Would this work...

I was thinking of how my bed could possibly be fixed without getting a whole new bed and shaving everything and making a new floor for that. So I was thinking, if the sides arent salvagable, and I got new sides. Would cutting the sides off, and cutting new bed sides and welding them onto the exisiting bed work, like this picture below cut the sides off where the red line is than weld new sides in its place... might seems like less welding and bodywork than a whole new bed. or less work than cutting the floor out putting it into a new bed and cutting the skin off and onto a new bed than shaving the taillights and bed rails again. Maybe I'm just going crazy but im in a shitty situation dunno how to go about it.

I might as well section the truck while im at it, see how much insurance gives me lol

yea it will work, we do quaters and bedsides like that sometimes.

I'm not a body guy but it might work. It seems similar to replacing a quarter panel on an early car, so I could see it being possible. Just don't fuck it up, that would be an expensive piece to have to buy twice. What are bedsides like $400 plus?

And thats a sweet picture.

i dunno hopin insurance gives me some decent money. id like to have a sheetmetal dash made or at least suicide the doors. Im tired of getting fucked it better put me one step ahead of where i was my luck needs to change.

if the blazerado was made anything is possible.
same goes for the little shops blazer.

mine were 300 a piece before the prices went up and i think i have the cheapest body parts on the market, so those are probably up there in the price range

it could work, but warpage is going to be the biggest concern. You will be welding a big open area with no bodylines to reinforce the panel, which would keep warpage minimal. Bedsides *usually* run 900 is a piece, and labor is about 600 a piece.

It will definitly work... but yes like beyond static said the warping is a main concern... one thing i like to do to help prevent warping is have like a piece of metal of whatever sort up agianst the back of the panels that are being welded... for it to absorb some of the heat... and not all the heat goes to the panels

eastwood co sells a clay like substance that is supposed to absorb a lot of the excess heat associated with that type of welding.

it may be cheaper to buy a used bed from somewhere than just the bedsides if they are $900 a piece. not sure if you need both sides reskinned or not. but a used bed shouldnt set you back $1800. the side would just need to be cut off.