I had the typical bed front panel issue you describe where the wood held moisture rusting out the bottom flange. To fix it I bought a piece of 16 ga sheet metal and a section of angle iron as replacements. I cut out the center section that was peppered with dents and the rusted bottom flange. I left the top edge and sides to maintain the correct dimensions. Then I "plug" welded the sheet metal to the top/sides sections and ran a continuous bead along the angle iron bottom (in 1" welds jumping end-to-end to minimize heat/warping). Total cost was approximately $16.

http://s1273.beta.photobucket.com/u...mp;_suid=1357257070014043406740778914265

Last edited by Booner; 01/03/2013 10:26 PM.