bed interior

[85Ram50]

What do you guys do when the Phillips head screws holding that inside the bed side panel in strip and break off?
I have rust in the bed along the bottom of the side panel and I want to get to it to treat it. The 3 screws along the bottom broke off. The one an inch higher came out. Now the 3 over the wheel well are stripped and I am having a heck of a time getting at them.

[tortron]

Drill or grind the head off. Then you can remove the panel and get some vice grips on the leftover stub

[85Ram50]

Thank You Tortron.
I was going to grind it but drill seems like a better way with maybe a cold chisel and hammer too.

[85Ram50]

Drilled the ones that didn't come out. Most just went to the bottom of the head and came loose with a bit of the thread shaft showing. the rest broke off with a chisel. Here are pics of the rust with the panels off. The rest looks surprisingly good for how bad this part is. the panels have surface pitting I should be able to reuse them. Does anyone know if these angle pieces are welded or installed with adhesive? Here are pics
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[MrPaco]

What you're planning to do to the bed surface after you get rid of the rust?
I have a bunch or rust spots on my bed-, from the rubbing from a plastic bedliner. I plan on sanding down the rust but not sure how to treat the bed afterwards. Wondering what type of durable paint to use to cover up the sanded up spots if I don't want to do a whole spray-on bedliner thing.
Any suggestions?

[tortron]

A good urethane epoxy. I use durapox because it's what we paint our America's cup boat hulls with.

I don't have those angle pieces on my NZ tray. Interesting, I was thinking of making some panels to protect the bed sides too. On my tray at least, the bed sides are spot welded under the floor, the section that touches the wheel well is glued with seam sealer.

Give them a wire brush and see if you can find some spot weld divots

[85Ram50]

MrPaco, I had painted the bed with something that was supposed to be bed liner that wore off. It peeled off where I did not sand down the clear coat. As far as rust what you see on the bed is superficial. I would expect any rust reformer or converter, rustoleum, and regular paint would be enough. If you are going to use it for dirt and gravel you should paint something stronger on even though it will wear off. I have seen some kits in the parts store for around $70+ but I have no idea how good they are.
Edit- I got something called Skyco Ospho that is supposed to convert rust to an oxide that is stable and is meant to be painted over. I have not applied it to the bed as its wet from washing and it is going to rain. I sanded the panels some and brushed them all over. I got it at Ace Hardware. I wasn't paying attention it cost me $19.99 for a quart and gallon is only $26. I'll post again tomorrow after I let them dry for 24 hours.

tortron, I scraped and wire brushed it good and vacuumed out the junk. I have to wash away the dirt I couldn't brush off. I didn't notice any welds but I will look again. If I can't replace it I was going to treat it with a rust converter seal it with paint then rivet on a piece of steel. I could probably use some epoxy. I noticed that the reason it rusts in that area is that there is no seal along the bottom edge and as I type that I realize that means they used spot welds not seam sealer.! I will be sealing that.

[85Ram50]

Rain did not show and I got ambitious after realizing the difference in amount of work in polishing the turd or tearing them out and putting in new was about the same (turns out its much less to do it right) I took out the rusted brackets. 1lb ball peen hammer and 12 inch 1 inch wide cold chisel.
Rain stayed away so I ended up painting the whole bed with Skyco Ospho. It leaves a white film and it may stain your concrete so... I hope it doesn't rain now

OK I got some 1.25" 16 gauge steel angle iron. 1" would probably due. I have them cut to length. I will try to find some adhesive to attach them tomorrow then I will used the good ones to set the panel and mark for the holes. now pictures of the removed brackets. I made hole on the up front bracket as the screw hole had rusted out but the bottom of the angle was still strong except near the front end.
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And with the angle pieces laid in
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[85Ram50]

The Skyco Ospho works OK. I had to repaint some spots that did not turn black.

Edit-
Still a couple spots that are on vertical surfaces are rusty colored. I tried mixing the liquid in petroleum jelly and putting it on. Everything else looks like it has converted.
I plan to seal up with a good DIY bedliner spray the inside behind the panel and paint the bed to seal it good then put a good bedliner on top so I do not have to deal with the new coating wearing off.

[85Ram50]

Does anyone know whether or not the stiffeners in the bed are necessary?

