The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Making a Stovebolt Bed Thinking about pulling my bed off.....

So I am thinking of pulling the bed off of my 49. This would be to replace the bed wood, bed wood rails and possibly the cross members. What I would like to know is how to do this?. Did you make a jig or fab a hoist. Or did you just have four or five buddies that lifted it off and set it on a stand. Also need to know about a possible stand. Just for the record this will not nor ever will be a trailer queen. I intend this truck to be my daily driver and a work truck. Thanks to everyone and their suggestions/ experience.

I just left mine on the truck to replace the bed wood but it is a lot of climbing into the frame .If you took the rear fenders off and the filler running board pieces then you could set it on the ground with a few supports .

No real need to take it off for anything that you mentioned. Just remove whatever hardware is necessary to remove the parts one at a time while the bed is in place. I did just that on my daily driver '49.

I lifted the bed off my project with an engine hoist.
I had been warned to have extra hands available when lifting it, but they were not available, so I did it slowly, on my own.
I used ratchet straps from underneath front and rear, with 2-bys as spreaders to keep the bed sides from being compressed. (Don't let the straps slide off the ends of the 2-bys.)
Set it up, try lifting a little to check the balance...adjust as needed...keep fingers crossed...move bed slowly, from over the frame to whatever set up you have to set it on.

I hope some others with more experience might chip in here with their methods, as I will be removing mine again for painting and would like to hear suggestions as to how to make the process less nerve-racking.

I assembled my bed on a pair of sawhorses. I couldn't imagine installing the wood floor on the frame. Way too much stuff in the way. The way Nick did it would work, or just long straps routed under the bed side rolls and coming together from the corners to the center for your hook point. It should balance just fine if your hook is centered. Or 4 guys can easily get it off, having some sawhorses ready to set it on. I went from saw horses to the frame with 3 friends helping.

Since my bed was already removed from the truck frame, I used saw horses. When done, I had some friends help me lift it in place.

3 friends and you. 1 sixpack. Lift and move. Sawhorses with 2x4 extensions on each. Depending on time line, consider building a quick crib out of pallets with castors so you can roll it around.