Bent bed? Not sure which direction to go

[Dementedf100]

I have a 72 shortbed that i have been cleaning up and working on. now that i have done some custom Patina painting it has come to my attention the truck seems to have had some damage to the bed where it meets the cab. looking at the cab it seems the right side of the bed is around 1' higher. Im not sure what the best action is.







here is a current pic of the ol girl

[SmokeyBear]

Check your cab mounts. I bet they are shot on the passenger side.

[Dementedf100]

I thought that too so i jacked up at the cab corner and even as far as i could get it it still was a good bit off.

[sargentrs]

So you loosened the bolt on the cab mount before you jacked it up? Sorry, had to ask

[flyboy2610]

Check your bed mounts on the drivers side.

[Dementedf100]

So you loosened the bolt on the cab mount before you jacked it up? Sorry, had to ask

No. I assumed best way to see if cab mount was shot would be to try and jack up rear of cab and see if it went up where it belongs.

So tonight i actually pulled out a level. With the truck in my garage on level concrete, the bed is dead nuts. Cab, well the only flat i have is the rear window trim, but it showed off a good bit. So maybe it is tge cab. Hmmmm. Winter project number 75

[sargentrs]

The cab is mounted to the frame at 4 points. At each point, there is a large rubber donut. Over time, these donuts soften and compress. That's probably your issue. The cab is mounted with a single bolt through each donut. There is a large washer with a tube incorporated into it on top and bottom of the donut with the bottom washer threaded. Loosen/remove the bolt from the cab so you can jack it up. Your donuts need replacing. You'll want to spray that threaded washer with PB Blaster or something several times over a period of days. They have a tendency to rust to the bolt and be hard to remove. http://www.fordification.com/tech/image ... mounts.jpg Replacement hardware is just tubes, washers and bolts. http://dennis-carpenter.com/cab-frame-m ... TZ-5400-S/ You can see the originals in the RH center of this pic http://www.fordification.com/forum/down ... &mode=view

[Ranchero50]

6 points, don't forget the core support. The fender to door line looks straight and not sagging so I doubt it'll be mount related. I'd pull the truck back in the garage and measure from the frame to the ground on both sides front to back and look for discrepancies. Possibly you have a suspension problem that is pulling the body lines out of alignment. The frames on these trucks are very flexible. Even on my F730 with the much heavier frame I can see the back of the bed rotate when I go diagonally over a speed bump and the front bangs around on the boards when it articulates.

[Dementedf100]

Ill have to do some measuring. Its hard to tell. I feel the suspension is pretty solid and nothing out of whack. I took some pictures today while at my inlaws that show it better

[chefcraig74]

Were you able to resolve the problem with your bed alignment? I'd be very interested..... I am suffering the same issue in a 69 we
just purchased but on the driver side of the truck.