[pennyman1]

the bars are tiedown bars, not stiffeners. Ospho is great stuff - I have a hood I had removed off of Geronimo 29 years ago and stripped the paint off of it and treated it with Ospho - it still does not have any rust on it today. I even had it outside for a time.

[85Ram50]

Yea it is working good. The vertical spots not so much but I keep reapplying and it is slowly getting the job done.

[MrPaco]

MrPaco, I had painted the bed with something that was supposed to be bed liner that wore off. It peeled off where I did not sand down the clear coat. As far as rust what you see on the bed is superficial. I would expect any rust reformer or converter, rustoleum, and regular paint would be enough. If you are going to use it for dirt and gravel you should paint something stronger on even though it will wear off. I have seen some kits in the parts store for around $70+ but I have no idea how good they are.

I have the same situation, someone painted the bed with something that is peeling off. The original paint is underneath, except in some spots where a bed liner wore it off and some surface rust has settled.
I did a test in a few pots with a rust remover drill attachment and got it to the bare metal, almost. There is still some small black pock marks here and there, I didn't want to keep grinding further for fear of not being left with any sheet metal... is it safe to primer and then paint over those areas, or do I have to treat it with a rust reformer first, like you did?
I have a loctite product that says that it can only be covered with oil based primer/paints, so I haven't used it yet until I find out if the primer I have is oil or water based.

[85Ram50]

I have the same situation, someone painted the bed with something that is peeling off. The original paint is underneath, except in some spots where a bed liner wore it off and some surface rust has settled.
I did a test in a few pots with a rust remover drill attachment and got it to the bare metal, almost. There is still some small black pock marks here and there, I didn't want to keep grinding further for fear of not being left with any sheet metal... is it safe to primer and then paint over those areas, or do I have to treat it with a rust reformer first, like you did?
I have a loctite product that says that it can only be covered with oil based primer/paints, so I haven't used it yet until I find out if the primer I have is oil or water based.

I would find a primer for rusty metal or get Ospho to convert the rust. Scrape the peeling paint and sand everything lightly so that there is something for whatever you are going to use to grip to. Wash it and make sure it is dry when you are done sanding and prepping before painting.

[85Ram50]

Hey pennyman1 next time you think of it let me know what brand those bedliners are please.

[pennyman1]

I have to go and look at the trucks they are in - they are at a friends property.

[85Ram50]

OK cool thanks.

[85Ram50]

Progress.
I got the new steel in using JB weld. I could not get a good ground to spot weld them due to the bed being multi piece and they are all bonded with adhesive. I ground some spots to bare metal and covered them with the JB.
I went to API and got some sealer adhesive to seal the line along the bottom where the water gets in behind the panels. IDK yet but I may use it on the panels when I put them back in. Tomorrow I'll get the holes drilled and new stainless fasteners for the panels. I figure I will get in and sand it real good by hand and use whatever OTC bed liner seems best, I'm thinking Herculiner but I haven't settled yet. OK Pics
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[85Ram50]

I have the area behind the panels rust free and sealed with paint. I ended up getting new hardware for the fasteners. I took one of the good ones in to the fastener store and the guy told me it was 6mm dia 16mm long he didn't give me the thread count.[Edit- he did not have any metric screws or bolts that small.] I ended up getting 38 - 1/4 x 20 x 5/8 hex head bolts with washer and lock washer. I had to get the U nuts at Napa Auto Parts. See picture. If you go this route make sure you check the packages as I could only get 3 and needed a 4th so drove 20 miles because they had it. When I got there the package was identical but it had flat nuts in it not U nuts. ?? Ordered another and got them this morning. I have run sealer around the bottom and side edges of the interior panels.
The Napa part is Balkamp 6651909 which is a Dorman product packaged under the Balkamp label for Napa. I forgot the Dorman part number.
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If anyone has any good experiences with DIY bedliner let me know what brand. I don;t think my compressor meant for air nailers is strong enough to do a proper spray job through a paint gun.

