truck bed is off frame, any mods to do while bed is off??

[91stranger]

So I pulled the bed off to replace the fuel pump and I am going to sand all the rust off and paint it with some Oliver green rustoleum tractor paint. I am also replacing the bumper with a heavy duty bumper and adding some steel plating to the rear leaf spring mounts. The one side is rusting through a little. Also I am adding steel to the bed where it is rusting. Anyone else have any suggestions on what else I need to do while I have access to everything since the bed is off?? Also I broke one of the bed bolts off. Those bolts were the first thing my 1200 ft/lb impact couldn't get off.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Shocks, spring hangers/shackles. Check exhaust.

Neverseize the heck out of the bed bolts when you put it back together.

 

[RonD]

Rear hangers, they rust out
And Front hangers if you have the time

Stock hangers are riveted on so you have to grind them off which is much easier with the bed off

 

[fastpakr]

I just finished replacing springs, rear hangers, and shackles. Much easier with the bed off. Even after grinding the heads off the rivets they put up a fight coming out. One ultimately required drilling out the center so I could collapse the rest.

Now to get the bed back on by myself this afternoon. Should be interesting!

 

[adsm08]

I just finished replacing springs, rear hangers, and shackles. Much easier with the bed off. Even after grinding the heads off the rivets they put up a fight coming out. One ultimately required drilling out the center so I could collapse the rest.

Now to get the bed back on by myself this afternoon. Should be interesting!

The rivets mushroom when they are pressed, so they have to be ground flush.

If they go through more than one piece (all do, or they would be pointless) it is common to have to grind them flush, pry the outer bracket off, then grind flush again before punching them through the rail.

 

[fastpakr]

That makes perfect sense NOW. We should have had this conversation a week ago.

 

[Ranger850]

So I pulled the bed off to replace the fuel pump and I am going to sand all the rust off and paint it with some Oliver green rustoleum tractor paint. I am also replacing the bumper with a heavy duty bumper and adding some steel plating to the rear leaf spring mounts. The one side is rusting through a little. Also I am adding steel to the bed where it is rusting. Anyone else have any suggestions on what else I need to do while I have access to everything since the bed is off?? Also I broke one of the bed bolts off. Those bolts were the first thing my 1200 ft/lb impact couldn't get off.

Put a hydraulic dump bed kit on to make unloading easier

 

[adsm08]

That makes perfect sense NOW. We should have had this conversation a week ago.

I learned this when taking my own frame apart.

It was less than fun.

 

[91stranger]

Both rear shackles have been replaced already. exhaust is fine. just a lot of rust. I will get pics up tomorrow. I started testing the green paint. it's going to be bright green. might have to dull it down with some black once its all painted.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

The rivets mushroom when they are pressed, so they have to be ground flush.

If they go through more than one piece (all do, or they would be pointless) it is common to have to grind them flush, pry the outer bracket off, then grind flush again before punching them through the rail.

That is the good thing about a rivet, they swell to fill up the holes as the end is set.

Its good until you go to take it apart anyway...

Both rear shackles have been replaced already. exhaust is fine. just a lot of rust. I will get pics up tomorrow. I started testing the green paint. it's going to be bright green. might have to dull it down with some black once its all painted.

If you don't already have a lot of it there are a couple shades of Oliver, there is a shade from around the 1930's that is a darker shade than the more common one. And they got lighter in the 60's.

 

[91stranger]

Here is a pic showing the bright green paint. I only did a small patch on the frame just to see how it would look with the green on the truck.

 

[Craig0320]

Matches Perfectly

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

That is the later color green. Slightly darker than Deere.

 

[91stranger]

Yeah it is pretty bright but if it doesn't look right when I get it all painted then I am adding a light overspray of black to it to darken it up a little. Its the good farm tractor rustoleum paint so it should help that frame from getting worse. There is a spot on the frame by the rear shackle that I need to repair. It has holes in it pretty bad.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

FYI tractors don’t really rust. Even bare metal takes decades to rust thru without winter road treatments.