Bed question

[77c10]

Is there any difference in a 77 bed and a 85 bed as far as body lines? I am in need of a bed for my 77 and have found a really nice one from a 85. Anything that I need to know as far as differences?

[gchemist]

Just gas caps vs gas doors. One tank vs two tanks. Tailgate bottom hindge differences. Handles are slightly different. Backside tailgate band or not. The 85 will bolt right in.

[RandyP]

The actual gas neck is different, that would be your only real issue besides maybe the tailgate hinge if the used one does not come with a tailgate and you try and use your old one.

[Keith Seymore]

Single tank filler on the '77 would be on the right side with the exposed gas cap.

Single tank filler on the '85 would be on the left side with a fuel door.

But the feature lines, attachments and overall styling are the same.

K

[akram]

I've got a 77 and bought a 78 or 79 bed with the fuel doors, not sure what year they came out, but it is not an exact match. The outside, tailgate body lines etc. all look the same but the inside panels on the bed have a different design where they've been beaded and stamped. Nothing major but not an exact match.

[willett]

I've noticed that the second from front mounting holes are in different locations on different boxes as well. Maybe Keith knows about this.

My buddy has what we think is a cucv bed and the front holes are symmetrical with the back holes. The 80's box that I put on my '78 has the rear most front holes 1 member closer to the wheel well. Old box was the same as the cucv box

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by willett

I've noticed that the second from front mounting holes are in different locations on different boxes as well. Maybe Keith knows about this.

My buddy has what we think is a cucv bed and the front holes are symmetrical with the back holes. The 80's box that I put on my '78 has the rear most front holes 1 member closer to the wheel well. Old box was the same as the cucv box

That I do not recall.

I do know that different model years and different box lengths extended through the frame differently (some 'second from the front' bolts would pass through both the upper and lower flange of the frame rail; some would be short and only pass through the upper flange).

K

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by akram

I've got a 77 and bought a 78 or 79 bed with the fuel doors, not sure what year they came out, but it is not an exact match. The outside, tailgate body lines etc. all look the same but the inside panels on the bed have a different design where they've been beaded and stamped. Nothing major but not an exact match.

I could be wrong on the introduction of fuel doors. I recall our '75 had gas caps but I didn't purchase my next truck until 1980 (which had doors).

K

[83GMCK2500]

Our '76 had 8 bolts holding the bed down. We put an '84 bed on it and it had 6 bolts. The '76 bed had external fuel caps, not sure on fuel doors either.

[tucsonjwt]

I think the 3/4 ton trucks have a different bolt arrangement than the 1/2 tons. I bought a 1/2 ton 1978 model bed from the junkyard for my 1973 3/4 ton, and even though the junkyard guy said it would bolt right up - it did not. As Keith mentioned, I believe the second from front bolts did not line up correctly. Fortunately, the yard man got a big air gun and drill bit and quickly drilled through the frame rails to make it work. So, not a big issue, but I am glad that I did not have to do it. It might just be a model year difference but since the frame rails are different on the 3/4 tons, I just assumed that it was a 3/4 ton vs. 1/2 ton issue.

I have seen several excellent rust free beds go to the crusher at the local pick and pull here in HotZona. It's a real shame since they sell those beds for about $200 prior to crushing them for pennies.

[crashz]

A rust free bed would go for a lot more up here in the rust zone!

[willett]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

That I do not recall.

I do know that different model years and different box lengths extended through the frame differently (some 'second from the front' bolts would pass through both the upper and lower flange of the frame rail; some would be short and only pass through the upper flange).

K

another interesting note. There are stamped out holes on my front Rear-leaf-hangers that line up with the holes in my new bed, but the holes are not drilled into the frame. If you are interested enough, or give a crap I can bust out a measuring tape.

now that I think of it the old box mounts only passed through the upper flange, and the new box with the further apart holes appears to go through upper and lower judging by the punchout on my spring hanger. When I ordered mounting hardware from LMC they gave me 1 set of extra long bolts.

[BONUSCAB]

Originally Posted by crashz

A rust free bed would go for a lot more up here in the rust zone!

I paid $500 for my rust free bed, with a pretty nice fiberglass cap, tail lights and tailgate. And that was here in Wisconsin.

[tucsonjwt]

"Rust Free" and "Wisconsin" are two things I rarely see in the same post.

[77c10]

I ended up buying the bed yesterday. It appears to be straight as an arrow and is in primer to boot. The only issues I see with it are it has a small hole cut in the center of the bed floor for the gooseneck ball and there are two small rust areas on the tail pan. That area is flat so they should be easy to cut out and replace. Not sure what I will do about the hole in the bed yet though.

[tucsonjwt]

I would leave the hole for the gooseneck in the bed and put in a drop in bedliner or a bed mat. You can get patch material to match the bed floor if you have to cover it.

[BONUSCAB]

Originally Posted by tucsonjwt

"Rust Free" and "Wisconsin" are two things I rarely see in the same post.

Very true! But people bring up sheet metal from down south and demand a pretty penny, but I don't have them kind of funds. I see guys at swap meets asking $900-1200 for a rust free bed. And I see those same guys take them beds with them to the next swap meet. My bed came off a CUCV that some one lifted into a toy. A guy bought the truck to use as a work truck and wanted to make a flat bed out of it, so he listed the bed on CL and I bought it.

My bed had accident damage, rust, the supports were rusted and damaged from the truck being overloaded, and the tailgate was unusable. The whole bed bounced up and down going over bumps and made a ridiculous amount of noise. It was time for a new bed.

Now it just needs to get rockers, doors and plastidip'd in spring to make 'er presentable. Here's some before and after...

[esbstuff]

78 was the first year 'doors' were available. These were on "unleaded" fuel trucks. In 79 'doors' were stardard equipment as well as unleaded fuel.

Fun fact: GM used the cap vs door to distinguish betweem regular fuel vs unleaded fuel on their pickups. All Mexican squares are regular fuel trucks and have caps...

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by esbstuff

78 was the first year 'doors' were available. These were on "unleaded" fuel trucks. In 79 'doors' were stardard equipment as well as unleaded fuel.

Fun fact: GM used the cap vs door to distinguish betweem regular fuel vs unleaded fuel on their pickups. All Mexican squares are regular fuel trucks and have caps...

(Johnny Carson voice): "...I did NOT KNOW that...."

If it was MY assembly line I would not have done it that way, because (a) now you've got two sets of material in the plant where you previously only had one, and (b) now you have to coordinate pickup boxes in the body shop with powertrain options, which you never had to do before.

K

[77c10]

How hard would it be to replace the tail pan? LMC sell a replacement for not a lot of money.

[esbstuff]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

(Johnny Carson voice): "...I did NOT KNOW that...."

If it was MY assembly line I would not have done it that way, because (a) now you've got two sets of material in the plant where you previously only had one, and (b) now you have to coordinate pickup boxes in the body shop with powertrain options, which you never had to do before.

K

I completely 2nd that!!! Makes just about much sense making new and old body style trucks at the same time... IE 88-91, 99-02 and whatever the new things is... A really BIG pain in the butt!

1988 Mexican square...

http://www.73-87.com/7387info/brochures/sp88_06.jpg