The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop fleetside bed resto

Hey guys...
I've been pluging away on my 59 fleetside looooongbed, getting it ready to ride again.
Thing is, I took off the bed a couple years ago, and pretty much forgot about it. Now I'm trying to figure out the most efficiant way to strip it for repainting. It's pretty intimidating looking at all that metal on the longbed fleetside, and I sure don't want to break out the old sander and wire btush...I got my fill of that with the front half of the truck!
So any ideas? Dip? Sandblast? For now i think i'm going to build a wooden bed until I figure out what to do.
Thanks folks!

I should mention, I'm not doing a restoration, just a functional rebuild. I am trying to avoid taking apart too much...I have the whole bed off, and i'd like to refinish it while keeping it as complete as possible.

I'd go with media blasting...sorta like sandblasting only they don't use sand. Sand can warp the sheetmetal. Contact a couple of your nearby powder coating operations and ask them who they use for media/sandblasting. They should be able to tell you who can set you up. It probably won't cost you much (yes..I know..a relative term)..while you have the box off, I would take the big plunge and pull the cab too. Powder coating the frame in our area can be done for as little as $200.

thanks for the idea, I'll check it out.