[85Ram50]

I purchased a 10 gallon compressor. I think I will Use Raptor Upol. It might be a bit my body isn't happy about all the work I have done. Also thinking about getting a sand blaster if the prep is too difficult. Does anyone know how well a soda blaster would work? Seems like it wold be safer for lungs and cleanup. It does cost more. HF also has a gun with a 20 oz hopper for $20 You just plug in the air line and pull the trigger.

[Giovanni89]

Blasting requires serious air. I have the Harbor Freight 110lb pressure pot blaster. I've only used it for a few small things so far. It keeps my 15cfm @ 175psi 60 gallon Quincy compressor humming right along. You'll want to rent or buy a larger compressor if blasting any amount of surface area. If you go the sand route, go buy proper abrasive media. Tractor supply has bags of coal slag abrasive media for about 8 bucks. Some people use actual play sand. You can give yourself silicosis doing that.

[85Ram50]

The 20lb pot I was looking at only needs 6cfm and less than 100psi. I saw a guy on YT use it and it works OK. He didn't read the instructions or watch the HF vid and thinks it was designed poorly to regulate the flow but he figured it out that you have to regulate the air coming in not the flow coming out. He did say that a grommet they want you to have behind the tip caused clogs. his demo was with it out. The HF vid of the gun looks great but maybe that stuff it is removing isn't so hard to remove. I definitely liked how wide the pattern was.
The only thing I need to remove is the soft rustoleum paint and the old black "liner" I painted in 14 years ago.

[pennyman1]

I have a name brand pressurized pot blaster, and I ran so much black beauty (coal slag) through it, that I had to replace the main valve a couple of times. I found out later that black beauty comes in several sizes - what I was using was for bridge blasting - it cleaned up the rust, but was too aggressive for sheet metal. I now have a place to get the right grit for any kind of blasting. Glass bead is also good for finer removal, and aluminum oxide is for thick heavily rusted metal. Soda blasting is superfine, ad will take a lot of media to clean up heavy rust or thick paint, if it will work at all.

[85Ram50]

OK I haven't tried anything yet. I have it ready to clean up now but it is supposed to rain the next couple days. If it is too much of a pain to get at it with the orbital and sand paper I might go for the pot blaster. They have alum oxide, walnut shells and soda at HF. There is a Tractor Supply in a small town south of me if I got with it I will probably go there to get some media. Coal slag aint much better than coal dust for your lungs. Here she is ready to be cleaned.
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[85Ram50]

I just cleaned up that sealer with a razor blade and sanded it the panels and wheel wells by hand. I don't think I will need a sand blaster. It is going to be a pia but I'm happy not to have to spend that money right now.

[85Ram50]

ordered the 4L kit with spray gun. best price is on eBay $103 cheaper with no gun. They sell it in O'Reilly's and other outlets but if they are anything like O'reilly's it is marked up $60+ over eBay prices. I'm going to get some Raptor 2k anti corrosive epoxy primer UP4842 in a spray can to make sure it sticks.

[85Ram50]

Ran into an issue. Working on something else I found out that the OE design is that you must be able to get behind the interior panels in the bed to get the skirts loose. Is there another known method to get them off if you cannot get behind the panels?

[pennyman1]

not really - that is the only way to unbolt them, unless you cut the welded on nuts on the skirts...

[85Ram50]

I was afraid of that. Got some bad news and was sidetracked all day. I'll try to disconnect just the top of the panels and see if I can get those bolts out. I hope I can figure out way to reconnect them w/o having to use the same method.

Edit-I have an idea. Disconnect the outer bolts I can get to then drill out the welded on nuts. I'll use some trim tape if its necessary when I put them back. I'll post back when I get to it.

[85Ram50]

I have decided to remove the bed panels and get the bolts out properly. I won't put them back in, I will use Trim tape.
EDIT-
I got the driver side off since that is the most important to me right now. When I sum this up I will mention that anyone who decides to fix the rusted angle back there should remove the skirt bolts before replacing the angle.
They all stripped so I ground then drilled them out. The back three are easy enough, especially if you grind them down before drilling. Use a center punch so the bit doesn't slip. The front one was a big pain. I ended up bending the piece of steel that the panel bolts to out and drilling at it from the side anyway.After drilling through with graduating size bits I took a big chisel and 4lb hammer and whacked it (and my hand) a bunch of times. It came out in one piece. The others I drilled until the bolt head and washer came loose.

