[70Cuda383]

you swap beds!

Thanks to those who gave the tips...they said "15 minutes to ahve the bed off! no sweat!" of course, I knew it would take more like an hour, because if it's never been off before, the bolts will be rusty! among other complications.

total swap for the beds took me about 4 hours doing it all by myself, the other guy didn't have much help to provide, and honestly, I wasp robably faster at it by myself than if he had tried to help.

we did just pick it up and move it, wasn't too bad, but he was a short little guy with no upper body strength, so we had to take the wheels off the trucks, and almost set them down on the ground so the bed was low enough for him to pick it up.

Now I got some more work to do! --reinstall fuel cell, bed mounted battery, roll pan, flares, body kit, and finally, the already painted fiberglass bed cover thats been in my basement since about December!

 

[Mystake]

Congrats.

Kinda lame that you had to take the tires off because he wasn't strong enough.

If he was that weak, you should've just pushed him over to the ground and said no 200$ for you.


also, did you use an impact gun? when we took our bed off we did it with a ratchet... broke one of the bolts. We bought an impact gun after and they all came off no problem.

 

[70Cuda383]

Yea i got an impact. his truck had been rust protected and had rubbery crap all over EVERYTHING underneath. his bolts were slow going with the impact, but they came out.

my bed had 2 bolt heads break off on the same side, thankfully it still had 2 on that side to hold the bed down!

 

[KTK00R/T]

So what happend to your bed?

 

[JethroStyles]

Ha, I took the bed on/off the Ram when it was lowered a couple of times. Gravy!

The last time. we took it off when it was lowered, and put it back to stock heigh. FUCK! 6" higher is ALOT!

I shoulda taken the wheels off. LOL!

 

[TurboBlew]

wow... I was never that weak after 8yr old...lolzzzzz

 

[70Cuda383]

So what happend to your bed?

Wind storm about a year ago, grabed my tri-fold hard bed cover and ripped it off the bed, peeled the bed rail up like a bottle opener, and because it's where the inner bed panel and outer quarter skin come together and are spot welded together, simply hammering it back down was not gonna work without making it pop out somewhere else, so I've been waiting for the right deal to come along on body work, and what-a-ya know, this guy wants to get his cut of the stimulus package and trade his truck into the gob'ment, so I snatched his bed for mine.:mullet:

 

[KTK00R/T]

Wind storm about a year ago, grabed my tri-fold hard bed cover and ripped it off the bed, peeled the bed rail up like a bottle opener, and because it's where the inner bed panel and outer quarter skin come together and are spot welded together, simply hammering it back down was not gonna work without making it pop out somewhere else, so I've been waiting for the right deal to come along on body work, and what-a-ya know, this guy wants to get his cut of the stimulus package and trade his truck into the gob'ment, so I snatched his bed for mine.:mullet:

thats a deal

 

[Blue Basher]

congrats on the bed swap im glad you got it done with no hangups asside from the little guy.

 

[viperkota]

WTF...three red dakotas? RC, CC and a QC....:mullet:

 

[EasyEDak3.9]

Wind storm about a year ago, grabed my tri-fold hard bed cover and ripped it off the bed, peeled the bed rail up like a bottle opener, and because it's where the inner bed panel and outer quarter skin come together and are spot welded together, simply hammering it back down was not gonna work without making it pop out somewhere else, so I've been waiting for the right deal to come along on body work, and what-a-ya know, this guy wants to get his cut of the stimulus package and trade his truck into the gob'ment, so I snatched his bed for mine.:mullet:

how did you find this guy...haah

 

[70Cuda383]

how did you find this guy...haah

Pure luck. browsing craigs list to kill a few moments of free time, he had his bed liner and an extra set of factory 15x8s listed on the list, and said "I'm trading in my truck for cash for clunkers, so I don't need these anymore"

:mullet:

 

[atvrider07]

need a pinstripe too

 

[BobbyDodge]

I took the bed off of my 2005 Dakota Extended cab yesterday so I could get rid of surface rust on all of the components under the bed. Even though I live in California and we have no road salt and corrosion/rust are unheard of, we live next to the Pismo Dunes and the previous owner clearly drove in the wet salty beach sand. It was caked underneath, with the salt causing rust. I used POR-15 cleaner/degreaser, pressure washer, maroon scotch brite, air die grinder for the bad parts, and then painted with Rustoleum Rust Converter Paint/Primer. It turned out great.

Taking the bed off is as described, I have the following tips/observations. It took one hour to get the bed off. I put ratchet straps in a cross pattern and hooked them at the cross in the middle to a strap slung through two eye bolts I had already installed into a ceiling beam in my garage. It was easiest for me to get the apparatus set, then jack up the rear of the truck with my floor jack, it has 2 feet of lift, then cinch up the straps, then slowly lower the truck. The bed stayed suspended, pretty controlled and smooth and nearly effortless. One helper could guide the bed while I managed the jack. For re-installation it was very easy to get the bed lined up, jack up the truck and get all of the bolts started, then release the straps and lower the truck with bed installed to the ground.

Having the truck in the air also helped to have easy access to the bolts and tail lights. No need to remove the tail light housings from the bed, you can reach up behind them and twist out the wire connectors.

You also have to release the wire connector to the license plate light. it is attached to the bed in two spots. The bumper and these lights remain attached to the truck frame while the bed is lifted off.