It took me quite awhile to get through the truck bed installation. It's hard to hold everything in place, keep it square, and drill mounting holes.

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I wound up pulling the whole bed area away from the cab by 0.25 inch. This allowed the stainless bed front to clear the rear of the cab. So my stainless bed sheet overhangs the rear of the frame by 0.25 inch. I don't see any negative consequence for doing this.

I wanted my stake pockets to be functional, even if it is only for decorative side rails. The stake pockets are glued to the bed side using 3M Panel Bond. I cut the bed side stainless so that I can use 0.75 x 2.0 inch stake boards.

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In the roll pan I added backup lights and a backup camera. One thing to note on the backup lights, no need to add extra wiring, just re-use the violet wire that's already in the rear harness.

Some mounting notes:
  • I installed rivnuts in the frame for the front two mounting points of the bed sides
  • The center mounting point for the bed side requires some spacers between the side and the frame. I used 1/8 inch thick washers on each side.
  • I also used rivnuts in the 4 lower mounting holes of the roll pan behind the tailgate. This made installing the countersunk screws easy


Another note is that I trimmed ONLY the long dimension of the tailgate by 1/4 inch. The length of the tailgate needed no trimming. And because my tailgate had LOTS of gel coat damage along the edges, I repaired the gel coat with a gel coat repair kit.

The stainless bed sheet will be installed, but I have also ordered the aluminum decorative bed insert from Smokey Road Rod Shop. I plan to install both.

My last note: I convinced myself that I have to relocate the battery. Because of the way I ran my fuel lines and the placement of my transmission cooler I can't get the battery out from underneath. This means that I need to remove it from above. Rather than provide "trap doors", "cutouts" or a removable bed, I'm going to add a pickup truck type tool box behind the cab and relocate the battery inside the tool box. It will look something like this:

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This will also give me some lockable storage. It's also a convenient place to add a trickle charger or jump pack.