Rusting out bed, under bed storage mod anyone?

[tink]

13769

Walking around in the bed of the truck, on the liner, I hear *crunch crunch crunch* I'm exactly 150lbs and thinking I shouldn't carry too much cargo in the bed of the truck until something is done with all that rust.

I've peeked under hte liner & hate what I see, and don't want to take the liner out just yet to deal with the disaster. But looking for ideas on how to make the best of a bad situation.

Has anyone done or seen anything like the above pic w/their mm or d50? I don't know how to weld (YET) but always thought it'd be handy to know how. Under a truck bed where nobody will ever look under the liner but me = seems like a good place to start/practice learn how.

Is it possible with whatever is under the bottom of the bed to just cut out all the rust & make a cubby/shelf/ re-build/re-place with new metal? I have no idea so asking :)

Would love to hear what others have done. I did search through all 8 pages & found nothing about the bed rust issue - other than finding a new bed.

[BradMph]

A few here have cut the floor of their beds out and raised it so their trucks can drop to the ground on air bags. This allows the bed to drop, but then there is the cab that has to be enabled also. So some cut the bottom of the cab and drop motors mounts so the front can drop evenly with the bed. It's exotic work and a ton of fabricating.
The fridge idea is a neat idea. You probably could get away with cutting out the bed and laying wood panels in. Get the metal straps lengthwise dividing the wood planks and securing them down as well. It is very custom looking, pretty simple and probably buy a kit for the job. Here is an example of the bed rebuild.
13770

[tink]

Ah thank you! Yeah, I wouldn't necessarily use it as a fridge, but a space, yes! And a clever way to do away with all that rust maybe. I hadn't seen the bed idea with the wood on the google searches so thanks for that!

My dad had chopped & sectioned & lowered vehicles though he didn't do the work himself I know it's crazy wild how metal can be changed exotically, yes. Thinking of starting with something simple (and that can be hidden when I see how bad I do, haha). Something must be done.

I didn't realize they cut the bed for bagging but ooh man I'm going to be checking out those process pics now! I'd love to see what's under there before I start tearing things apart & getting bad surprises :)

[ragragtimetime]

http://www.mightyram50.net/vbulletin/showthread.php/3537-free-1st-gen-box-assy