Making aftermarket short bed sides?

[carcrafter22]

So I'm going to start checking into making aftermarket short bed sides, this will more than likely turn into nothing but I know I'm sick of hunting for short beds in even decent shape with no luck.

What do you guys think make them with seams or no seams?

Anyone know who would even produce such an item? I assuem they have to make a metal die first. I dont know much about this just wondering if you guys like the seams or not.

Any idea what a person would expect to pay for a bed side stamping on small production runs?

[binder56jd]

way more ce to shorten a longbed----imho

roll formers and presses----this is why DC's parts are so high and licensing


u might consider a fibreglas mold process

[fordman]

well they do make the outer lower skins fo rthe bed sides. and you cut them to fit a shortbed. they come in a rear half and front half. and i think they fit either side of the truck.

[carcrafter22]

You guys are confirming what I was afraid of, WAY too expensive. I was just looking for a way to repair all these short beds I come across and I know a fair amount of people that would like to have a nice short bed.


I wonder about fiberglass panels? I know most would probably hate the idea of a "truck" having fiberglass bed panels but in reality not many people actually use these trucks for anything but cruising especially the short beds.

I have made many things from fiberglass and most have turned out nice but I have no experience having things produced on a large scale. More research

[carcrafter22]

Can anyone think of downsides to fiberglass bed sides besides not being able to abuse them like you would steel sides?

Could you even make a fiberglass side strong enough to keep the bed square? I would imagine you could use body adhesive to attach the sides to the metal bed structure (they make modern beds like this just fine but they are all steel).

[JG F100]

I wish we had repros like these for our trucks...

http://www.classictrucks.com/tech/0201c ... to_08.html

I know a lot of the new trucks with step sides use fiberglass, as long as its thick enough it should be fine.

[cdeal28078]

These truck keep getting more popular maybe somebody will start reproducing some better body parts if any of the dies are left anywhere or they incur the cost of making them. I wonder just how much of a role the outer skin plays in squaring the bed?
I know the lower parts are not that sturdy. They are thicker than new stuff but if the braces are removed they will flop in the air. I figure the inside of the bed does most of the strengthening. Don't know that for a fact though.
I would want the seem. Just looks funny to me without one as I have seen mine with the seem for so long
clint