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Bill,
Thank you for your fast and THOROUGH response! I pose my question to four experts and am still waiting on two. The other guy was considerably more pessimistic so I really appreciated your can-do approach. I'll have to take your comments out and look at the truck in daylight, but it sounds relatively straightforward. Do you recommend hand chiseling or a zip gun? (I spent 25+ years in the pool biz and my zip guns were the BEST at excavating concrete and exposing rebar.)
Regarding priming, are you refering to red lead primer? I haven't touched that stuff since I studied drive trains in Vo-Tech school when we used it to find the footprint of pinion gears.
Anyway, I'm sure you'll hear from me again providing I can locate the adhesive. I'm going to hold off on my feedback until I'm sure you deserve all the 10s! ;o)
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Using an air chisle is okay for removing the panel, but I gotta preach moderation and caution. If you carefully locate and drill the welds, the panel should release with a minimum of effort. Sometimes, when a panel is severely damaged, I'll cut away the face, and leave the metal where the spot welds are. This will make final removal of the the remaining metal easier, and gain access to the back side. I personally like to use a stiff, high quality putty knife, with a hammer, to remove the final pieces of metal. It distorts the GOOD metal very minimally. The primer you need to use is 2 part catalized primer, not red oxide laquer primer. Laquer primer is crap. Now, one problem at a time. Primer is nothing, the big problem is changing the bed skin. Get that done, and the rest is easy. Bill
Bill,
One poster suggested that the adhesive approach is ok with a Dodge but thought that the way the Chevy wall attaches to the floor creates too much stress to make it advisable. You never re-mentioned the screws. Do they all come out upon hardening or do some/all stay for additional mechanical strength? I'm primed to go searching for adhesive and weld bits, but want to make sure my frugality doesn't bite me down the road. Rest assured, I'm a perfectionist so the panel will be positioned and I won't go so fast as to miss any available "glue flanges". I guess it's a matter of how strong is the adhesive and how much glue surface is there to work with. Your (brief, to save your hand muscles) thoughts?
Thanks,
Geoff
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Geoff. I looked thru my responses, and I'm not sure I made perfectly clear that when you get the new bedside, you will be removing the outter skin from the inner bed panel, and throwing the new inner bed panel away. I think that there is some confusion there. I just need to be 100% sure you understand this before proceeding. Bill
Bill,
Yes, I had understood that part. (as well as keeping the wheel well attached to the new skin) I had one of those, slap-myself-in-the-forehead moments shortly after I hit the send button.
Answer Hey, I just had an Idea. What about a used bed, or a new take off? The truck is white, right? It will be more money than just a skin, but it will be bolt her on and go! Heck, by the time you buy adheasive, paint, bits and whatever else, you will probably break even! A little searching, and bam, you're done in an afternoon. Many places offer new take off boxes, especially in white. You see, Specailty transportation companies can't buy a Chevy cab and Chassis, you have to buy the whole truck. They will then remove the stock box, an put on utility beds, 5th wheels, campers, or whatever. Then, the stock bed is sold to individuals, junk yards, and body shops. I think I would seriously check into that before I bought a bedside. A few calls to a couple local wrecking yards, and Im sure they can find you one. Trader magazines may be good place to look, too. Ebay may offer something close to you. I don't know where you live, but I live in NW Ohio, and know a couple of sources. Bill
