]

Here's what the original looks like.

[clay68c10]

And these are my super hi tech tools, a couple of HF hammers and 2 short chunks of railroad track. I imagine any big stout metal pieces would work, probably some thick angle iron would do the trick.

[clay68c10]

I'll post up some more results when my helper and I get back to it

[spoon3210]

that's looking real nice but Batman is going to break your railroad track. I cut my bed and it turned out fine. Good metal on those beds. Just stay with it.

[clay68c10]

He's giving it a go for sure. Sometimes I think he could break an anvil with a powder puff, it's in the genes.

So, I decided I was already dirty and feeling froggy. Why not just see how the real bed floor edge would go, right!!??

My practice edge was good, but a little too high. I started on a small spot in the middle and it seemed to go well. I kept going and I'm pretty happy with the results.

[clay68c10]

I'm expecting to have to even it out a bit when I put the cross brace on, but it eyeballs out straight. It does seem to be good metal, it hammers over without cracking at all. Nice and malleable.

I'll post up when I get around to putting the brace in.

Also, the cut out area in the corners may require a relief cut and some welding. There's a spot where the rib has to be half flattened out to bolt on the bed side. We shall see...

[Boog]

Nice work.

[jocko]

looks great, thanks for sharing.

[sduckworth13]

Nice work. You will find this thread very helpful. Of all the bed cut downs I've seen this one is probably the slickest one too me.
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=667694

[hewittca]

Nice work! I recently cut down my bed too and wanted to try tipping over the rear edge but was worried it wouldn't turn out right. Testing it on the extra cut out pieces was a good idea. I ended up just sectioning the rear cut and doing the front cut like you did. I just left the ribs running to the edge of the floor, but with it back together you really can't tell it's not stock unless you know what you're looking at.

[67ChevyRedneck]

That sucks about the rust.

One of the reasons to cut out the sections is that the "middle" braces aren't used, so when welded back together, all the braces are in the factory locations. When the ends are cut off you have to remove and move braces around. I guess the extra ones could be left in?

Just thought I'd post that if you wanted to make it look more factory.

If you need any measurements, let me know.

[67ChevyRedneck]

I've cut down 2 of them now... 2 less long beds in the world!

[clay68c10]

Thanks all. I'm going to see how the rear braces work out and remove as necessary. The second (now front) one lines up fine, it just doesn't have the holes and sleeves for the carriage bolts. I'll either move the original front brace to it's position or (probably) just drill and sleeve it in place.

Jesse James, I'd take an overall floor measurement from front edge to the rear. I think I'm within 1/32, but I'd like to verify that.

Years ago, I almost got rid of that chunk of railroad track. Glad I didn't, it's come in handy for a lot of things.

65standard's thread is what got me thinking about doing my floor like this. The rust front and rear made it an easy decision.

[67ChevyRedneck]

This is going off memory, but I believe it should be 6.5', or 78".

There is a bit of variance, I had one longbed that was right on 98" and another that was almost 98-1/8".

As long as you're "close" and the bed is square, you can easily hide 1/16-1/8 difference with the front bed panel. The back of the bed "locks" in place with the rear cross sill, so the back should always match up no matter what.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Don't forget to measure/cut/fold over the rear corners to match your factory bed, the rear bedsides "slide" into this slit.

[clay68c10]

Cool, thanks for the measurements.

The corners will be the last piece, getting the ribs shaped correctly will take some finesse.

[hewittca]

Originally Posted by clay68c10

Thanks all. I'm going to see how the rear braces work out and remove as necessary. The second (now front) one lines up fine, it just doesn't have the holes and sleeves for the carriage bolts. I'll either move the original front brace to it's position or (probably) just drill and sleeve it in place.

Hmm, that's interesting. My bed had the front two carriage bolts and then the next two were in the same rib 12" back, so when I cut my 12" off the front, the next set of carriage bolt holes lined right up. I didn't have to change or remove the cross braces at all. For the rear cut, I sectioned out the middle brace so I was left with what is standard for an original shortbed.

[67ChevyRedneck]

I went back and looked. No holes in the middle brace up front that was cut out of either of my bed floors.





No holes in any of my sectioned cuts either (aside from the ones on the side for the bedsides). Your PO must have known you were going to cut it down!

[hewittca]

Guess you learn something new every day. Mine had all three front cross braces bolted with carriage bolts, but my rear middle brace was like yours with no bolts (just sitting on the frame). Mine was an all original '68 bed. I wonder when the change was made and why.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Somebody could have drilled holes for an in bed storage unit or something and wanted it to go through the frame?

Are the holes "square" or round? Round is definitely a PO drilling holes, "square" would be something interesting...

[hewittca]

They are square holes and the carriage bolts looked identical to all the other bolts holding the bed floor down. The mounts the cross brace were sitting on also had the same elongated holes in them that the front two mounts had.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Now THAT is unusual...

[clay68c10]

My bed floor is from a 71 and no extra holes. That would actually make things a little easier.

I got the rear cross brace removed today. I borrowed a 1/2" air belt sander to cut thru the spot welds. What a slick tool, easier than drilling. Perfect for a panel you aren't saving, like this piece of floor.

I test fit the rear, I think it will work well. There's a bit of a wave in the floor, but that will go away when I c-clamp it together and plug weld it. Not bad for a hammer wielding wrench turner.