73 fleetside longbed swap any tricks I should know?

[73CamperSpecial]

Im swapping out my rusty bed for a good condition one, have any of you guys done a bed swap like this and encounterd any problems or little tricks i should use? I know the wiring is going to be tricky but what else? Thanks!

 

[bradshawtech]

Wiring shouldn't be too tricky.

Spray the nuts and threads of the bots and nuts with PB Blaster days before you intend to try to take them off. The bolt heads are a carriage style square base so you hopefully will only need someone in the bed holding down on the heads as you are loosening them from below. Some of the nuts are reachable with a socket and extension and impact gun others will need to have a wrench or ratchet and socket used on them.

Be sure to unhooh the fuel filler neck from the bedside but you should be able to pull the bed off the truck without taking the hose off the tank.

Four tough guys can pick up the bed and remove it. pull off the tailgate to lighten it up a bit.

You can simply remove the wiring from the back of the taillights and fish the wires down and out of the bed. There are a few plastic pieces holding the wiring to the back of the bed that will need to be cut then just pull the bed and reuse your existing lights and wiring.

Removing the bumper may or may not be necessary, depends on what type you have.



I got $18.00 at the scrapper when I removed my long wheelbase bed but it had no rust so you may only get $10.00.

 

[73CamperSpecial]

ok thank you yeah i did remove the bed im putting on my truck from another truck and was not sure how difficult it would be to put the new bed back on my truck but im definatly spraying the **** out it with PB blaster before i remove my old bed!!

 

[diesel4me]

There should be a factory plug in the wiring harness on the frame rail ,that you can unplug,leave all the old wiring intact on the old bed..hopefuly the wiring will still be intact on the bed your swapping on ,so it can just be plugged it,no splicing !..

I've had to tack weld the heads of the bolts to the bed in order to get them to unscrew when I was alone ...I usually get new bolts ,most of the old ones wont come off with anything but a cutting torch after 10 years around here..I think I saw new bed bolts listed in the new Doeman parts catalog,so you wont be limited to buying from dealers or hardware stores..I'd avoid using cheap carriage head bolts that are only grade 2's ,get the right grade 5 ones if you need to replace them..

I have hoisted beds off with a come-a-long and a sturdy kids swingset,or hefty tree branch ,but now I have a home built gantry "A" frame to use..once my brother and I used his clothesline posts (made from 1-1/2" pipe) to lift a bed off his pickup!..I used a long chain bolted to each stake pocket as the lifting points,it keeps the bed level and makes it easier to manuver..I've used an engine hoist to pull beds off too..