Pipe for bed?

Anyone ever used pipe to redo the bedrails? Would it be a huge pain in the ass or a good idea to cut the rolled part off and do it with pipe?

 

pipe? pipe to me is like plumbing pipe.

round tubing. that I could see. and yes, it would be a pain in the ass.

 

Round Tubing! Sorry!

 

I used black pipe on mine, beveled the end so it wasn't too noticable. I don't have to worry about it denting.

 

I've seen people make new bed sides. I don't know how they roll the edge, i also thought about tubeing hopfully some pics and idears will surface.

 

I used thin wall tube... seen here without finish weld

 

I have seen a local F100 on which the bed had been fabricated in that manner. It turned out very nice.........BUT..........that is not so easy to accomplish. First you have to get the sheetmetal at the correct tangent of the tube so as not to have a "lump" at the seam.

Next, the welding process will warp the hell out of the tube if it isn't clamped in some manner to hold it straight during the welding. Even just doing a little at a time, and letting it cool before proceeding, will warp an unrestrained tube of that length.

Ray

 

I've seen round tubing used in making a new bed,,works pretty good,,we used square tubing when we made my bed sides. HRP

 

Steel exhaust pipe should work well....

 

I've had the whole bed side made at the local sheet metal shop.They make the "tube" in the brake then bend over the top. Wasn't all that expensive and came out nice.

 

They bent a ROUND tube (OP said 'pipe') in a brake???? gotta see that !

Ray

 

I thought it was a thread about smoking a pipe b4 goin to bed...go figure.

 

I used tubing on mine. Just don't get it too hot when you weld. Otherwise it will look like a banana.

 

i can bend a tube for the bed sides in my brake.
its not hard,you just need to think.

 

Like to see that... post a demo!! I ask around a lot and the only guy I found that could do it wanted stupid money for the work. $800 for both sides, 54" I think per side. Hence I went for a simple bend and welded tube.

 

There are multi-step (usually 2) brake dies made for rolling the edge of a sheet. At my previous employer we made thousands of feet of rolled edges used in the package conveyor business. The one we did was about 1" O.D.

 

I used the top rail matt. for chainlink fences, it also worked for the top and bottom rolls on the taigate.

 

Use pipe as a form to brake that edge around. The only thing id use pipe for on a vehicle

 

That would be one good thread for the next tech week.

I thing the main two things that are required to weld lengths of exhaust pipe to bed rails are a hell of a lot of patience and serious welding skills and probably more patience than welding skill.

 

This took about 7 minuets with a HF brake. With a large quality brake and some tooling this is way too easy. For the curve you just bump it a little at a time.

 

I used tubing on the bed I built for my '46 ford pickup. I think it turned out good.

 

I had a local hot rod shop repair mine just this last week with some bent patch pieces. When I got home I noticed the entire length of the rail was in fact warped like a banana 1/4" from center to end

I let the shop know and they said bring it back and that it should be an easy fix...? Guess I'll hope for the best. I was really bummed because to me it is very obvious.

Here is a picture

 

I used tubing to cap the tailgate. Cut a slot down the length and slipped it over the skin. Did the front bed rail the same way.

 

Well look like we my c.c. Are going to tackle it next weekend! One of my buds is a sheet metal guy and is pretty sure he can knock it out! Will get plenty of pics!

 

Good luck.

 

Is your dog nervous about something?

 

Yeah, actually she is. Was treated pretty harshly when she was young. Been with me a year now and is doing better. Shop is a new thing for her.

 

I used 1 1/4 pipe on mine,

 

RatPin, Thats too bad, sucks paying someone good money to "f" something up. Hopefully they can straighten it out, but it don't look easy. Good luck!

 

That looks like a good start, but it needs to be way tighter than that. Most of us "garage fabricators" don't have a brake large enough to do a full bedside anyway. If done right the tubing is a good alternative.