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When I tried to loosen the two bolts between the cab and bed I had the feeling I was going to strip them so I stopped and sprayed with WD its all I have for it right now.

EDIT2- I got those two bolts off by using a Vise Grip to start them. I have the skirt off and hosed everything down. Got the other interior panel off and drilled out the bolts. It went easier. In this picture I figure the return line is the one in that mount on the left side that has teh hose over to the two way valve. Let me know if I am correct. 23017

[85Ram50]

Got all the skirts off. Have the holes plugged with JB weld. It is drying once I am sure it is sealed I will put the panels back in and clean it so I can spray the Upol bedliner.

[85Ram50]

Got the bed done. I was not happy with the primer cans. They started spitting globs from the start and did not fully discharge. I was not able to coat the tailgate with the epoxy primer. The Raptor sprayed like a dream and I have no experience other than about 20 minutes of instruction on how to paint 39 years ago. The 10gal air compressor I bought for the job worked fine. It ran a lot but there were not hiccups. I never had to wait for it. I used a setting around 55psi+. The gauge is not broken down smaller than 10psi increments. So if any of you were ambitious enough to try it go ahead. The prep is the hardest part.
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When it is dry I will get the lights back on and test drive it with my new fuel pump.

Edit- Well it is dry to the touch. 7 day cure, 72 hours stay dry and it has started sprinkling. :( I hope it just gets misty and moves on. Had to drill out the tailgate screws to get in and fix the latch pull that came off. So now I have to find machine screws for it tomorrow. Tailgate is on sans removable panel.
Geez the rattle can is the same brand as the liner. It is one of the special kind with the push pin on the bottom. It had a turnable fan sprayer but the rest of the nozzle looked like a regular style.

[geezer101]

Looks tidy. Nice job :thumbup: Only problem with rattle cans are the nozzles on them. Some brands use great nozzles and others, well...

[Giovanni89]

Looking good! You can heat up your rattle cans in a bucket of hot water before using them. It will increase the pressure in the can giving you a better spray. Keeps the dreaded globs at bay.

[85Ram50]

Thanks Giovanni. That makes sense. It got soaked last night but it was dry to the touch before the rain started. Hopefully that was enough to protect it. It looks OK

[85Ram50]

OK this isn't strictly the bed, but since I had the skirts off I ordered leaf spring bushings (Energy Suspension black I believe they have carbon impregnated in them to cut down squeaks.) and a husky spring. The old ones were bone dry and tore up. I didn't use their grease I used white lithium grease. I cleaned stuff up and painted some Ospho on the rust I saw then painted the springs and frame parts. I also painted the drums which are only a few years old. Tomorrow I will be able to paint the skirts and put them on. Then the only thing left is to pull the motor to refresh it, paint the engine bay and rewire the front end. That may take a year or two to get to.
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[pennyman1]

it is really coming together - great job!

[geezer101]

Were the spring and shock combo already on the truck? Can't say I've seen that on one of these before. You're probably going to curse me for this but - have you considered a Gen 2 rear end with LSD? Gen 1 parts for the brakes and rear are getting hard to source (the Gen 2 LSD upgrade is definitely on my to-do list). You're ahead of me on this one. I still haven't got to the rear on my Gen 1 and I know it's going to be in a bad way. Keep it up, it's looks awesome :)

[85Ram50]

Thanks Pennyman and Geezer.
I did the shocks a year or two ago hoping to get what I am hoping for from the husky springs, better load support. It bottoms out on the stops when I get heavy loads dumped in. I had to loosen the lower end of the shock on the Drvr side to get the husky spring mounted. when I tightened it back up it is tight against the bar the U bolt goes through. The passenger side is clear.
I added the husky springs and did the bushings today. I took it apart yesterday and cleaned things up and painted what I could knowing the bushings would arrive today.
I forget exactly when but about the same time I did all the front end joints and new calipers. shocks, brakes etc I also did the rear brakes, completely and got new drums not knowing the ones I had were fine. The only thing not new in my brakes are the master cylinder, hard lines and the emergency cable. The soft hoses are new from when I did them too.

[85Ram50]

Project continues on http://www.mightyram50.net/vbulletin/showthread.php/7811-bench-seat