Bedside Replacement

[Mark_17]

Living in NJ, my bed is rotten. Looking to do the work myself. I've been looking at full beds but they are hard (and expensive) to come by in NJ. I also already had my truck coated with Line-X so I'd prefer to keep this bed.

Has anyone here replaced the full bedsides from a 99-06 Chevy/GMC 1500?

Also, the Sierras had an option for 4 wheel steering and those trucks had different bedsides that are fiberglass. Does anyone know if they would work on my stock steel fleetside bed. I figured for longevity reasons, fiberglass would be the better way to go, if possible.

 

[gofastwclass]

From an installation perspective you could use 3M panel bond to adhere the sides and not damage the painted or lined surface. This or a similar product is how the aluminum and composite skins are attached to many newer vehicles.

 

[CJM8515]

www.car-part.com look for a bed there. I can tell you right now there are plenty of clean beds floating around.

 

[vpd66]

i've been thinking that if a guy got good at repairing these box sides you could make a lot of money. Here in Wisconsin where they salt the hell out of the roads I see Chevy/GMC trucks with rust holes forming on all the way up to 2011 trucks. The design is bad and has 3 oval holes in the inner fender and the snow/salt gets packed up in there and rusts from the inside out. Trucks look good but it starts with paint bubbles. By then its almost too late. With in a year once it bubbles the paint you have a rust hole. One easy fix is to cut out and repair the rust and then cover it with plastic wheel flares. I know this doesn't sound ideal but it is a quick fix.

 

[fiftyv8]

I bet the Japanese truck beds don't fail nearly as often...

 

[countryroad82]

From an installation perspective you could use 3M panel bond to adhere the sides and not damage the painted or lined surface. This or a similar product is how the aluminum and composite skins are attached to many newer vehicles.

This is how I install bedsides and many other parts these days. Cuts installation time down tremendously. Make sure to clamp the bejesus out of all contact points and FOLLOW THE FREAKING DIRECTIONS TO THE LETTER!! I use SEM panel bond myself mainly because 3M stands for 3 X the Money . After glueing, weld the corners and you’re done. I would rather install bedsides over patch panels any day just due to the whole fact there’s no filler (most of the time), it’s by far faster, and much better results with no worries of rust popping up somewhere else in the repair area. I won’t even offer to put patch panel in anymore, it’s either replace the bedsides or install huge wheel flares no other choices.

 

[turbowoodworker]

I bet the Japanese truck beds don't fail nearly as often...

This is so amazingly true! I even hear they they outlast their frames.


https://images.app.goo.gl/Yv7rvXaCsA8ZJnkU9

 

[vpd66]

US or Japanese it don't matter. Salt does its damage on them all. Some designs are not has prone to have rust damage has soon and some are terrible. Toyota has there frame problems and GM has there box side problems. Nissan trucks seem to rust quicker then Toyotas around here and last about has long has a GM truck.

 

[Yarz]

Has anyone here replaced the full bedsides from a 99-06 Chevy/GMC 1500?

The beds around here were expensive too, and I couldn't see spending more on the bed than I did on the truck. Plus, I like learning some bodywork as I need it.

I didn't replace the full bedside, but I imagine the process is similar. I replaced the fenders with 16ga trailer fenders thinned and shrunk/stretched to fit, and then the bedside with 18ga sheet shaped to fit:

Basically cut out the rusty and weld in the new.
I didn't care too much about perfect fit on this one because it was such a cheap truck that I just needed to pass inspection, so you can see the lower detail didn't get put in, I didn't bother to do too much smoothing of the weld lines, and I just brushed on some rustoleum, so there are a few runs.