CCOUGHRAN1
Silver Member
- Joined
- Jun 22, 2006
- Messages
- 193
Been looking for a good used flatbed for one of my trucks, and stumbled across one last week that I thought would work for me.
The truck I want to put it on is the 1999 Dodge 3500 4x4 DRW. The bed was advertised on CL and the man had it installed on a 2005 Dodge DRW. I knew the rear skirt would need replacing, as the man had done some modifications that I did not care for. Other than that, the bed was in very good shape, with no rust.
Here is what I started with last week.
After an evening of cutting and grinding, I had the rear skirt removed from the flatbed, the factory bed and bumper removed from the truck, and placed the flatbed on the truck for a test fit.
After seeing the flatbed on the truck, I did not care for how the side skirts lined up with the body on this truck, so I decided to cut them off and start from scratch on the rear and side skirts, as well as install a new trough liner.
Here's the pics of the truck without skirting.
Another full evening with the grinder, and I was ready to start putting things back together. I built a new rear bumper/hitch out of 4x4 tube, and mounted a 2" receiver through the 4x4 tube. Then uses some 3x3x1/2 angle for my supports.
This pic is the rear skirt, and trough liner waiting to be installed. They were cut out on a CNC Plasma table. Once the rear skirt is installed, I will then take my measurements and have the side skirts cut out.
Here's a pic of the rear skirt sitting in place.
Having now installed a Bradford Built bed, and cut in my own trough on my 2002 Dodge 2500, and made it to this point in rehabbing a bed for the 1999 Dodge 3500, and having rebuilt a skirted CM flatbed for a 1993 Dodge 2500, I believe that the next bed I build for my 2003 Dodge 3500 will be built from scratch. I think it will be easier than dealing with the cutting a grinding required on a rebuild, and certainly be better constructed than a CM or some other mass produced bed.
Any recommendations on paint?
The truck I want to put it on is the 1999 Dodge 3500 4x4 DRW. The bed was advertised on CL and the man had it installed on a 2005 Dodge DRW. I knew the rear skirt would need replacing, as the man had done some modifications that I did not care for. Other than that, the bed was in very good shape, with no rust.
Here is what I started with last week.
After an evening of cutting and grinding, I had the rear skirt removed from the flatbed, the factory bed and bumper removed from the truck, and placed the flatbed on the truck for a test fit.
After seeing the flatbed on the truck, I did not care for how the side skirts lined up with the body on this truck, so I decided to cut them off and start from scratch on the rear and side skirts, as well as install a new trough liner.
Here's the pics of the truck without skirting.
Another full evening with the grinder, and I was ready to start putting things back together. I built a new rear bumper/hitch out of 4x4 tube, and mounted a 2" receiver through the 4x4 tube. Then uses some 3x3x1/2 angle for my supports.
This pic is the rear skirt, and trough liner waiting to be installed. They were cut out on a CNC Plasma table. Once the rear skirt is installed, I will then take my measurements and have the side skirts cut out.
Here's a pic of the rear skirt sitting in place.
Having now installed a Bradford Built bed, and cut in my own trough on my 2002 Dodge 2500, and made it to this point in rehabbing a bed for the 1999 Dodge 3500, and having rebuilt a skirted CM flatbed for a 1993 Dodge 2500, I believe that the next bed I build for my 2003 Dodge 3500 will be built from scratch. I think it will be easier than dealing with the cutting a grinding required on a rebuild, and certainly be better constructed than a CM or some other mass produced bed.
Any recommendations on paint?