I ended up having to use an air file with a 3" cut-off wheel and a Dremel with a 1" cut-off wheel to get all the previous owners nasty welds off from under the bed lip. There was a combination of brass brazing filler metal and what looked like stick welding.
This job would have been fairly easy had it not been for all the previous owners welding.
Now that the drivers side stake pocket is done I plan to tackle the passenger side. I think I will take some digital pictures of the procedure in case someone else would like to see the steps involved. I was going to do that on the drivers side but got so wrapped up into what I was doing I negelected to take photos of several of the steps.