Flareside diamond plate bed rails are done!

Diamond plate bed rails are done! I got the exterior radius done, now the 90 degree bend for the inner wall..
complete and ready for install!

Very cool. So can you bend some soft steel for replacement panels for the bed sides? i would think so, the low carbon steel will bend like butter compared to the diamond plate.

Looking good, Ron!!!

Hey Pete
You sure are correct on that, I'm using 3003 0.045ga and this stuff will not bend without a huge fight!
they say 3003 is "the  most malable" can't imagine what the 60 or 70 series is like.

Looks great.  I'll be putting more beer money aside for a set to match the tail gate topper on its way.

So Ron is actually selling some?  Cool!

I think I (will) have one of the first tailgate toppers.  It shipped this week.

You have #2
#1 is going on my Flareside.

The actual bedside has a complete roll. Are you able to do that? with the softer steel for a patch panel.

The originals only did a 90 degree roll, so you can place the protector on. If you go 180 degrees, you would have to "slide" the protector over the bed roll. could be lots of damage...

I'm not talking about a protector. I'm talking sheet metal for a replacement panel. An actual piece to allow the rust areas cut out and a new piece welded in. That part of the bed side rusts. No one, that I have found, makes a replacement piece.

Foggy pic of install - I really like 'em Ron, and think the set looks great together.  Thanks for the quick ship, too.

Hello,
The diamond plate looks great! I've a question though. My brother-in-laws 1986 has diamond plate covering the entire bed. It was attached by the previous owner using 1/2" plywood between the bed and the plate. I guess this offset the plate enough to account for irregularities of the metal bed surface? Sadly, all the wood has rotted and trapped moisture against the bed and rotted it out. Especially at the front and rear sills. The bed was covered with a thick rubber mat that also trapped moisture and rotted the wood along most of the perimeter. Why the need to offset the diamond plate? At this point were just trying to get all the rust cleaned up. The bed has been removed and we are moving forward on a new (larger) gas tank install. I would like to just replace the bed with diamond plate instead of wood but am wondering about cost. It seems like a sheet of diamond plate large enough to cover the bed in one piece would be very pricey. Just looking for some ideas here.
Thanks,
Jcris

I guess a 1-piece diamond plate bed floor is possible, but the bed floor is wider than 48 inches.
Look in the craigslist finds in this forum, the brown flareside with diamond plate floor. They welded "extension ears" to the 4 x 8 sheet to cover around the wheel wells.
The other issue is the wood floor is @3/4' thick, this height mates to the flange of the steel walls. How are you going to "shim" the new floor to the crossmembers/frame.
Go with marine grade plywood like I did.

The plywood definitely looks like a better choice. It looks like you went with 3 pieces of ply and left the seems open? Am I seeing that right?  I'd rather not use those "rails" to hold the bed in place. The old ones were in pretty bad shape. Were the front and rear sill supports in bad shape. We need to fab something up to replace those with. If I could find a affordable solution I'd just buy something but budget is a concern. This bed had the diamond plate down all the sides as well. I just hope when I get it apart the bed isn't rusted out. Thanks for the pic, it looks great!
Jcris

Yes, this is the way Ford did it, 3 sections. Buy the way, you will need 2 sheets of Marine grade 4'x8'
Bed width is @51" (because of the ears around the wheel wells)

Jcris wrote

It looks like you went with 3 pieces of ply and left the seems open? Am I seeing that right?  

The seams are open in that picture, but if you scroll up and look at the previous picture(s) he posted, the seams are covered by the factory style metal strips.

This is correct, two of the five strips cover the gaps, the others are there just to "float" cargo off the wood.

So any thoughts about making some replacement steel pieces ? If you can roll the radius farther, you can make patch panels for that part of he bed sides.