# One-man truck bed removal?



## DoctorWho

Hey guys, don't know if any of you would have ever done this but anyone ever removed a truck bed by themselves? I have two tow trucks and I want to yank off the tow beds, don't really have any buddies to help me at the moment. Kinda just wondering about the practicality of it, or if I am just dreaming. Would have to be done outside, won't fit in garage until beds are gone, so can't use chain hoist and my engine hoist won't reach far enough over bed.

Any tips, tricks, magic spells?

Did think of removing bolts, chaining back of bed to tree and just driving away. :whistling2:


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## oh'mike

Remove the bolts--jack it in four places and drive out from under.

Think slide in truck camper.


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## DoctorWho

oh'mike said:


> Remove the bolts--jack it in four places and drive out from under.
> 
> Think slide in truck camper.


lol, yeah, I'd actually thought of something like that except it's a dually so anything holding the front of the bed from underneath would be in the way of the wheels rolling out.
Finally broke down, guess I'm going to have to buy a bigger engine hoist, found one big enough to reach over to the middle of the bed from the rear of the truck. Guess I was just trying to find a cheap-skate way out! :laughing:


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## oh'mike

A gantry would be the ticket----to much money for a one shot deal.


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## DexterII

This was quite a number of years back, and I'm not sure that I would do it all over again, but a buddy of mine and I swapped a cab on his '69 Chevy pickup, using a pair of 4x4's, I think, through the door openings, a pair of slings, a block and tackle, and a large oak tree. Hmmm, always thought of myself as a bit more than a shade tree mechanic, but maybe not! We pulled that off in one weekend, and it was 100% ready to go Sunday evening, braking, sterring, speedo, and all, except that he had to go to the Secretary of State Monday to get it titled, as we had obviously changed the V.I.N. Anyway, to your situation, we also did a couple of bed changes, but I've been thinking about it since last night, and can't recall the details, except that I'm sure neither of them took more than a few hours. They were just plain jane pickup beds though, so I'm guessing that we probably grabbed a couple of other guys for the actual lifts, and regardless of what mechanical devices you use, that is one thing that you are going to want; at least one more set of eyes when it comes to aligning holes, etc. A couple of thoughts though. An independent garage, with an above ground two post lift, and use the arms to raise the body, so that you can drive out from under it, then back a trailer in to lower the body onto? A small production shop that might have a gantry? As Mike said, that would definitely be the ticket, and would be my first choice. How about going the other way? Say an incline, where you may only have to jack the body a bit, securely block it, and move the chassis forward, lowering it away from the bed? Unbolt the bed, jack it up just enough to clear, block it, jack the chassis up just enough to remove the tires, lower the chassis to a set of dollies, and roll it forward from under the bed? I can't say without looking it over good, but there may be a viable thought in there someplace.


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## DoctorWho

Hey Dex, thanks for the ideas. Main problem is that neither of these tow trucks are road legal, don't even have plates, I'm in Massachusetts so even though both run, drive, and brake just fine, _they have RUST! OMG!_ So up here that just means throw it away (to the state anyway). :furious:
I'm not even worried about putting any replacement beds on, just want to ditch the tow rigging so I can fit them both in my garage so I can strip 'em down and sandblast the frames and rebuild them both. Well, that's the plan anyway...:whistling2:....whether I ever actually get around to doing it is another question altogether!
Pretty much whatever I come up with has to be done sitting in my driveway!

BTW, if by some miracle I can get 'em off, are they worth anything or just scrap? Would a scrap place come get 'em for free if no one wants them? Gotta be close to 1,000 lbs. of solid steel, each.


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## DexterII

Well, I obviously can't say from here whether or not they have any value beyond scrap, so it might be worth a few calls to local towing companies, to see if they are interested in looking at them. But, after that, now knowing the rest of the story, and assuming that you do in fact end up scrapping the bodies, two thoughts come to mind. If you have a scrap yard within a reasonable distance, get the bodies ready to come off, except for the last four bolts or so to hold them in place, then haul them or have them towed to the scrap yard, remove the remaining bolts, and have them lift the bodies off. I know that I could do something like that with my local yard, but you would have to work out the logisitcs, and see if you would come out ahead if you had to rent a trailer or pay a tow bill. The other thought is to hit them with a cutting torch. Make sure that you know where your fuel lines, wiring, etc. are, then get them down to something that you can manage with your engine crane and pickup or trailer. Sometimes you just need to work outside of the box.


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## ukrkoz

apparently you can do it with just engine hoist, and that's a rental item

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIUhJXmy-AI&feature=related


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## DoctorWho

ukrkoz said:


> apparently you can do it with just engine hoist, and that's a rental item
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIUhJXmy-AI&feature=related


That's exacly what I plan to do! My old hoist is too short, had to find a tall enough one to reach over to the middle of the A-frame on the bed. If I do it from behind I won't have to run over the feet of the hoist, gonna pick up my new hoist this weekend!


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## oh'mike

Another possibility-----Jack it up high enough to slip long timbers under the bed---
Rest the timbers on saw horses--then drive out from under.


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## ukrkoz

DoctorWho said:


> That's exacly what I plan to do! My old hoist is too short, had to find a tall enough one to reach over to the middle of the A-frame on the bed. If I do it from behind I won't have to run over the feet of the hoist, gonna pick up my new hoist this weekend!



way to go, brother!

I watched that video, and it looks like the bed is asking for some sort of ballast at the rear end to prevent that nose dive. Your challenge will be to have it balanced so that it goes flat up, not nose down. 
unless you can have 4 chains connected to the front and rear bed points, and have hoist "weight center" connected. 

let us know how goes it. My Silverado fuel tank sending unit been acting up for over a year, and to get to it, it's either cutting a hole in the bed, or hoisting bed off. Have two grown sons, but they think daddy loves this so much he needs no help at all.:whistling2:


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