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The bed of my truck is not dented up or anything, surprisingly enough, but it is really rough finish-wise.

I can't afford to have it blasted by a professional. But, I can apply some elbow grease on my own and get it looking a lot better.

Plus. I figure if I make some mistakes inside the box, it shouldn't be too big of a deal.

What are your best suggestions for my approach to this? I like to do things right, no matter what I do. But, I always look for the easiest way to do them as well.

I can tell that this is going to take a bit of time. I'm not sure how to best get into the grooves in the bottom of the bed.

Even though you can't tell exactly how rough it looks inside the box from a few pictures, this might give you a better idea as to what I am up against.

http://67chevytruck.com/bed.html

Thanks again,
Davey

well, the easiest method is paint on bed liner. I used it in an old jeep and it covered a lot of sins, looks pretty good, and gives good traction. its thick and builds up and I think a coat of that would give you a nice uniform color/surface and the results would be surprisingly better.

Thanks arnswine. I'll take that under advisement.

Is that something that you did yourself, or did you have it professionally done?

My dad payed someone to do that to his 2001 GMC, and I think it was a bit expensive to hire it out.

Davey

That whole covering sins thing is what the previous owners did with my 65, and they resurfaced three years later, much worse than before, so now I get to deal with a lot of sheet metal replacement. It's always better to fork over a little dough for the sandblasting, or at the very least do a bunch of careful sanding by hand, and then try the spray in liner.

That whole covering sins thing is what the previous owners did with my 65, and they resurfaced three years later, much worse than before, so now I get to deal with a lot of sheet metal replacement. It's always better to fork over a little dough for the sandblasting, or at the very least do a bunch of careful sanding by hand, and then try the spray in liner.

Sandblasting isn't that expensive. If you can get the bed off the truck and take it somewhere-

The local headstone/Monument company sandblasts for $70 an hour. They did my cab, inside and out, in just over an hour. A bed would be about the same or less.

As far as laying down the bedliner, yes, I got the duplicolor gun and sprayed it on myself. The prep was a big marine knotted cable wire wheel on a grinder. After using that to knock off the loose stuff and getting down to metal, I then used CHemprime (phosophoric acid) to convert the rust. Then applied the plasticy stuff on the top, and on the bottom I have chasiskote paint.

Bedliner is easy to shoot because 1) its mostly flat and 2) it goes on thick.

You just blow on a rough layer and let it set up.

The problem with sandblasting is the sand goes everywhere and you'll be getting it out of the cracks and nooks and crannys for a while.

You could also find a place that does a dip, but you'd have to repaint all, and you still would have the chem leaching out the cracks etc.

A good grinder and wire wheel was applied to just about every inch of the frame on both my jeep, and my 59, and to the inside of fenders and other rough spots. Smooth bits get sanded with the DA sander.

Hmmm. I don't have a grinder, but I might try using a wire wheel on a regular electric drill inside the bed box to see if will at least knock down some of the rough stuff. That should make it a bit less difficult.

Thanks arnswine!

After taking a closer look at the truck at the shop a couple of days ago, I noticed that there is a bit of rust developing on the edge of the bed right behind the cab. That will probably be a bit tough to deal with.

I will most likely end up taking the bed body completely off the truck, so maybe that will help a bit.

Homer is having a bit of a time matching up parts for this truck so far.

It has a front end from somewhere between a 73 & 84 truck. He doesn't know what year model (as of yesterday) the 350 engine is, so replacing the power steering pump is a bit of a puzzle.

Front shocks came from one year model. Lower left ball joint came from another. Idler arm came from another. Rear shocks come from a different year.

I was hoping to be able to bring the truck home this weekend so I can drive it and look at it closer. But matching the parts is slowing things down, so maybe next week?

Plus, after all the suspension/steering issues are resolved, there is still the electrical gremlin to take care of.

Homer will get it fixed.

Thanks!
Davey

Davey,


I see by your profile you are a Finnish carpenter. My folks came from Sweden, so we are almost cousins.

Is Homer from Finland too?

Stuart

atomarc,

Something got misunderstood, or misprinted. I'll have to look.

I'm not a "Finnish" carpenter, but a "finish" carpenter, which means I do interior trim work on houses. Homer lives a few houses up the street from me, but I'm not sure about his ancestry. I personally am French/English.

Davey

Okay, I'm finally planning on working on the truck today, weather permitting.

My plans are to buy a wire wheel and put it on an electric drill and get inside the bed box and go to town stripping off the rough stuff.

I'll probably just get a can of Rustoleum primer (black)to touch it off as I go.

I'll take before and after pics and post them at my site.

Hey, it's a start.

Speaking of starting, I hope it will crank up today. After disconnecting the "hot wire" from radio to battery yesterday, I left the battery cables intact overnight.

That should tell me if anything else is draining the battery.

I have to buy an antenna for the radio, and drill out the hole where it's supposed to go. Somebody filled it with Bondo, or some other filler. Then I can maybe hear some music. The CD player actually works, but I'm not planning on playing CDs in a vehicle.

Davey

Davey,

I'm afraid the only thing that was misunderstood was my sense of humor.

Be sure to wear safety glasses with the wire brush task, and don't let the drill cook..this is hard work for those guys.

Not-from-Finland-Stu

Oh, I see atomarc. The joke's on me then. :p

Davey