[gringoloco]

Originally Posted by VA72C10

Love it! Ruined it good

Thanks for the interesting write-up and pictures. Now get back out there and ruin it some more

Haha- you're welcome! It's cooooold out there, hence the reason I'm in here

Originally Posted by 72BlckButy

What did you use to mount the bedsides to the raised bed floor?

I did it the 'permanent' way.

With the bedsides removed, I cut the inner bedside floor mounting flanges off about 1.5" up from the bend, drilled holes through them at evenly spaced intervals, then plug welded them to the opposite bedside in the same position, just flipped 180*, and 3" higher than stock. I used the right side pieces on the left and vice-versa. Same process with the header panel. I also had to take 3" out of the rear stake pockets where they mount to the floor and moved the spot-welded 'L' brackets up.

This way, the floor stays whole and you still have all of the rear cross-sill mounting bolts securing the bedsides. I've seen where people cut the floor at the rear corners and leave the stake pockets intact, but I didn't like the idea of the bedsides flexing or bowing outwards causing tailgate alignment issues since these trucks tend to do that in a stock configuration, not to mention modified.

I still need to pull it apart again to finalize some things; when I do, I will try to remember to take some pictures. This is not for the faint of heart, as you are hacking up perfectly good bedsides, so you'd better be committed. Some think I should be committed

I think it looks stock enough that most don't catch it and I don't lose any noticeable capacity. Many ways to skin this cat, but I think 3" is a good height since the tubs come to just under the upper body line of the inner bedside; any more than this is doable, but would turn into a lot of sheetmetal work. I have hauled a ton of crap in this bed and it stands up to the abuse- no worries about using this truck as a truck- even with the raised floor...