Sheet metal work ....Any ideas? has anyone done this?

[heywood]

My deuce has some rust in the bed wall right behind the cab .
I want to cut this bad metal out and replace it before I paint the Deuce.
I dont have any way to remove the bed completlety.

I'm thinking about dissconnecting the bed and sliding it back far enough to get enough access to the forward wall to cut and weld in the new wall.
Has any one tried this approach?
I think I need to slide it back about 5-7 feet .
Any Ideas?

 

[cattlerepairman]

No personal experience, but people here have pulled their bed for a variety of reasons with different methods. You need to support the overhang with items of appropriate height; I believe someone used steel barrels. Chain the rear of the bed to a tree and move the truck forward. I can see a dicey moment if you accidentally tilt the bed, but as long as it stays flat on the frame, the guide brackets on it should let is slide back fairly easily.

 

[67 evil eleanor]

I was thinking about the same issue of removing the bed without a lift device. My thought was to block up the bed up using concrete blocks and tightly wedge the top. Then let enough air out of the tires to drop the frame a couple inches and pull the truck forward. "Should" work", provided it's on a level surface like concrete.

 

[heywood]

Thank cattlerepairman
i thought it would work just needed someone else to tell me im not crazy.
ill support the rear as you advised and probaly use binders to chain the front of the bed to the frame afte it is slid back.

 

[heywood]

Thanks Evil E
Ill let you know how it goes

 

[Tlauden]

May I suggest adding some counterweight in the front of the bed if you use the sliding method. Not sure how much you would need to "balance the bed". I guess it would depend on how far back you slide it.

 

[heywood]

Tlauden,another real good idea..a few hundred pounds up front couldnt hurt.
thats why i love this site ...great minds coming together

 

[jdr2710]

When I installed the dump hoist on mine I had to slide it back a bit to reach my lift (the entry door is too short to get all the way in) so I used a bottle jack to lift the bed a little and put 3/4" PVC pipe underneath as rollers on both sides, front and back. The PCV worked ok initially, but after it had sat for a few hours it managed to flatten the pipe, so I switched to short pieces of 3/4 steel gas pipe. The gas pipe worked great and I was able to roll it back the few feet I needed to line up in my lift. When I re-installed with the dump hoist I needed some extra height to accommodate the hoist, so I used a 6" round wooden fence posts as the rollers, which also worked fine.

 

[heywood]

Another good idea thank jdr