I need bedsides...any suggestions?

[87 Shortwide]

I need both sides (mainly just around the gas tank doors) for my 87 shortbed. Do they make patch panels that just take up from teh fender well forward under teh body brake? I checked out LMC and the sides for 349$ each dont look too entising...but I will have to do what Ive got to do.

Does anyone know of a good place?

[Eyegore]

Hey 8 SW, my son just went through the same thing, he picked up a replacement at a body panel supply store here in Phx. But he would not recommend it since it was flimsy like you said, it even warped when he tried grafting a hummer type gas door onto the panel, took more bondo than he wanted. If I were you i would try the junkyard or the parts section of the newpaper for anyone parting something similiar. Also drive around areas where wrecking yards are located, perhaps theres one you could get the bed sides from. And another thought check advertisements for homemade trailers, some use pickup beds for trailers.
Just my two pennies.

Tom

[87 Shortwide]

No other takers?

[TexasJeff]

87 Shortwide, I would look into Goodmark aftermarket sheetmetal. I used a hood and both front fenders from them and they were close to factory, not flimsy at all. Here is a link.
http://www.goodmarkindustries.com/HomePage.html

[Jonboy]

Are you wanting to just fill the gas door, or are yours trashed? If you are just filling the door, why not weld in some fillers and work it out. Probably a lot easier than patch panels.

[87 Shortwide]

They were welded up once, but messed up (I wasnt the one welding them)
Too much heat and they warped all to hell.

I found a place in town that will get me brand new bedsides (complete) for 280 a piece with no freight charges. I think I will go that route, hack what I need out and put them into mine.

I didnt want this expense but you gotta do what you gotta do I guess, on the bright side, I will have the back half of both bedsides to either sell as large patch panels, or get creative with. I think some 73-87 truck bed furniture would be cool as hell

[Eyegore]

Instead of hacking up the new ones why not replace the whole bedside(s), its just bolted on at the front with about six bolts, 12 or so in the fender-well,and 4 spot welds at the tailgate post. Someone has instructions scanned from a truck magazine on how to do this, I think its bigblock73's site that has it. Again my son was able to follow the instructions and replaced the whole bedside and it came out really nice and this is the first time he has ever done this.

[87 Shortwide]

Maybe I need to look into it a little more, the guy I have doing the work said it would suck to replace the whole thing...he is doing the labor so I dunno.

I almost feel ****ty about paying someone to do the work for me...but between work and school, I dont have time for a big bodywork project.

[swervin ervin]

It's not any harder to replace the whole side than it is to weld in a patch. Sounds like your body man needs to be educated on trucks.

If I were you, I would go junkyard hunting to see if I couldn't find some good bedsides. Much better quality and probably cheaper too. Of course it would mean you would have to take off work or school to do it. :p

[86 Red_Bowtie]

Just put the new bed sides on and forget about hacking them up to replace what is messed up on your old bed sides.

[bigblock73]

If you can find a complete bed side at a decent price, I would go that route.

It is pretty simple (compared to welding), read this to see for yourself.

[87 Shortwide]

I dont think 280 a side for complete bed sides is tooo bad...and I havent had much luck finding a reasonable SWB in a scrap yard in this area...it just doesnt happen often.

At any rate, thanks for all the ideas...the origional plan was to fix the sides, and the guy doing the truck is a dang good metal worker, but they were just too messed up.

here is a pic of them to give you a good idea of what we are dealing with...it is much worse than it looks. It is in about 2 - 2.5 inches above and below the gas door, and you can see where the truck was hit before I got it and incoreectly fixed...when I origionally hit the passenger side with a grinder, I found almost 2 inches of filler.

[jesse977]

I have a 74 shortbed GMC truck that had a old rusty bed. I wanted to replace the bed. I ended up paying $1000 for a 84 shortbed chevy truck. I just swapped beds and sold the truck I bought for $1000. Now I have a clean rust free shortbed. Finding a shortbed is tough, I looked for 3 years!!! I searched the junkyards, Ebay and no luck. I would just buy another truck, they arent expensive and most important you get original parts. Dont ever get those cheap replacement bed panels from LMC. They are expensive and cheap. I replaced everything on my truck with original parts, took me a while but I finally did it. My buddy swapped the beds in about 2 hours. It was really simple. In the first pic you can see in the background the truck I bought. Whatever you do good luck on your project bro!

[81shavedtrk]

Originally Posted by 87 Shortwide

I dont think 280 a side for complete bed sides is tooo bad...and I havent had much luck finding a reasonable SWB in a scrap yard in this area...it just doesnt happen often.

At any rate, thanks for all the ideas...the origional plan was to fix the sides, and the guy doing the truck is a dang good metal worker, but they were just too messed up.

here is a pic of them to give you a good idea of what we are dealing with...it is much worse than it looks. It is in about 2 - 2.5 inches above and below the gas door, and you can see where the truck was hit before I got it and incoreectly fixed...when I origionally hit the passenger side with a grinder, I found almost 2 inches of filler.

i have no idea. the guy that shaved my doors did a good job on mine. They only needed a skin of putty to make good.

[87 Shortwide]

Originally Posted by 81shavedtrk

i have no idea. the guy that shaved my doors did a good job on mine. They only needed a skin of putty to make good.

Well then the next time you are at WIR watch that thing...or it may miss a few panels