Long bed To short bed conversion

[Larry Bart]

I would like to say thanks for having me on your forum!
I have seen a lot of people looking for short beds and ran across this on my local CL. It is a little pricey but they turn your longbed truck into a shortbed.

http://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/pts/4734974249.html

[67ctener]

Seems speedy to me when you can buy new short box bedsides for a $1000. It's good for someone who just wants to drop there truck off and pick it up though

[54belair]

Id want to go to their shop and see the process---but $1800 is a bargain (if done right).
Ive seen 5 trucks that were shortened in someones garage/backyard and I wouldnt give 1800. for the lot of them. This isnt a job for the "average" diy er. frames crooked or sagging, bedsides warped from too much heat and poor fill work.
Pay the 1800. and drive your shorty home!!

[YBNORML]

I'm not sure what body shop prices are like down there, but up here a decent shop runs you at least $90-$100 an hour. So $1800 only buys you about 18-20 hours. It seems like this would take a bit longer than that.

As far as shorting the bed goes. Sure you can buy Aftermarket panels for about $1000, but you still have to deal with the floor. I haven't priced out a shortie bed floor but I would imagine they are around 5-7 hundred. So you are already at at least $1500 and you haven't even touched the frame yet. Sounds like a pretty decent deal to me.

[hugger6933]

I have a shop in East Arkansas and have three of these truck that I'm changing from long to short. I'm changing the frames and beds on mine though I didn't think it time effective to cut them down when I had found most all of the parts just miles away from my shop for cheap. That is why they make both chocolate and vanilla ice cream. I think it would be a great deal for somebody without the time or ability to do it themselves. It looks like he has an ad to do what most on here would like to do all the time and if he can make it on that great for him. I often tell people about my shop if I didn't have to deal with money I'd have fun every day. I love building wrecks and old iron as well. Thing is they just don't move when they need to all the time or they don't come in like they should on time. Real life is not like those TV shows about the car business I promise you guys/girls. before I would drop off a truck or $1800 I would like to see more than an ad that shows little of what was discussed in the ad at all, there is not much evidence of a shortened frame or bed really if you think about it. I am not calling him out or anything like that by any means I'm sure he is probably a great guy that does super work. I just would like to make sure he is properly vetted before one of our members here drops hard earned coin. Jim

[54belair]

Hugger---

I agree with you wholeheartedly---What happens in real life is no where like those damn reality shows!!! My personal opinion is that those (un)reality shows have done more harm to our hobby than it ever helped---causing UNrealistic expectations!!!!!!

[67ChevyRedneck]

Interesting first post....

[YBNORML]

Originally Posted by 67ChevyRedneck

Interesting first post....

I was thinking the exact same thing.

[no1udknow]

Originally Posted by YBNORML

I was thinking the exact same thing.

You think its a promotion?

I did my own conversion and there are a lot more factors than just cutting and welding.
The exhaust, brake lines, drive line, and ebrake cable all need to be shortened, new holes for rear bumper mount, cab mounts moved etc.etc.. I think if the bed shortening is included... $1800 is a fair price. But after looking at the craigslist post, I cant say I would venture to that guy. I could be wrong, but it seems like something some guy does out of his home shop, note the frame didnt even get cleaned/sand blasted. The bed looks nice, but how many shops will warranty a cut and welded frame? When I was thinking about shortening mine, I called around to get a quote and wss told by most shops that they wouldn't do it for liability reasons. Only 2 shops told me they would do it and one of them is a close friend.

[Larry Bart]

Originally Posted by 67ChevyRedneck

Interesting first post....

I joined to find some parts and tips for my recently purchased 63 shortbed stepside. While looking thru the parts for sale it seemed quite a few people wanted to buy shortbeds. I also search Craigslist to find some parts locally and ran across this ad and thought I would pass it along. I don't know the person and already have a shortbed. Never gave any thought to what a first post should be.

[67ChevyRedneck]

*MOST* of the time, a first post advertising something is spam or someone trying to get free advertisement for their business.

