Musical Truck Beds

[Wildergarten]

I have three trucks, two of which are donors. I have one outstanding camper special bed with two minor repairs necessary, perfect trim (but for paint) and a very good letter tailgate. Other than a bunch of tiny drilled holes to weld and a corner to patch the thing is near perfect because it had a rubber pad in the bottom its whole life... the paint is still glossy. But I don't want it; my project goal is a dump flatbed. So it is my intention to make the repairs and sell the camper bed complete for concourse restoration but I'm certainly willing to let it go to someone who wants to do that. It's so clean I need to get it out of here before it gets dinged and things are building up to the point that I don't have room to move. It would be just a shame to see this thing get damaged.

The challenge is that I don't live in the most accessible of places, so how does one typically make or take delivery for a truck bed? Do most people bring a trailer or expect a trailer delivery? I can do either. If I do ship it, how does one prepare the bed to be put in a cargo truck?

Any experience you might have to share would be helpful.

Thanks,

Mark

[Hobcobble]

In order to ship by a common LTL carrier, you'd have to make up a pallet to
secure the box on. You're going to basically occupy a hair over 4 pallet floor
spaces. I'm not sure of the National Motor Freight Classification for auto
parts, but you'd [or the purchaser] have to know it to get an accurate freight
rate. Local/regional delivery or pick up probably makes the most sense for
something like an 8' box.
John

[Wildergarten]

Many thanks. Sounds like a trailer job if at all possible.

[PwrWgnDrvr]

I have an order for an 8' bed to ship to OK from CA. The crate I need to build is so grievous that I have not had the time to do it in the last 24 months.
Don't think I ever will.
I did ship a bed to British Columbia on a pickup. Turned it upside down, set it on the pickup bedrails, clamped them together and off they went. Even loaded a set of fenders on top of it. Upside down on a flatbed truck or trailer is a piece of cake.
I have 8 beds here. Not much demand for them.

[Wildergarten]

I have 8 beds here. Not much demand for them.

My problem is that the one I have is so clean that it seems a crime to simply take it to the scrap yard. There were people ogling at it at the Power Wagon Ralley.

[soopernaut]

You say you have to weld up a bunch of holes and patch the corner. I'm almost positive the welds will show from the back, and to me that would not be concourse restoration worthy. My bed sounds similar in that the floor and wheel wells are not dented at all but, the outside has (or needs) some repairs.

[Wildergarten]

Thanks for the info; I wasn't aware things got that anal.
I don't know how anybody would inspect the back side of most of these holes.
One would need a lighted scope with a flex head to get there.

So what you are saying is that I shouldn't sweat trying to save it for somebody to use?
Believe me, it would make life easier. Just seems a waste to me when I see some of the trucks people do restore.

[soopernaut]

So what you are saying is that I shouldn't sweat trying to save it for somebody to use?
Believe me, it would make life easier. Just seems a waste to me when I see some of the trucks people do restore.

I'm always for saving things when possible, just don't be disappointed if it takes forever to find a buyer. You live in an area where rust isn't a major factor and most of the people looking for a bed are going to be from another region. This becomes a logistics issue like you've already alluded to.

[Wildergarten]

You live in an area where rust isn't a major factor and most of the people looking for a bed are going to be from another region.

Of the three Sweptline trucks I have now, only one has a sound cab, albeit the door skins are starting to perforate. I've looked around too, and there really isn't much available that doesn't have some amount of skin cancer. It's why my project is stopped until I get a compressor installed that can handle a die grinder without pauses.

It's a good thing having three trucks, especially to see how something I've pulled from one truck without adequate photos was supposed to be installed.

This bed I've got isn't even scratched on the outside, albeit there are two side tanks. One corner at the tailgate where the water drained is rusted and it needed a tailgate I have now. I have no doubt that I can repair the corner and thought it a good exercise for perparing to fix the door skins before selling the bed. Compressor first. The shop is otherwise almost done.

Thanks for the observations!

Mark

[Drummerdad]

It's usually easier to buy an entire truck for parts. I have Isaacs truck that we are working on, and it has a lot of rust. The bed is a disaster. But this is sentimental to us, so if it costs more to fix, fine. I have a parts truck for reference, and to take parts and maybe even repair panels from. I drove 1200 miles one way to get the truck. It seemed like the easiest thing to do. Shipping quotes were crazy.

[DodgeBeast]

Wish you were on the East coast. I could use a bed in better shape than what I have. 30 years of Missouri winters have done a number on mine.

[Wildergarten]

I'm always for saving things when possible, just don't be disappointed if it takes forever to find a buyer.

Things have changed, as is almost always the case when dealing with projects like this.

I'll be swapping the gorgeous green bed onto a white D200 with dented panels. That way, I'll have a running 383/A727 D200 to sell as a whole truck with a body that might be worth the work to restore (the only rust is in the hood and doors). When I pull the white truck bed, I'll snag the 4.10 axle (has a posi and overload springs) and swap it with the one from my 4.10 wrecked truck (already loose). The only switch there will be the yokes, and why the yoke is bigger on a manual BB W200 vs a BB D200 auto mystifies me. I'll post photos of that swapping operation, as the gantry I plan will likely be "novel."