Chuck Brown
09-09-2009, 04:30 PM
Boys,
I spent the weekend doing many things, one of which was taking a good hard and honest look at the condition of the bed on the 64 J200, and the results drew me to accept the final conclusion; No two ways about it, Ive got to go flat bed on this rig.
I started picking and peeling away at the bed's side panels, and I have to say, Ive never seen this much plastic added over rust in my life. No word of a lie, in the shallower sections the filler was a good 1/8"+ spread uniformly across the bed sides...Ive never seen anything like it. When I started peeling away the hard, thick sheets of bondo, I almost wished I hadnt seen what was underneath, it was like looking in a big brown gaping, festering wound.
No more daydreaming about patching this thing up or trying to salvage it, this thing has got to go.
So, I started flipping through pics Ive snatched from sites over the years and over at BJs I found exactly what I would like to pull off (my aplogies to Ryan and Co. for borrowing this pic for the purpose of this thread):
http://i565.photobucket.com/albums/ss94/Chuck_Brown/rogerrufus69j2000gladaustralia.jpg
The tag says it belongs to Roger Rufus in Australia, so Roger...if youre out there, I want to borrow your brain for a minute.
For any of you other fellas that went "flat" and never "went back", can you take a minute for a brutha here? Im a decent welder myself and have access to my father-in-law's 7000 square foot fabrication shop, so Im looking for direction here.
-How did you determine how high the bed surface should sit off the ground (Im planning on going with 35"s on the J200 eventually)?
-Was setting up alignment with the cab body lines a consideration?
-Fuel tank orientation; Did you relocate?
-Bed Structure: Did you go with square tube, box steel or C-channel?
-Fenders or Mudflaps for rear wheels?
-Bed floor decking: Hard wood, plate steel, etc...?
Finally, my current bed length is 86" from front to tailgate, has anybody shortened their rear frame rails during the process?
Thanks as always fellas,
Chuck Brown
I spent the weekend doing many things, one of which was taking a good hard and honest look at the condition of the bed on the 64 J200, and the results drew me to accept the final conclusion; No two ways about it, Ive got to go flat bed on this rig.
I started picking and peeling away at the bed's side panels, and I have to say, Ive never seen this much plastic added over rust in my life. No word of a lie, in the shallower sections the filler was a good 1/8"+ spread uniformly across the bed sides...Ive never seen anything like it. When I started peeling away the hard, thick sheets of bondo, I almost wished I hadnt seen what was underneath, it was like looking in a big brown gaping, festering wound.
No more daydreaming about patching this thing up or trying to salvage it, this thing has got to go.
So, I started flipping through pics Ive snatched from sites over the years and over at BJs I found exactly what I would like to pull off (my aplogies to Ryan and Co. for borrowing this pic for the purpose of this thread):
http://i565.photobucket.com/albums/ss94/Chuck_Brown/rogerrufus69j2000gladaustralia.jpg
The tag says it belongs to Roger Rufus in Australia, so Roger...if youre out there, I want to borrow your brain for a minute.
For any of you other fellas that went "flat" and never "went back", can you take a minute for a brutha here? Im a decent welder myself and have access to my father-in-law's 7000 square foot fabrication shop, so Im looking for direction here.
-How did you determine how high the bed surface should sit off the ground (Im planning on going with 35"s on the J200 eventually)?
-Was setting up alignment with the cab body lines a consideration?
-Fuel tank orientation; Did you relocate?
-Bed Structure: Did you go with square tube, box steel or C-channel?
-Fenders or Mudflaps for rear wheels?
-Bed floor decking: Hard wood, plate steel, etc...?
Finally, my current bed length is 86" from front to tailgate, has anybody shortened their rear frame rails during the process?
Thanks as always fellas,
Chuck Brown