The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Painting a brand new Mar-k bed??????????

I am very comfortable with body work; I am painting my entire truck myself. Granted sometimes I do not take the most direct road to completing specific tasks, I get them completed and my projects look good. I recently purchased a brand new Mar-k bed, I told myself when my cab is painted I would make painting and mounting the bed my summer time project. The cab is painted “minus some much needed wet sanding and buffing” but it’s painted, time for the bed. So far the bed is in primer, today I took all the panels out of their boxes for a dry fit (minus the wood of course that’s getting purchased this afternoon). I immediately noticed it is nearly impossible to assemble the bed without slightly scratching the panels, which concerns me. This leads me to the point of this thread, anyone here paint their own bed? What was the process? Part by part? As a whole? I originally thought I would paint it part by part and then assemble the bed when every panel is painted; today I realized maybe that’s a bad idea. Maybe I want to pant the panels with single stage paint where they touch, assemble the bed, then paint the entire bed once assemble as a whole. When I say assembled I mean the four main parts, front bed panel, rear cross sill, and bedsides. Any thoughts?

Your latest thought is a good plan. I painted mine completely before assembly and had no problems but maybe could have saved some fretting with your plan.

You will love that Mar-K metal, It takes very little work to be perfect.

The steel is great; I filled every visible spot weld so far which has drastically improved the look of the panels. I should also mention that today I tried to assemble the bed myself three days after having hernia surgery..... maybe it would be easier and less cumbersome with an extra set of hands. I have some mods to do to the bedsides before it's time to paint. I am thinking of going with the pros pick tailgate check straps which I will have to drill holes for. I also installed Mar-k's tailgate latches which I will also have to drill holes for. I have some time on my hands to say the least, I will think a lot on this one.

I had mine painted before assembly. Went together fine without any damage. I used 3M tape on some areas just in case. Definitely a 2 man job tho