Help me make my bed...

[David R Leifheit]

One of the more complete pages for bed information...

http://www.gmcpauls.com/47-72_BedWood_Info.htm

In removing the bed... you could do what I did. Put 4 eye bolts into the ceiling of the garage (or carport) and run a rope through each of them to the each corner of the bed. Then pull all 4 at once and lift the bed off the truck.
-Tie off and quickly move the truck out of the way and put sawhorses under the bed, and lower it down.

I had an advantage, the wood in my truck bed was so rotten that all I lifted was the metal, the wood kind of disintegrated. And I had *everything* loosened up or removed (bolt wise) before I started to remove the bed.

I used 1x8 fir (sized down as needed) and should have spent more and used Oak. Heavily stained both sides of the wood before putting it back together, sanded off the truck box and painted it (well primered it anyway) before I put the whole thing back together.
If you don't buy a kit for the strips & bolts, I used carriage bolts and had an accomplice in the bed pushing down on the head with the rubber handle of my hammer, while I tightened up from below.
I'd have to look but I am pretty sure I used the nuts with nylon inserts (so they wouldn't come loose) and large washers to ensure I spanned the "crack" between the boards. There are a few which don't actually have a cross support under them.

It has been too long since I did this, but I am pretty sure that I reassembled everything on the chassis. I suppose you could reassemble the entire box/bed and get some friends to help get it back on the chassis... but working alone (or with one helper) it just seemed easier to put the cross rails on the truck, set the box on those, then lifted and inserted the boards as needed under the sides and front. I'd go and look at it, or get pictures, but the truck has been the resting place for every cheap tarp I have bought over the years (after it punched the side of the block open I parked it). It'll be a mess if/when I ever get to work on it again. Probably have to repair the bed, although for a while I stored the jugs of used motor oil in the bed, and with the weather they kind of leaked... so the bed might be better preserved than I would expect.