The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Making a Stovebolt Bed 55 3200 box sides - repair or replace?

My bed sides are in very good shape except the area directly behind the angle strips. The metal is heavily pitted along both bed sides in this area and through in more than a few places. Looks like I would have to cut the bottom edges off each bed side just above the angle strip and replace - that is 89" each side of butt welding. I got a buddy who can fab up the bottoms in his metal shop but he told me to expect a lot of work controlling/dealing with warpage over the areas when mig welding them back together. I'm considering new side beds of MAR K as well but pricey. Anybody dealt with this dilemma and have any thoughts on fixing vs replace? Any thoughts appreciated. Love that Mar-K quality BTW.

I'm retired but still overloaded with projects so time still is a factor. Actually I'm busier now than when I was working...

I repaired my bedsides where they had rust at the angle strips, but the part that I replaced was front and rear of the fenders, not the whole bottom half, although I think the whole bottom edge might have been easier to replace. I welded in patches that were just wider than the angle strips (maybe 2") and dealt with the shrinkage by welding buttons along the butt joint till they overlapped. I still had some warping, but was able to get that out with some planishinig and heat shrinking. It was a lot of work. I also had to patch around most of the fender holes.
Here's a photo of one in original form Bedside rust
Here's a pic of the patching process Bedside patching
Both have been blasted and primed (sorry no pics), and will need a little filler for some of the shallower pitting areas.
But I'm a cheap SOB and didn't want to buy new bedsides and have them shipped up here ($$$$ ), and as well, the point of my project was to restore the original parts as much as possible. (Anybody can assemble a truck from new parts, right? )
If you're in a time crunch, I'd buy new bedsides, but fabbing replacement bottom patches would likely be cheaper. I think you could control the warping by using TIG as opposed to MIG. Check some of MPandC's posts here on Stovebolt.com or some of his Garage Journal threads for hints using either welding process. Robert is a metal artist.

Thanks..mine are not as bad as yours were, at least outside angle strip areas..fender holes look ok and rust is in a very narrow strip along the angle strip but it goes along much further than yours did.....don't have access or skills for Tig..still mulling it over....

Thanks for the response. Sounds like you are happy with the results.

I chose the repair option. Used an overlap joint with plug welds to avoid warping. Did both sides and the front panel. You can see the joints but that doesn't matter to me.

Thanks Gord that looks neat. I think I will fix mine.

Appreciate the responses.