LMC Bed Floor Repair Section

After installing a Bronco 33 gal aft tank I thought I'd also do the typical mod of adding an access panel to the floor of my bed to make it easier to get to the sender in the future w/o removing the bed. In my haste, i found that the cuts that i made were less than square, straight, etc. (done at the end of a long day?)
My first thought was to find someone parting out a truck in my area and cutting some panels to correct my mistakes. Understandably, anyone that had a decent bed wasn't willing to let me just take some of it and leave them with an unusable pile of metal. Started searching for repair panels and ended up purchasing from LMC part #40-8071.

I'm posting so that others can understand what to expect should they ever order this item from LMC. We all know that LMC probably produces very few, if any, of the parts that they sell and indeed these are manufactured by TRIPLUS Automotive (FD31004 / EF-3028-1).

First noticed that while the gauge of steel is extremely close to factory, the type of metal just seems cheap. Hard to put in words and someone with metallurgy knowledge could probably give me a much more technically accurate description, but in my words, "it just don't feel right".

For lack of knowing the correct terms for the parts of the corrugated panel I'm going to use these;

High Flats
Low Flats and
Ramps

The height difference between the High Flats and the Low Flats is very close and could have been dealt with easily. The Ramps appear to be at the correct angle. The problem comes into play in the width of the flats resulting in panel creep. Over the 16" width of the panel, the ramps start getting further and further from the original panels' ramp with the last ramp ending up being 1/2" further away from the original as seen here



 Obviously totally unusable w/o MAJOR rework
Currently in contact w/ customer service at LMC but their initial comment to me was that while they strive to offer the best options available they are not always going to fit exactly as original. Ain't that a hoot!

perhaps Keith could be looped in on this as the CS rep claims to have never heard of him.

Kurt - That's a bummer!  Totally unusable.  And I'm tagging Keith.

Years ago Jim/Ardwrkntrk put me onto Tabco body panels, and my paint/body man said they are the best he's ever used.

As you'll see at that link they do have a bed floor half, but it is $115 and the freight is $125 to get it to me.  

Sorry to see that will not work for you Kurt.
Would be nice if we knew someone with a bead roller that could make that part but sorry to say I dont.

Have you gone through a P&P to see if they have any beds that only the floor part is good on you can get a square from?
Dave ----

Thanks Gary, yeah I found a few places that have the repair panels and ended up trying LMC because the part was $29.95 plus $31.95 for shipping. Hard to swallow, but best delivered price that I found. Also read a bunch of good reviews about TRIPLUS, but didn't hold true in this case.

Dave, been looking at Craigslist because when you go to the local P&P places they get pissy real fast when you start making sparky-sparks.

Thanks for tagging me Gary!

Kurt: I'm sorry about the fitment problems on that bed panel. I was going to go pull a sample off the shelf to inspect but it turns out that we don't have any at the moment. We do have a bunch on order, but there's no ETA.  

LMC has been selling 150/year of this patch panel since 2006 and this is literally the very first complaint we've ever received on it. But the pictures tell the tale for sure...as Gary stated, that's not useable. There's now a note on the part in the computer to not accept any further orders for this until we can correct the problem.

I just went through this with the '67-'72 bed floor patch panels too. The ribs weren't matching in that case either, and I stopped the sales until we had the factory retool for a better replacement. That problem is now fixed, but now it sure looks like we have a similar problem with these '80-'96 panels. In this case, the fact that there's never been any other complaints on this seems to indicate something's recently changed at the factory. I'll definitely look into it.

Welcome, Keith.  And glad you are on the case.  Sounds like you know what to do.  Thanks!

Be still my beating heart...? I have been looking for replacement fender aprons (the plastic inner liner inside the front wheel wells) for AGES and come up totally dry. In various sources they're called "aprons" or "liners" but no matter where I've searched I've been unlucky in love. That includes the https://www.car-part.com/ style finders - when I contact those who list the ones I need, they all come back and say sorry they don't actually have it (or aren't willing to do the work to remove them from junkers on their lots without massive labor fees). I guess some of them use automated systems when they post a car of a year/make/model that looks up and posts all of the part numbers in the vehicle. It doesn't seem to mean they're willing to mail you one.

Anyway on a whim I looked through Tabco's listings and came across this:



which is pretty vague but another listing that has a photo shows this as the "wheelhouse":



which is still super vague but does look a lot like a fender liner/apron. Could this be my long lost rebuild panel?

Interesting!  I guess you saw that they show 88-98, but maybe they'll fit?

Tarheel Blue wrote

Dave, been looking at Craigslist because when you go to the local P&P places they get pissy real fast when you start making sparky-sparks.

Drill 4 holes with a battery drill then use a battery power skill saw to cut between the holes.
Once out trim to size when home and make as many sparks as you want

I have a drill and a saws all (large blades) that are battery if you need them.
Dave ----

Thanks Keith!
Like they say, a picture is worth a thousand words, especially when the warehouse doesn’t have any in stock for you to look at.
Believe me when I say that my post is not intended to bash LMC, rather to alert both you and the fellow members here as to the current situation.
I look forward to hearing the results of your conversation with TRIPLUS

Thanks for caring.

I once bought half of a cab at my local. I went in with a sawzall and an extra pr of hands. I asked the price of a roof at the front desk. when I found the one I wanted. I cut the a pillars, opened the doors and cut side to side across the floor in front of the b pillar seam. removed the two back cab bolts and said " get a cart". my buddy looked at me saying are you sure. we lifted it and onto the cart ant out we go. the guy up front scratched his head saying "that's not a roof". I may have paid for the whole cab but it was worth it. custom aint for sissies!  

I think you'll find that all the 80-98 Ford part start with a # 6

I don't know what a #5 or #7 are, but I'm pretty sure all our trucks have plastic inner fenders and Tabco is a stamping operation.

I'm going to pop over there and see what these are supposed to fit.

Keep us posted on this as I need replacement ones also!

bronco may be different