Been here a LONG time, seen hundreds of similar "first posts" like this get closed for those reasons. Glad to see it's legit

[jcnelson]

I just bought a long bed and have plans on converting it myself seems simple enough if you measure, measure and measure again cut slow and take your time

[Larry Bart]

Originally Posted by jcnelson

I just bought a long bed and have plans on converting it myself seems simple enough if you measure, measure and measure again cut slow and take your time

Be interested to know how it turns out! Are you shortening the frame too?

[davepl]

If the work is well done I think that's a deal. I'd want to see a couple he's done before I sent him a truck, but if you took it to a typical body or restoration shop you'd be $5K to primer easy.

I presume, since the ad says you get back a running truck, that you can stop too. So they must do the brake lines.

I've never cut one, but does it matter if they start out as leaf or coil? Or do the long control arms still work for a shortbed?

[dmack91]

We are in the bodywork stage of our conversion. Had a certified welder do the work on the frame after we cut it.

As far as leaf vs. coil - the coil trailing arms are the same for both long and short beds- to do it right you just cut in front of the trailing arm crossmember so that the rear suspension moves forward as a unit. I would think it would be easier with a leaf suspension as you should be able to cut the section out of the frame behind the cab, so the bed would be the only thing to remove. In order to move the crossmember forward, you need to lift the cab.

My son decided to do all the body work at the same time as the frame chop, so the cab was easy to take off since everything was already gone.

[jlituco]

I myself am looking for a shop here in socal that would shorten a longbed. Anyone here with suggestions?

[mechanicalman]

Originally Posted by davepl

If the work is well done I think that's a deal. I'd want to see a couple he's done before I sent him a truck, but if you took it to a typical body or restoration shop you'd be $5K to primer easy.

I presume, since the ad says you get back a running truck, that you can stop too. So they must do the brake lines.

I've never cut one, but does it matter if they start out as leaf or coil? Or do the long control arms still work for a shortbed?

The long control arms are the same in a shortbed but the susp crossmember ends up under the cab instead of right behind it.

[no1udknow]

the other thing you have to watch out for is the exhaust. On mine the PO had the exhaust built and it rides under the trailing arm member, and then curves up under the bed... which is fine except once I shortened it and re installed the cab, it was hitting the underside of the rear lip of the cab. I had to make some modifications to get some clearance....Clarance.

[bs46488]

I recently did the chop on my LWB. I did the bed chop by myself. I've been slowly plucking away at finishing it. My father and I did the frame chop. It took us 2 solid work days to just chop/weld the frame.

no1udknow hit the nail on the head, there is a lot more to the project than just cutting the frame and bed.

The driveshaft is going to be a big purchase/decision. My two piece is no longer the right length, and they are recommending a 1 piece. So tack on another $450. Or don't take the advice and shorten the current shaft $150.

Exhaust, brake line, wiring, etc all need to be addressed too.

[junkjp]

Oscar did my truck it is the blue one in the background.He does the bed different than the ones I have seen. The way he does it there is very little body putty. I did just what it says I drove over to Farmersville dropped off the truck and a couple weeks latter I went over swiped my credit card and drove it home. He does it all brakes, emer brake had a one piece driveshaft made, bed and frame. Very happy with it. He will Probably be the one to paint the truck when that time comes.

[aris_unlimited]

Wonder what the cost would be if you brought them the short bed so they didn't have to do any "body work" (can't understand using filler to fix the body work when you can just put a short bed on it anyways)

[dajn]

Originally Posted by 54belair

Hugger---

I agree with you wholeheartedly---What happens in real life is no where like those damn reality shows!!! My personal opinion is that those (un)reality shows have done more harm to our hobby than it ever helped---causing UNrealistic expectations!!!!!!

I recently watched an episode of gas monkey. Can't remember the actual name of the show. Channel 182 I think. Richard supposedly put 100 grand into a 73 short box c-10 to auction of for charity. His buddy ends up buying it for 85 thousand and says to the camera "that is a two hundred thousand dollar pickup". Lol. What a joke these reality shows are. That pickup better have solid gold trim for 200 grand

[dajn]

It reminds me of the housing market before the crash when everyone thought their house was worth a million dollars.